Happy Thorsday, everyone, and welcome to Skoloholics, your home for Minnesota Vikings Discussion! Every day you can join us for the latest Minnesota Vikings news, lots of Minnesota Vikings talk, also NFL news and updates, and most anything else you may have on your mind. At Skoloholics, the real action is in the comments, so if you haven’t checked out the comments section yet, sign up and join the conversation.
Minnesota Vikings Discussion/NFL News
It sounds like Brian Flores may get consideration for a HC position next season, and we know a few more NFL coaches are getting fired by the end of the year. I have to say, I hope he stays for another season or two, but if he leaves, I really hope “Team Collaboration” has groomed a successor with the mad genius style. Any coach needs players, and the team has improved the talent on defense this season.
It feels strange to be at this point of the season, and still be not only in the thick of the playoff hunt, but to have a chance at catching the Lions for the division lead. I do think the Vikings finish second in the north, but anything can happen. Looking around the league, I have to say I am impressed with the GM/Coach we have compared to most teams. Normally, this is the time of year when I complain about the QB or coach or GM. I cannot do that this season, since the future QB is not even playing, and the Coach and GM are doing very well IMO.
Pic up top. Brown dog is THOR, and the corgi is Loki. Fitting, for Thorsday.
FTP!
Got a stinker of a game on Thursday night again. Cleveland vs Pittsburgh. Rooting for the Steelers even though I strongly dislike Wilson. I like Tomlin and it is fun to see the team that overpaid Watson get crushed.
Thread Guidelines
- Keep politics out. We are adults, news happens, and we can talk about it. What we don’t want is to go down the rabbit holes and turn a productive conversation into name calling and personal attacks.
- Be cool to one another. Like it says above, just be civil. You don’t need to agree with everyone and that’s fine, you also don’t need to make it personal. Attack the argument not the poster.
- Keep the NSFW to a minimum. We don’t need anyone getting in trouble at work for hanging out here.
- All in all, be adults. Treat each other with respect and things will be fine. Mods will take out content they feel is pushing the boundary. If you want to reach out about something feel free to ask. We want to have robust discussions, that’s why we’re here, just be civil.
- Twitter sized version: Be cool to one another
Tonight’s game turned out to be a good one. 1 point game, snowing like crazy.
Down goes Pittsburgh 26-19.
Cleveland with TD with one minute left.
Thread is scheduled for morning, I didn’t fall asleep before getting it done tonight.
Good ONYA
Todays injury report.
Looks like everyone is a go except Oliver.
#nojinx
Cold, rainy day here in PA, so I go trout fishing. My favorite wild trout stream winds through a private country club, but they gave me permission to fish there, “as long as no golfers are in the course”. So 40 degrees and rain, I headed up there.
i caught 8 fish, 6 of which were.nice. Highlights were a 19 inch brown and a 13 inch tiger trout. Tiger trout are a very rare, sterile cross between a brookie and brown. i have been trout fishing since 1970 (whitewater in SE MN) and I never even have seen one. He was a fat one and put up a great fight, so I tipped my hat to him and let him go.
Good for you! Sounds like a great day.
I get to meet Dr. J!
we were supposed to see Michael Vick on Monday, but his cousin passed away and the funeral is on Monday. They’re bringing in Julius Irving instead.
I have meetings with Dr. J almost nightly……
giggle…..
At least the dogs are safe with Dr J.
Upgrade!!!!!!
Kinda’ what I thought, Dr. J. is a legend.
Well, at this point in the season the Vikings defense is a top-10 unit.
YDS/G – 10th
RUSH YDS/G – 1st
PTS/G – 4th
Last year the Vikings were:
YDS/G – 16th
RUSH YDS/G – 8th
PTS/G – 14th
(I purposely left off the passing yards because I feel those are only so high because the rushing defense is so good, and yet we’re still 10th in yards overall.)
The improvement this year is better than I expected so far.
To put it into perspective, two years ago we were 31st in total yards and 30th in points against. I remember games when we were getting gashed on the ground, and now we’re the best rushing defense in the league. Crazy.
Additionally, this year we’re 4th in the league on 3rd downs and the 5th least penalized defense.
(The offense is 7th worst on 3rd downs and the 4th most penalized.)
The Kirko effect….
Still better off with a defense that gives up fourth least points in the league.
Uh Oh MT, better learn to code: From FORTUNE mag
Elon Musk asked people to upload their medical data to X so his AI company could learn to interpret MRIs and CT scans
Well – see Gaetz has withdrawn his name for consideration of DOJ position.
Sad.
Maybe DeSantas will name him to replace Rubio as senator.
That would set off the woke.
Good idea and the woke couldn’t do anything about it – except wine.
Also, maybe there’s a way he can get his old job back.
Not sure he can rescind his resignation, if he can that is sure to bring back the ethics investigation that they voted last night not to release.
Currently he is without a job but no doubt Trump will find something for him to do that doesn’t require and confirmation.
Hope this Hegseth thing is mostly smoke.
I figured Hegseth would be more of a problem as DT already knew about the Gaetz allegation and the DOJ already investigated it.
Apparently they were blindsided by the Hegseth allegations.
Yea, he didn’t tell the Trump team at all about it. Kind of a shame,seems like a solid guy.
It is mostly smoke as he was cleared for it. Main reason he is the right pick is he is die hard Viking fan! Skol
I have 35 years working for DOD AF and Army, they really need a ass kicking. As the great rushbo used to say the military is for killing people and breaking things
AMEN BROTHER!
Ditto!!
Would never disagree with that. Ass kicking and a bunch of flags looking for a new job.
A Bares centric article but it makes the point that the game Sunday comes down to their running game vs our running defense.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/column-solve-pressure-minnesota-vikings-235000312.html
then we win…as long as we don’t let the crybaby get too many rushing yards.
#jinx just in case.
Even if they ‘should’ run the ball well, we’ll still beat them.
Kind of an interesting thought exercise, I think I would go with Randall McDaniel – he would be the largest improvement over what we currently have starting…Probably Page would be my second choice.
Vikes Views: Which Legend Would You Bring Back for the Vikings
With the addition of Risner OC might now be our biggest weakness.
So Mick Tingelhoff? Although at 237 he is too light for todays NFL.
Tingelhoff was a stud in his day though…my goodness.
NFL Hall Of Fame Member!!
Matt Birk or Jeff Christie
More gooder choices probably.
I picked the packers over the 49ers in our Skoloholics pick’em challenge….
I feel contaminated, I need a shower.
Will giving the pick low confidence points mitigate that feeling much??
I gave it like a 3….that helps some, but I still feel icky.
Packers over 49ers…NoDak has more points than me…that means he picks better than me…perhaps, I should copy…
DISCLAIMER – past results are not indicative of future performance….
But if he has more points than you and you copy him then you will get the same points as him and so will never catch up to him…. in points.
Damn you logic!
You’re welcome.
I am aways here to help.
Watched this video last night, it reveals the 10 worst and 5 best hobbies for men per women. Some are head scratchers, some are funny and a few actually make sense. The Teacher and I enjoyed it.
The only Hobby of mine that is listed happens to be the #1 most attractive hobby…Yeah for me!!
I had two, combining them made sense as listed in the spoiler.
That is upper level thinking.
The Teacher had a good laugh when I started carrying it around. I actually looked some things up that I was considering so a win-win.
Damn, I read, cook, play a few instruments. Guess the booze and gambling canceled out some good things in my younger days.
Well you have 3 pluses and 2 negatives for a net positive.
Gosh I thought it was the other way around.
I didn’t see anything about booze.
It was in the 10 bad hobbies section.
If your hobby is drinking than that is ‘not good’ per the ladies.
I thought that was just smoking weed…
Well shit, then I have one in the negative column.
Hopefully you don’t have the ‘makeup’ hobby as well.
What the hell was that about? What kind of a man lists makeup as a hobby? Oh wait, I guess gay or transgender might.
‘I guess gay or transgender might.’
It makes sense why women would view that hobby as ‘less attractive’.
What about keg stands? Are those OK?
Do not know what they are so I cannot comment.
Just commenting here about my lack of ability to comment.
This is a lie, I didn’t have any of the top 10 worst hobbies, and 4 out of 5 of the best hobbies. No one finds me attractive.
What about #3??
So you don’t call that a ‘hobby’??
I don’t think of myself as attractive but as long as The Teacher does I am fine with that.
Another reason why AP is broke.
A fool and his money are soon parted….
The few times we go to Vegas we have to walk a long way to get from our room to our car. I know that is by design to expose us to lots of gambling options.
We don’t gamble much (occasional Slot machine for her, sports book for me) so we are trying to get to dinner, show, shopping, etc. At least it helps us get our steps in.
I have been to Vegas once. I am not a big fan. I doubt I will be back.
I have nothing against gambling and will visit the casinos around Minneapolis and invest 100 dollars at the black jack table but Vegas is just tooo much.
One thing about Vegas, they are absolute professionals at taking your money.
They do charge you for a lot of stupid stuff, parking, resort fee, etc.
But we can find a cheap room at a casino, have a nice dinner, do something a bit different while taking a break from a long drive.
Gag gifts for the kids were easy to find in Vegas. I found a shirt with a piñata on it with the phrase ‘I’d hit that’. He loved the joke but as a teen he was scared to wear it anywhere.
There are some deals for sure on shows and food etc. But when it comes to gambling, they are very good at taking your money.
Yeah you can often get things ‘comp-ed’ even a show.
Rooms are cheap so they can suck you onto their gaming floor.
I have been watching a lot of documentaries lately about people figuring out how to cheat casinos. It is pretty interesting. My favorite was the family who figured out a roulette wheel was “biased.” It was hitting certain numbers more than it should statistically.
So they kept going back to the casino until they had tracked 30,000 spins. Then they figured out which numbers to bet to win.
That’s interesting. If they should start regularly winning, wonder if the Casinos will show them the door.
Yep, casinos consider that cheating and kick them to the curb.
Yes, like Card Counting – perfectly legal but they will throw your ass out.
I learned how to Card Count many years ago and did it a few times at the local Black Jack establishments. It takes all the fun out of playing so I don’t do it anymore. You have to spend so much effort concentrating and paying attention you can’t just BS with your fellow players and the dealer – no fun at all.
There was a lot of card counter episodes. A lot of times they’d work in teams. When the numbers were good, a person could signal someone to come play that table.
There were some other good scams, too, where these two nerds devised pretty much the first wearable computer to predict roulette outcomes.
Another one I liked was a guy treated a deck of cards with invisible ink, so he could see the marks he made on the back with a special pair of glasses. Then he replaced the dealer’s deck with his own deck.
There was another guy who figured out how to cheat so well that he is basically one of the richest men on earth and built a worldwide betting corporation.
They are all on YouTube. I think the name of the channel is TILT.
‘Then he replaced the dealer’s deck with his own deck.’
Don’t think this is possible at a ‘real’ casino.
I would think this as well. I was playing craps at a casino and switched hands with the dice, and got yelled at. They had to replace the dice.
They have been doing it a long time.
They don’t play around with scams that might cost them money.
That should be the first thing that people realize if they are going to gamble. It is a money maker for the casino, so keep that in mind. They are not out to make you rich, but out to make themselves rich.
Where there is a will, there is a way. These are the kind of people that basically dedicated their entire lives to perfecting these kind of things.
They got so good at it, they eventually replaced an entire shoe of cards.
The casinos pretty much learned how to stop those kind of things by having them happen.
One guy would go into casinos, pry open a slot machine and tamper with it to make it win for him, and he practiced until he could do the whole process in seconds.
Other folks learned how to counterfeit poker chips. Casinos learned that by all of a sudden realizing they had more chips circulating than they should have had.
So many great tales!
Absolutely the casino will show them the door.
And Vito might visit the family home one night.
During the winter Vegas is on the safer route between SoCal and Idaho, trip is long for a one day trip so Vegas was a decent option for an overnight stay.
Plus her Teachers Union had it’s annual convention there every year, that was mandatory for her as a Union Rep.
We even looked at retiring there, figured our kids would visit us more often if we offered free room and board in Vegas. We choose a better option.
My parents used to go every January, usually with another couple. Back in 1997 Mom and her friend flew back, Dad and the other guy drove Mom’s new car back – she dropped 3 nickels into a progressive machine and hit the jackpot.
My sophomore year they took me along.
I will never forget the Japanese tourists playing the machines in the airport – drop 5 nickels in, get 2 back, and they all roared like they won millions, snapping photos (with real cameras back then) of the ‘winners’ in front of the machine……
The Teacher sets aside $10 for entertainment and uses the casino rewards to stretch as far as she can. Then she plays different machines until the money runs out. She said it is less fun since they don’t use coins anymore, all digital.
Looking at the coaching hot seat list, I’m thankful I’m a Vikings fan. Some teams are run by idiots. We may have some heartbreaking losses, but at least we aren’t a perennial clown show like Cleveland, Carolina, or Jacksonville.
When I lived in DC, and Snyder ran the Skins, the fans were fond of saying thank God there is Cleveland so we aren’t the worse run team in the league.
*nojinx
Awesome pooches!
Thanks Surly!
When I was younger, I used to greatly anticipate the deer hunting season. Now I really only do it as a bonding thing with my son. I hope everyone shoots a bunch of deer this year as there are way too many around. The DNR must really be trying to reduce the herd because when I bought my license, in addition to the 1 buck tag, I got 3 free anterless tags. Go Humans! Beat those Deer!
Good luck. Then come to PA so we can thin the herd here too.
Don’t you guys hunt deer with shotguns over there?
They do. Trouble is, in my area, we are being taken over by deer, as well as misguided animal rights idiots. Case in point: We live by a huge state park. Back in the early 80s I would go on a 10 mile run thru the park and count over 100 deer. All vegetation was eaten down, and I rarely saw much other wild life. Then they started a special 2 day hunt to thin the herd. My gawd, your thinking we were shooting kindergarteners with all the protesting ( which still goes on every year). But after 20 years of the hunt I now see a lot of fox, turkey and a few pheasants in the part. Last winter I even saw a Fischer, rare in PA. The hunt has helped the biodiversity of the park
Still too many damned deer though. And liberals. Hmm, that would be a fun special season
Sounds as bad as areas in New Jersey – my sister used to date a guy who moved from there.
They had doe hunts where you could fill trailers and barely make a dent in the population.
They look delicious.
COMPLETELY AGREE!!
Yessir
Back in the day here in Western Wisc where we hunted, the first weekend was shotgun only. They have changed that now.
I had an army buddy from Pennsylvania, I remember him telling me about hunting deer with shotguns. I thought he was bullshitting me at first.
Are these shotguns with slugs?
Depends on local laws. Some places mandate slugs, others buckshot.
Found this for Wisconsin:
In Wisconsin, there are several laws for using a shotgun to hunt deer, including:
The second bullet point is rather confusing to me – how do you use buckshot to kill a deer if it is not legal to possess during deer season???????????????
The same government logic that got that squirrel and raccoon killed?
Thanks. An 18 inch barrel with double-aught buck might require you get pretty close to the deer.
Yeah, even with slugs you probably have to be within 100 yards for sure. I only use my shotgun if I’m walking/stalking. You can use rifle in Wisconsin, or my area anyway, so I go with a .270, 150 grain bullets.
Absolutely. We had to use slugs. They put a nice big hole in the deer.
‘nice big hole in the deer.’
Doesn’t that mean less venison??
If you are not careful, yes, you can ruin some venison. A gut shot with a shotgun is messy.
I started hunting with my wife’s family since I grew up in town and my parents were not hunters. All they had were shotguns because they were poor farmers and couldn’t afford to buy both shotguns and rifles. I was not wealthy either so my first deer hunting gun was a 20 guage single shot shotgun. I could fire and reload almost as fast as some of my wife’s sibling could fire with their pump shotguns.
It’s all based on location. I hunt up in Douglas Co. No doe tags up there. Wolves still keeping the population down.
But if I hunt on my parents’ land by Amery I could shoot 2 or 3 (didn’t look close when I bought my license).
Yep. Trempealeau private land is my hunting area. I think they would probably give out more than 3 if they could. Last night on the way home from work I had to slam on the brakes hard because a stupid doe jumped out in front of me. I would prefer to get one with my gun, not my car.
Just gotta put headlights on your bullets and the deer will jump in front of them.
Brilliant idea!
I find it annoying that when I’m barreling down the road that the deer will just stand there in the middle of the road and stare at me. When I’m in the woods and I make one small noise, they bolt off like they are an Olympic sprinter.
I love hunting, especially with kiddo. Like you, I’m not as excited for the hunt, it’s a reason to bond with my son.
I’m the same way VP. My dad bought “the farm” 33 years ago when I was 16 years old. I couldn’t wait for deer hunting, had 300 acres of private land that I could basically hunt freely on. Now, I still like to hunt, but it’s more about bonding with my sons. I don’t feel the need to get up early and hunt every morning like I used to.
I get up early Saturday morning and we make a long day of it, but Sunday, I don’t go out until the afternoon and then maybe an afternoon or two during the week. Maybe Thanksgiving Day morning. But I will be making chili and taco salad that my son requested and I will help him with processing the venison even though I’m not good at it. Besides, he is a much better hunter than I am now so I am happy watching him get all or most of the deer during the week. He wants to get one for us, one for grandma (we use her land) and two for himself.
“…and I will help him with processing the venison even though I’m not good at it….”
A couple of well-placed cuts on your hands will put an end of having to help…….just blood – your body makes more.
I should probably just promote myself to supervisor.
It is indeed a strange season when there’s not much to bitch about. Even when we don’t play our best we are still winning. Pretty good place to be.
Those are great looking dogs My daughter has an Australian Red Heeler that has a face and ears just like the one on the right.
Nice dogs Surly.
They look like they have a line of the same breed in them.
Yep. Thor is a mini-pin / corgi mix. All murder-missle. Any critters in our yard must die.
@Same with Packers fans@
They both herd, but Thor is the only one that will nip at your heels when he wants you to change directions.
How did it get to be Thursday already? This whole week can be crumpled up and tossed in the garbage can, IMO. Glad it is almost over.
In the meantime, get your picks in for Pick ‘Em League! Looks like we got two guys who haven’t done them yet, which is fine. In fact, it’s great! Helps me move up the ladder!
2 days to the end, at least for me.
Trying something next week that I haven’t done in like 20 years. Maybe longer.
Taking the entire week off next week. No plans. Just vegging.
Tasting what retirement might be like.
As for your picks……
Also taking next week off. Although I did that last year for the first time in about 30 years. FTE now, so I have PTO to burn, and do not need 6 weeks off per year.
I tend to take long weekends and a day or two here and there throughout the year. But never just a week to veg.
I also have to burn two weeks before the end of the year.
So next week is off, and another week off around Christmas.
I’m going to lose vacation this year. I don’t have time to burn it all.
I am sort of taking Monday and Tuesday off next week, in addition to Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving.
Got to do things like get oil changed in vehicles, wife’s birthday, etc.
An idea if you really want to ‘test’ retirement. Take two consecutive weeks – the second week will be revealing.
I used to do that, when I was younger. The job I had only offered 2 weeks vacation per year, and I was never sick. So, I would take 2 weeks off in the summer, when it was slow. I would start going stir crazy about half way through the 1st week. Then I would start breaking stuff around the house so I had something to work on.
The Army gave you 30 days a year. So every 4-5 years the family would take a long trip back to the hometown to visit.
They would have a huge family BBQ at a local park and everyone had a great time.
Told an Aunt once that the get togethers were great and i was sorry that we couldn’t attend very often. She gave me an odd look and said ‘you know that they only have these family BBQs when you guys come home to visit’. My little mind was blown.
I have next week off as well. But, I am hosting Turkey day for my kids and my brother and family.
Skol
FTP
FT*
We get a Thorsday, Thanks Surly
First autorec!
FTP AutoRec.