Chip Scoggins and Chris Miller poke a little fun at both the birthday boy and his former team:
FAMOUS OCT. 10 BIRTHDAYS
Guiseppe Verdi (1813) Refused to retire. Died at age 87. Composed romantic operas, none set in Green Bay.
Thelonious Monk (1917) The great jazz pianist retired when he was 54. Packers fans preferred accordion players.
Tanya Tucker (1958) The country singer’s “Two Sparrows in a Hurricane” is interpreted by some as Favre’s ode to Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy.
Who knew that the secret to setting cable television records was to pit a future hall-of-fame quarterback against his former team? ESPN reports:
ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” was watched by more than 21.8 million people. The previous record was more than 18.6 million viewers for last year’s Monday night game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys.
ESPN also said Tuesday that the game drew the highest rating in the network’s 30-year history. The 15.3 rating beat the 14.4 for a Bears-Vikings game on Dec. 6, 1987, during ESPN’s first season of televising NFL games.
Jared Allen had a career game last night, as the Vikings beat divisional rivals the Green Bay Packers at the Metrodome. As hyped as this game was, I was expecting it to be tense, but not particularly exciting . . . I was delighted to be wrong: it was a high-scoring game with lots of drama. Allen sacked Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers four and a half times, and added a forced fumble and a safety. Rogers had a miserable time, being chased all over, sacked eight times, but still managing to throw for 384 yards.
As Jim Souhan tweeted, “Rodgers is going to be dreaming about Jared Allen all week. How’d you like to be haunted by that mullet?”
Photo detail from the Star Tribune
Brett Favre had downplayed the confrontation with his former team all week, and he played very well indeed. His timing with wide receiver Bernard Berrian was everything he could hope for, unlike last week’s game, including a beautiful TD pass. His numbers for the night were 24 of 31 passes for 271 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and an impressive 135.3 passer rating.
Adrian Peterson had a much less satisfying experience: the Packer defence bottled him up after the first drive, and he lost a fumble which was run back for a Packer TD by rookie Clay Matthews. His numbers for the game were a very un-Peterson-like 25 carries for 55 yards, with one (short) TD. He also appeared to injure his leg on the play, although he did return later in the game.
Favre got another record in this game:
Monday’s victory means Favre has now beaten all 32 NFL teams. The Vikings’ 4-0 start is their best since beginning 6-0 in 2003 and with a game Sunday at winless St. Louis (0-4) their chances to remain undefeated appear to remain strong. Childress also now has two consecutive victories over the Packers after starting 0-5 against them — Favre was the quarterback for four of those Packers victories.
There is little doubt at this point Favre appears to be a very solid $12 million investment. “I’m trying to not be surprised because it’s what we expected,” owner Zygi Wilf said. “I’m happy to say from last week to this week shows us that you can never be surprised. He’s a Hall of Fame quarterback. We’re just going to enjoy this win and move on to the next game. We have larger, bigger goals ahead of us and that’s what we’re going to strive for as a team.”
Judd Zulgad on tonight’s Monday Night Football extravaganza:
The NFL’s version of the perfect storm is about to hit the Metrodome.
After a week of buildup, hype and denial of a quest for revenge, Brett Favre is finally going to get the chance to face his former team. And did we mention the Vikings will be playing host to the Packers, too?
Try as Favre might to downplay the magnitude of tonight’s matchup — “It’s just another game,” he said with a straight face last week — there is no denying what this means. Not only to Favre but to many others who have eagerly anticipated an event that will be as much theater as football. The scorned superstar, playing for his former team’s arch-rival, given his chance at redemption on a national stage.
It’s no wonder ESPN executives were giddy when Favre ended his retirement on Aug. 18. That made an already attractive Monday night game between the Vikings and Packers a must-see spectacle that could break the cable viewership record ESPN set on Sept. 15, 2008, when 18.6 million tuned in to watch the Eagles-Cowboys.
Robert Bentley gives the top ten reasons why Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympic Games was rejected:
10. Dead people can’t vote at IOC meetings.
9. Obama distracted by 25 min meeting with Gen. McChrystal.
8. Who cares if Obama couldn’t talk the IOC into Chicago? He’ll be able to talk Iran out of nukes.
7. The impediment is Israel still building settlements.
The Minnesota Vikings moved to a 3-0 record on the season with a squeaked-out victory against the San Francisco 49ers yesterday. I got to watch most of the game, until the two-minute warning, when Fox — or the CTV sports programmer carrying the Fox feed — switched over to the already-decided Patriots-Falcons game.
Minnesota appeared to have the game well in hand until the final play of the first half, when Nate Clemons scooped up a blocked Ryan Longwell field goal attempt and ran for the go-ahead TD. A huge momentum-changer, as the Vikings went from a potential 2-score lead to one point down. The stats were all in Minnesota’s favour, except for the only one that matters, the one on the scoreboard.
In his first regular-season home game with the Vikings, Brett Favre managed yet another fourth-quarter game-winning drive, this time connecting with recently signed wide receiver Greg Ellis.
The first five series of the second half: Three punts, Favre’s first interception, and a turnover on downs. The Vikings (3-0), who gained only 85 yards on Adrian Peterson’s 19 carries, still had three timeouts left and were able to force a punt. They got the ball back at their 20 with 89 seconds remaining.
“I didn’t say a whole lot,” Favre said. “I knew what I was thinking: We blew our chances.”
Well, not quite all of them.
The last play began with 12 seconds left, and Favre stepped forward in the pocket and slid to the right by design to buy time for his receivers to move in position. Instead of throwing a ball up for grabs, he figured he could get close enough to the line of scrimmage to fire a line drive that would be tougher to defend.
Lewis watched the quarterback’s eyes, and broke the other way — Favre said he didn’t even know who was running across the end zone — to find room near the right corner.
He caught his first pass from Favre, who completed six throws on that drive, and looked forward to the next one.
I didn’t want to go into detailed technical criticisms of a VERY rough cut of the documentary, but the footage of Gretzky playing is somewhat disappointing. Which is fine; it’s always a little disappointing. I feel like filmmakers should just let us follow him for a whole shift instead of depicting him scoring nifty goals. C’mon, like Gretzky scoring on a breakaway is an appropriate symbol of his gifts? Gretzky sucked on breakaways! That’s right, I put it on the record! We all knew it! Attica! Attica!
Colby Cosh, “Footnotes to today’s Gretzky/ESPN column”, ColbyCosh.com, 2009-09-18
Every team that plays Detroit has a nagging fear that they’re going to be the ones to end the Lions’ losing streak. Detroit played the Vikings well in the first half, getting to a 10-0 lead during the first half, before Minnesota could get their act together:
The Vikings left Ford Field on Sunday atop the NFC North with a 2-0 record. Both victories have come on the road, they have outscored opponents by 28 points and Brett Favre has yet to throw an interception.
So all is going according to plan in the land of Purple, right?
Not exactly.
Favre made that very clear after the Vikings rallied for a 27-13 victory over a Detroit Lions team that has lost 19 in a row, second-most in NFL history.
“To think that we can continue to win games that way, is not going to happen,” Favre said. “Detroit played hard, played well. I was worried.”
Just got back from the first half of Victor’s soccer tournament weekend. His team’s record so far, a win (4-0), a tie (2-2), and a loss (2-1). They’ll need to win both of tomorrow’s games to have a chance to be in the final.
Update, 20 September: T’was not to be. Another 2-1 loss followed by a very evenly matched 0-0 tie. Due to some upsets on Saturday, both teams in the second game had the chance to advance to the final . . . with a win. The tie knocked both teams out.
After his very impressive outing on Sunday, Adrian Peterson’s photo was chosen for this week’s issue of Sports Illustrated:
That’s great, but I do feel sorry for Cleveland’s number 52: he makes the cover too, but not at all the way you want to be shown to a national audience.
Jim Souhan looks at whether the Minnesota Vikings can turn all that potential into solid achievement:
This is a unique day in Vikings history.
Today, the first Sunday of the 2009 NFL season, the Vikings become the biggest story in the most popular sport in America for a reason other than an epic loss or an embarrassing scandal.
Today, the Vikings present a Hall of Fame quarterback who is a defector from their greatest rival and will lead one of the most talented teams in football.
Today, your Vikings will not be the franchise of Super Bowl losses, championship game chokes, 41-0, Love Boat, Ticketgate, Denny Green’s homemade videos and myriad arrests.
Today, your Vikings become the biggest story in the NFL because of what they are capable of doing, not what they are chagrined to have done.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to watch the Vikings-Browns game, but with Buffalo playing on Monday night, there’s a stronger chance that the Buffalo FOX affiliate will show it in our area.
ESPN reports that a federal appeals court has ruled that the NFL cannot suspend Minnesota Vikings Pat Williams and Kevin Williams:
The NFL wanted to suspend the Williamses for four games after they both tested positive for a banned diuretic during training camp in 2008.
They had taken the over-the-counter weight loss supplement StarCaps. It did not state on the label that it contained the diuretic — which can mask the presence of steroids.
Neither player tested positive for steroids.
Along with all the other records Brett Favre currently holds, he apparently has a chance to break another long-standing record currently held by “Ironman” Jim Marshall:
Brett Favre will play his first regular-season game as a member of the Vikings on Sunday in Cleveland already holding just about every significant NFL career passing record.
Most touchdown passes? Favre’s got that one with 464. Yards? That belongs to Favre, too. Completions, attempts and yards? Check, check and check. Heck, Favre even has thrown the most interceptions.
But there is at least one record Favre stands to break this season — and the guy he would surpass couldn’t be happier about it. Favre will enter Sunday having played in 271 consecutive regular-season games, putting him 12 games from Jim Marshall’s longstanding record for a non-kicker or punter. (Punter Jeff Feagles has appeared in 336 consecutive games.)
. . . but to my surprise, and possibly to the dejection of sportscasters nationwide who will now not have the opportunity to announce that “Coach Childress just made a Booty call” . . . the team chose to keep Tarvaris Jackson and released John David Booty, to get down to their 53-man final roster:
DB Colt Anderson, QB John David Booty, FB Nehemiah Broughton, DE Martail Burnett, OL Chris Clark, OL Brian Daniels, OL Juan Garcia, DE Otis Grigsby, S De’von Hall, LB David Herron, DT Antoine Holmes, RB Ian Johnson, DT Tremaine Johnson, OL Andy Kemp, CB Marcus McCauley, TE Garrett Mills, WR Nick Moore, TE Jake Nordin, WR Vinny Perretta, OL Drew Radovich, DB Marcus Walker and WR Bobby Williams.
The Vikings could still try to re-sign Booty to a practice squad spot next week, if he’s not picked up by another team. You’d have to assume that his performance in Friday’s game was a determining factor in this decision.
Update, 7 September: Yep, Booty was indeed signed to the Vikings practice squad, along with “safety Colt Anderson, offensive tackles Chris Clark and Drew Radovich, running back Ian Johnson, defensive tackle Tremaine Johnson, tight end Garrett Mills and wide receiver Nick Moore”. Unfortunately, free agent Jon Cooper who’d made the 53-man roster was cut to make room for Kory Lichtensteiger who was cut by Denver.
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