Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Mostly Minnesota Blizzard

Peter King provides his Training Camp Postcard for the Vikings. One highlight: "I think Chad Greenway is one of the fastest linebackers I've seen this summer." Don't give me the chills, Mr. King. He also talks about our hero, Tarvaris Jackson.

The Star Tribune looks at the work the Vikes are doing to improve their kick and punt coverage.

The Pioneer Press suggests Visanthe Shiancoe might be capable of big plays from the tight end position (at least, he's been showing it in practice).

Daily Norseman looks at the Vikings' Madden 08 ratings.

Hashmarks says the Vikes are the third worst team in the league. We have to expect national commentators to think little of the Vikes primarily because of our hero, Tarvaris Jackson. Admittedly, if I were looking at a team I didn't follow closely, and its QB was a second-year second-round Division I-AA QB, I'd have my doubts too. But I will be shocked if the Vikings end the season as one of the three worst teams in the league. QB is the most important position in football, no doubt; however, the Vikings have enough strengths in other areas to at least compete.

Wages of Wins looks at the Kevin Garnett trade, particularly how it could affect the Wolves (with reference to my fictional hero, George Costanza).

Stop Mike Lupica, I appreciate anybody that can whip out Wordsworth when talking about sports.

Oh, Priest, keep making me believe; I'm willing to suspend all disbelief when it comes to you (Sports Illustrated).

I thought ESPN had a useful analysis of context for different reactions to the Michael Vick story in "A History of Mistrust;" Leave the Man Alone, however, wasn't impressed, and the HCIC offers her own useful analysis. By the way, it's interesting that there are federal laws that can be used to prosecute people for fighting animals (not directly: crossing state lines, conspiracy, all that jazz), but according to wikipedia, "There is no federal law that regulates the humane treatment of chickens." In U.S. law, not all animals are created equal. Chickens can be mutilated and be made to spend their entire lives in tiny cages. Outrage over this state of affairs is primarily limited to the animal rights crowd. If Michael Vick wanted to raise chickens instead of (allegedly) fight dogs, he could cut off their beaks himself and put them in tiny cages (even making them share the tiny cages), never letting them out and letting them get ornery with each other. This is common practice. Actually, with no laws regulated humane treatment of chickens, when it is time to slaughter them he could probably tie a chicken up upside down and make a chicken pinata, whacking it with a stick. I'm not sure there's any law to punish him if he wanted to poke the chickens' eyes out with a hot poker. PETA turns up some pretty sadistic treatment of chickens in its investigations of chicken suppliers, so it's not that far off: "throwing live birds against walls, kicking them like soccer balls, and spitting tobacco juice into their eyes [...] Birds impaled by transport cages, kicked and thrown around by workers, and crushed to death in dumping machines." Hey, just think about your outrage over the torture of dogs, and consider why there isn't outrage over routine torture of chickens.

5 comments:

  1. I like what I read from King... seems to have the same thoughts on Tarvaris as all of Vikings Nation... he'll take some lumps, but he's going to be a good one.

    Also love the talk about Greenway... I'm really excited to see him play.

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  2. Good God the bunny is fast. I just posted that thing about Wright Thompson's article.

    Is your enthusiasm about Priest Holmes another one of your Fantasy Football tricks?

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  3. Anonymous1:14 PM

    isn't cock fighting illegal?

    rk

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  4. Anonymous2:06 PM

    Cock fighting is illegal in all states and DC. It was legal in Louisiana as recently as this summer. Because of this fact, I don't think PVs arguments regarding chickens hold firm. I'm sure if people were raising dogs to eat them, there would be a different perspective. Is it an unfair comparison, perhaps. But if I'm to get up in arms about chickens being mistreated, I'm first going to have to stop thinking of them as food.

    KS

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  5. twins15: I know it's stupid, but with Greenway back, I sort of feel like the Vikes are gaining two first-round picks this year. It sounds like that ACL injury (which was a full year ago) isn't hurting him too bad.

    HCIC: Priest Holmes is a fantasy icon that used to carry my team; he could be a 50 year old RB and still hold a place in my heart.

    RK and KS: Cock fighting is illegal state to state; I believe New Mexico was one of the last holdouts.

    That's the thing: if you want to make a chicken fight another chicken, you are a criminal. If you want to cut a chickens' beak off and make it spend its life in a cage too small for it to move, you raise chickens.

    I've also wondered how people would react if instead of being accused of making dogs fight each other, Vick were accused of raising dogs, killing them humanely, and eating them. More outrage or less? Rationally, there should be little to no outrage; emotionally, I think people would absolutely freak out.

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