I would, too....except we would lose if we did this.

That said, I think Favre starts and we do kick their butt all over the field!

the vikings are bitter and hungry the way things ended last season. the saints will have a superbowl hangover. the saints will be a playoff team, but alot has to go right in order to repeat. the will need to stay healthy and have the ball bounce there way. plus sean payton and gregg williams will have to get them motivated and hungry again to repeat.

Are u serious golf? I don't understand why people say baseball is the most boring sport I honestly think golf is much more boring. Also Hockey is a very much fun sport to watch especially when you watch it live.

How's that rock you've been living under? Maybe you should be surprised. Did u start watching football this past January or sports in general? Do you realize the New York Giants won the superbowl not too long ago? If so you would know there was no talk about 9/11. Did u know the New York Yankees won the World Series this past November? yet again you would know there was no talk about 9/11. Even when the Yankees got to the World Series in 2001 the same year of the attacks of 9/11 there was little to no talk about them needing to win a championship for the city of NY due to 9/11.

So are you telling me that if the Giants, the Jets, or the Yankees win this year the media will hype it up and talk about 9/11.

Really, REALLY, I don't think so buddy.

i agree with everything you said except the part about the yanks in 2001. that is ALL the media talked about. they panned the stands to see everyone in their FDNY hats. they changed the 7th inning stretch to "god bless america". they were constantly talking about how the yankees winning would be huge for the city. even after the diamondbacks won there was still talk about how they were happy for them, but they couldn't help wish the yankees could have won that year. joe buck in particular mentioned that as a diehard cards fan he could never root for the yanks, but even he said he was pulling for the yanks that year. people put aside their hate for the yanks for one season because they were pulling for the city of new york. i don't know if you were living in new york at the time so maybe you didn't see it. but if you are not from there and watching broadcasts elsewhere that is all anyone talked about.

Yeah u are right about this. I did not forget the way things were back then and how much the yankees did mean to NY. I just couldn't stand the Yankees that's all even if it was just for nyc, i sure wasn't supporting the yankees.

i like the nfl and nba. the best TEAM sports. i agree however. hockey is the most fun live.

I live 45 minutes outside NYC and there was plenty of talk about 9/11 when the Giants won the Super Bowl. There's no shame in that.

In a similar vein, the Super Bowl championship must have been an uplifting event for New Orleans. Is it a cure? Of course not. Football is a distraction — and a welcome on at that — from our daily troubles. That's why we watch.

Personally, I don't care what a Saints fan's perception of the opening game is. And I completely separate my feelings about what New Orleans went through with Katrina and the Viking-Saints rivalry. What Katrina did to the lives of everyone in the are is tragic; it's hardly worth mentioning the meaning of a football game in the same sentence. I feel for the citizens of New Orleans. That being said, I hate the Saints and their fans can eat it. The way they played was disgraceful, with the late hits, etc. — it was low class, IMHO. Sadly, the way the Vikings played was more disgraceful with the 12 man in the huddle and all the turnovers. That's what lost the game.

i couldn't disagree more. i graduated as a sociology major and am currently working on my masters in psychological theories. my entire thesis, as well as what i plan to do for a career is based solely on sports impact on everyday life. sports are a medicine to many people. they are capable of helping a single individual, as well as entire communities. all sports are bigger than they have ever been with the evolution of fantasy sports as well as the advances in technology that allow a person to watch almost any game from anywhere. we watch sports both for enjoyment, as well as a means to let our minds wander. i would never make the case that sports are a life and death thing. in fact, i believe the exact opposite. it's why when some people are up in arms about favre not announcing a decision i could care less. it doesn't effect me at all. do i love it when the teams i root for are winning? for sure. do i hate watching the vikes lose? absolutely. but i don't live life through my teams. that doesn't mean they can't offer solace during a difficult time, both as a player and as a fan. think of favre on that monday night game after his dad died. think of tiger winning the next major after his dad died. or the figure skater this year who skated the day following her mothers sudden death. now, think about the last time that you went through something very difficult in your life. what did you do? play a round of golf? cast a line out? watch a basketball game? come to this very board to talk to other guys as crazy about the vikes as you? we all turn to sports for comfort in tough times. so the saints winning the superbowl most definitely belongs in the same conversation as katrina. it likely didn't offer EVERY person comfort, but i'd be willing to bet that for many people, even for a moment, that superbowl allowed them to smile for a while, to celebrate with friends, and for many it was probably a tribute to the many saints fans that lost their lives in that tragedy.

FYI:

Bobby McCray-DL-Saints Jul. 22 - 12:53 pm et

The Saints have reportedly re-signed DE Bobby McCray.

McCray was released in late June, just before a $1.25 million roster bonus was due. He's returning to New Orleans at what is likely to be a much lower rate after drawing scant interest on the open market. The 29-year-old will remain in the nickel rushing role provided he makes the final roster.
Source: ProFootballTalk on Twitter

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Seems the Saints are just fine with the guy, his attitude and the way he plays the game.

Oh good, now someone can rip his legs off.

Stay healthy?

Haven't you heard? The Saints beat the Vikings last year in spite of 19 out of 21 starters being administered last rites on their death beds. They're so good, they don't NEED to be healthy.

Check that ... make it 18 of 21. A story leaked yesterday that team doctors (who also reportedly provided pro bono medical services and free ice-cold Slurpees during the aftermath of Katrina) gave Jeremy Shockey a prosthetic right arm, and he heroically gave it a go against Minny. Definitely affected his blocking, but surprisingly not his pass catching.

I mean, between Katrina, a hospital full of Saints and Shockey's plastic appendage, how could anyone NOT root for New Orleans?

was that supposed to be sarcastic?

Were the Saints only playing 10 on offense, or defense?

This sums up the injury report

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcsouth/post/_ ... d-injuries

Saints were down 16 players altogether for the game - 15 on Injured reserve and done for the season, 1 on the Injury report and down for the game. Of these 16 people not playing 9 were backups, only 4 were starters. The other 3 were roleplayers that played significant time before being injured.

By position they had lost their starting DE, DT, FB, LT, nickel CB and the 2 tight ends that were brought in during blocking situations. They were not down 15 of 22 starters nor were they dressing only 30 players for the game.

You figure a team has 53 players, with 45/6 suiting up for the game for comparison purposes.

I am not saying the Saints won with second stringers, nor am I saying that they should have been given an extra down because some starters were out. All you get when a player goes down for the season is the chance to sign a player who is currently not playing for another team. I am saying that I do expect the return of those starters will balance out the likliehood of there being less turnovers in a rematch. If the Saints lost I wouldn't have said you didn't beat our real team - you play what you have and injuries are a part of the season. However it seems naive to ignore the return of 5 starters and several major roleplayers when you look at a rematch the next season.

In comparison the Vikings were down a single LB, albeit an extremely talented one.

An Cedric Griffin at the end. And weren't Hutch and Herrera playing with Injuries? It doesn't matter if you play,your game is still less than 100%. And Favre's ankle injury,which encouraged him not to run ahead on the INT... If his ankle is fine,he might decide to run with it who knows?

Yeah, city was devastated after the yanks lost....whoever told you that was lying to you.

Allow me to play amateur psychologist here.

You are a Saints fan, through and through. Nothing wrong with that. OK, it's actually a minor character flaw, but since you're geographically challenged, we'll let it slide.

You know in your heart, as a Saints fan, that your team got out-played last January by our Vikings, who beat themselves with turnovers and the idiotic 12-man penalty.

Now you're saying you want to engage in a civil conversation about September's game. But what you're really doing is rationalizing to yourself why your Saints will beat the Vikings.

You're doing this because you remember the awful feeling you had in the pit of your stomach when the Vikings were driving down for the winning field goal last January, when your team seemed powerless to stop the inevitable ... the dream was over. Pulled from the brink of disaster by an ill-advised Brett Favre pass, predicated by his inability to run for yardage thanks to an incredibly dirty hit by Bobby McCray, you still aren't confident about September. In fact, you're pretty worried about it. You don't want to experience that sick feeling again. My guess is that you're already experiencing the cold sweats and the jitters that precede the sick feeling.

So here you are at VikingsMessageBoard.com, desperate to uncover some previously unforeseen reason to be confident about September's outcome. You're looking for any nugget of information that will quiet the churning in your gut. Bottom line: You want US to allay your fears.

In my semi-professional opinion as an amateur psychologist, please allow me to say, with all the compassion I can muster:

It ain't gonna happen.

Check your mail for my bill. On second thought, consider it T.C.O. (taken care of). I'm a charitable man.

Hardly.



As stated before, it's not like the Vikings were playing at 100% health either.

THIS sums up the injury report

Vikings

Harvin: questionable (migraines)
Ray Edwards: questionable (knee) --wore brace
Kevin Williams: questionable (knee)
Pat Williams: questionable (elbow/foot) --wore brace, needed offseason surgery to correct
Benny Sapp: questionable (ankle/back)
Antione Winfield: probable (foot) --never 100% after sustaining the injury
Bernard Berrian: probable (ankle) --also dealing with lingering hamstring issue
Steve Hutchinson: probable (shoulder) -- forced to have offseason surgery to correct
Jimmy Kennedy: probable (thumb)
Ben Leber: probable (knee)
EJ Henderson: out (broken femur)

Saints

Malcom Jenkins: questionable (hamstring)
Jeremy Shockey: questionable (knee)
Jonathan Goodwin: probable (knee)
Bobby McCray: probable (back)
Robert Meachem: probable (ankle)
Darren Sharper: probable (knee)

http://www.nfl.com/injuries?week=20

Pat Williams didn't participate at all in practices leading up to the game. Sapp, Edwards and cornerback Antoine Winfield were limited. Winfield, listed as probable, was still feeling effects of the broken right foot he suffered in October. In total, 10 Vikings were listed on the injury report (not including Henderson) for the game, compared to six for the Saints. I realize some Saints are not listed because they were out like E.J.

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I wish fans of opposing teams would do the slightest bit of research before spouting nonsense. Oh, and nice post Kapp. I keep having this dream that I'm Jessica Rabbit. What do you suppose that means? I'm sure this is completely normal, though I should probably stop Google Image-ing Jessica Rabbit late at night.

MONTANA:

Actually, what I was saying is kind of in league with your response was. I did say "In a similar vein, the Super Bowl championship must have been an uplifting event for New Orleans. Is it a cure? Of course not. Football is a distraction — and a welcome on at that — from our daily troubles. That's why we watch."

Watching sports is something that binds us and helps us getting through our lives. I was saying that you can't compare the damage caused by Katrina equally to the outcome of any football game. You can measure the impact the game may or may not have on the citizens of New Orleans, but I wouldn't try compare the life and death situations of a hurricane to a any sports event.

You are a gentleman and a scholar despite having to live so far north Kapp, thanks for taking care of that bill.

I know that people's hatred of McCray is really just a way of dealing with their guilt over Allen taking out Schaub in the regular season and being fined for both that and hitting Rodgers low. When even your QB is injuring players in the preseason with illegal blocks it can become necessary to label some other team as the true villain. Not everyone can accept that football is a physcial game so they ignore what their team has done and focus on others.

Yes I am worried about the Vikings next year. The Vikings, Atlanta, Ravens and Dallas I look at being our biggest challenges, followed quickly by the Steelers and Bengals. I do expect us to get 10-13 wins and be in the NFC championship again this year with a chance to defend our title in the Superbowl.

I know you must be worried as well, we played an off game and you did everything right except for what seems like self-sabotage. I would not be surprised if Childress doesn't have some secret deal with bars and therapists in the area with the way he is able to cause anguish in the hearts and souls of all Vikings. It is almost as if he is the avatar of 1998 returned in physical form. No matter how good the rest of the team is can you ever overcome him when it comes to closing out the big games. I almost wonder if he didn't run 2 TE for better blocking but went with extra recievers just to say "hi Brett, remember our arguing about the offense. Say hi to their blitzers for me !"

Poet you are right that you had 10 people listed on the Injury report and we had six. You also had one on Injured resrves - which is a different report listing those who are out for the season. On that report we had some as well, 15in fact. So you had 1 out and 10 under 100%. We had 15 out and 6 under 100%. 11 vs 22, we had roughly twice as many affected by injuries.

In all seriousness I have a great respect for your team and this board. Where the Saints were a team that never even whiffed success before 2006 the Vikings have had a different kind of hard luck with constantly fielding great teams yet not getting the final prize. I think it is a mark of character to stick with a team for better or worse. Besides I always saw a kinship with the Dome Patrol and the Purple people eaters.

I understand that your QB was injured on an illegal hit, but so has your team injured a QB on an illegal hit. Call us dirty if you accept the title yourself.

I understand that we benefitted from excessive turnovers, please accept that we had roughly twice as many people affected by injury. Maybe there will not be turnovers in September, maybe we will not be down multiple players after training camp and preseason. One thing is for sure - I am looking forward to it. If we win we beat a great team and things look great. If we lose, we lose to a great team that will seem to have out number but whom we hopefully can catch in a rubber match come winter. It was better before you had the dome though.

but were they key players. From our team EJ,P-Will,K-Will,Harvin,Hutchinson,Winfield,Edwards, and Berrian are all quality starters and help the team.

That's not counting the injuries to Favre and Griffin in the middle of the game. So when you look at it that way we pretty much just matched your 22 injuries, talentwise. You even admitted yourself that only a handful of your injuries were starters. we had about 10 starters that were banged up

No problem. I want to do all I can to accommodate our friends living in unfortunate places.


Of course you're worried.


Wait. I thought you were injured. Now it's an off game? I'm having a hard time keeping up with the excuses.

Seriously, I'm not worried in the least. We didn't win the Super Bowl. You did. If we lose in your building, everybody will say, "Well, they were supposed to lose." What will they say if you lose? Perhaps, "Last year really WAS a fluke."


See, this is where Saints fans have trouble seeing past their own misery.

If you think last year was the ultimate "tear your heart out" moment in Vikings history, you've been living under a rock. You guys went eons without a winning season -- I submit to you that's not as bad as what we've suffered. We've won more division titles than I can count, something like 18, yet we've never done what you did last year. WE'VE LOST NINE GAMES OF LAST YEAR'S MAGNITUDE OR GREATER (4 Super Bowls, 5 NFCC games). The term "Hail Mary" was coined because of a game we lost to Staubach and the Cowboys in '75 -- and that wasn't even an NFCC game. Fifty years, no titles, many heartbreaks. Brad Childress cause anguish? Get in line, Brad.


I give you a lot of crap ... hope you know, you've actually been one of the best Saints posters on this board. So many others have not been, which is why I'm a little jaded. Most of what I'm doing now is razzing you, and you're taking it well. Thanks for that.

You guys have a great team (I still don't care for Bobby McCray, and Jared Allen and his mullet are still my heroes, but I digress). We have a great team. Hopefully, it'll be one of the better season-opening games in many years.

Or if it's not, I hope we beat the Holy Who Dat out of you guys!

I totallly agree. Your a rational Saints fan and you don't come here to talk crap about our loss. No matter how much crap we give you,we still respect you. Its just that some of your fellow Saints fans made us irritable and ruined it for the good posters

I've enjoyed my time on here as well and if sports rivals can't razz each other then life just got sadder.

All is good as long as one of us keeps Dallas out of their stadium for the Superbowl. If either of us loses to them in the NFC Championship game . . . ugggh.

I followed the Vikings when I was a kid and they were one of my favorites back in the Tarkenton days. I moved to New Orleans back in 1991 and have been following them ever since. Experiencing both pains I can say that the high and lows hurt more as a Vikings fan than the constant drubbings as a Saints fan. We have a lot of bandwaggoner's now which is irritating but that's sports. One is a killer and the other is more endurance based but both are bonds of pain. Oh and he definitely pushed off on the Hail Mary.

I wouldn't worry about Bobby too much, the Bears got Peppers from Carolina and you face him twice this year. If lucky he will coast that game but I remember him doing well against you last year and he has a chip on his shoulder now.

If any of you come down here for the game let me know and I will buy you your first drink. You will find a mixed bag of us here, some nice and respectful, some bitter over being told they were only lucky and didn't deserve the super bowl. Ignore the drunk #### , share a drink with the good ones.

the media loves the cowboys and packers. for some reason they are the sexy picks in the nfc for 2010.

yeah after we beat the who dat out of the saints, can you and your other saints fans work on another chant/ motto that WHO DAT crap PLEASE. It is sooooooo annoying it sounds like something a bunch of mindless monkeys living in the jungle or cavemen would come up with. I'm pretty sure ya'll can do better than that

Saints new Slogan will be unveiled on September, 10th... "Wha Happened?"

Who Dat?! - The mating call of the Cajun Owl.