Randy Moss has done two separate stints with the Minnesota Vikings. . .or only one, if you've chosen to banish his most recent experience with the Beloved Purple to the same realm to which we've banished Godfather III, Caddyshack 2, and the time that Gary Cherone spent as the lead singer of Van Halen.

But if Vikings' General Manager Rick Spielman is to be believed, there won't be another encore performance in 2012.

And this makes sense, obviously. For as great and talented as Randy Moss is. . .or, more accurately, was. . .there isn't going to be a place for him on the roster of the 2012 Minnesota Vikings. There will be a host of wide receivers in free agency that the Vikings could potentially take a run at, and the 2012 NFL Draft is pretty deep at the wide receiver position, too, from all indications. This is likely going to be one of the youngest teams in the NFL next season, and the need for a 36-year old wide receiver that may or may not feel like busting his butt on every play is minimal at best.

I'm sure that won't stop a certain segment of the population out there from holding out hope that it will happen anyway, but the word from the horse's mouth is that it's not happening.

Apologies for the late start today, ladies and gentlemen.

Today at the State Capitol, the White Earth Tribe outlined their plan for a stadium financing deal involving a new casino. Apparently they are not married to any one particular location when it comes to the casino, meaning they could place it anywhere the state asked them to. That means it could be at a place like Block E, where the city has been trying to get something developed for a while now, or even on the site at Arden Hills where the Vikings have been trying to get a stadium built for a while.

The White Earth Tribe runs another casino in Minnesota already, the Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen, but it doesn't generate a heck of a lot of money for Minnesota's largest. . .and poorest. . .tribe.

Legislation was actually introduced this week, with bi-partisan support, that would allow this particular deal to move forward. The State reps that have sponsored the bill are Steve Eken (D - Twin Valley) and Bob Gunther (R - Fairmont). Eken said today during the press conference that he is lining up bi-partisan support for the bill and expects it to move forward.

Maybe this bill has some sort of momentum after all. We'll see what happens with it going forward.

This is too good not to be on the front page--Ted

So as a college student and an avid fan of internet memes and the Vikings and this site I realized the Vikings Stadium debate is ripe for memes. I've posted a couple in some of the other comment sections but have made a bunch - mainly in an attempt to entertain myself, but have decided to share them here for you all.

So here is my narration of the stadium debate - as told through memes

This much has been made clear by Minnesota politicians:

Leading to the very clear conclusion that:

Continue reading this post »

EDIT: I need to brush up on my calendar-reading skills. The White Earth Tribe press conference about stadium financing is today at 9 AM Central time. Because today is Thursday. By process of elimination, that means that yesterday was not Thursday. But tomorrow is, indeed, Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday.

I really need a nap. Seriously. But, that aside, if we find anything linking to the press conference, we'll effort to put it up here. - Chris

This morning, as I was looking for Vikings news to bring all of you fine people out there, I came across a little tidbit that said that the White Earth Tribe had scheduled a press conference at the State Capitol today with the nebulous heading of "Stadium Financing" being the reason they were calling it. Since the presser apparently started at about 9 AM Central time and I didn't see it until about 9:15 or so, I had no prior knowledge about it and attempted to bludgeon the Twitterverse into seeing if there was any information they could pass along.

Alas, at the time there was not. . .but now it appears that we have a new financing plan from the White Earth Tribe. It appears that they're pretty serious about getting involved here.

On the website pushing the stadium funding idea, MinnesotaWins.com, the tribe outlines their proposal for the casino. They estimate that it would generate $300 million a year that would be divided 50/50 between the tribe and the state, with the tribe also paying property taxes and sales taxes. There would be no new taxes that would have to be introduced on the people of Minnesota to make this happen and. . .this is the big one, in my opinion. . .they've already got financing secured for construction of the casino.

According to the Minnesota Wins website, once the stadium is paid for, all of the money generated by the casino would continue to go to the state. And because the casino would be a partnership with the state of Minnesota, it could be regulated and audited by the state as well.

The only thing that the plan doesn't really specify is where the casino would be built, from what I can see. Would it be built downtown somewhere, possibly in Block E as has long been rumored. . .or would it get built at the Arden Hills site that the Vikings have preferred for their stadium for so long? That remains to be seen.

But, as "GoTwins!" pointed out in the FanShot that was attached to this story (which is where I initially saw it. . .thanks, GoTwins!), if a plan for financing a new Minnesota Vikings stadium sounds like a good one and it makes too much sense, there's only one logical way to look at it.

But I'd really, really like to hope that's not the case.

Well, now we have even less of a reason to waste time with ESPN's Monday Night Football "coverage."

The announcement came down a few hours ago that, starting with the 2012 season, Monday Night Football will go to a two-man booth of Mike Tirico and Jon Gruden. That means that the one redeeming member of the network's Monday Night Football coverage, former Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Ron Jaworski, will not be there on Monday nights.

Jaworski is one of the most respected analysts in the league and, as anyone that's heard him can attest, spends a ton of time watching and breaking down film to add even more insight to the games that he's covering. Apparently he's going to remain a part of ESPN's other "match-up" type of shows, and the four-letter is trying to sell this as not being a demotion for Jaws, but I just don't get the logic. Tirico is a decent enough announcer, but Gruden makes me long for the glory days of Dennis Miller and/or Tony Kornheiser.

(And, yes, I'm one of about five people on the North American continent that will defend Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football.)

So, if you need even less reason to watch Monday Night Football in 2012, ESPN has been generous enough to provide it for you.

The folks from NMA.tv are at it again, as they've put together a little something on Randy Moss announcing his comeback.

I've made no secret of the fact that I love these videos, if for nothing else than the sheer absurdity of some of the things they put into the videos. This one is no exception, although they do take a bit of creative license with some of the facts surrounding Randy Moss' career. I mean, it refers to him as an "ex-con," although he's never done any actual time for any of the things he's done off the field.

Here's the video for your viewing pleasure.

Yeah, as you can see, it's not terribly accurate, but it is pretty funny, in my opinion.

The odds are pretty good that Moss won't be making his comeback in Minnesota, but he's still one of the Vikings' all-time greats, and until such time that he does, officially, sign with another team, we'll be trying to keep track of his movements here.

In the first round of the 2004 National Football League Draft, the Minnesota Vikings selected defensive end Kenechi Udeze out of the University of Southern California with the 20th overall selection. After four up-and-down seasons with the Vikings, Udeze was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2008. He went on injured reserve in July of 2008, missing the entire season.

He attempted to come back after his leukemia went into remission, but he never regained the physical strength that he had prior to chemotherapy. After giving it a go in the Vikings' 2009 training camp, he announced his retirement from football.

Udeze returned to Southern Cal in 2010 to finish his college degree, graduating with a degree in sociology. He then went on to work for Steve Sarkisian, a former USC assistant, at the University of Washington as a strength coach, as well as working with the defensive line. Today, however, after a three-year absence, Udeze is back in the National Football League.

Seattle Seahawks' head coach Pete Carroll, who coached Udeze at USC in 2004, has brought Udeze aboard his staff as a coaching intern that will work with Seattle's defensive line.

Good to see you back in the National Football League, Coach Udeze. Here's to your continued success going forward.