MOSS RETURNS TO MINNESOTA

Short post before dashing out to do the job that pays the bills:

So Randy Moss makes his return to Minnesota tonight for the Raiders-Vikings pre-season tilt.

Ho, hum. Even for this diehard Vikings fan, it's really hard to get overly wound up over a glorified scrimmage where Moss is likely play, what, maybe two or three offensive series for the Raiders? Maybe this should be saved for when the Vikings meet Daunte Culpepper and the Dolphins in the regular season.

There's probably more to it than the fact it's not a real NFL game. There's still a lot of feelings and dashed hopes that have to be sorted out over the Vikings, in the space of two years, suffering fallings-out with the wide receiver and the quarterback who should have been the greatest passing combination since Montana-to-Rice.

It just never happened, at least not for any sustained period, partially since the Vikings front office was so screwed up that it got in the way of the duo achieving lasting greatness.

What they did together still was plenty. Culpepper's 2004 season (4,717 yards and 39 touchdown passes) was one of the great years any quarterback has had, but he had the misfortune to do it on a .500 team in a season where Peyton Manning made headlines for breaking Dan Marino's single-year record for touchdown passes.

It's impossible to be bitter at two players whom yours truly identified with, and it's tough to despise Randy Moss. He was and is a mercurial yet hugely talented African-American athlete in a continent where a good percentage of the general public thinks pissing on hugely talented African-American athletes is a sport. Still, it's hard to wish him or Daunte well.

Oakland's silver and black just doesn't look right on Moss, just as Miami's teal and orange doesn't look right on Culpepper. That's all there is to say. The prevailing emotion is no emotion.

OTHER BUSINESS

• One Canadian running back's loss is another's gain, apparently: Kerry Carter went down for the season in Washington's pre-season opener last night, so that and a rash injuries to running backs may help Jesse Lumsden's chances of playing in the NFL, although he's currently nursing a hip flexor.
• Lumsden isn't the only born-and-trained Canadian trying to win a NFL roster spot. Former U of Regina and Winnipeg Blue Bombers punter Jon Ryan has a good chance to make the Green Bay Packers. If you saw Green Bay's offence in its pre-season opener, you know they're going to be doing a lot of punting this year.
• Not that it's any consolation for Toronto Blue Jays fans, but Cool Standings projects their final record to be about the same, perhaps better, than three of the four National League playoff teams. See? We're a powerhouse. We're just in the wrong division in the wrong league.
• Some recent stuff to draw your attention to: New York's baseball sex scandals, Associate Blogger Neil Acharya's big debut (he argues for keeping Hockey Night in Canada on CBC), a defence of those 'idiot' baseball coaches and oh, yes, the Rogue Agent's Frost-y Reception.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.