Season Long NFC North Discussion Thread

Of course, if Peyton manning gets in too, it’s going to be an all time sword fight.

Oh my god, a Peyton vs Favre Superbowl would involve the most insufferable announcing in recorded history.

Since it will be on CBS, it won’t involve Joe Buck or Al Michaels, so even if it is a figurative sausage fest, it cannot be the most insufferable ever.

They’re going to whip out their penises and…right, you meant play each other in a football game, of course.

For everyone’s edification, let me post this. Here at the Straight Dope Message Board you can trash-talk a team, a celebrity, etc. … but not other posters.

This is the rule. This has always been the rule.

Emotions can run high during games, I know, and a certain amount of trash talk is enjoyable. But do not insult other posters.

Hentor and Hamlet, what you’re doing needs to stop. Of course that goes for everyone else too. If you think you’re “just” talking trash, ask yourself if the comment you’re making would fly in MPSIMS, Cafe, or General Questions. If the answer is no, don’t post it. If you do, you’ll be looking at a warning.

Thank you all for understanding, and complying.

Ellen Cherry
Game Room Moderator

All right, but I think you need to distinguish between insulting a poster and critiquing a post.

“You are stupid” is an insult.

“Come on, that’s stupid” in response to a post is not really an insult, especially not if it’s true. We all make stupid comments sometimes, no reason we shouldn’t get called on it.

Your attention to this difference will be greatly appreciated.

You have it right, cricetus. “You are stupid” is an insult. “That’s a stupid viewpoint” may be rather an indecorous way of putting it, but should you offer evidence that supports why you think it’s an uninformed viewpoint, I’m more likely to let it stand as trash talk.

And if you’re trading barbs which have nothing to do with the sport at hand, I suspect you know what the answer is. Don’t be a jerk is still the rule, no matter what forum you’re in.

</mod hat>

Well, I won’t have any moral qualms about this nex game…

Geaux Saints!!!

Moral qualms? Saints won by the same margin as the Vikings. Presumably their last score was as necessary as the Vikings last score. Apparently there are just no Cardinals lame enough to go across the field and whine at the better team.

It has nothing to do with that and everything to do with the fact that I hate the Vikings and the Cowboys, thus putting me into a moral quandry this past weekend.

Got it!

Saints 4th quarter points scored: 0

So their 4th quarter offense sucks. How is that the Vikings fault?

Yeah right. Saints offense must have suddenly fallen apart in the 4th. OK.

The bottom line is that, IMHO, the Vikes scored those last points solely to make a statement. That statement was, “Fuck you, Dallas.” That’s poor sportsmanship, and the Vikes should have taken a different option. Brooking was justified in voicing his complaint at the poor sportsmanship. That’s all there is to it, really. I agree with Terry Bradshaw on this point.

Fans all around the league pretty much unanimously pilloried the Patriots for that exact kind of thing. The Vikings were every bit as classless as the Patriots were. Actually, the Vikings were worse. The vast majority of teams will run the ball on 4th and turn it over on downs. That is the standard. The Patriots instead passed on 4th down. At least the Patriots could defend their actions by pointing out that they passed like 70% of the time and didn’t really employ a running game in the first place, so passing on 4th was their conservative play. The Vikings can make no such claim.

Cowboy players should shut the hell up about, those giant pussies. However, Vikings fans should be aware that their team has now legitimately earned some of the same backlash the Patriots got for running up the scores in 07.

Lame comparison. The Patriots were mostly doing that in regular season games against non-contenders, not in a playoff game against a bunch of guys who had been trash talking them all week and who all the smarter-than-us sports commentators spent the week talking about how much trouble they would have beating. The Vikings didn’t “need” that touchdown, but they had every right to rub the Cowboys’ noses in their loss and to make a statement. The Cowboys were a bunch of braggarts early and a bunch of quitters later, and then a bunch of whiners and poor losers at the finish. They have no business talking about class to a team that simply played the game and won by too many points. None.

Favre did Dallas a favor by rubbing their noses in it, in fact. Dallas should be ashamed of themselves. They had plenty of opportunities to get back in that game, but halfway through the second quarter they already looked shell shocked. Maybe their anger over losing by thirty-one points instead of twenty-four will teach them to try harder next time even if they’re behind by a whopping two touchdowns before the half.

As a card-carrying memebr of the “Vikings are Satans Minions” Anti-fan club, I can say I have no problem with what the Vikings did.

Fuck the Cowboys and Jerry Jones and his dick-compenstaing stadium, too. This is professional football, suck it up Cowboys and if you get the chance, stick it to the Vikings on the field.

If Wade or Tony or anyone on the Cowboys was a leader they would have slapped Brookings upside the head and told him to STFU. He’s a defensive player, for crying out loud. It takes some nerve to give up thirty four points and then whine to the other team’s offense for making his team look bad. Does he not understand that it is job to not the let the other team score so much?

I’m not aware of any pre-game trash talk.

I agree, it is the defense’s job to stop the offense, and Dallas failed at that job.

I also agree that running up the score will hopefully help Dallas get some fire in its belly.

I also agree with Bradshaw that the last TD was an exercise in poor sportsmanship.

If the score is 30-0 with 0:01 remaining and TEAM1 has the lead with the ball on TEAM2’s goal line, good sportsmanship says take a knee. They have every right to go for the TD, and the defense’s job is to stop them, but going for it is still bad sportsmanship.

Dallas plays the Vikes in the regular season next year. Should be interesting. Non-divsion games:

Home: Chi, Det, NO, Jax, Ten
Away: GB, Min, AZ, Hou, Ind

I’ve got no qualms about that last TD. The Vikings already had been doing the ‘Peterson up the middle for no gain’ for both that and the previous drive. The Cowboys responded by putting about 13 people in the box, trying to stand him up, take cheap shots, and hack at the ball trying to cause a turnover. Why does sportsmanship require the Vikings subject their players to that?