University of ND, Minnesota Campus

[Irish YJ]

Wow, Carlson, Sullivan, Rudolph, and now Smith and Blanton.

Is there any ND connection in the Vikings front office? What the heck is going on?

I like it. With Peyton leaving for Denver.... Looks like I'll be rooting for Indy, Denver, and now Minnesota.

 

[NDman3]

Us Vikes want well rounded players, who will stay out of trouble, and are smart.

 

[MNIrish14]

Us Vikes want well rounded players, who will stay out of trouble, and are smart.

Haven't had that in a while haha

 

[Irish YJ]

True!

There's got to be some type of connection you would think.

 

[Riddickulous]

They must've really wanted Blanton. He was a huge reach.

 

[clashmore_mike]

They must've really wanted Blanton. He was a huge reach.

You are quite negative today. Blanton was not a huge reach.

 

[CarrollVermin]

Sort of like Notre Dame South at Kansas.

 

[NDman3]

Haven't had that in a while haha

+1

 

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

Being a Packers fan, I hate the Vikings. Its going to be real hard rooting against them. i hope our former Irish play great.

 

[Walter White]

They must've really wanted Blanton. He was a huge reach.

Blanton fits the cover-2 corner prototype perfectly. A lot of analysts think he might get moved to safety. I am a Vikes fan and think it was a great pick for them.

Also, not sure why you think he was a reach. Most scouts seemed to put him between rounds 4-6.

 

[chubler]

As a Packers fan, I've gotta say the vikes had one heckova draft.
And I'm not too thrilled about them getting Harrison Smith, because now I have to cheer against him.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Robert Blanton wasn't a reach at all! As mentioned above he was projected in the 4-6 roiund range. Blanton isn't going to play corner he is going to play safety in the league and will immediately make an impact on special teams. Mayock, Kiper and McShay all really likes him.

 

[Riddickulous]

You are quite negative today. Blanton was not a huge reach.

I've actually been negative the whole offseason. The bowl loss and the recruiting hoopla that followed really soured my opinion on the state of the program. I've been trying to curb the negativity before I turn into NDOM.

 

[Irish YJ]

I've actually been negative the whole offseason. The bowl loss and the recruiting hoopla that followed really soured my opinion on the state of the program. I've been trying to curb the negativity before I turn into NDOM.

I feel ya... I've only been out my funk for a week or so. Getting more optimistic by the day. Hang in there. If BK picks a QB, and sticks with him (not TR), I'm going to be very happy come opening day.

 

[dshans]

Us Vikes want well rounded players, who will stay out of trouble, and are smart.

First, let me get this out of the way – it would be "We Vikes" rather than "Us Vikes. Please forgive me. It's an obsession; an addiction, if you will. Second, "we" are not Vikes, unless you or I were hired by the Vikings and I missed the phone call or missed the Strib article. Again, forgive me my sins of arrogance and vanity.

Severing ties with Randy Moss was a start. Banning players from poorly supervised boat outings on Lake Minnetonka would help. Acquiring Irish players is a good and encouraging trend.

On the other hand, if Wilf and the NFL can be believed, there may be another team poached by L.A. from Minneapolis (the Lakers being the first) if the city and the state do not acquiesce to demands (extortion?) to foot the bill for a new stadium. With no disrespect to any ND grads (Paige and Casper are other ND notables who played for the Vikings) I'd rather not pay additional property, sales, dining and alcohol taxes to subsidize what a billionaire team owner and the cash ***** NFL should be paying for to further their enterprise.

I'll still root for our boys whether they be MN or L.A. Vikings

 

[Rizzophil]

Being a Packers fan, I hate the Vikings. Its going to be real hard rooting against them. i hope our former Irish play great.

I agree with this. Ten fold!

 

[SAMCRO]

When i play Madden, the first thing i do is Trade for all the Notre Dame Players. i start Quinn and Jimmy is the Back up.

 

[NDPhilly]

When i play Madden, the first thing i do is Trade for all the Notre Dame Players. i start Quinn and Jimmy is the Back up.

Your team must suck.

 

[Irish2015]

Outside of linebacker I think you could compile a pretty good starting line-up of ND players in Madden.
QB-Quinn, Clausen
RB-Grant, Allen Hughes
TE-Carlson, Fasano, Rudolph
O-Line Mark LeVoir, Chris Stewart, Jeff Faine/Eric Olsen/John Sullivan, Trevor Robinson, Sam Young
WR-Floyd, Tate, Stovall
Dtackle-Laws, Landri, Ian Williams,
DE Abiamiri, Tuck, Ethan Johnson
LB-Flemming
CB-Blanton, Walls
FS-Segio Brown, Kyle McCarthy, Tommy Z
SS-Chinendum Ndukwe, and David Bruton

 

[CTIDANDREW]

Vikes fan here. Im loving all these ND grads obviously, and would love to add Manti to the group next year!! Although even with this draft, team is still a long way off rest of division sadly.

 

[Irish Fam]

When i play Madden, the first thing i do is Trade for all the Notre Dame Players. i start Quinn and Jimmy is the Back up.

Your team must suck.

I laughed out loud when i read this

 

[Irish YJ]

Never been a Vikes fan, so if they move, I'll still cheer for the team so long as they have all the ND kids.

Hell, send Clausen or Quinn there to throw to the TEs... If Ponder doesn't cut down on his INTs, they may need someone better than Webb.

 

[SAMCRO]

Your team must suck.

the Passing Game in Madden 12 is so easy this Year, Brady Quinn plays like Tom Brady.

 

[ulukinatme]

I'll root for any pro team that picks up ND alumni, nice to see that Minnesota is showin' us some love.

 

[ChiRish]

Your team must suck.

Hilarious. And yes, it must suck.

 

[andre784]

My two favorite football teams are ND and the Minnesota Vikings. Nothing better than watching players you admired in college moving to your pro team. I feel blessed to have Rudy,Sully,Harrison,Carlson and now Blanton.

 

[Buster Bluth]

Nothing better than watching players you admired in college moving to your pro team.

Unless you are the owner of the Vikings, I would hope that there are a lot of things better than this.

 

[andre784]

Unless you are the owner of the Vikings, I would hope that there are a lot of things better than this.

Uhh...what?

 

[dshans]

Unless you are the owner of the Vikings, I would hope that there are a lot of things better than this.

Like duping a state and a city into footing the bill for building a new, fancy-schmancy stadium while collecting revenue for expensive sky boxes and their amenities, food and beverage sales, naming rights and reaping the benefits of property tax exemptions, waiver of utility connection fees, etc. All while watching the value of their franchise grow without any of the real risk associated with business ventures.

I'll put my soap box away, but ensure that my wallet is nearby and open to be picked by already privileged billionaire owners.

 

[MNIrishman]

dshans, I totally agree. I actually am in grad school at UMN, so I get to pay taxes AND deal with the fact that the university is utterly underfunded by the state (hooray extra fees and tuition!). The stadium argument is so horribly disconnected from reality and I can't believe the government is going along with it. People keep claiming how many jobs this is going to create for the state, but the number of work hours divided by the number of construction jobs works out to just a few weeks per job...not really a permanent economic fix. The number I keep hearing that the Vikings bring in is something like 15 million dollars a year in tax revenue. The stadium will be around for about thirty years, so tax revenue is going to be about 450 million dollars over the life of the stadium. This is, of course, much less than the state's and Minneapolis' contributions. Even if it were more, I can think of better ways for the state to spend money, like on education. The state has underpaid school districts in the state for a long time, and even if that weren't an option, economic impact studies for the U show that it's a great investment for Minnesota. The Vikings? Not so much.

I guess it's my fault being born and raised in Columbus and then attending Notre Dame. I can't understand the value of and attachment to most professional sports franchises. In what way are the Vikings Minnesotan? Are the players from Minnesota? I don't know of any that are. Is it owned by the people of Minnesota? NFL rules prevent this, so hooray! We get to be blackmailed by a New Jersey mogul. Well, then, if no one associated with the team is Minnesotan, than surely the players at least LIVE here, right? Right??? Well, during football season, then the rest of the time most of them head out for warmer climates. The team at least represents Minnesota well. It's not like they...

The Minnesota Vikings are the NFL's most arrested team - Minneapolis News - The Blotter

Well, shoot.

I can't understand why people want to trade in educational funds for Vikings funds. Maybe someone can explain this to me. I come from a background where university sports rule the roost. A big time football program helps entire athletic departments run without taxpayer help. At large state universities, at least regional pride is generally represented by regional players. At OSU, the vast majority of players are from Ohio. I might hate Ohio State's flaunting of the rules and the fact that they loot from the Irish recruiting haul when they can, but they truly stand for my state and their profits benefit the university and lower taxes. The University of Minnesota had a great football program once. It actually has more national championships than Texas. When Minnesota got an NFL team, the college team lost a lot of support and its success dwindled. As a matter of fact, the last Golden Gophers national championship was in 1960, the year before the Vikings were formed. Frankly, I hope they leave if they won't sponsor their own business.

Sorry for the rant guys. I love our Fighting Irish and hope they do well for the Vikings. I'm just really frustrated with what's going on in the capital right now and feel like I'm getting hosed.