There will be a parade of offbeat NFL stories coming out in the coming weeks/months as the labor situation drags out and other sports struggle to fill the void. Some will try your patience.

Others, however, might just be fun enough to pass the time. As the final post of today -- and something to chew on Wednesday, when there will be no fresh RandBall content -- we rehash something we saw earlier today via ESPN: NFL helmet rankings.

Just about everything else in sports gets debated. Why not football helmets?

A panel of ESPN helmet experts -- or, more specifically, football guys who would normally be writing about mini-camps and free agency but now can't all chase the same lockout story lines -- voted on their favorites. You'll be happy to know that your Vikings came in 7th! Hey, something in which the purple (and Minnesota sports in general) didn't fail at recently! You might also be sad to know the Packers came in fourth. Aced out again.

We would have to say the Vikings' helmets are pretty solid and deserving of their spot. We would also note that NFC North writer and former colleague Kevin Seifert voted a straight North ticket, putting the Packers, Vikings, Bears and Lions all in his top 10.

Your thoughts on this very important issue, please, in the comments. We'll be back and better than ever Thursday.