Say Hello to Your New Vikings

On the surface this years draft does not look that exciting with only one pick on the first day and 4 the second none before the 5th round. Keep in mind that our first round pick was a 26 year old all-pro DE who racked up 15.5 sacks on a D-line that was no where near as dominant as the purple. History says Sack leaders numbers go down the year after leading the league but logic says that its impossible to double team everybody on the line. If any of you are worried about giving all of that money to a man who could face a big suspension and even possible jail time with one more DUI fear not, I've found a post on Pro Football Talk outlining how the Vikes have protected themselves against this sort of thing. If you thought we gave up too much for Allen you're pretty crazy considering the Jaguars gave up their 1st, two 3rds AND a 4th rounder for Derrick Harvey at the 8 spot. Thats a 4th rounder more than we gave up for a proven commodity.

In the second round yesterday we moved up a few spots to select Tyrell Johnson, a safety from Arkansas State. He was the Sunbelt defensive player of the year and had 6 interceptions in his senior year. He made 363 tackles and had 13 interceptions during his time at Arkansas State and was impressive during his school's pro day benching 225lbs 27 times (more than anybody else) running a 4.41 40 and showcasing his 39 inch vertical. Many people were confused by this pick but I like it. Sharper is getting older and though his play doesn't show it yet its only a matter of time before we'll need Johnson to step in.

In the 5th round we moved up to select John David Booty of USC. I never thought I'd say it but thank you Green Bay... we swapped 5th rounders and threw in our 7th round pick. Booty means we'll be able to release Bollinger and upgraded both of our back-up QBs from last year. He's also a good option to have if the T-Jack experiment goes bad. I'll post a video of him in action soon.

Our next selection in the 5th puzzled me a bit. We picked up Letroy Guion, a defensive tackle from Florida State University. I know that Pat Williams is getting a little older, but we signed Fred Evans last offseason. I was thinking the team would go after an OT, but Spielman has a very complex draft board and he was rated 8th overall at his position by scout.com.

With our First pick in the 6th round we selected John Sullivan, a center out of Notre Dame. He will most likely become the center of the future should Matt Birk decide to leave after this season. He's 6-4 and 303 lbs and is extremely reminiscent of Birk.

Our final selection was Jaymar Johnson, a WR out of Jackson State. At 6-1 180 he'll need to bulk up a bit but he'll be used mostly as a kick returner if he makes the team. I was hoping we'd use this pick on OT Brandon Kieth out of Northern Iowa University, but we let him go and Arizona picked him up in the 7th round.

In related new Dominique Barber was drafted by the Houston Texans in the 6th round. He was the only Gopher drafted. As for Hawkeyes Charles Godfrey was picked up in the 3rd round by Carolina, Kenny Iwebema was picked up in the 4th round by Arizona and Mike Humpal was picked up by the Steelers in the 6th.

UPDATE: The Daily Norseman has a list of the 16 undrafted free agents signed by the purple today.

Blake Hoffarber's (2nd) miracle shot

Blake Hoffarber must spend entirely too much time in the gym thinking up ridiculous shots to attempt in order to have presence of mind, timing and aim to to make this sort of shot. The shot was amazing and almost an exact duplicate of Christian Laettner's shot against Kentucky in 1992.

That shot allowed Tubby Smith's record of seasons with at least 20 wins to continue for a 15th year. It also kept the gophers dreams of an NCAA birth alive for another day... Unfortunately The Gophers lost today to Illinois and have about a snowball's chance in hell of making it.

This shot along with his Minnesota state tourney shot may have put Hoffarber on the radar for the NBA. The kid is pretty good for a freshman who was not Tubby's recruit and after 3 more years of playing with the guys Tubby convinced to play in Minnesota he just might end up being drafted in the second round or maybe even at the end of the first.

Amazing. Indiana had so many chances to win this game.

I Like-a Da Football

As of yesterday the football season has officially begun and I am excited. Not that I don’t love baseball but its not exactly the most action packed sport ever, it gets pretty boring in the middle of the season and I don’t write about NASCAR, golf or soccer. College football started yesterday and NFL teams just cut their rosters down to 53 in preparation for the season to begin next week.

As everybody already knows by now the Appalachian State Mountaineers shocked the world by ripping Ann Arbor’s heart out and muddying Lloyd Carr’s future even further. I think this kid exemplifies the joy felt across the other 49 states. Now, the Gophers find themselves tied with the Wolverines and more importantly Iowa’s bowl expectations are elevated, even if only a little bit. Neither the Hawks nor the Gophers were on television in Minneapolis but we know that the Hawks failed to score a million points and “Gopher Nation” failed to get it’s first win. Jebus over at the Compulsion broke down the entire Big Ten, and I’m lazy so go read his post. (Did we mention that Ohio State lost DE Lawrence Wilson to a broke leg?)

Appalachian State was the only major upset, but out in California the Golden Bears got revenge over Tennessee in the only game pitting two ranked teams against each other. Desean Jackson returned a punt almost 80 yard for a touchdown. For those of you keeping track that’s the sixth of his college career and a 22% return rate. Virgina Tech won their first game of the season and first since the tragedy that occurred on their campus in late spring. Notre Dame proved that it is over-rated after failing to put up a touchdown against Georgia Tech.

Darren Mcfadden rolled over Troy for 151 yards, one TD running and one TD passing. Mississippi State’s Zach Smith needs some asprin. West Virginia will have defenses scratching their heads all season long; Pat White and Steve Slaton each had four touchdowns (one was a pass from White to Slaton). Colt Brennan threw for 6 touchdowns and 416 yards in the first freaking half! My boy Ray Rice ran for 184 yards and 3 TDs for Rutgers. Tim Tebow had his first start for the national champion Gators and managed to throw for 300 yards and added 4 TDs (one rushing) to the blowout. In Nebraska Marlon Lucky introduced himself to everybody outside of The Big 12 with an astounding 233 yards and three touchdowns.

As for the pros, The Vikings have cut their roster down to 53 and made some interesting cuts in the process. The team decided to go with three fullbacks and three tailbacks and keeping Naufahu Tahi over Artose Pinner and Ciatrick Fason. Second year safety Greg Blue was cut in favor of Mike Doss and Tank Williams. Both players went out with injuries last season while Blue is a hard hitting young guy who probably could have helped on special teams. Cornerback Devonte Edwards was released in favor of Marcus McCauly (good call), Charles Gordon (meh) and Ronyell Whitaker. I feel that Edwards is defiantly a better player than Whitaker.

According to The Daily Norsman the team has picked up TE Garrett Mills from the Pats. The Norsman also said that Tyler Thigpen and DE Khreem Smith were claimed off waivers by the Chiefs while Edwards was picked up by the Giants. Here is the current roster with Mills taking Guard Brian Daniels spot.

LUNCH BREAK: 8 over 1 Edition

Baron's beard, Barns' faux hawk and Jackson's gap teeth will be moving on to the next round of the playoffs. The Mavs got manhandled all series, and looked nothing like the 67 game winning team that they claimed to be. On top of that Golden State is the best And1 team ever; they're exciting, fast and if Baron would just put the ball under his shirt and spin it around during a game basketball purists would come running out of the woodwork crying about what I will dub "Nu-Basketball."

Warriors fans have photoshop fun at the expense of Sir Charles for backing the Mavericks.

Ever wonder what Joe Mauer says to the pitchers when he visits the mound?

What in the hell are you guys doing??? You could either be Mr. Irrelevant in the NBA draft or you could spend a year learning from Tubby Smith and not be in the Durrant/Oden/Gators draft class.

Hockey may be over for the Wild, but Randy Carlyle is keeping their spirit alive.

Reason #1 why we at SPK are not tiger fans. Hanible Lecter is scared of this guy.

To sum up this soccer player in one word… CrazyGoNutz!

Howard Sinker has found something very interesting about Joe Nathan. He should now start working on my Jessie Crain problem.

Looks like Ron Artest’s summer rap tour is going to have to cut a few days out of the schedule

LUNCH BREAK: Turducken Edition

Bracey Wright had 15 minutes 1 Reb 1 Ast 1 TO and 5 Pts in what will most likely be his last as a Timberwolf. Godspeed, Bracey, Godspeed… and get the hell out McFail.

The batting helmet of Dr. Mourneau. Courtesy of Aaron Gleeman

Brian Urlacher owns the most expensive hat ever.

I take back that dick thing I said yesterday. If a Ducks fan can call out Brad May for a sucker punch I have nothing but respect .

TNABCG tells Scott Neidermeyer to watch his back.

Matt Millen has gotten himself into another predicament. Contemplates life, draft pick and secretary's naughty bits.

Even ESPN employees don’t like watching their shows.

"Who are these people and why are they shouting at me?"

This just in: Football players smoke weed.

Gophers say goodbye to Erik Johnson

Congratulations Mark Buehrle. Sox still suck

Déjà vu

What does the future hold for former Gophers running back Gary Russell? A high-speed chase that ends with him being maced, charged with carrying a concealed weapon and jail time, of course. Russell and former Ohio State Phenom Maurice Clarett have far too much in common for this outcome not to happen. Russell became the two in the Gophers one, two punch that they call a running game after Marrion Barber III left school for the NFL. One season later Russell found himself academically ineligible and made no real attempt to return to school and rejoin the team. Clarett found himself in a legal loophole and attempted to leap to the NFL after his freshman season to no avail. Each spent two seasons watching the game from their couch and apparently snacking. When the time for Clarett came he ran a devastating 4.72 and 4.82 in the 40 and overall had a bad showing at the combine. Both men are native to Ohio and Russell’s friends used Clarett as motivation. "Just don't run what Maurice Clarett ran." Russell didn't, he topped it with a 4.8 and a 4.84. Way to go buddy, you didn't even win a national championship before messing everything up.

I can just see it now... three years down the line when he has been kicked out of NFL Europe for cleating the referee he'll come back the the states for a party hosted by one of the Bengals. Clarett will have just been released from jail and the pair will want to hit a stripclub. Naturally they'll invite "Pacman" and his handy dandy garbage bag full of money. Later than night, after a hasty retreat from the strip club resulting in only 2 dead and a badly maimed bouncer, the trio will be flying down the road listening to Chamillionare's "Riding Dirty" when the cherries light up and it's on. With Russell behind the wheel the more gun savvy of the bunch will try to shoot their way out of yet another predicament only to land themselves with some serious jail time and brand new boyfriends for each.