Plenty of Blame, Except for Favre

The heartbreaking loss on Sunday will be dissected ad nauseam for the next 9 months, but one thing that should not be considered whatsoever is that Favre lost that game. First, Favre took a beating that has not been witnessed by a Vikings QB since Archie Manning took the massive amount of punishment he weathered in the early 80's. Second, the Vikings never would have been in the position to even be in this game without Favre's steadfast QB play all season.

The main reasons for the loss are, in order:

• The Vikings inability to secure home field, despite multiple opportunities to do so. If yesterday's game was played at the Metrodome, the Vikes win in a rout.
• 12 men in the huddle, coming out of a time out. A coach somewhere needs to be fired for that.
• Two fumbles in the red zone. If just one of those turns into a field goal, overtime never happens.
• Limited pressure on Brees by our defense.

So once again, like so many times before, the Vikings faithful are left wanting.

Want all you want, just don't blame Favre.

Paste Magazine Continues to Add Downloads

Paste continues to add new music as a fundraiser for Haitian relief. The song count is now above 400. There have been some great new additions. Here's just a sampling of the vast array that is available:

• A strong new song from the Benjy Davis Project
• A hauntingly addictive song by Alex Walker
• A fun Devo-inspired submission by Maldroid
• A simple but beautiful and meaningful song from Lynn Miles

Additional new artist finds for me that will require additional research include Skyline Circle, The Casanova Playboys, Rhett Frazier Inc., and Seabear.

If you've not been out there yet, get going.

New Prince Song For Minnesota Vikings

I admit I'm a big Prince fan. I'm also a big Vikings fan.

However, just because I individually like things like sauerkraut and ice cream does not mean that you can mix the two.

Hence, this disaster:




In the mean time, the Saints have a badass song like this:



We deserve to get out butts kicked today just for this one song alone...

Vikings Vs. Saints - May the Best Team Win

I have strong affinity for New Orleans, and subsequently the Saints, for multiple reasons.

• For my wife and me, New Orleans is probably the favorite city to visit. Between work and family events, we've been down there over a half dozen times. The music, food, culture, and people are unlike anything in the world, and we just love it.
• I have close family that lives in Louisiana, and they love their Saints and Tigers.
• Saints ownership are wonderful philanthropists, and believe strongly that they have an obligation toward aid of the less fortunate. These are good people.
• The city is still feeling the effects from hurricane Katrina. I have a good friend that built a Habitat for Humanity house down there last summer, and he reports that there are still neighborhoods that are devastated.
• Drew Brees is one of the classiest players that you will find in the NFL. He felt the calling to play for New Orleans as it would allow him to do work that would better the crippled city. His foundation has raised over $4.5 million to date. He walks a path that few others choose to take.

Given all this, my heart won't be completely broken if the Vikings come up short tomorrow. Don't get me wrong - I'll definitely be rooting them on, and remaining on watch for our elusive first Super Bowl championship. However if the Saints go on, consider me on that bandwagon. As a city and as a franchise, they deserve good things to come their way.

Coke Still Delivering Smiles

I've always been a Coke guy. Here's another reason why:

The Largest Employer in Minnesota? The Government

Twin Cities Business is a periodical devoted to the business community in Minnesota and the upper Midwest. Every year they publish a Big Book and present rankings about Minnesota businesses in a Forbes-like fashion.

This past issue they published the top 25 largest employers in the state. For a state that is home to businesses such as Target, Best Buy, 3M, Hormel Foods, and Cargill, you’d expect to have these companies appearing high on the list.

You’d be wrong.

Government represents 4 spots out of the top 20 employers; 3 out of the top 5; two out of the top three; and at 54,900 employees the State of Minnesota is the greatest employer in the state, crushing the number 2 employer the Mayo Clinic which only employs a paltry 37,318. In fact, the State of Minnesota is 7 times larger than Best Buy; the US Federal Government is 5 times larger, the University of Minnesota is 4 times larger; and Hennepin County is roughly the same size.

What in the world do we do when the economy is dominated by organizations that are publicly funded? This is moving toward a massive Ponzi scheme, folks.

Paste Magazine's Downloads for Haiti

Paste Magazine has just released a fundraiser for Haiti. By making a donation to charity (either through their site or elsewhere) you'll get access to their vault of over 200 downloads.

There are some real gems out there - personally I found some cool new music from folks that were previously off my radar. I really enjoyed Vast, Stacie Rose, and the Sarah Mac Band, and will be digging deeper into their bodies of work.

Among the better songs are Ben Folds' The Bitch went Nutz, an incredible cover of Pink Floyd's Echoes by The Decemberists, and the Born Again Floozies' Up the River Fu#ker.

Great music and great cause. Get out there and get downloading.

Brown Over Coakley: The Win and the Spin

I watched the election of Brown last night on MSNBC, not only for the schadenfreude, but more to see if they got it.

They didn't.

I saw the voters, the DNC, Coakley, tea partiers, Republicans, and even George W. Bush blamed for this loss. In all the analysis, it was someone else's fault.

Here's the deal. People are tired of ten percent unemployment and a broken economy. They don't care about global warming, they're tied of seeing their friends and families suffering in this recession, they're aghast at trillions being thrown around like monopoly money, and they're scared to death of the prospect of an out of control government taking over 1/6th of the economy.

People want some security. They want a paycheck. They want to see businesses opening. And they got absolutely none of that in the past year. None.

One party did its partisan bidding this past year; unabashed and with slogans like "we won," and "never let a good crisis go to waste." And the bills for that behavior are coming due.

The lesson in this election is that if Ted Kennedy's seat isn't safe, no seat is safe. Those politicians that get it need to put aside their partisan projects and fix the damned economy. Those that don't get it will likely see more Brown-like victories up close and personal this fall, in 2012, and beyond.