Vote a Player off the Ship

In light of the boring off-season period, for the next 10-weeks we are going to try something fun. Each of the next 10-weeks we will vote to kick one Vikings player off the ship. Someone you think is the weakest link...or maybe just dislike.

Each following week, I'll repost the poll with one less player and the process will start all over again! So we'll start with ten and end up that you will have to make a choice between two players! We'll select the one player you cannot live without. That one player that gives you the most confidence each time you see him in purple. Who will it be!?!?

The result of Week One was that Chris Hovan was voted off the ship with a mandate. 70% of you told poor, misunderstood Chris to shove it.

In Week Two you showed that Vikings fans can hold grudges. For years. With almost 60% of the vote, you gave the finger to Morten Andersen. Who can forget the 1998 NFC Championship game?

Well, we couldn't and it is bye-bye Morten.

Week Three saw the closest voting to date with loquacious Kelly Campbell getting the boot by just a few votes over E. J. Henderson.

Week Four did finally put an end to swabbing the poop deck chores for E. J. Henderson. In spite of Randy Moss being traded to the Raiders, Henderson easily was voted off with nearly 60% of the vote.

In Week Five, you elected to boot Michael Bennett. Maybe an early indication that you expect him to be traded before the April draft. You did this despite the fact that Randy Moss is now longer a Viking yet remains on the ship for another week.

Something surprising happened in Week Six. The angry Moss Got Traded fans came out in force and vented their collective displeasure towards Daunte Culpepper. The vote was nip and tuck throughout the week but eventually Randy Moss was tossed from the Vikings longboat onto the pirate ship of Oakland by a mere 3 votes over Culpepper.

Week Seven came and away went Onterrio Smith in a puff of smoke.

Who will be booted in Week Eight? We're now down to just three players. Voting will be open until Wednesday morning (3/30). Make your vote count!

Oh Yeah, That L.A. Thing

For those who continue to blow off the whole Vikes to L.A. thread that I started here earlier this week, now comes this story out of the heart of California itself.

The Terminator wants a team back.

The NFL received a powerful endorsement last Friday in favor of putting a team back in Los Angeles.

My guy for president in 2008 or 2012 (yeah, I know but we'll get the damn amendment put in by then), Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a thumbs up to the idea after meeting in Sacramento for an hour with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who stopped in on his way to Hawaii for the annual league meetings.

Where was this story in the local rags?

"A Los Angeles NFL team means good jobs, increased tourism and economic growth for California," the governor said in a written statement. "As you know, I love action and I want to bring NFL action back to Los Angeles."

Tags left happy, saying, "I’ll be back."

Oh, and just who is handling all of Fowler's legal work in the purchasing of the Vikings? That name belongs to Kevin Warren.

Name not familiar to you? Well, Warren was vice president and legal counsel for the Los Angeles Rams at one time in his career.

And people want to think that just because Fowler said he's not moving the team that his word is golden. His word. Let's once again review Fowler's word for those keeping score at home. Especially those born after Norm Green left for Dallas.

Prospective Minnesota Vikings owner Reggie Fowler has a wee bit of a credibility problem.

We all know about the whole resume' issue. According to Fowler's explanation, his PR firm made up a bunch of slight improvements on a press release, and then sent it out before he'd had a chance to correct the, er, errors.

And those errors included some real whoppers. Contrary to a three-page biography that Minneapolis-based Tunheim Partners released at the initial introductory news conference when Fowler announced he was buying the Vikings, the Tucson native did not:

• Play for the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL or Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. Instead, Fowler acknowledged that he was in their preseason training camps.

• Enroll in Arizona State University's MBA program. The university said that Fowler did attend graduate school between fall 1984 and summer 1988, but he never declared a major and did not receive a degree.

• Earn a spot in the Little League World Series. Fowler in a follow-up said that he played on a Tucson Little League All-Star team.

I can buy the explanation that the PR firm got a little overzealous. (PR people can be like that.) I'm a little skeptical of this explanation:

Fowler, in a brief phone interview, said he did not review the initial biography before it was issued to reporters. He referred all other questions to Leslie Kupchella, an account supervisor for Tunheim Partners.

Neither Kupchella nor Tunheim Partners returned phone calls to the media after the initial dog and pony show.

The company told the Star-Tribune that Fowler's Chandler-based Spiral Inc. supplied the biographical information to the firm. Fowler confirmed that to the newspaper.

Later on, the firm issued a new "fact sheet" about Fowler.

That biography states that Fowler is 46, has two children, four siblings and was raised in Tucson.

It made no mention of his marital status. Fowler told The Republic this week that he was single, but he declined to answer whether he was divorced.

A 1998 St. Petersburg Times story on a small-plane accident involving Fowler and his family said he was married to Lori Fowler. Numerous Maricopa County public records have listed them as a couple.

Fowler's marital status could become an issue for NFL owners if they believe that it could have an impact on his financial status.

So he supplied the false information, and wouldn't come clean about his marital status until pushed by the media?

Yeah, that's just a little suspicious.

On the bright side, "Reggie Fowler" does appear to be his real name. Whether he's actually wealthy enough to purchase an NFL team remains to be seen.

Fowler's deal seems to be contingent on the sale of 25 percent of his aviation simulation company (SATCO) to UBG Financial Corporation. As of March 24 that sale was incomplete. Red McCombs said he was not initially aware that Fowler intended to include the SATCO deal as part of his financing.

As for SATCO, Fowler told the Arizona Republic newspaper last month that it is one of the top three simulator manufacturers in the world.

Asked about that ranking, Bob Glenn, manager of training devices at United Airlines, said, "You want a one word reaction? 'Hah!' "

Glenn called SATCO "a small company that not many people have heard of. I would rank them as an upstart."

Stefan Sobol, the principal engineer of Pan Am International Flight Academy in Sterling, Va., said he did not believe that all of SATCO was worth $300 million.

"There's just no way," said Sobol, who added his firm is worth a bit more than $100 million but is much bigger than SATCO.

This transaction involving SATCO was suppose to have happened March 11.

It did not.

It was then suppose to occur the week of March 15. It did not.

Delays in finalizing the deal have left the league unable to complete its review of the Fowler group's proposal. As of Friday, March 18 the reported $300 million deal to sell 25 percent of SATCO, still had not been finalized. An investigation by the Star Tribune has called into question the value of SATCO and the wherewithal of its reported buyer, UBG Financial Services.

We've now come full circle. As of today, Fowler's deal to sell 25 percent of SATCO to UBG Financial Corporation is still incomplete. A full thirteen days after we were told the deal was going through.

Reggie ain't got the money people. As I stated earlier this week, don't be surprised if the NFL actually buys the team for Fowler.

Whether or not he, or the NFL, actually keeps the team in Minneapolis, well, that's why I'm here.

Posted by maasx003 at March 23, 2005 09:01 AM | TrackBack