Four Downs

FIRST DOWN: As you are reading this the fate of Mike Zimmer as coach and Rick Spielman as General Manager has probably been decided by the owners of the Vikings Mark and Zigi Wilf. The speculation then will turn into what will the leadership will look like in the future

     The other thing that has to be discussed is the future of Kirk Cousins.  Yes he can put up some nice numbers and throws darts to Justin Jefferson and Adam Theilen,  but I don’t think he has the intangible to win the whole thing. In his first four years here he has one one playoff win and this team has missed the postseason three out of his four years starting. If he restructures his contract and stays, I hope the new coaching staff has a better offensive philosophy to make #8 better in the win/loss column.

SECOND DOWN: The folks at the FBS level are looking at expanding the playoff to 12 teams. What they should do is just play the bowl games with the traditional tie-ins, (BIG 10 Champ vs. PAC 12 in the Rose Bowl for example) and play a four team playoff after. The semifinals could be on the Saturday before the NFC/AFC championship games and the championship could be the Sunday night the NFL usually plays the Pro Bowl. This would make all the bowls matter and we wouldn’t have as many athletes op-out to get ready for the NFL Draft.

THIRD DOWN: Now that the Vikings season is over not only will I be focusing on the Wild and Timberwolves making a playoff run,  I will be monitoring on whether or not the Major League Baseball owners and Players Association have enough sense to work tirelessly to get a collective bargaining agreement done. I don’t know how good the Twins will be this year,  but during this fridged weather the sound of baseball on KFGO make me feel warmer knowing summer is near.

FOURTH DOWN: As many of you know I am a huge fan of amateur wrestling. Friday night the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers traveled to the #1 team in the country Iowa. The Hawkeyes to no one’s surprise won the dual easily, but one of the Gopher’s wins was Olympic gold medalist Gable Stevson defeating Tony Cassioppi.  Steveson won by major decision and the crowd dressed in black and gold gave him a standing ovation.  I had chills seeing it. It goes to show, you can have the bitterest of rivals, but when you preform well, along with representing all of us in this country in global competition wearing the big U.S.A on your uniform, respect will come from everyone. Classy move Hawkeye fans, “who hates Iowa” well not me after that gesture.