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ASCENDING INTO THE BYE

VIKINGS 23 SAINTS 13 I had high hopes coming into this Vikings season. I picked them to win the north, after all. But I never thought the Vikings would hit the bye week at 5-0. I thought 3-2 would be a solid start. Instead, they remain one of only 3 undefeated teams left (49ers and Chiefs the others). The latest victim: the New Orleans Saints. The latest venue: the Superdome, site of the Vikings' last playoff win and site of the single greatest injustice this franchise has ever suffered. Vikings fans have been perpetually mad so far this year, fretting over the offense being inconsistent to put it mildly. But there was tangible progress made in that Dolphins game last week. Kyler Murray had a terrific 4th quarter, and his positive momentum carried over to this game. Murray was incredibly sharp for much of this game, but especially early on. He hit on his 1st 12 passes and led two good drives. Problem is that the Vikings only got 3 points out of them. Following a Will Reichard field...
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TRAP EVADED

VIKINGS 15 DOLPHINS 10 Sunday presented the 3-0 Vikings hosting the 0-3 Dolphins. A classic spot for one team to overlook another, especially when that team is also mired in an offensive funk. But the Vikings have spent the early part of this season mastering the (abstract) art of the ugly win. Style points aren't happening. Doesn't matter. Wins matter. Keep winning. I do think this game eventually showed some evidence that the offense is figuring some things out. But it sure wasn't in the first half. It was a lot more of the same stuff we saw last week. A messy offense, with penalties and a skittish Kyler Murray. Justin Jefferson didn't play, and in the 1st half, we also lost both Donovan Jackson and Christian Darrisaw. But the offense was able to scrape together a trio of field goals from the machine Will Reichard.  The Vikings also got a couple of breaks. Malik Willis appeared to have lofted a long touchdown pass, but the receiver had stepped out of bounds before cat...
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Cinematic Throwbacks: September 1996/2006

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1996: Adam Sandler officially ascended to bona-fide comedy star with his consecutive hits Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore. And later graduated to one of the biggest movie stars period with The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy, and Big Daddy in succession. In the middle of all these hits is the almost completely forgotten Bulletproof. Bulletproof is classic 90s buddy action comedy stuff. Sandler is a low-rent criminal. Damon Wayans, top billed since it was still 1996, is an undercover cop who befriended him but then has to bust him. Plot stuff happens, and Wayans get shot by Sandler. Sometime later, Wayans has to escort Sandler to trial so he can testify against his criminal boss (James Caan), and Bulletproof becomes a chaotic road movie as they try to get from A to B. Bulletproof didn't break any new ground. Some of the dialogue is bad. But it works because of a couple of reasons. One is that it was directed by Ernest Dickerson, the Spike Lee cinematographer whose directing...
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The Lynx embarrassed themselves

Well, so much for THAT season.  For the 2nd year in a row, the Lynx had the best regular season record in the WNBA. And for the 2nd year in a row, that meant nothing. But this time, it was so much worse. The 2026 Minnesota Lynx will be a team that takes its place among the all-time Minnesota sports chokers. Because they pulled off an embarrassment that will be hard to live down, or forget. The Lynx struggled late in the season, but still were able to grab that #1 seed. And in a super competitive league, where it was haves and have nots, they drew the 8th seeded New York Liberty, one of the preseason favorites and of course the team that fraudulently "won" the title from us in 2024.  It's not like the Lynx were guaranteed to win it all, and they were going to have to beat 3 good teams to do it. But show up! My god! The series was the first time in my now nearly 2 decades as a fan that I felt embarrassed to be a Lynx fan. All the other teams in town have done things that ma...
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September movie reviews

In theaters: RESIDENT EVIL Hey! They actually made a good one of these! When I heard Zach Cregger was following up Weapons with a reboot of a franchise that had never yielded a single entry that was more than passable, I thought he was crazy. But this is great fun. It's hilariously grotesque, paced by a terrific performance by Austin Abrams. It really feels like a video game, too, with how they do the action.  BY ANY MEANS One of those dreaded "based on true events" movies that are usually bs. It's about a black FBI agent and a mob hitman teaming up to track down racist killers in the 60s. The frame of the story really happened. It's a solid movie, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen and a miscast Mark Wahlberg. Loved seeing the gorgeous Nicole Beharie.  PRIMETIME Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen in a strange movie built around the rise in popularity of his To Catch A Predator show. I watched that show back in the day. I never once thought Hansen was as sleazy as the peopl...
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PERFECTLY UGLY

VIKINGS 23 BUCCANEERS 16 The most important thing to come out of this game is further evidence that we have a Vikings defense that could be generationally great.  And we know this because for the 2nd straight week, that defense bailed out a largely hideous performance from the offense. Kyler Murray was back after missing a week with a concussion. The Vikings were facing a Bucs squad that was 0-2, and considering that and last season's collapse, have a head coach in Todd Bowles whose seat has to be blazing hot. A desperate team can be dangerous, but the Vikings assumed control early. An opening drive field goal and a fantastic 86-yard punt return touchdown by Myles Price paced them to a 10-0 lead.  Tampa responded with a TD drive, really the only series all day they got the best of our defense. And a short time later, they added a field goal to tie things up. The Vikings offense had negative yards since their opening drive (and lost Justin Jefferson to an ankle injury), but awo...
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THE BRIAN FLORES MASTERPIECE

VIKINGS 9 BEARS 3 You don't usually think of football games being won by coaches, but I think Sunday was one of those times. The Vikings managed their unthinkable 7th straight win at the onetime cursed Soldier Field because Brian Flores put together the kind of masterful work from the sideline that becomes the stuff of legend.  It was a game played in a dreary rain the whole way, so that surely helped some. Still, this is a Bears team that rolled up an absurd 59 points in Carolina last week. The Vikings had Carson Wentz at QB again, with Kyler Murray still in concussion protocol. And we were also without Jordan Mason and Jauan Jennings. So you figured we weren't going to pile up the points in those conditions.  Each team did get a field goal on their opening drive. The rest of the half was muck. Neither team did anything. The Vikings eeked out another field goal. Byron Murphy picked off Caleb Williams. It was 6-3 at the half. The 2nd half opened with the one Bears drive where ...
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