Steelers "@" Vikings

Do you find yourself occasionally skipping on your way to work? Do you sometimes worry your overly positive attitude is rubbing off on your co-workers? Have you ever caught yourself happily whistling in public? Ever feel your optimism is causing a rift between you and your significant other? Have you noticed yourself admiring the beauty in the world around you and felt glad to be alive? If so, I think I have the cure for you.

The Vikings play the Steelers in what has been dubbed the “Desperation Bowl” in London this Sunday. And you can resolve all your positivity issues in one fell swoop by coming over to watch the game on Sunday. Both the Vikings and the Steelers are unexpectedly 0-3 and in “must win” situations.

Before you all start clamoring for my hide, let me acknowledge what I said about the game last week “this, I assure you, is a guaranteed win for the Vikings. The poor Browns are in for a beating like no other as the underachieving Vikings take out all their frustrations on a poor and undermanned team. I promise you there is no way the Vikings will lose this Sunday. I’m even willing to put money on it. You want to lose some money? Stop by my office today and lay down some cash on the Browns.”

And, before you start guffawing and bellowing at my optimistic prediction, let me remind you that NOT ONE OF YOU stopped by my office to put any money down on the Browns. I always pay my debts and I would have paid you off if you had had the guts to plonk down some moolah on the Browns.

The good news is that change is in the air. Historically, any time a coach has wanted to yank a player without making it seem like they have pulled the plug on a starter, they have leaked news about a mysterious “injury” sustained by the player. Word from the Vikings is that Ponder sustained a “rib injury” at some point during the game last week. My prediction is that if Ponder starts to falter again, Matt Cassel will enter as QB and Ponder will be told to “rest his injury until he is 100%.” Then, the Vikings will ride Cassel until it appears that he’s even worse than Ponder. If Cassel wins, he’ll continue to play. Weeks after the injury is healed, Frazier will say, “Ponder is still our #1 QB, but I do not want to mess with the momentum as long as we’re winning.” If Cassel loses several games, Ponder will be back and the fan base will be somewhat mollified that Cassel got his chance.

For all practical purposes, this season is over. So, why should you come over on Sunday? The kids are with me this weekend and Sheila and I are going to whip up some fun stuff for lunch. We have not created our menu yet, but I assure you it will be something interesting. Probably at least *some* Indian food. So, come to eat and we’ll have the game going in the background. If you want to eat, you must RSVP. I ran out of lunch last week – the Hyderabadi Chicken was a hit!

Hope to see you on Sunday, or sometime this season.