wwtb? takes over the Blizzard

Oh, Pacifist Viking is too busy grading papers. As Livia Soprano would say, "Poor you!"

Well I can do this Blizzard shit. Nothing to it. It'll give you lousy bastards something to read before you go enjoy your capitalist holiday, you materialistic pricks.

Some senators are threatening to revoke the NFL's antitrust exemption because of the NFL Network (ESPN). Good for you: Teddy Roosevelt would hate the NFL's monopoly. But who gives a crap what Teddy Roosevelt would think about anything? I don't.

Marshall Faulk's #28 is retired for the Rams (Sports Illustrated).

Bill Parcells is now running the Dolphins (ESPN). I couldn't be more intrigued: a master coach is now running a proud, historic franchise that has fallen on hard times (but he's not coaching it).

Adrian Peterson wants to bring just about everybody who has anything to do with him to Hawaii (Star Tribune).

Michael David Smith watched the Vikings Monday, and has a lot of good things to say about them. But for some inexplicable reason, he thinks the team would be better off starting Kelly Holcomb or Brooks Bollinger rather than Tarvaris Jackson. The same Kelly Holcomb that takes a sack about once every eight times he drops back. The same Brooks Bollinger that takes a sack about once every nine times he drops back. Over Tarvaris Jackson who takes a sack about once every 19 times he drops back. Hey, sack rate ain't all, but it's one reason the Vikes were 0-4 in the games Jackson didn't start this season. Jackson's sack rate is 6.3%, Bollinger's 11.7%, and Holcomb's 12.3%. An offense with a shaky passing attack and a strong running game can't handle many 2nd and 17s or 3rd and 20s; Jackson has for the most part given the Vikings solid downs and distances to work with. He's not a god among quarterbacks, but he can do more to help the Vikings win than Holcomb or Bollinger can.

The new Pro-Football-Reference has been launched; check it out.

PV thinks PFT engages in anti-intellectualism. What does he think of Florio seeming to proudly ask "Who in the hell is Joyce Carol Oates?" (scroll down to the 8:11 post on Dec. 20th). She's a pretty well-known American fiction writer. But don't worry about it--if you don't like Tiki Barber's big words, you're probably not going to bother reading any of Joyce Carol Oates' work.

The Starting Five notes that more athletes are going straight to fans with their voices, rather than letting their souls be filtered through media interpreters.

The Nosebleeds is an NFL blog written by a Browns fan. Check it out.

So that's it, fools. On Sunday the Vikes play the Washington team with a racist nickname. Enjoy the game.