Thursday, December 27, 2007

Counting on Brad and Brad's pals

We don't like rooting for the Cowboys. We would rather not root for Brad Johnson. But, if the Vikings have any chance of making it to the playoffs this year, they need Brad to carry the Cowboys to a win over the Redskins on Sunday.

Oh, the Vikings also have to go into Denver and beat the Broncos. Good luck to them.

Monday, December 24, 2007

When you can't adjust and you don't know the rules, it might be time to admit you are in over your head.

Stick a fork in the Vikings -- and maybe in Brad Childress. Both could be done.

Last night couldn’t have gone any worse for Childress and his football team. He blew a challenge call (when doesn’t he?), got outcoached when he didn’t make any offensive adjustments until the fourth quarter, and he wrongly accused the refs of missing a call (the Vikings did have 12 men on the field and the Redskins didn’t sub out any of their players, like Childress claimed.)

So, that leaves us with the following scenario and little chance for the Vikings to get into the playoffs:

The Vikings and the Redskins are both 8-7 and tied for the final wild-card spot.
The Vikings can make the playoffs if they win at Denver and Washington loses at home to Dallas. If both teams win next week, Washington wins the tiebreaker (head-to-head).

The Vikings don’t deserve to make the playoffs and at this point, I think we should be happy that they won’t be here. Chilly would find a way to blow another game and Tarvaris Jackson is the new Rex Grossman -- we really don’t need to see him on the road in the playoffs.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Waiting on Sunday night.

The wait is almost over and tonight we find out if the Vikings are for real. After watching the Purple beat the Bears last Monday night, we weren’t sure if we could take another night game on national television.

And, it wasn’t just the bad football that bothered us. Seeing Adrian Peterson's dad in the stands made me very uncomfortable. I am sure he’s a great guy despite the cocaine trafficking conviction and everything, but he looks like he’s 23 years-old. The father of pro football player shouldn’t look like he could be playing right along with his son. That was bizarre.

Nelson Peterson -- Adrian's Dad:


Hopefully tonight is a little more entertaining on the football side of things. I don’t want to be counting the days until pitchers and catchers report, but a loss tonight means the end for the Vikings and we can focus on spring training.

The bad news for the Vikings is the fact that they aren’t facing Kyle Orton again tonight. But the good news is -- we still have Adrian Peterson and an amazing defense. As long as Tarvaris Jackson doesn’t do his Playing for Pizza Rick Dokery impersonation, we should be fine.

Vikings win 23-20 in overtime.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

The Mariners will regret this by May 15.

Starting pitching is hard to find. Just ask the Seattle Mariners, who gave Carlos Silva a 4-year $44 million deal yesterday. UPDATE: It's a 4-year deal for $48 million. Yikes.

We’ve watched Silva pitch in Minnesota for the last four years and we can honestly say that he wasn’t worth $44 million during that stretch. He wasn’t worth $4 million a year during that stretch.

But, in this day and age, if you are a starter who can log 200 innings a year, you are going to get paid. He’s going to make about $1 million per win next year for Seattle and if they think that is money well spent, more power to them.

Just for fun, here are Silva’s career numbers.
Games: 259
Games Started: 125
Hits: 1,122
BB’s: 171
K’s: 395
W-L: 55-46
ERA: 4.31

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Paynesville, MN gets hosed again.

Back in the good old days, the Twins Winter Caravan showed up in my hometown of Paynesville, MN and folks came from all over central Minnesota to shake hands with Mike Smithson, Kirby Puckett, and Danny Gladden.

Now, “cities” like Hutchinson, Little Falls, Cold Spring, and Staples are a part of the caravan, but my beloved Paynesville isn’t anywhere on the list. What gives? Don’t they know Paynesville is baseball country?

Tony Oliva, Craig Monroe, and Dick Bremer don’t know what they are missing.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Pro Bowling

Seven Minnesota Vikings are headed to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. Wow, with that limited amount of talent, its amazing Coach Childress was able to win 8 games this year. Talk about overachieving.

The starters from the Vikings include Adrian Peterson, Tony Richardson, Steve Hutchinson, Darren Sharper, and the Williams Wall – Kevin and Pat Williams. Matt Birk was named to the team, but not as a starter.

Tarvaris Jackson wasn’t named to the team. He was robbed.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Priority shift… to the Max.

While the gal and I are in lock-down mode at Cold Omaha headquarters, the world outside these walls continues to move forward. Sure, the inside of our house looks like a combination of a day-care center and my old condo after a long night of poker, but we can’t imagine a better way to live.

Up until last weekend, Buddy the pug was our little baby and keeping him in line and happy was the most challenging part of the day. Now he's basically feeding himself and opening up the door on his own to go outside to the bathroom.

We are focused entirely on Maxwell, his feeding schedules, his dirty diapers, and his crying fits. We have enough time in the day to sleep for three hours, do a load of laundry, and maybe clean the dishes out of the dish washer. While the rest of you are watching football, reading about the Twins adding two new infielders, and rehashing the news that Jessica Alba is pregnant, we are busy making sure Max didn’t just blow up another diaper and that he is, in fact, putting on enough weight according to the charts at our pediatrician's office.

All of those other things (Buddy the pug, the Twins, football and Jessica Alba) are on my radar too – probably not in the same way or to the same degree that they were before the little man arrived, but I am trying to pay attention to things not related to keeping him fed, warm, and scream-free. It’s not easy, but I am trying. By the way, the Vikings are 1-0 in the Maxwell era and we are hoping to go 2-0 tomorrow night against the Bears. He says its a lock, I am not convinced.

I don’t want to go into all the specifics about Max being born. The gal put together all of her thoughts on the matter in her blog -- and frankly, I can’t add anything to what she has said, because she said it so well. In that space she gives me way too much credit for doing what I am doing. She's the one who has gone above and beyond, now I am just trying to play catch-up.

What I can tell you is that being a father and seeing Max for the first time (and every time since) really helps me understand that none of this is about me anymore. Before he was born, I heard it all the time…”your life will change, things will be different” – I understood the words, but not the meaning. Now I do.

If you aren’t a parent, you can still sort of understand where I am coming from, but I will have to make an analogy that is tough to wrap your mind around.

But here goes –

Imagine the worst pain you have ever felt, whether it’s the loss of a loved one, getting kicked in the groin, or seeing the Vikings lose in the 1998 NFC Championship Game. Take whatever you equate with pain and sit with that emotion for awhile, let it ruminate. Remember how hard that was and how much you just wanted to bury your head in the sand? Now, multiply that feeling by ten and turn the emotion exactly 180 degrees so all of that pain becomes pure joy. That’s kind of how it feels to be a dad.

The gal went through hell getting this kid out and I am proud of what she did. She’s strong. Max is strong. The process didn’t go the way we had planned and I guess that’s been the best lesson of all – we can’t control any of this and being a parent will make us go with the flow in a way we have never really had to attempt before. We are all doing well and that is the most important thing. We couldn’t ask for more than what we have and I can’t believe how lucky I am to have this little guy in my life.

Thanks to everyone who has called, written, sent text messages, and letters in the mail. I promise we will get back to you once we get to the point where we know for sure what we are doing. In the meantime, keep calling and checking in – keep those texts and emails coming – we love to hear from everyone and we know you are thinking about us.

We are thinking about you too. Now I better go and find Buddy - last time I saw him he was sizing up the Diaper Genie...

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Taking a break

The little man arrived on Saturday, so we at Cold Omaha are going to take a break for a bit and get to know him. We will be back soon, just not sure how soon it will be -- in the meantime, enjoy Disstraktor.

Oh wait, they don't update their site over there either.

Monday, December 3, 2007

What are the Vikings doing to us?

First, the Vikings destroy the Giants 41-10 at the Meadowlands. And then they come home and beat the Lions 42-10, while looking like they actually have a "kick ass" offense. Adrian Peterson is back. Sid Rice looks like a legit NFL wide receiver, and Tarvaris Jackson isn't killing his team with underthrows, overthrows, and turnovers.

They can't win four more games and make the playoffs, can they?

Don't get your hopes up. Don't get your hopes up. Don't get your hopes up.

We can't help getting our hopes up.

Four more games to go and they all look winnable -- they have the 49ers, the Bears, the Redskins, and the Broncos left on the schedule. The first three are very beatable. Denver lost to the Raiders yesterday so the Vikes will at least have a shot at beating them. Could it happen?

Don't get your hopes up.