Monday, August 07, 2006

George Costanza and the Vikings

Remember when George's new religion became "The Opposite," and he acted against every instinct he had? Good times for everybody. And an important parallel to the sports world.

When a coach is fired and another coach is hired to replace him, often the new coach is hired because he displays the exact opposite characteristics of his predecessor. So far, Brad Childress is looking to be the precice opposite of Mike Tice: serious, professional, detail-oriented, experienced, expecting a hard-working, business-line attitude from the players--but also lacking clear personality, wit, or charisma. The Vikings underachieved under Tice--with Daunte and Randy, Tice could never win more than 9 games. Now Daunte and Randy are gone, and Childress will have to (and be expected to) overachieve. Some players will appreciate this change (Antoine Winfield in particular, I think); others won't. Most fans are going to appreciate this change: all we care about is winning. Most members of the local media are probably going to be tougher on Childress than they were on Tice. Tice gave them personality, access, quotes, insight, and stories. Childress doesn't seem likely to give them any of that. If Tice hadn't been such a likeable guy, the local media would have been crushing him for years (the evidence is that some people were claiming Tice deserved another year with the team after 4 years, no division titles, and one off-the-field debacle after another).

We'll see how this goes. The players who can't handle taking football seriously will be weeded out and replaced by guys who buy into Childress's system. Still, it all depends on Brad Johnson staying healthy and the team getting success out of the linebackers.

4 comments:

  1. You've already had your fantasy draft? So who the heck do you think will be the Vikings main back? Is Chester Taylor going to do anything or will Mewelde Moore be given another shot? Or did you just avoid the Vikings running game altogether?

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  2. can't beleive you already had your fantasy draft. did anyone take a gamble on denver rb's? was it hard laying off vikings?

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  3. Pacifist took Tatum Bell (However he took Portis in the 1st round and then because of trading picks he was able to get R.Moss, Harrison, and Steve Smith with his next picks). We allow the flexibility of starting 2 RB and 2WR or 1 RB and 3 WR, so he was set and therefore took the gamble on Tatum (Mike Bell was declared the starter Monday after our Friday draft).

    Pacifist also took a late round flyer on Mewelde Moore after I thwarted his attempts of getting Chester Taylor with the last pick in the 4th round.

    Because I dont have my spreadsheet here I can't nail down his team, but here is mine. (I traded my 1st, 2nd, 7th, and 13th rounders for another teams 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th rounders)

    QB- McNabb, Culpepper
    RB- McGahee, D.Davis, K.Jones, C.Taylor, Benson, A.Green
    WR- Holt, Fitzgerald, Burleson, and Drew Bennett
    TE- Heap and Vernon Davis
    K- Dalls (Vanderjagt)
    D- Giants

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  4. I only drafted Mewelde Moore, Troy Williamson, Jermaine Wiggins, and the Viking Defense. I would say that I did a fair job staying away from Vikings. ;(

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