A few years ago, I was contacted by a fellow Minnesota Vikings fan who thought he had discovered a team relic as precious as the Kensington Runestones.

The gentleman’s name was Ed from North Branch, Minnesota. He contacted me via email on the old Vikingstailgate.com website to let me know about a really cool story he uncovered after he acquired a purple Ford-150 from a junkyard.

At the time I was contacted in October of 2007, Ed and his wife had just purchased the truck, and were looking for clues as that would help determine it’s value.

“This is a cool story,” he wrote, ” Read more…

My old buddy from Macalester College recently challenged me to take a Civics literacy exam to see how I would do. The exam was put together by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute which according to their website

“Is a non-profit, non-partisan, tax-exempt educational organization whose purpose is to further in successive generations of college students a better understanding of the values and institutions that sustain a free and humane society.”

At one point in my college career, I wanted to teach Civics in high school so I just had to take the civics literacy exam and see how tough it was.

About Full Civic Literacy Exam

• Are you more knowledgeable than the average citizen?
• The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the following test was 49%
• College educators scored 55%.
• Can you do better?So how did I do? I will share this information for everybody who tries the test, and posts their scores in the comments. If you beat my score I might even chose to send you a prize.Please be honorable and post only your honest results (No assistance from the mighty Google)

This was sent to me by a co-worker, who likes sending funny stuff to me and letting me post it on THESPORTSDADDY.COM. What can I say, the Metrodome roof collapsed last weekend during a huge snowstorm in Minnesota, adding another chapter to this very unusual season for the Vikings.
Read more…

Even my in-laws are getting in on the action of Viking fan angst lately. This was sent yesterday, before coach Childress was fired:

A seven year old boy was at the center of a county courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy had a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulation requiring that family unity be maintained to the highest degree possible.

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried and said that they also beat him..

After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and confer with the child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Minnesota Vikings, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

I meant to post this earlier, but this item sent to my email last week, proposes that the fate of  this year’s Vikings might end up much like that of the ’99 team. Going into last week’s game with the Patriots, the similarities to ’10 and ’99 were quite astonishing, as my friend wrote: Read on…