As I have mentioned, I am making a point to listen to some talk radio, and on my way to a golf tournament in Victoria yesterday (I may talk about that a bit tomorrow) I listened to KFAN. As I was driving along 494, Paul Allen reminded me of why I don’t enjoy listening to Vikings football on the radio (perhaps more than I don’t like listening to football on the radio for other teams). His optimism is just completely unabashed. When teams struggle, or are completely terrible, he remains oblivious.During the trip, he talked about the Twins and the Vikings, as I’m sure you could guess.
Regarding the Twins, he was on air with Roy Smalley who was gracious and patient as ever. They all agreed that the starting pitching is a huge problem, a problem that needs addressing. Paul Allen, however, couldn’t fathom why anyone would try to trade Denard Span in order to bolster the pitching. All of the things that make him a desirable trade candidate, why not keep those on the team? Keep the band together! Smalley then asked a simple question that I think everyone should have had running through their mind.. “How do the Twins get that starting pitching then?” Allen was speechless for a moment, but Smalley took the point further.Not making a move assumes that the Twins assume that Kyle Gibson will be healthy, Scott Diamond will be reliable, Liam Hendriks will step up, and Cole Devries will suddenly be a major league pitcher. Allen simply stated that he doesn’t understand why you would trade from a strength, which is such an asinine statement that I can’t even begin to know how to address it.
They then moved on to the Vikings. Paul Allen’s bread and butter. Surely he watched the 3-13 nightmare that was the Vikings in 2011? Apparently not. He started talking about Kyle Rudolph, who had 26 receptions last year, and how pairing him with John Carlson would lead to some serious matchup problems for defenders. Carlson didn’t play last year due to injury. And tight ends aren’t going to be matchup problems, unless you have good receivers spreading the field, forcing linebackers to cover them. The Vikings have Percy Harvin and Jerome Simpson! WHO DO YOU COVER?! Amazing. And with Adrian Peterson in the backfield, do you play the extra defensive back to cover all those receiving threats, or an extra linebacker to defend against the run to protect against Peterson? So many options!
I feel like Allen is the mouthpiece for the Minnesota Vikings, and as such, I feel sorry for Vikings fans. If the plan to turn around the Vikings 18th rated (28th in passing!) offense hinges on the injury prone John Carlson, 13 games of Jerome Simpson and Adrian Peterson’s knee, it’s going to be a long year.
Talk radio is pretty funny.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
