Once upon a time there was a great band named Metallica that sang these lyrics “End of passion play, crumbling away, I’m your source of self-destruction” and once upon a time there was a Minnesota Vikings team that those lyrics couldn’t possibly describe.

That seems like such a long time ago.

Lately fans have grown all-to-accustomed to the last minute losses, poor play calling, and even poorer officiating that sometimes decides a game. Today, after 5 valiant field goals and stifling defensive game, another loss. In the bard’s tale of this Viking’s game, only one of the above recent failures applies, it was another unlikely last minute loss.

There are questions that fans and coaches alike must be asking, how can Adrian Peterson have such a great game and the team still gets an “L”, how can the defensive unit play so soundly for so long and the team still takes home an “L”, why didn’t the team score a touchdown with so many opportunities and so much run strength, and ultimately how can this season be saved?

Here are a few more questions while we’re at it.

Is Adrian Peterson learning what it’s like to be Barry Sanders?

Is it time to Free Frerotte? 

Is it possible that Brad Childress is becoming more unliked than Lars Ulrich?

Did you watch the Vikings? Here’s my quick assessment of the game.

1) So long #1 run defense. 2) Packer’s QB Aaron Rodgers is the real deal. 3) Brad Childress really doesn’t get coaching football in Minnesota.

Though the score of Minnesota 19 and Green Bay 24 seemed like an even match; the game really didn’t seem as close as the final score reflected. The Packers running game gashed the Vikings D Line and their pass attack blew up Vikings D Backfield like a hand grenade tossed by a stalwart football cliche.

Meanwhile, Minnesota ran with it’s tried and true game day strategy of predictibility and lackadaisical effort. There were a few exceptions to the rule of ineptitude. As usual Adrian Peterson looked awesome and newcomer Jared Allen managed to cause distruption for the Pack’s offense(no sacks, no tackles - some penalties) , but it wasn’t enough to thwart the Pack’s plan.

Childress really needs to wisen up. Here’s the scoop coach. We play 15 games a year and two that really matter more than the others, the rivalry with the Packers. So far you have managed to coach us to 5 losses in a row in this contest. If you can’t win a game against the Green you could atleast find us a new rival.

The game’s saving grace was the camera shots of the crowd. I’m not sure what’s with football fans wearing really terrible wigs, but this is a trend I’d like to see spread. Atleast if I could wear a mullet wig to work tomorrow people might talk about something other than this evening’s loss.

If you,dear reader, were to hop on this new wig wearing fashion wagon, what would be your style? I see you in an old timey judge wig. 

Did you watch the game? What did you think?

The Herkimer will have all-you-can-eat pig roast and beer for $15 from 5-7pm for the Vikings vs Packers game on Monday, September 8. Game starts at 6pm, despite what the poster below says.

(The Herkimer also regularly hosts PackerBar.)

Vikings deny tampering with Favre “The Packers claim Favre had “inappropriate dialogue” with Minnesota offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell.”

Currently there are 150+ comments on the Star Tribune’s website, but not a single one addresses what I’m wondering. Just how inappropriate could this dialogue have been?

If these “inappropriate” conversations did indeed happen at all I picture them going something like this;

It’s late and Darrell Bevell is feeling a little saucey so he gives his old buddy Favre a call “So Brett, what are you wearing?” to which Brett replies “You know, just my Superbowl ring…” Then Bevell would breathily reply with some inappropriate innuendo laced sweet nothings about scoring (touchdowns) and maybe winning one of those rings for the Vikings.

Ofcourse, I probably just have an inappropriate imagination.

What kind of ridiculous things do you imagine they may have talked about? And just how exactly does one tamper with a person? Though, now that I’ve given the tamper thing some thought, I’m fairly certain Favre’s safety seal has long been broken.

The Lyndale Neighborhood Association is having a Beer Bust fundraiser for its Bike Cops program next weekend (Saturday, July 19) at Champions Sports Bar and Grill.

Support the Lyndale Neighborhood Association Bike Cop Program. This program builds community and safety in the Lyndale Neighborhood. Come and meet your Bike Cops! We will serve unlimited beer from 2:00 to 4:00 pm for $10.

Beer Bust! $10 tickets can be picked up at the LNA office, 3537 Nicollet Ave S. or at the event. For more information, contact Mike and Shirley Montrose at 612- 822-2372.

MPLS Mirror tells the story of the Bike Cops program.

The neighborhood decided to change the community’s attitude towards the police by financing an innovative program, utilizing ‘bike cops’. In some ways, ‘bike cops’ isn’t innovative because instead of trying something that’s never been done before, it’s something that was done for years by ‘beat cops’ and abandoned in favor of patrol cars. The neighbors believed that the downside to patrol cars was the distancing of police from the citizens, especially youth that they pledged to protect and serve. The other downside was the distancing from the criminal element. Residents believed that police patrols, speeding past criminals going about their day-to-day criminal pursuits, distanced them from what was going on in the ‘house next door’.

LNA decided to earmark funds to pay off-duty officers to patrol the streets to bring them closer to both groups.

I’d be curious to hear how they measure their success. Clearly the program has a lot of support from residents and businesses.

One more thing…

In case you hadn’t heard, Minnesota is turning 150. This is mostly a happy time (seriously–why do you read this blog if you hate Minnesota so much, huh?), but MinnPost doesn’t like to see a parade go un-rained on. So, they have given us a three-part feature:

150 Minnesota moments we’d just as soon forget.

It’s a lot of tornadoes, cold temperatures, and murders, but there are some other things as well. I’ve selected some of the sillier, less-depressing items for your perusal. I hesitate to call them my favorites, but whatever. You get the idea. Read more

Sports stadiums are a hot issue in this state. Me and my wife have an argument over them once in awhile especially when taxpayer money is involved. I will have to admit, I am a sports fan, but not a super sports fan. I am just as happy to sit at home and watch sports on TV, the stadium experience can be expensive and crowded.

I found this article on the web that stadiums don’t benefit local economies. I also saw this quote “Public subsidies of professional sports stadiums provide no tangible public good” in the article.

I think this is a bit shortsighted, even though I hate the fact that public money is going to Companies that have millions and billions of dollars. The government gives subsidies to big companies all the time and not just sports teams.

Our quality of life in the Twin Cities looks better because of places like the Walker, The Guthrie, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts and many of the other museums and theaters. I think the fact that we have more then 4 professional sports teams also enhances our cities and the state experience. This is a very well rounded state. We have all the cultural things and add the sports on top of that it’s a big plus.

You might not be able to quantify it, just by local merchants takes or which athletes live and spend in Minnesota. How about bigger companies who stay or decide to move here because of it. How about people who move here for jobs, or just move here because of our State being more visible.

With all this taxpayer money flowing into an endless quest for quality of life, I just wish they could make it more affordable for the taxpayers. A play at the Guthrie runs close to $40 per ticket which for a family of four can add up to well over $100, and tickets to a Vikings game would be over $200.

The bad part isn’t that we pay for all of this out of taxes, the bad part is we ending up paying twice.

The latest numbers on the Twins stadium:

Cost: $544.4 million (including site acquisition and infrastructure)
Public financing: $392 million from a 0.15 percent sales tax in Hennepin County
Private financing: $152.4 million from the Twins

Those are ballpark figures (*ba DUM bum*). I also read $522/$387/130 + about $5/year for naming rights. Looks like the more recent the estimates, the higher all figures are.

The latest numbers on the MOA expansion:

Cost: $1.9-2.1 billion
Public financing: $371 million from a TBD sales/food/lodging tax in Bloomington
Private financing: $1.5-1.8 billion

Again, costing varies depending on the date of the article. Here’s what you get in Phase II of the MOA. Phase I puports to bring $1.8 billion/yr to the city of Bloomington. Slightly off topic, I wonder how this will affect the Waterpark of America.

Part of the hang up here is the financing of the parking ramp to the tune of $186-$204 million. The parking ramp funding will certainly have implications for whatever large projects follow it (like a Vikings Stadium).

But… just look at the disparity in public vs private financing. The only direct comparison of benefit I turned up in my cursory research is that the state expects to collect $10 million/year from ballpark-related sales and player income taxes. The MOA pays $55 million/year in state and local taxes.

Tell me how the relative cost of taxpayer burden is worth what the venture brings to the region (yes, I know it costs me personally about $30/year for the Twins stadium). I’ll add in my argument for the social and cultural benefit of having a common cause that unites us.

Maybe I should wait to see how they go about approving the tax in Bloomington before I come to a conclusion. Maybe the residents will get a choice in the matter.

[Hennepin County/Twins Ballpark Fact Sheet (pdf)]

Erica and I have been livin la vida loca in Austin, Tx this week at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference.

Sunday night we had a Metroblogging meet-up with Sean Bonner featuring representatives from Minneapolis, Dallas, San Francisco and Los Angeles on Sunday. As Metroblogging Austin mentioned, the main topic of conversation was the trainwreck Mark Zuckerberg interview that had just taken place. In fact, a website to commemorate the occasion was conceived and implemented during the meetup.

You’ll notice everyone in the photo is pretty much wrapped up in their laptop and/or pda. That’s geekdom for ya.

I’ve been in Austin since last Monday, and as I meet people at panels, parties and restaurants, I’ve been collecting reactions from people when I say I’m from Minneapolis. These are absolutely true:

1. Wow, it must be warmer here, even though it’s been cold in Austin this week.
2. Life must go by very slowly there compared to (insert where idiot person lives).
3. Grumpy Old Men is my only reference for Minnesota.
4. The person I’m rooming with at my town is from Minnesota. Her name is Zara. What? You don’t know her.
5. I was there once. Actually, just in the airport. It was okay.
6. Oh, well I’m sure you can’t wait to leave there.
7. Do you like the Vikings? I’m a Patriots fan.
8. I love Fargo.
9. The Twin Cities have a vibrant arts scene. I bet it’s great living there.
10. Where is that again?

Starting at 5:30pm, until approximately 11pm.

The streets affected will be Fifth Street from 11th Avenue to Park Avenue, Chicago Avenue between Third and Sixth Streets, Fourth Street from Park Avenue to Interstate 35W, and Norm McGrew Place between Third and Fourth Streets.

I don’t know if this will have much effect on downtown traffic during rush hour. I’m less worried about that than about the reasoning that this is a security measure. How is this different from a Sunday afternoon game? Is it the timing? The opponent?