Fish Fear Me

Sporting News

Friends, Minnesotans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury the Twins, not to praise them;
The evil that starting rotations do early in the season lives after them,
The good is oft interred with old pennant hopes,
So let it be with the Twins...

Sorry. When the Twins couldn't complete the sweep of Detroit yesterday, admittedly a very difficult task, instead of hitting the road one game behind the Tigers they are three games back today. They have three in Chicago, then three at KC, then four in Detroit, before ending the season back home with three against KC again. Now, it's possible that they will pick back up on their winning streak, they had won six in a row to get back into the hunt, and I hope they do. I'd like to see one more AL Central pennant to bring to the new ballpark next year. If they pull that off it will truly be an accomplishment based on what they have done so far this season. Which is why I temper my expectations.

On the plus side, the Twins are the best in the division as far as intra-division play at 35-24. Countering that is their record on the road, a dismal 31-40. And while the six-game winning streak was fun, before yesterday's loss it merely brought them to 10-7 for the month of September. That is hardly an inspiring record.

Go for it boys, I'll be rooting for you. I really don't think you have a prayer, but hey, prove me wrong.

The Vikes started slow again yesterday and let me indulge in bitching about my Vikes pet peeve, an offense that does several three and out series in a row and leaves the defense tired and scrambling. Detroit couldn't take advantage enough of that though, and when the Vikings offense finally got their act together Detroit was toast.

This is a good Vikings team. I'm a little concerned about rookie right tackle Phil Loadholt, but some patience is in order. All accounts that I've read say that he is working hard at all aspects of the game and so maybe he just needs some time to grow into the job. The dude is a monster at 6-8, 343 lbs. officially. If, when, he gets adjusted to the NFL, he's going to be a force.

On the FFL front, I cruised to victory this weekend. I think I was up like 25-0 yesterday by the time most of the early games had finished the first quarter. All of my starters scored with the exception of Brandon Marshall and it looks like I will have the high score for the week. Not that I think I have the greatest team in the world, but it's a better start than last year.

Breaking

This time it sounds like it's for real:

Brett Favre will be a Viking after all.

Three weeks after the future Hall of Fame quarterback told the Vikings he had decided to remain retired, a top Vikings official confirmed this morning that Favre is en route to the Twin Cities and is on board one of owner Zygi Wilf's plane.

The buzz started about an hour ago on one local TV show. Hmmm, I've gone back and forth on this whole thing so much that I'm not sure where I left off here. Let's see...oh yeah:

My guess is that Favre will continue to work out though, and be ready to come sailing in as the hero when some team loses their starter. In fact, I'll bet a six-pack on it. Something tells me we haven't heard the last of him.

Wrong on the timing, right that we hadn't heard the last of him. I choose to just be amused for today while I process this.

Haha...they just broke in live to show the Vikings' jet landing at St. Paul's Holman Field.

Let the circus begin!

More: Channel 5 here followed the plane all the way to parking and ran live until Favre got off the plane and into a waiting SUV along with Brad Childress. Oh wait, now they are tracking the car all the way to Winter Park, the Vikings practice facility. I don't think President Obama would get this kind of coverage.

Fine

So Brett Favre has decided not to come out of retirement to play for the Vikings. This being Brett Favre, I suppose I should add a "for now". That's fine with me. When the speculation started earlier this year I was at first intrigued by the possibility. As time went by and Favre continued to dither though, I pretty much soured on the idea.

I think he could have been valuable if he would have been willing to take a transition and mentoring role for the Vikings, tutoring their younger quarterbacks and ceding playing time to them if the Vikes took a decent lead in any particular game. That might have given him a chance to avoid getting beat up and given him a better chance to last the season. It sounds like Favre was unwilling to take on such a role:

Although his arm appeared to be fine, Favre told ESPN he experienced soreness in both ankles and his left knee during his private workouts. That caused him to doubt whether he could make it through the rigors of a 16-game season. Missing games didn't seem to be an option for Favre, who will turn 40 on Oct. 10. He has started 269 consecutive games, putting him 13 behind former Viking Jim Marshall for the longest streak (by a non-punter) in NFL history.

Well, that's fine. It's his decision. I'm not thrilled about the Viking's QB options, but that's what we have and we'll just have to see how it works out. I would be thrilled right now if Favre had made his decision early, had his arm surgery, and attended the mini-camps, even if he couldn't physically perform. As those timelines passed though, I increasingly felt it would be a bad move to bring Favre in. At this point, it feels like the right outcome for the team.

My guess is that Favre will continue to work out though, and be ready to come sailing in as the hero when some team loses their starter. In fact, I'll bet a six-pack on it. Something tells me we haven't heard the last of him.

Something else that is also fine; The Vikes reportedly are not considering Michael Vick. I agree with Rob's take on his reinstatement in the NFL. He has paid his price to society, but I don't think Vick has earned his way back to the NFL yet.

Deal?

WCCO reporter Mark Rosen says a source has told him that Brett Favre and the Vikings have "come to a contractual agreement, with heavy incentives." We'll see.

I am less than enthusiastic about Favre coming to Minnesota at this point and my sense is that most Vikings fans are also. I would have been enthusiastic if he had gotten the surgery he needed earlier in the year and joined the rest of the team for the mini-camps. He didn't though, and last Friday head coach Brad Childress had this to say:

Vikings coach Brad Childress told Twin Cities radio station KFAN on Friday that Brett Favre is "pain free" and that the key factors in whether the quarterback ends his retirement to play for the Vikings are endurance and stamina.

"Does he have the endurance and the stamina in that arm yet? He doesn't know that yet," Childress said. "He's got to build some endurance in that and see if he thinks he can get it back to where he wants to get it to."

Swell. Well, maybe he can get into shape in the next month. Maybe he can get a handle on running the offense and the timing with the receivers. Maybe he has the endurance to get through the season. I have my doubts that he will prove worth the circus that will descend.

One amusing take:

PFT says the Vikings and Favre are putting off the announcement until July 3rd, where, presumably, media people will be on vacation. The idea is to cut down on as much of the media circus as they can, but I don't know if that's the greatest plan, either. If anyone in the Vikings organization thinks John Clayton won't immediately throw down his hamburger, shove a child to the ground and sprint through a fireworks display in order to get close to Brett Favre, I believe they're mistaken.

Haha, Clayton and about a million other sports reporters.

Fran the Man Weighs in on Favre

The Strib's Vikings blog has the scoop on Fran the Man talking to an Atlanta radio station about Brett Favre:

“I think it’s despicable. What he put the Packers through last year was not good,” said Tarkenton, who played for the Vikings from 1961-66 and again from 1972-78. ”Here’s an organization that was loyal to him for 17, 18 years, provided stability of organization, provided players. It just wasn’t about Brett Favre. In this day and time, we have glorified the Brett Favre’s of the world so much, they think it’s about them. He goes to New York and bombs. He’s 39 years old. How would you like Ray Nitschke in his last year [playing for] the Vikings, or I retire, and go play for the Packers? I kind of hope it happens, so he can fail.”

Well, Fran Tarkenton was never one to mince words, but that last line seems a little over the top.

Lots more there at the link. I'll highlight one more bit that is the reason I think the Vikings should now avoid Favre if he decides he does want to play:

"He’s been a great player, there’s no question about it, but it’s all about him. It is supposed to be all about your team. If you’re going to be the quarterback of your team, you need to be there in the offseason workouts in March and April. Peyton Manning’s there. Tom Brady’s there.”

I don't know this, but I'm suspicious that Favre has delayed fixing his arm so he can swoop in at the last minute, having successfully avoided those offseason workouts. If he stays retired, then I will be wrong on that and owe him an apology. If he decides he want to play though, I think that will be why he waited until the last minute. That's not the kind of guy anyone wants on their team. It just isn't.

My Sporting News

The Plot Thickens:

Whether Brett Favre and Brad Childress dined by candle light Wednesday night or sat on a bench in the back yard of Favre’s Mississippi home and shot the breeze about the quarterback playing for the Vikings is unknown.

But Childress did leave the Twin Cities on a commercial flight Wednesday and, according to people with knowledge of the situation, the Vikings coach was scheduled to begin meeting with the for-now-retired record-setting quarterback over dinner. Discussions about Favre wearing a Vikings uniform this fall will continue Thursday, most likely in Hattiesburg.

We'll see what happens. The article mentions the Vikings offseason program and I think that is a strong, though not definitive, indicator on how this will all shake out. If Childress sticks to his guns and insists that Favre attends, that will be a good sign. If Favre agrees, that will be a good sign. If Favre actually shows up, that will be a good sign. Anything of an opposite nature and I think Favre will be nothing but trouble. And that's not even talking about the health of his arm or his penchant lately for throwing as many or more interceptions than TDs. Childress needs to have a firm position on what he expects and Favre needs to buy into that wholeheartedly for this to have just a chance of working. Anything less and yes, it will be a circus and a disaster for the Vikes. The local con view is here, and I don't blithely dismiss it. He brings up some valid points.

Disappointing(A quote from Twins first baseman Justin Morneau below):

"We can't keep making the excuse that we're a young team when we are making a lot of mistakes,'' he said. "A lot of them are mental mistakes that don't show up as errors, like not thinking to throw the ball home. Not thinking of the play ahead of time before it happens.

"Even baserunning. We made a lot of mistakes on the bases. Everyone has been here for a long time, and you can only use that excuse for so long and then eventually you have to say, 'You're not making adjustments.'"

The Twins lost an ugly game to Detroit last night and it's clear that manager Ron Gardenhire is losing patience with his team: second baseman Alexi Cassilla was sent down to the minors after another poor performance last night.

Good, it had to be done. Casilla's performance has been a major disappointment the last few weeks. I think Gardenhire is right that his struggles at the plate have messed up the rest of his game and cost the team. I actually like the guy and hope he turns things around in Rochester and makes it back. I know he can be a great fielding second baseman. I know he can hit in the upper .200s and has the speed and the brains to be a factor on offense. He's just making too many mistakes and needs a chance to work back into major league play. That's a BIG disappointment, but it is what it is and I hope he gets his head back to where it's screwed on right. And to be fair to Casilla, there are some other Twins who have regressed instead of stepping up another level after last year. For example, the entire starting rotation is starting to come to mind.

This team has the talent, but once again they have started the season with what appears to be a lack of will or discipline to consistently play pro level ball every day. Man up boys, this is the big leagues. And it's getting damn tiresome to see you wasting the first five or six weeks of the season before you finally get around to playing like professionals every damn day. For those Twins that need the reminder, that's your damn job.

Is Live Bait Dead? No excerpt here as I think the writer, Dennis Anderson, is just trying to be provocative with that title, if in fact he wrote it. Anderson notes the rise of soft plastic baits and I have no doubt that they will have at least some impact on live bait sales. Live bait will continue to be a component of my arsenal for the foreseeable future though. I used soft plastic minnows last year and had some success, and I'll use them again this year, but they are not some kind of magic bullet.

The key to fishing is figuring out what works and trying out both different lures and different techniques until you can determine that. It is easier said than done, but it helps to have hard and now soft lures, and also live bait to try to figure that out. Frankly, puzzling that out on any given day is now as much fun to me as actually landing the fish. I have this weird feeling that I might be getting old.

Nah, can't be.