If the NFL made field goal posts five feet wider, the Vikings would be 4-5 instead of 5-4.  The Vikings clinched their win on Sunday after Green Bay BARELY missed a 40+ yard field goal in the final seconds of the game.  Our defense played their best game of the season, providing constant pressure on Aaron Rodgers – including two safeties.  But leave it to our offense and special teams to keep the game close…  Gus threw a few TERRIBLE interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown and another returned deep in Vikings territory which set up Green Bay’s only offensive touchdown.  Our special teams – for what seems like the 20^th time this year – allowed a punt return for a touchdown.  Punts and kickoffs have become the most stressful 30 seconds of my day.  It used to be that I would flip the channel or get off the couch when I knew we were punting, but now I sit with my fingers crossed hoping for anything less than a touchdown.  The Vikings have another tough game this week on the road against Tampa Bay.

Some sad news to pass along…the pins have been pulled from the Chatfield golf course.  I haven’t played for a month anyway, but it’s still depressing to know it’ll be another six months before next season.  Maybe I’ll find a winter hobby to get me through until spring returns.

I’m looking forward to this weekend.  Ann and I are checking out the Lights at Bluff Valley on Friday.  I’ve never been there before, but it looks pretty cool on the website.  That will be fun, but the really exciting part of the weekend is going to the Wild game Saturday night.  We went to our first game last year and had a blast.  You really get a sense of the speed of the game when you see it in person.  I don’t like watching hockey on TV, but it is my favorite sport to watch in person.  It’ll be a great time!

…install a goalpost. <ba-dum-ching>

Wow, it’s been a long time! A lot has happened since my last post. The obvious change is that we’ve moved our blogs to LiveJournal. I’m still figuring things out, but I like what I see so far. If you feel like taking a stroll down Minnesota Sports Mediocrity Lane, you can find my old posts by clicking the “yahoo” link in the tag section on the left. Handy, eh? Let’s review what has happened over the last three weeks.

The Twins managed to kill all the momentum gained during the final White Sox series and wound up missing the playoffs. Probably not the end of the world, considering we would have faced the unbelievable Tampa Bay Rays in the first round. But still, it was pretty frustrating to have such an exciting week end the way it did. As for the World Series, I guess I’m pulling for Tampa Bay. Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and Grant Balfour are all former Twins, so that qualifies as rooting interest. I’ll go with Tampa Bay in six.

The Vikings have gone from Superbowl contender to train wreck in a matter of eight weeks. Everyone (myself included) that predicted big things are looking pretty foolish. We head to the bye week with a record of 3-4, including messy wins against Detroit (thanks, referees) and New Orleans. IF there is a silver lining, it’s the fact we’ve lost against pretty tough teams, and the schedule should get easier for the next few weeks. Couple that with a terrible NFC North, and there’s still a decent chance we can find ourselves making the playoffs. Our biggest issue? Special teams… I cringe every time they step on the field. Every aspect of our special teams group is a disaster. We won’t go anywhere until we figure it out.

Jared and I only have one more week of Police Academy. The highlights have definitely been weapons training and the K9 unit. The K9 unit is really what sticks with me – I can’t believe how well trained the dogs are. It’s amazing… We were given a tour of the Adult Detention Center and a demonstration of Crime Scene Investigations last week. I’ve always had mixed feelings on the prison/jail system, so it was interesting to see a little of how it works, and why they do things the way they do. Again, I strongly urge everyone to think about enrolling in a future class!

In more recent news, Ann and I went to a Rock Band Tour concert last night. The Cab, Plain White T’s, Dashboard Confessional and Panic at the Disco all played. I was most excited for Dashboard – they are one of my favorite bands. The tickets were a surprise birthday gift for Ann, so it made for a fun day. Overall the concert was really good. Dashboard was great, so I was happy.

That’s about it! Enjoy the rest of your week…

I hope everyone was able to watch the end of the Twins game last night. We trailed 6-1 in the 4^th inning, and managed to come back and win 7-6 in the 10^th. When Casilla hit the game winning walk off single, the entire bench sprinted on the field and the fans erupted. The place looked like a World Series game… Speaking of the fans…major kudos to them! This was a HUGE series and from what I saw, the fans were great. Everyone was standing on every two strike count, and did a great job of helping the team overcome mistakes. Everyone questions the importance of home field advantage, but I think this week serves as a little proof of what it can do. It was an unbelievable series.

I can’t say enough about how our bullpen has stepped up this week. I’ve ripped on them for weeks (rightfully so…) due to all of the blown leads and saves. It seemed like there was a stretch where I never felt comfortable with a lead until both teams were off the field and in the clubhouse. What a difference a week can make… I don’t have exact numbers, but over the last three games they’ve pitched around 15 innings and haven’t given up a run. They held a 3-2 lead for a bunch of innings on Wednesday, and helped orchestrate the huge comeback yesterday by pitching six shutout innings. Confidence is contagious, so I hope this carries on.

So what happens now? The Twins are currently a half a game ahead of Chicago in the standings (I can’t believe I just typed that). So we are in the driver’s seat, as long as we keep winning… We start a three game series at home against Kansas City tonight, and Chicago has Cleveland coming to town for three. To add another wrinkle, Chicago has a game against Detroit that was rained out a few weeks ago. IF NECESSARY, Chicago will play that makeup game on Monday. So if we win all three against KC, and Chicago wins all three against Cleveland, then we’d still be a half a game ahead Monday morning. Chicago would play Cleveland Monday night, and if Chicago won, they would make up the half game deficit and force a tie. That’s when things get interesting… If we are tied after Monday night’s possible makeup game (have I lost anyone yet???), we’d play one game in Chicago to determine who makes the playoffs. To think a 162 game season could come down to ONE game is insane…

Needless to say, this has potential to be a great weekend. Jared, Ann and I are going to an Oktoberfest event tonight after work at the Peace Plaza. It sounds like the weather will be great, so it should be really fun. The Ice Hawks are home again tomorrow night (7:05 at the Rec Center) and the Vikings play against Tennessee on Sunday. Throw in three Twins games, and I’ve got a pretty busy schedule. Good thing I took Monday off to golf…

It’s been a hectic few weeks! I tried to post a blog entry last week, but time got away from me. Let’s see how long this post gets…

So, the Vikings are 0-2. Very disappointing… We are having a lot of the same problems as last year, which is extra frustrating. I heard at lunch today that Coach Childress is switching quarterbacks for this week – a move I’m totally against. In my opinion, our three biggest issues have been play calling, receivers and quarterback, in that order. What good does solving your third biggest problem do, if you don’t do anything about the other two? It’s like repairing one out of three broken parts in a car – sure it might work a little better, but you’re still holding your breath waiting for the next breakdown. Plus, I’m not convinced our backup quarterback is any better than Jackson. Until Childress gives up play calling, we’ll always be a predictable, easy to stop offense that can’t score any points. We have so much talent this year; it’s a shame to see it go to waste.

The Twins are also struggling. (seriously, why do I even watch sports?!?) Our relief pitchers blew another lead last night, dropping us to 2 ½ games behind Chicago in the Division. And even worse, we are facing the best pitcher in the league tonight, and starting a four game series against Tampa Bay (a great team) tomorrow. I’ve always thought that we’d be in good shape as long as we were within reach of Chicago heading into the three game series next week, but now we’ve put ourselves in a terrible spot to get there. Chicago plays Kansas City this weekend, so there’s a decent chance we’ll be 4-5 games behind to start the Chicago series on Tuesday – that’s a big hole. Keep your fingers crossed!

Last Tuesday was the first night of the Citizen Police Academy program my brother Jared and I signed up for. It’s so interesting! In our first class, we were given tours of the 911 Dispatch Center and the Incident Command Vehicle. It’s incredible to see how much action the 911 Center receives. We were in the call center for about 30 minutes and the phones were ringing almost non-stop. I had no idea they were that busy… The Incident Command Vehicle was really cool too. The Police Department mainly uses the vehicle as a mobile command center during large emergencies like big accidents, natural disasters and other situations where there is a lot of planning and time spent at an offsite location. The vehicle is completely self-sufficient, with generators, satellite TV, internet, phone and other technologies that an emergency might require. The vehicle is equipped with a camera that rises out of the top and can be used to provide surveillance to the people in the vehicle. During the demonstration, the camera was focused on a building a few blocks down the street to show some of its range.

For last night’s class, our instructors were members of the Emergency Response Unit. Their team is called in for more complex situations. During the class, the instructors showed us the various protective gear and technology they use in the field. They passed around some of the firearms and we watched a video that showed pictures of their annual training. They also demonstrated an explosive device they use to distract and confuse criminals when they enter a building. It was crazy! They surprised us with it, so all I remember was a huge bang, a bright flash and a big cloud of smoke – it definitely works. We finished the class by getting to shoot handguns in the firing range. I’ve never fired a handgun – and probably never will again – so it was a very unique experience. We’ve only had two classes so far, but I definitely encourage everyone to sign up for the course next year.

What a difference a week can make! I spent last Sunday walking around the Renaissance Festival in sweaty 90 degree heat, and now it feels like we are a few days away from frost on the ground. I’m not complaining…I LOVE this weather.

One drawback of the changing seasons: I had my first “lost in the middle of the fairway golf ball” earlier this week. Chatfield’s course has a lot of trees that drop big leaves, so a golf ball can easily be hidden. It’s one of the worst feelings to know you hit a good shot, and you just can’t find it. The bright yellow/green golf balls seem to be a little easier to spot, but it still doesn’t help when it is completely covered up.

The Twins are finally finished with their killer road trip caused by the RNC. Luckily for us, Chicago has been struggling so we are still only 1 ½ games out of first place. I heard at lunch today that one of Chicago’s best players is having surgery that might knock him out for the year – a HUGE break for the Twins. We start a series against Detroit tonight.

The Vikings make their long awaited (ok, maybe I’m the only one that has been waiting…) regular season debut on Monday night against the Packers. This is the most excited I’ve been about a Vikings’ season for many years. I would love nothing more than to see us beat Green Bay by 40 points… Kickoff is at 6:00 on ESPN.

I’ve been trying to make an effort to become more politically aware, so I’ve watched most of the big speeches over the past few weeks. I thought Obama’s speech was very strong, whereas McCain’s seemed pretty painful and awkward. I missed Biden’s speech entirely, but I did see most of Palin’s. (I’m still trying to figure her out…) Overall, I don’t take a lot of stock in inaugural speeches. I think debates are a better way to rate candidates.

Have a good weekend. Enjoy the NFL games on Sunday…