Jim Thome better stay with the Twins

The Vikings concluded their season a few weeks ago and to be honest, we are kind of happy about that. We have no idea why we can write about the Twins three days a week during the summer, but we can't seem to put together anything Vikings related on a consistent basis.

It might be because we care too much about the Vikings. When they don't play well or have a season of misfortune like they did this year, we just crawl into a shell and hope things get better. Writing about the pain sometimes makes it worse. Sure, we probably love the Twins just as much, maybe more -- but it is easier to write about their bad times since they always have another game or another series coming up within the next 48 hours. The Vikings make us sit and wait. The Twins can keep us going and keep us optimistic even if we shouldn't be that way.

So the Vikings are done -- let's set our gaze forward to the Twins season. Jim Thome could end up signing with the Rangers. Talk about wanting to make us pull up the covers and shut the world out.

We need Jim Thome on this team. He has to come back. Justin Morneau might not be back healthy from a concussion. Mike Cuddyer can be trusted to play first base, but we need Thome and his bat in the lineup. We hope Bill Smith wakes up and gets this done. It might take $5 million a year for two years. It might take $7 million for one year.

Just do it already. Don't make us wait.

Bill Parcells is going to coach the Vikings.

The last time Bill Parcells won a Super Bowl, dumping Gatorade on the coach was cool and wearing coaching shorts didn't seem unusual.

This is 2010 and Parcells apparently wants back into coaching. Or he wants to be a GM again. Or...ugh...who cares really?

If you think Bill Parcells can come in here and win a Super Bowl for the Vikings, I hope you are right. Because it sounds like you are going to get your wish -- the Big Tuna is probably headed to Minnesota.

Setting our gaze forward.

Brad Childress says a lot of things. He says "aware of his faculties" a lot. He says "stick to your knitting" a lot. But our favorite thing Brad Childress says is "setting our gaze forward" because it really does give you a nice visual of how he refuses to look back on things.

And we don't want to look back on things related to the Vikings either. Why would you want to look back on that? So, let's look forward, shall we?

The Vikings host the Packers this Sunday. It is a game they have to win if they want to even consider being a wild card team this year. They shouldn't think like that, because they won't make the playoffs, but this team is having an odd year. The Vikings will win this game because it is at home and we all expect them to lose. After Sunday the Vikings record will be 4-6.

Week 12 - Vikings at Washington Redskins. The Vikings will lose this game. It is on the road against an NFC East team. If you have watched the Vikings at all over the last year -- and especially if you have watched them over the last twenty years -- you know there is no way they win this game. Record falls to 4-7.

Week 13 - Vikings host Buffalo. You want a "coming out" game for the offense? This is it. If Sidney Rice comes back at all this year, this will be his second full game of the season (we are assuming he plays a limited role against Green Bay.) The Bills might not win a game all year and we really don't think the Vikes can lose at home against this putrid club. Vikings jump to 5-7.

Week 14 - Vikings host the Giants. The Giants are one of the top 4 teams in the NFC. They are going to have to keep winning in order to win their division because the Eagles are for real. The Giants defensive line is more athletic than the Vikings secondary, much less the Vikings offensive line. They are going to give Brett Favre a lot of problems and home field advantage won't mean much for the Vikings in this one. Their record falls to 5-8.

Week 15 - This is the third straight game at home for the Vikings and the Bears come to town. It is a Monday Night Football game at home...so I really want to think the Vikes can win here. I think they get after Jay Cutler, force him to throw a bunch of picks and eventually will run Adrian Peterson enough to win, but it will be close. So...the Vikings move to 6-8.

Week 16 - Vikings travel to Philadelphia. Um...did you see what Mike Vick did to Washington last night? They Vikings could give up 70 points. Vikings fall to 6-9.

Week 17 - Vikings go to Detroit. Thankfully, this is the last game of the season for the Vikings. Unfortunately it is on the road. The Lions aren't great, but they are going to win this game. It might be a close loss, but a loss just the same. The good news is we might get a sneak peak at Joe Webb. Vikings drop to 6-10 and hopefully a top 10 pick in the draft.

See, setting your gaze forward can be fun. Sure, winning just 6 games is not a good thing but it might mean Childress is removed as head coach and a high pick in the draft could bring a real quarterback to town. Sitting through a 6-10 season is worth it if those two things happen. Let's hope for the best.