Speaking engagement

By PATRICK REUSSE, Star Tribune

Last update: January 16, 2008 - 8:27 PM

Former Vikings linebacker Wally Hilgenberg will speak this morning in Bloomington about living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Hilgenberg, who spent 12 seasons with the Vikings from 1968 to 1979, was diagnosed with the disease in 2006. The breakfast tribute at the Sheraton Hotel is hosted by Search Ministries. For more information, see www.searchmn.org.

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Mark Craig: The importance of kicker Ryan Longwell can't be overlooked - January 16, 2008

Mark Craig: The importance of kicker Ryan Longwell can't be overlooked - As long as the Vikings keep winning, we'll be dishing out praise to the Brad Childress regime. (Warning: This exercise could end extraordinarily abruptly with a first-round playoff exit). Childress and the organization have gotten well-deserved credit for the Jared Allen trade. Chasing and catching Brett Favre. Doing background work on Percy Harvin (so far, so good). But watching the Texans fall to 5-5 [Monday] night when kicker Kris Brown missed a last-second field goal for the second consecutive week made me think about one of Childress' first decisions as a Vikings coach: Ryan Longwell. Remember how bad the Vikings' kicking situation was under Mike Tice? Even Tice has admitted that kickers were his Achilles' heel. Well, Childress came in before the 2006 season and on Day 1 of free agency, one of the players he locked up was Longwell. Longwell has a career field goal percentage of 82.7, third-best in NFL history. He's 85.9 percent since he joined the Vikings. Longwell has made 15 of 16 field goal attempts this season. Just thought I'd throw that out there after watching Brown miss a 49-yarder that would have sent Monday night's game against Tennessee into overtime. It came a week after he missed a 42-yarder as time expired in a 20-17 loss to the Colts. More