LNR: Real Favre Dealine, Disgust over Stallworth Sentence

Since I didn't get to the Brett Favre HBO interview from last night, I'll hit on that real quick. So what did we learn other than the fact that Mr. Pompous Joe Buck does not deserve a show of his own? Nothing. Joe Buck asked all the questions any of us following this story would have asked, yet he left out the most important and possibly controversial question - Are you trying to join the Vikings in an attempt to stick it to the Packers?

Where were you on that one Joe? It would have been nice to see Favre try dodging that question, but you wussed out. So it's back to knowing what we knew before this piece even aired. Favre still wants to play and will do so if his arm fully recovers from the surgery he had two and a half weeks ago. The only new bit of information he gave was that he turned down Childress' offer to appear at the OTA's in Winter Park. Not because he didn't want to, but be cause he didn't want to start the media circus only to find out that he's not going to recover as he had hoped which would lead to another media circus following that announcement.

This has been covered to death throughout the day, but this tidbit just came out tonight. The Vikings have officially given Favre a deadline - July 29th, which is when the team reports to training camp.

Enough on this for now, on to tonight's Sports Five.

Sports Five
- SI in town to do a story on Joe Mauer and he goes 4-4 tonight. Twins win 8-2 on a strong return performance from Glen Perkins.
- Disgusting story of the day: Donte Stallworth pleads guilty, only gets 30 days in jail. 30 days! Killed a man while driving intoxicated and going well over the speed limit. To put this into perspective, Timberwolves guard Malik Sealy was killed in 2000 by a drunk driver and the driver served four years. Athlete preferential treatment? The ability to buy your way out of a long prison term? You be the judge of that one.
- The Brandon Marshall story is gaining traction as he posts farewell to the Denver fans in his blog.
- Tiger could have a tough time in the US Open this year. Long courses usually give him an advantage, but he's not getting the length he had before the surgery.
- Minnesota Wild no longer coachless, land Minnesota native Todd Richards who promises a open, attacking style of play. Enough for Gaborik to stay? I sure as hell hope so.

The gaming front has slowed down a bit since E3, which is to be expected. I'm still looking for my review copy of Tiger 2010 for the Xbox 360. Anyone?

Gaming Five
- Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters reviews hit everywhere, looking better than average.
- Game Consoles dominate in Web-to-TV delivery.
- Pre-order Madden 2010 at Gamestop to get your exclusive demo.
- Microsoft mum on New Xbox rumors.
- Halo 3 murderer sentenced. May you drop your soap countless times to make up for the bad gaming press you created, asshole.

Favre on HBO's Joe Buck Live tonight

As the entire world has already heard, Favre will be on the debut show of Joe Buck Live tonight (how this selfish, biased tool gets his own show is beyond me). It airs on HBO at 8pm Central Time and I'll blog my thoughts on it in tonight's Late Night Recap. Here's hoping Joe Buck has the balls to ask the tough questions. Surely Favre is going to do all he can to make it sound as if he just wants to play for the love of the game, but we all know he wants to stick it to the Pack - Ted Thompson specifically. I'd be a bit more at ease with him joining the Vikings if he just admitted that.

Book Review: Stephen King's Cell

I remember when Stephen King announced that once his epic journey to the Dark Tower was complete, he would stop writing. This was around 2002 if I remember correctly, and I recall thinking to myself - yeah right, it's what you do man, there's no way you can stop.

I, amongst thousands of others, was correct. Cell was released in 2006 and was the first true signature novel of Stephen King's following The Dark Tower. A guy like him is triggered by the empowering "what if" and Cell is a direct example of that. Like myself, I'm sure Mr. King watches all the "phone crazies" around him - in their car, filling their buggies at the super market, in the elevator, on the plane, on the bus, and on and on. So surely Cell was a direct representation of his people watching.

Cell opens up by paying homage to the king of zombie flicks, George Romero. The pacing of this book in the first third is fast and feels much like a zombie film. As the story progresses however, you come to find that this is no zombie tale at all. I really enjoyed the first third of this book, the character development was fast - which is unusual for King, and his signature imagery was sprinkled throughout.

The story does slow down a bit about half way through as it becomes centered around the main character and his quest to find his son. King did his homework on the technical aspects of this novel and as a IT Professional, I can appreciate that.

This is a fine, enjoyable read for his first true novel following the rigors of The Dark Tower. For King, it's more of what I like to call a popcorn read. I can see this one as being written for the screen and believe it would make for a fine summer movie. I've been a fan of Stephen King since I was kid and he's a writer I look up to and sometimes find trying to emulate in my own fiction. If you're a fan of King's other horror novels, I recommend this one.

PPP Rating: 7.5 out of 10

LNR: StarCraft 2 Beta Update, Childress does more Favre dodging

So it's been a bit too long since the last LNR. My apologies on that, but things happen and unless something changes and I actually start getting paid for this, that's just the way it goes sometimes. But, as you can see, I'm still plugging away and will continue to do so (work and family permitting). I come to you from my hotel room in Chicago tonight where it took me almost five hours to get here thanks to delays at the lovely O'hare aiport. I'm catching up with the stories and here's what's caught my eye in a short time.

Gaming Five
- Blizzard handing out StarCraft 2 beta keys tomorrow? This post says it's 100% confirmed, so where's my key, Blizzard!!??
- Remember Duke Nukem Forever? The game that was supposed to be released before Y2K? Yeah, well here's some new footage, even though I thought 3D Realms mailed it in recently.
- Hey iPhone users, want an addicting game to pull you away from Facebook? Peggle is now 80% off, only costs $1. One dollar! You can't even get a 20 oz. Dew for that price.
- Gears of War 2 PC rumors, according to IGN. Rumors, really? Why? The first one is available on the PC, with an additional act that never hit the 360.
- Overlord II demo has been released for the PC and PS3. It's so fun being evil, isn't it!!??

Sports Five
- Childress dodges more Favre questions..............blah blah blah.
- Crimson Tide Football put on probation, stripped of 21 wins. Ouch.
- Phil Mickleson is hitting 'em well, post wife cancer announcement.
- Red Sox continue domination over the Yankees, improve to 8-0 against them.
- Twins road woes continue, lose 3-0 lead late in the game against Oakland, lose 4-3.

That's it for tonight, here's hoping my trip back the Twin Cities tomorrow goes better than the trip here.

Childress denies Favre dealine, wants him if healthy

If there's a team in the NFL that can turn the sport into a tennis match during the off season, it's the Minnesota Vikings. Brad Childress finally jumped on KFAN this morning to publicly address the situation. You can get the podcast from this mornings Powertrip Morning show here: Childress on Favre

I'm glad to see that he's putting this on hold and giving Favre enough time to recover from last month's surgery. He addressed a question about how Sage and TJack are handling the situation stating, "I'm not worried about their reaction." A pretty bold statement, but he did follow up with this:

"I've talked with Sage and Tarvaris," Childress said. "They're competitors. Do they like any of the conversation? Absolutely not. But they know this: I'm charged with adding and subtracting players from this team to make us better. Every day when I walk into this office, there's not a day that I don't try to look and see if we can't get better at some position. If this is going to make us better down the road, and if this has got a chance to happen, I'm going to take care of the Minnesota Vikings."

It's nice to finally hear him admit that if healthy, he wants Favre. So now we are back to waiting, but at least we now know where the coach and team stand. It's all up to how Favre's recovery goes now.

Childress gives Favre a Deadline, really....why?

As we all know, ESPN reported last night that Brett Favre had surgery on his arm last month. An indication that he's a bit more serious about a return and more than likely to the Vikings than previously thought. Today the Vikings imposed a deadline on Favre, giving him till the end of the week to make a decision. Favre still needs to time to heal to see if this is even going to be possible, so why the deadline now? This is clearly a power move by the Vikings, trying to get Favre to cave in now and possibly sign a one year deal at a lower price. But really, isn't Favre still the one that has the Vikings by the balls? If he calls the Vikings in July and says "Hey guys, my arm feels better now than it has in years, you ready to sign me?" Do you actually think they will turn him down? If they did all Favre would have to say is "Really, who is your starting quarterback right now? You guys really think a TJack/Sage combo is going to get it done in this league?"

Seriously, this deadline is a joke. They are obviously serious about pursuing Favre so it's in their best interest to let him fully recover, bring him in for some throwing tests, and make a decision then. If they are attempting to ease the fragile minds of Sage and Jackson, they screwed the pooch on that one the second they entertained bringing Favre to Minnesota......for the second year in a row.

LNR: The E3 Madness has begun

E3 2009 has officially kicked off with the Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft conferences all completed and the web a complete buzz over it. Tomorrow will be the Nintendo and Sony Press Conferences followed by the three day mayhem of non-stop game previews from the show room floors. Late Night Recap will be a bit more gaming centered all week due to E3 so the usual five stories will be a bit expounded on. Here's what caught my eye so far.

- Assassin's Creed 2 Cinematic Trailer.
- Mass Effect 2 Impressions and Screenshots.
- Madden NFL 10 Online Franchise details.
- Left 4 Dead 2 announced and dated.
- Facebook and Twitter to invade Xbox 360, life will never be the same for some.
- Red Steel 2 looks more than promising and will be bundled with Wii MotionPlus.
- Metal Gear Solid: Rising announced for the Xbox 360. Conflicting reports state that it may also be coming to the PS3 and PC.
- Star Wars: The Old Republic Cinematic trailer........wow!
- Modern Warfare 2 Demo footage.
- Halo Reach announced, multiplayer beta to be included with the upcoming Halo 3: ODST.
- The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition announced. Second title to follow and here's hoping all the great point and click adventures from back in the day many of us came to love get a nice rework like this.
- Lego Harry Potter 1-4 announced and why not, everything else is getting Legoized these days.
- Guitar Hero 5 band list revealed. More Megadeth and Iron Maiden, ftw!

That's enough for tonight and there's plenty of other action to follow on all the gaming sites out there these days. I'll have more links tomorrow so check back and I'll try to include a Vikings update, but there just isn't much going on right now other than the Wildcat formation.

Review: Guitar Hero Metallica

Guitar Hero Metallica
Developer: Neversoft
Publisher: Activision Blizzard
Release Date: March 29, 2009
Platform Reviewed: Xbox 360






Sure this one has been out for a while now, but I'm not fortunate enough to receive free review copies like I once was. I'll do reviews like this from time-to-time and I'm sure many others out there do not have the ability to purchase every title under the sun on its release date.

If there was ever a perfect marriage for a band to Guitar Hero game it's Guitar Hero Metallica. The masters of Metal/Rock compliment the series rather well and unlike Prince, they made the right decision to take part in full with the experience. What Prince fails to see is that Guitar Hero has driven a interest for many to pick up and learn a real guitar. Guitar Hero is a game and not meant to emulate real guitar play. Instead it's an enjoyable rhythm based experience bringing Rock and Roll back into the lime light and drawing interest from our youth along the way.

GH Metallica brings the experience of a live Metallica show directly into your living room. I've been to several shows dating back to the Masters of Puppets tour and I can say that the only thing missing is Cliff Burton. The full motion capture of the band is a great touch and the stage layouts are perfect. Metallica has always been known as a power band and that's brought right to the screen at times. During Sad but True, hard-hitting explosive breaks have James Hefield coming right at the screen with a timely strum of his rhythm guitar. That's just one example of the care and feel put into this title.

Metallica has a huge library of songs and the set list chosen for this is top notch. For all my fellow old school metal heads out there, you'll find plenty tracks from Kill em All, Masters of Puppets, and Ride the Lightning. Songs like Whiplash and Hit the Lights prove be the most challenging especially while on the hard and expert settings. The 20 guest bands are a nice mix, but I personally found the song choices in this department overall to be rather weak. A few stand out like Slayer's War Ensemble and System of a Down's Toxicity, but many of the others will have you scratching your head. Since this is supposed to be bands that influenced Metallica and bands that they enjoy, where's the Misfits, Black Flag, or hell, a shout out to Dave Mustain by including a set from Megadeth?

Since this released after Guitar Hero Wold Tour you are able to piece together an entire band. A new level of difficulty has been added to the drums called Expert + which allows you to use the new double base add-on and have you playing drums damn near note-for-note with Lars Ulrich - no easy task, that's for sure. You also have the ability to record your own music like World Tour and can battle online in the Battle of the Bands mode (4 on 4). What's missing here though is DLC (download content). What you see is what you get, nothing more to add except for the Death Magnetic album. It would have been nice to have the ability to build the entire Metallica collection. This makes the $60 price point tough for many to swallow, but I was fortunate enough to pick this up at Target for $37 during one of their one week only sales.

If you are a die hard Metallica fan and a fan of Guitar Hero, this is a no brainer. I've been enjoying Metallica since Kill em All and I absolutely love this title. The only true down side to me is the lack of DLC. I like the direction Neversoft is taking with the game centered around one band, especially if they continue to have a production value as good as this one.

PPP Rating: 8.5 out of 10

StarCraft 2 to be released by the end of this year

Earlier tonight Shacknews reported that StarCraft 2 will be released this year. This was announced today (Sunday) by Blizzard President Mike Morhaime during a Activision Blizzard Pre-E3 conference call. As always with Blizzard, no concrete release date has been set only that it will be released when it's ready.

I signed up a while back for the closed Beta and that's set to start this summer. Here's hoping I get chosen so I can write up some early preview action. Now we just need a beta sign up announcement for Diabl0 3 and a hint at its release.

Late Night Recap for Thursday, May 28, 2009

Things were rather quiet in sports and gaming today. I spent the day at the Minneapolis Convention Center for a VMware forum. Pretty informative for those of the IT ilk. I must say, after attending E3 at the LA Convention Center a couple of times and now finally seeing the Minneapolis Convention center, we could easily host E3 here. I'm sure the staff over at Game Informer would love that.


Gaming Five
- Rock Band gets Iron Maiden DLC. Best DLC ever!
- Xbox 360 sales top 30 million. Over 20 million users on Xbox Live!
- Old school Punch-Out!! or Wii Punch-Out!! Which one wins the battle?
- Here's a behind the scenes look at E3 2009 during the setup.
- Fight Night Round 4 demo is now available on Xbox Live.

Sports Five
- Morten Andersen a first ballot Hall of Famer. But I'll always remember (and detest) you for making a field goal in January of 1998 that you never should've gotten to kick!
- ESPN Headline: Brady throws, stretches in light rain. What's next? Brady takes a leak in the urinal? Give me a break!
- What the hell happened to the Rays? They get swept by.....the Indians?
- The Broncos released JJ Arrington. What can I say, it's a slow news day.
- Four players ejected in today's Twins/Red Sox game. Dome traffic also delayed my bus ride home.

Late Night Recap for Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Other than Fran Tarkenton, it's rather quiet on the sports side of things today. Not the case when it comes to gaming thanks to E3 2009 lurking just around the corner. I'll do my best to keep up with the E3 happenings as they arrive so be sure to keep checking back.

Gaming Five
- More inFamous reviews can be found here and here. This one is looking rather good.
- Guitar Hero 5 rocks the consoles on September 1st.
- Tor Books is publishing the upcoming Bioshock novel. No final word on who the author is yet though.
- New StarCraft 2 Footage. Drool.
- Check out IGN's most anticipated Games of E3 2009: PS3, 360, Wii, PC

Sports Five
- Tarkenton has some pretty harsh words for Favre.
- Antoine Winfield will attend mini camp without a new contract.
- Pat Williams calls out Tarvaris Jackson, tells him to work harder.
- The secret to Mauer Power.
- Real Scouts has rated every position in the NFL, here's a breakdown of Defensive End. You should be able to find the rest from there.

Tarkenton wants Favre to sign with Vikes "so he can fail"

Fran Tarkenton is clearly not a fan of Brett Favre's. Read through this and you'll see why. Now he's got me rethinking the whole Favre in Purple bit again. The only difference is if Favre did indeed become a Viking, I would not want him to fail. I refuse to let one man change my allegiance for my team. It's a fun read regardless and there's links there so you can even listen to the interview.

LNR: Late Night Recap

Welcome to the first edition of PPP's Late Night Recap (LNR). Each night I will try to post five stories of interest from the world of Gaming and Sports. It's a one stop spot to catch up on some items you may have missed throughout the day. Since this is a blog centered around the Vikings, I will try to hit the top Vikings stories, but I'll also mix in some others. So without further ado, here's the first ever list:

Gaming Five
- XBLA Deal of the week: Bionic Commando: Rearmed half off. That's just $5 folks!
- Bioshock 2 surfaces this fall, oh hells yeah.
- Another GTA IV expansion coming for $20. Bundled version with Lost and Damned for $40.
- No Final Fantasy XIII this year outside of Japan, American FF fanboys ball up and cry.
- Lot's of speculation surrounding the next Metal Gear. Is that Raiden I see?

Sports Five
- ESPN's NFL Power Rankings are out. Yes, your calendar does say May 26th. Vikes come in at number 14.
- Vikings QB's find Favre fiasco awkward. Really?
- The NFL appealed the ruling on Pat and Kevin Williams today.
- Moss feels that the Patriots offense will be more potent this year than its record breaking 2007 season.
- Tragic story, Mike Tyson's four year old daughter died today.

To wrap things up tonight, the Orlando Magic is up 3-1 in the series against the Cavs. The NBA's worst nightmare is very possible now......a Magic vs. Nuggets Final.....ouch! Also, congrats to the Pens, good luck with the Red Wings.

PPP: Life without the Williams Wall, #4 and Winfield Update

First off, let's start with honoring the men and women who have lost their lives throughout the years defending this great country of our and fighting for freedom around the world. My family and I enjoyed a beautiful day at Lake Independence today and owed it all to our heroic fallen and their families.

Defensive Foundation Weakening
Now on to the Purple where things are looking a bit tougher for Pat and Kevin Williams. A couple of days ago a Federal Judge in Minnesota rejected claims from Pat and Kevin (and three players involved from the New Orleans Saints), agreeing with the NFL that players are responsible for what they put in their bodies, period. So where does this leave them now? There's still a scheduled court date next month that will dictate their fate, but this last rejection appears to be a suffering blow. So looking ahead, what could life be like for the Vikings without Pat and Kevin in the first four games of the season? Let's break down the schedule:

Week 1: At Cleveland - 26th ranked rushing offense in 2008
Week 2: At Detroit - 30th ranked rushing offense in 2008
Week 3: San Francisco - 27th ranked rushing offense in 2008
Week 4: Green Bay - 17th ranked rushing offense in 2008

If there was ever a good time for something like this to happen, it's the beginning of the 2009 season. As you can see from the above, the Vikings first four games are manageable even without Pat and Kevin. That's not to say that any of these teams have done nothing to improve, but going off that and seeing who the teams are, I don't see much of a change going into the 2009 season. Of course the QB situation is still up in the air at this point, so nothing is for certain.

Decide and decide now Favre
Brett Favre has to let the Vikings know what's going on, and he has to do it now. SI's Peter King firmly believes that Favre will make a decision this week. I'm sure I speak on behalf of Vikings Country when I say - I sure as hell hope so. According to Peter's MMQB, Favre could be looking to proceed with a minor surgery that would involve the cutting of one small tendon (the only one holding it together right now) that would require only two weeks of recovery. All indications are that this procedure would have Favre throwing like the days of old within month of rehab. Remember, it was only two years ago that Favre put up great numbers and lead the Packers to the NFC Title game. If that's the Farve we got, with many more offensive weapons and a better defense than the Packers had then, it's got my full attention. Either way, I want a decision now so that rest of the team can put this to rest and prepare for the season.

I'm starting to get a bit more open to this scenario based off what the current roster looks like. It's more than apparent that Childress' little Tarvaris Jackson experiment has failed and failed miserably. Then add Sage Rosenfeld - aka Fumble Copter - to the equation. What has he ever proven in the NFL besides that fact that he can provide rather embarrassing clips on Sports Center for your team? Favre is old, his quest for attention is old, but so is the revolving QB door of mediocrity for the Vikings.

Sharper, Birk, now Winfield?
There's a bad trend possibly continuing for the Purple when it comes to not signing key players. Last year at this time, Darren Sharper and Matt Birk were both looking for deals to stay a Minnesota Viking. A year later, both are on different teams and Birk in particular has to leave behind his home state where he also owns his own chain of restaurants.

Antoine Windfield now finds himself in the same situation. Indications are that the team is waiting to see how the Favre saga ends, but that's no way to treat a player that's been a leader on and off the field. Hopefully this one gets resolved, but the way it's being handled, it could very well be too late, and I wouldn't blame Winfield one bit.

That's all I've got for now, hopefully next time I can start covering some topics with a bit more positivity to them. One thing to point out, Harvin made it to the OTA's and from what I read and saw, he enjoyed himself and continues to say that right things. Here's hoping he pans out and helps to electrify the Dome whether it's catching a five yard swing pass and taking it to the house, or returning a kick making everyone forget about a certain someone in Chicago.

Peter King's info on the Vikes

Plenty of information about the Vikings in this mornings Monday Morning Quarterback (MMQB) from Peter King. I'll share my thoughts on some of this later tonight.

Tired of conflicting Favre stories

Last night I blogged about Favre reportedly looking to have surgery this week and sign with the Vikings if it were a success. That's what the Pioneer Press reported yesterday any way. This morning, ESPN's Ed Werder was quick to point out that there was no validity to that story at all and that Favre is looking to work through his arm issues without surgery.

Seriously, can this fiasco just come to an end. I'm having a hard time with this because I'm just not sold on Sage and TJack. But the never ending Favre reports just need to die. He needs to publicly state what he's doing and get it over with.

Anyway, just had to cover myself for falling into the Pioneer Press' report based off a unreliable source. And you wonder why Newspapers are going under.

Surgery and Signing for Favre - Peterson's quest to add weight

It's only the middle of May but there's plenty going on with the Purple right now. Earlier today the Pioneer Press reported that Brett Favre will be meeting with noted orthopedist James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala. tomorrow about possible surgery to repair a partially torn biceps tendon in his right shoulder. If the surgery is a success, indications are that it would be a full recovery within 6-8 weeks and Favre would be signing with the Vikings. If there are any complications or Dr. Andrews feels that a more serious procedure is needed, Favre would then officially stay retired.

The Favre saga continues, mean while newly acquired QB Sage Rosenfels doesn't have much to say about the Favre fiasco. Apparently Favre's agent Bus Cook has nothing to add either as he continues to side-step the entire situation.

On to more important matters, Adrian Peterson has publicly stated that he's wanting to gain several pounds before the start of the new season. After reading this article from Sports Illustrated's Jim Trotter, I'm a bit weary of the situation. Having a full understanding of what may have been the cause of Clinton Portis' downfall, Peterson needs to pay more attention to how he handles his body. More weight equals loss in step and can lead to more injuries rather than preventing them. Here's hoping someone talks some sense into him and soon.

Last season he weighed 218 pounds and is already one of the most punishing runners since Jim Brown. Adding a few pounds is one thing, but to go from 218 to 230? That just seems like a reciepe for disaster.

Quick Review: Plants vs Zombies

PopCap Games has done it again with their latest, addicting gem called Plants vs Zombies. Like most PopCap Games, this is not meant to be a deep 40-60 hour engaging game, but rather a unique pick-up and play style of game. Don't get me wrong, when you first start out playing, you could easily dump a couple of hours without noticing, but games like this do not require a major time commitment.

It starts a little slow and takes a while before it becomes a challenge, but the setup and style of the game more than make up for the early lack of challenge. For the most part, it's simlar to a Real-Time Strategy game (RTS). In order to plant the plants that will fight off the hordes of Zombies, you need sun to produce them. Sun acts like the games resource, building up enough sun points to "purchase" other important flowers. These flowers range from offensive, defensive, support, and mass destruction.

On the Zombie side of things, they start off as the usual slow knuckle draggers, but a few levels in you start to notice that they become a bit more enhanced. From wearing street cones on their heads for armor, to poll volting over plants, there's always a wide variety to keep you on your toes.

Do yourself a favor and change things up a little bit with this title that's fun for the entire family. With the low price of $9.99, this one's a no-brainer......B-R-A-I-N-S!!!......ah crap, I better go, they're coming for me! Quick, hit up Steam's site for a fast and easy digital purchase.

PPP Rating: 9 out of 10

Holmgren wants to coach, Childress feeling the heat?

The Seattle Times reported today that Mike Holmgren is already wanting to coach again. The story claims that he's targeting the 2010 season, but with all the Favre talk lately, is there a possible Minnesota conspiracy brewing here? That's the take that KFAN's Dan Barriero took this evening on his Bumper to Bumper program.

So here's the take, Favre is tossing the pigskin with High School kids again (it's true, it's happening again) to test out his arm while awaiting the word from his X-rays that were sent to the Vikings. Favre knows that Holmgren wants to coach again so he contacts him and fills his head with the idea of being his Head Coach again in Minnesota. Add to that the fact that the Vikings Offensive Coordinator is Darren Bevel who was Favre's QB coach in Green Bay. Are you seeing the possibilities here now? Do they seem that far fetched when you really think about it? Think Childress is feeling the hot seat now?

All the die-hard Childress haters are screaming YES! NO! and YES! to those questions. That includes most of the Favre haters up to this point. Let's face it, Childress has not been well received in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Even after leading the team to the Playoffs last year with a grizzled veteran and the continuing Jackson Experiment, fans have been clamoring to see "The Stache" fired. When it comes down to it, here's how it looks:

• Childress and Jackson

or

• Holmgren and Favre

I'm pretty certain that most level-headed Vikings fans would jump all over the second option considering the defense the Vikings have in place right now and offense capable of prolific stature with a capable (key word here, capable) signal caller.

Will it ever happen? I highly doubt it, but it sure continues to make things interesting here in Minnesota. We are either about to become the center of the Football Universe or destined for mediocrity this season. Why not toss the proverbial wrench in the system and spice it up around here for a change.

Purple Pride Ponderings: Favre Feeling Minnesota

A day after Favre apparently told Trent Dilfer NO in a text message answering "Are you going to play again?" - he is now coming to Minnesota to speak with Brad Childress. There's almost no reason to think that he doesn't want to play for the Vikings now. He could have easily waited till mid June or so, skipping mini-camps and OTA's in the process. But the fact that he's wanting to start the conversations with Childress in early May is an indication that he wants to play, and wants to get acclimated with the team by taking part in the coming mini-camps.

If this does indeed happen, it will be a media circus in Eden Prairie and even bigger in Mankato when Training Camp opens in July. It will also cause conflicting reactions by Viking and Packer fans alike. I for one am torn about this. I've always respected Favre's game, but he played 16 years for the team I detest the most in all of sports. Sure the Vikings lack a true, legit QB and look to be just that position away from being the leading candidate win the Super Bowl, but is Favre really the answer? 10 years ago, no question, but he turns 40 in October and showed signs of losing a step, if not an arm the last nine games or so for the Jets last year. More and more rumors continue to spill out about this to include one that states that Favre exaggerated the arm issue, possibly to get the Jets to release him.

So do I want him in Purple? If we get the same Favre from two years ago that the Packers should have never let go, yes, with out a doubt. I have two major issues with Favre coming to Minnesota in regards to dealing with Packer fans:

- If the Vikings went on to win the Super Bowl with Favre, Packer fans would go off about how it took a former Packer great for the Vikings to finally win the Super Bowl.

- If the Vikings failed to make it to Super Bowl, or lose the Super Bowl, Packer fans would go off about how not even Favre can help them get there.

It's the ultimate catch-22, but to me, I don't care. It's inevitable now that he's coming to speak with Childress. He will be a Viking, I will support him, and I hope he's the key to take us to the promised land. With the running game and defense the Vikings have in place right now, the window is small and Tarvaris and Sage are not the answer now or down the road. Might as well roll the dice, take the plunge now, and remind the Packer fans that no matter what happens, it was their team that kicked a future Hall of Fame QB to the curb the season after he had one of his best years for them.