Dr. Z likes the Vikings, so they must be good

Check out this link. Scary isn't it?

Frankly, these stories always frighten me and for long-time Vikes fans reading this post I probably don't have to explain why.

There's been too many games, transactions and seasons where much was expected but little was delivered by the Vikings. So in order to steel ourselves against the disappointment our team usually delivers, fans have learned to hope for the best but expect the worst (or something resembling it). They've also learned to wince when the national media predicts big things for the Vikings.

But Dr. Z is an expert and knows more than the average bear about the NFL and so his opinion carries more weight than Peter King's or Pete Prisco's, you'll argue. Well, I like Dr. Z too and he does know more about the game than King or Prisco. But what I don't like is his picking the Vikings to win the Super Bowl seems to be born more from a hunch than any in-depth analysis he's done on the team.

A couple of other things to note about this piece: He cites the Vikings ability to run the ball and stop the run as an aspect of the team that he really, really likes. Which would be fine, except the Vikings have done both things pretty well the past two seasons and haven't made the playoffs. He also quotes Vikings head coach Brad Childress as referring to Brian Robison as Brian Robinson. I'm pretty sure Chilly knows the names of his players, so this has to be Dr. Z's error, which brings me back to my point about Z not putting a whole lot of analysis into his pick.

But it's just one writers opinion. What's the harm? (Wince, wince)

The dog days of summer
Not many posts up here so far this month and I apologize for that. It might improve. Or it might not. Summer's arrived in the North and ball season (yes, we have that here in Yellowknife) is cutting into my evening writing regimen. I'll try to do better.

On Deck: The case of Matty B