According to Adam Schefter on Twitter, "Boston PD has located red SUV it was looking for as identified in July 2012 homicide. Aaron Hernandez rented it."
I'm going to call Hernandez preeeetty much screwed out of ever seeing outside prison walls again, let alone playing any football.
Frankly, I'm disgusted. Now it's coming out that Hernandez was not only a member of "The Latin Kings" (apparently they're pretty notorious in South Florida), but was doing "all sorts of shady stuff" while at Florida that the staff covered up or suppressed. I've had enough of coaching staffs letting crap slide because a guy is talented. Florida coaches, do you WANT us to be the next Penn State? Is one of the Latin Kings' victims buried in the endzone at Ben Hill Griffin?
This "thug life" in organized sports has gone too far. Time for background checks, fingerprints, and it's beyond time to start suspending and expelling guys who pull "shady" tricks. As a football fan, I've had more than enough of my idols revealing themselves as corrupt bastards. And I don't want my programs - and the good guys playing on my teams - to be punished for what previous players did because the staff was too lenient to take a stand.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Desmond Bishop is Officially a Viking
Well boys and girls, it's signed, sealed and delivered - and we've made our cut to keep the roster at 90. Stanford Keglar (LB) has been released to make room for the ex-Packers MLB, which isn't particularly surprising.
He was drafted by the Titans in 2008, making 12 tackles in 13 games his rookie year. He went on to the Texans, then to the "Las Vegas Locomotives" until we signed him, and goodness knows where he'll go next. Anyway, it's good that Bishop is official, and we have plenty of LBs still.
SKOL!
He was drafted by the Titans in 2008, making 12 tackles in 13 games his rookie year. He went on to the Texans, then to the "Las Vegas Locomotives" until we signed him, and goodness knows where he'll go next. Anyway, it's good that Bishop is official, and we have plenty of LBs still.
SKOL!
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
NFL Off-Topic
Also a quick note to say how terribly disappointed I am in Aaron Hernandez. I fully believe that one is innocent until proven guilty, but it is not looking good for his innocence right now. As a Florida Gator, and a football fan in general I'm devastated. It's bad for the Gator Nation, and really bad for all the kids out there who idolized Hernandez. Murder is not okay, and if he did do it, and gets away with it, it's a terrible message to America's youth.
On one of the sports boards I'm a member of, a troll posted "Is it time to shut the NFL down?" I know you're not supposed to feed the trolls, but I simply couldn't resist, especially after he said the NBA wasn't a bad example the way the NFL "is".
I replied:
NFL:
32 teams - final 53 man roster with an 8 man practice squad
total # of players: 1952
NBA:
30 teams - final 15 man roster with occasional exemptions when 3 or more players are injured
total # of players: 450
If [another board member who posted earlier] is correct and 1.7% of NFL players (let's say 2,000 per annum) get arrested yearly, and 5.1% of NBA players (let's say 500 per annum) get arrested yearly, that's 34 NFL arrests and 25.5 NBA arrests when the NFL is FOUR TIMES LARGER than the NBA...I'd say we have a problem with the NBA.
The troll later replied out most of the NBA crimes are driving without a license and marijuana which "aren't as bad" as murder and therefore it was all okay. I don't believe that for a second (plenty of football convictions for drugs, sadly), especially when you remember Chris "Birdman" Andersen being arrested for possession of child pornography.
I'm not arguing for a second that we should get rid of the NFL OR the NBA. What I do think is that there should be a stricter policy for athletes' off the field behavior. Too many arrests, or one bad conviction (I'd let certain traffic offenses slide), and you're out. Let's face it, if you're working for a trucking company and get a DUI you lose your job and never get hired again.
Considering all the nasty things that have been happening around NFL players, this is definitely something the league should consider.
On one of the sports boards I'm a member of, a troll posted "Is it time to shut the NFL down?" I know you're not supposed to feed the trolls, but I simply couldn't resist, especially after he said the NBA wasn't a bad example the way the NFL "is".
I replied:
NFL:
32 teams - final 53 man roster with an 8 man practice squad
total # of players: 1952
NBA:
30 teams - final 15 man roster with occasional exemptions when 3 or more players are injured
total # of players: 450
If [another board member who posted earlier] is correct and 1.7% of NFL players (let's say 2,000 per annum) get arrested yearly, and 5.1% of NBA players (let's say 500 per annum) get arrested yearly, that's 34 NFL arrests and 25.5 NBA arrests when the NFL is FOUR TIMES LARGER than the NBA...I'd say we have a problem with the NBA.
The troll later replied out most of the NBA crimes are driving without a license and marijuana which "aren't as bad" as murder and therefore it was all okay. I don't believe that for a second (plenty of football convictions for drugs, sadly), especially when you remember Chris "Birdman" Andersen being arrested for possession of child pornography.
I'm not arguing for a second that we should get rid of the NFL OR the NBA. What I do think is that there should be a stricter policy for athletes' off the field behavior. Too many arrests, or one bad conviction (I'd let certain traffic offenses slide), and you're out. Let's face it, if you're working for a trucking company and get a DUI you lose your job and never get hired again.
Considering all the nasty things that have been happening around NFL players, this is definitely something the league should consider.
Desmond Bishop is a Viking
Hey all, sorry for my absence. Life got in the way, but in the meantime we got some fantastic news!
We've officially signed Desmond Bishop (MLB) to a one year contract, beating out the Chiefs, Giants, and 49ers. (Hey, maybe we'll beat them during the season too! Ha!)
Of course, we need to see whether or not he's fully recovered from that torn hamstring, although I don't think the Giants or the 49ers would've offered him if they didn't think he was because they both have injured players taking up their IR spots this season. And, also, the Packers run a 3-4 defense and we run a 4-3, so that will definitely be a challenge for him. The good news is that Bishop can also play outside. Imagine a line with Greenway, Henderson, and Bishop all in a row! (Are you salivating yet?)
Personally, I'm super happy with this signing. It's a one-year contract so if he doesn't work out for some reason, we're not taking too big a hit. It's a one-year contract, so he's going to bust some ass to prove he deserves another, longer contract.
Most importantly of all, Erin Henderson has been aggressively defending his job as starting MLB, and now that the Vikings have picked up Bishop, he's going to do so harder, and go into this season with a massive chip on his shoulder. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I LOVE internal competition for starting spots! It improves play and morale all around, as long as it doesn't get personal. Henderson is a good guy and has his head screwed on right. Bishop I don't know anything about, other than his stats, but I imagine the Winter Park staff won't let anything nasty go on, and it'll be good friendly competition with a couple of occasional, harder-than-necessary shoves.
SKOL!
We've officially signed Desmond Bishop (MLB) to a one year contract, beating out the Chiefs, Giants, and 49ers. (Hey, maybe we'll beat them during the season too! Ha!)
Of course, we need to see whether or not he's fully recovered from that torn hamstring, although I don't think the Giants or the 49ers would've offered him if they didn't think he was because they both have injured players taking up their IR spots this season. And, also, the Packers run a 3-4 defense and we run a 4-3, so that will definitely be a challenge for him. The good news is that Bishop can also play outside. Imagine a line with Greenway, Henderson, and Bishop all in a row! (Are you salivating yet?)
Personally, I'm super happy with this signing. It's a one-year contract so if he doesn't work out for some reason, we're not taking too big a hit. It's a one-year contract, so he's going to bust some ass to prove he deserves another, longer contract.
Most importantly of all, Erin Henderson has been aggressively defending his job as starting MLB, and now that the Vikings have picked up Bishop, he's going to do so harder, and go into this season with a massive chip on his shoulder. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I LOVE internal competition for starting spots! It improves play and morale all around, as long as it doesn't get personal. Henderson is a good guy and has his head screwed on right. Bishop I don't know anything about, other than his stats, but I imagine the Winter Park staff won't let anything nasty go on, and it'll be good friendly competition with a couple of occasional, harder-than-necessary shoves.
SKOL!
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Minithought of the day
I saw a picture today of Sharrif Floyd making a catch at minicamp. A DT making an interception? Sounds like there's some good coaching on defense!
Unless, of course, Floyd was just tossing a ball around with some buddies. I'm not sure, but I am sure I'm super-excited for camp and PRESEASON where I actually get to watch and make my own judgements!
Unless, of course, Floyd was just tossing a ball around with some buddies. I'm not sure, but I am sure I'm super-excited for camp and PRESEASON where I actually get to watch and make my own judgements!
Friday, June 21, 2013
Vikings Minicamp Roundup
Just a few thoughts on this week's minicamp!
Paul Allen of KFAN says the Vikings will go 11-5 this regular season, and Paul Charchian says we'll be undefeated at home. The latter, I love, the former...I'm praying we get that many wins! I'm torn between expecting 10 and hoping for 12.
People need to stop flapping like injured chickens over Sharrif Floyd "versus" Kevin Williams and the depth chart. We're putting Floyd in at nickel. Williams, not so much for nickel. We play nickel what, half the time? Both of them are going to get to play, and considering Williams only played 70% of snaps last season, this is such a nonissue. Sharrif Floyd is going to be paired up a lot with Letroy Guion (who has been getting first team reps) at nickel (Fred Evans...I have heard significantly less about, and might be worried about), even though he is not likely to be starting and will probably just get off-the-bench reps his rookie year.
According to the guys with the eyes, the defense won minicamp hands down. On the last day, the camp ended with three straight pass breakups by defense in fourth and goal drill. Chris Cook intercepted James Vandenburg yesterday and has "had a strong camp." Xavier Rhodes was mentioned multiple times and had his hands on a lot of balls...shush, ignore the double entendre!
Bobby Felder picked up a particularly impressive diving interception in a 7-on-7 drill on Greg Jennings when the latter let the ball loose on the sideline.
Mistral Raymond is still injured, and was doing rehab during minicamp, which is not a great sign considering how hard he's struggled with injury throughout his career.
Robinson intercepted Ponder at least once, but from what was said, it was more a bad decision by Ponder than brilliant move by Robinson, which frankly, makes me pretty itchy.
Someone named Larry Dean is staying at linebacker while Greenway heals up, and the d-roster is much in place from last year. I didn't really expect drastic moves in the early part of the offseason - it's the preseason games where I'm going to look out for those.
I did hear the D was making a few stupid penalties which burns me up. If we make stupid penalties this year, we will lose. There will be no Superbowl, and no glittery trophy. NO STUPID MISTAKES! NO BONEHEADED PENALTIES! YOU CANNOT WIN PLAYING SLOPPY!
On to offense, Brandon Fusco (OG) continues to take reps at center while John Sullivan (C) is recovering from his microfacture surgery, which I approve of. Considering the hole teams can get into with short rosters and lack of depth on line, the more experience the better.
Matt Kalil spent his offseason getting fit, and is now apparently one of the more jacked guys on the team. Pretty impressive considering his age and the fact we have beasts like Peterson to set an almost impossibly high standard for fitness.
Rookie RB Bradley Randle caught some attention with his jukes and outside burst. Of course, they're not in pads yet, so I'm reserving judgement.
Cassel seemed to do quite well, although apparently there was one stretch of three straight incompletions (one dropped) and then a sack. Guess he's not HOF material just yet...
The team ran some 2-minute drills, so the staff at least got a good look at the offense coming together. (Yes, I'm bitter I can't watch.)
The final passing stats on day 1 were as follows: Ponder 14-of-20 with INT, Cassel 10-of-21, MBT 8-9, Vandenberg 1-2.
Rhett Ellison is mysteriously absent but perhaps he has some "family issues" he has to take care of. As long as his rental car isn't parked in some woods next to a body with a bullet in its brain.
Adrian Peterson was present, doing some light jogging and rehab, but no practice, unfortunately.
Joe Webb got quite a lot of attention, although he did miss some route adjustments and drop some balls. In my opinion, you only get good at that through lots and lots of practice, so I'll let him get some time at WR before I start fussing.
First team: Ponder "came out firing" and completed multiple passes to multiple players, even making six in a row at one point before throwing away one and then narrowly missing Carlson (TE). He connected with Simpson (WR) twice on deep balls, one time hitting him in stride 40 yards down the field. Maybe Simpson and Jennings are going to duke it out for Ponder's #1?
Second team: Cassel hit a notable 33 yard strike to Carlson that was apparently more due to Carlson being clutch than Cassel being sharp. I need to see with my own eyes, because man, it's rough relying on other people for observations like that.
Third team: McLeod Bethel-Thompson drove for a 41 yard Walsh field goal in their drill, with the key completion to Adam Thielen.
My question: did I just miss all the tweets about Burton, or did something happen?
WR depth chart:
1. Jennings-Simpson-Wright. 2. Patterson-Burton-Brown. 3. Webb-Summers-Thielen
For special teams, Patterson, Sherels, Robinson, Jefferson, and Webb have all been returning kicks. Simpson, Wright, Patterson have been taking punts, while the former puntman Sherels was working as a gunner.
Walsh looking pretty consistent - in a "game situation" he made a 46 yard field goal that would've been good from a good 10-20 yards more.
Jeff Locke looked consistent and "impressive" in his punting practice. Produced nine punts that all had a hangtime around 4.5 seconds, and all but one landed inside the 10 yard line.
Minicamp nonparticipants: Sullivan (C), Allen (DE), Greenway (LB), Childs (WR), Mauti (LB), Nathan Williams (LB), Lacey, Keglar (LB), McCoy (CB).
*It should be noted that Michael Mauti did some individual drills, and says he's still on track, but he's leaving the timelines to the coaching staff.
**Keglar also participated in the practice but sat out the early drills. No hint as to why.
Interesting News: the Vikings owners, including Zygi, Mark and Lenny Wilf, were at minicamp, watching the drills and talking to the guys. Zygi also spent a lot of time with Leslie Frazier, which I'm hoping is a good, encouraging sign of confidence.
Really Good News: We're $7.132 million under the salary cap, and will still be $4 million under after we sign our last three draft picks. MLB time, I think.
SKOL!
Paul Allen of KFAN says the Vikings will go 11-5 this regular season, and Paul Charchian says we'll be undefeated at home. The latter, I love, the former...I'm praying we get that many wins! I'm torn between expecting 10 and hoping for 12.
People need to stop flapping like injured chickens over Sharrif Floyd "versus" Kevin Williams and the depth chart. We're putting Floyd in at nickel. Williams, not so much for nickel. We play nickel what, half the time? Both of them are going to get to play, and considering Williams only played 70% of snaps last season, this is such a nonissue. Sharrif Floyd is going to be paired up a lot with Letroy Guion (who has been getting first team reps) at nickel (Fred Evans...I have heard significantly less about, and might be worried about), even though he is not likely to be starting and will probably just get off-the-bench reps his rookie year.
According to the guys with the eyes, the defense won minicamp hands down. On the last day, the camp ended with three straight pass breakups by defense in fourth and goal drill. Chris Cook intercepted James Vandenburg yesterday and has "had a strong camp." Xavier Rhodes was mentioned multiple times and had his hands on a lot of balls...shush, ignore the double entendre!
Bobby Felder picked up a particularly impressive diving interception in a 7-on-7 drill on Greg Jennings when the latter let the ball loose on the sideline.
Mistral Raymond is still injured, and was doing rehab during minicamp, which is not a great sign considering how hard he's struggled with injury throughout his career.
Robinson intercepted Ponder at least once, but from what was said, it was more a bad decision by Ponder than brilliant move by Robinson, which frankly, makes me pretty itchy.
Someone named Larry Dean is staying at linebacker while Greenway heals up, and the d-roster is much in place from last year. I didn't really expect drastic moves in the early part of the offseason - it's the preseason games where I'm going to look out for those.
I did hear the D was making a few stupid penalties which burns me up. If we make stupid penalties this year, we will lose. There will be no Superbowl, and no glittery trophy. NO STUPID MISTAKES! NO BONEHEADED PENALTIES! YOU CANNOT WIN PLAYING SLOPPY!
On to offense, Brandon Fusco (OG) continues to take reps at center while John Sullivan (C) is recovering from his microfacture surgery, which I approve of. Considering the hole teams can get into with short rosters and lack of depth on line, the more experience the better.
Matt Kalil spent his offseason getting fit, and is now apparently one of the more jacked guys on the team. Pretty impressive considering his age and the fact we have beasts like Peterson to set an almost impossibly high standard for fitness.
Rookie RB Bradley Randle caught some attention with his jukes and outside burst. Of course, they're not in pads yet, so I'm reserving judgement.
Cassel seemed to do quite well, although apparently there was one stretch of three straight incompletions (one dropped) and then a sack. Guess he's not HOF material just yet...
The team ran some 2-minute drills, so the staff at least got a good look at the offense coming together. (Yes, I'm bitter I can't watch.)
The final passing stats on day 1 were as follows: Ponder 14-of-20 with INT, Cassel 10-of-21, MBT 8-9, Vandenberg 1-2.
Rhett Ellison is mysteriously absent but perhaps he has some "family issues" he has to take care of. As long as his rental car isn't parked in some woods next to a body with a bullet in its brain.
Adrian Peterson was present, doing some light jogging and rehab, but no practice, unfortunately.
Joe Webb got quite a lot of attention, although he did miss some route adjustments and drop some balls. In my opinion, you only get good at that through lots and lots of practice, so I'll let him get some time at WR before I start fussing.
First team: Ponder "came out firing" and completed multiple passes to multiple players, even making six in a row at one point before throwing away one and then narrowly missing Carlson (TE). He connected with Simpson (WR) twice on deep balls, one time hitting him in stride 40 yards down the field. Maybe Simpson and Jennings are going to duke it out for Ponder's #1?
Second team: Cassel hit a notable 33 yard strike to Carlson that was apparently more due to Carlson being clutch than Cassel being sharp. I need to see with my own eyes, because man, it's rough relying on other people for observations like that.
Third team: McLeod Bethel-Thompson drove for a 41 yard Walsh field goal in their drill, with the key completion to Adam Thielen.
My question: did I just miss all the tweets about Burton, or did something happen?
WR depth chart:
1. Jennings-Simpson-Wright. 2. Patterson-Burton-Brown. 3. Webb-Summers-Thielen
For special teams, Patterson, Sherels, Robinson, Jefferson, and Webb have all been returning kicks. Simpson, Wright, Patterson have been taking punts, while the former puntman Sherels was working as a gunner.
Walsh looking pretty consistent - in a "game situation" he made a 46 yard field goal that would've been good from a good 10-20 yards more.
Jeff Locke looked consistent and "impressive" in his punting practice. Produced nine punts that all had a hangtime around 4.5 seconds, and all but one landed inside the 10 yard line.
Minicamp nonparticipants: Sullivan (C), Allen (DE), Greenway (LB), Childs (WR), Mauti (LB), Nathan Williams (LB), Lacey, Keglar (LB), McCoy (CB).
*It should be noted that Michael Mauti did some individual drills, and says he's still on track, but he's leaving the timelines to the coaching staff.
**Keglar also participated in the practice but sat out the early drills. No hint as to why.
Interesting News: the Vikings owners, including Zygi, Mark and Lenny Wilf, were at minicamp, watching the drills and talking to the guys. Zygi also spent a lot of time with Leslie Frazier, which I'm hoping is a good, encouraging sign of confidence.
Really Good News: We're $7.132 million under the salary cap, and will still be $4 million under after we sign our last three draft picks. MLB time, I think.
SKOL!
NFL Gossip
Quick post on the noise around the NFL this week:
Biggest story of course, is Aaron Hernandez. I'm so ticked off at him! He's a fantastic player, I don't remember him getting in trouble as a Gator (although this story of him shooting some idiot in a Floridian nightclub has come up awfully conveniently, no?) and all he had to do was keep his nose clean and NOT get involved with thuggish idiots, and now look what's happened.
Smashing your phone and home security system are pretty stupid (although, to be fair, when people accuse me of crap I didn't do, I feel like smashing stuff myself) and now it's earned him an arrest warrant. Dumbass. Just a few months away from the new season and getting to work with Tebow again...oy.
Tyrann Matthieu, the Honeybadger, tweeted earlier today that although no one has seen him play for a year he's definitely back. I want to laugh, but as a Gator, I saw more than I wanted to of Matthieu and that's no joke.
Brandon Burton is in Cancun of all places. Broseph had better be careful what he eats, because we don't want him losing conditioning due to food poisoning!
Finally, in other sporting news:
I don't care how many Gators love them, I HATE the Heat. And now I'm mad at the Spurs for losing.
Bah, humbug!
Biggest story of course, is Aaron Hernandez. I'm so ticked off at him! He's a fantastic player, I don't remember him getting in trouble as a Gator (although this story of him shooting some idiot in a Floridian nightclub has come up awfully conveniently, no?) and all he had to do was keep his nose clean and NOT get involved with thuggish idiots, and now look what's happened.
Smashing your phone and home security system are pretty stupid (although, to be fair, when people accuse me of crap I didn't do, I feel like smashing stuff myself) and now it's earned him an arrest warrant. Dumbass. Just a few months away from the new season and getting to work with Tebow again...oy.
Tyrann Matthieu, the Honeybadger, tweeted earlier today that although no one has seen him play for a year he's definitely back. I want to laugh, but as a Gator, I saw more than I wanted to of Matthieu and that's no joke.
Brandon Burton is in Cancun of all places. Broseph had better be careful what he eats, because we don't want him losing conditioning due to food poisoning!
Finally, in other sporting news:
I don't care how many Gators love them, I HATE the Heat. And now I'm mad at the Spurs for losing.
Bah, humbug!
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