Greetings from The Blimp

I'm all set up at University of Phoenix Stadium, and I have to admit, I expected more.

The place feels like a big convention center. Which is pretty much what it was designed to be. The place looked like an over-inflated blimp from the outside and lacks any shred of character inside. The ceiling is opaque, giving it a Metrodome-like look, only much more high-tech and expensive.

Blah.

The game should be interesting, though. The Vikings are the better team, but two storylines could determine the outcome of the game, and perhaps of the Vikings' season:

1. Will Adrian Peterson hold onto the ball and reestablish himself as the Vikings' best player, putting aside any possibility of losing some playing time to Chester Taylor?

2. Can the Vikings, who have to be eyeing a likely NFC title game at New Orleans, cover good receivers?

Tyrell Johnson and Madieu Williams appear to be playing better of late, but they haven't exactly been tested. As we've seen with the Patriots, a bad secondary can make an entire team look helpless against a good passing attack.

-Kevin Love is now among the Top 10 MVPs in the NBA.

-Had Brad Childress on the radio show this morning, and he was very lighthearded and blunt. I teased him about the speeding tickets, and he said something like, ``Not to make light of driving 100 miles an hour, but at least we're not talking about the Love Boat."

Hard to argue with that one.

-Also had on St. Thomas coach Glenn Caruso, who has done an amazing job with that program. He mentioned learning from hardships early in his life, and when I asked him to elaborate, he said that he was diagnosed with leukemia when he was young, and a doctor told his father not to expect Glenn to live to see his fifth birthday.

Glenn survived that and other medical challenges to become one of the most engaging and positive coaches I've been around.

-You can follow me on Twitter at SouhanStrib. I can't always tweet from Vikings games at the Metrodome because of a terrible wireless system, but I should be in good shape tonight. If I stop tweeting, that probably means I'm on deadline.