Each week Jon Marthaler bakes up a delicious batch of links for you. Other times, you can find him here. Jon?
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I've posted a lot of anti-Vikings stadium arguments here, over the years, but I'd like to start off this week by posting the first good pro-stadium argument I've heard. It comes to us from fellow RandBaller Clarence Swamptown: "There are a number of government services I pay for and use. There are many more that I happily pay for but will never use in my lifetime. There is also a TON of waste. I've worked for nearly every level of government possible - from the smallest township to the unwieldy feds. Please trust me when I tell you that there is a ton of waste. I'm not smart enough to know how to change that. And I don't have any definitive idea if the new Vikings' stadium would be an economic stimulus or a billionaire handout. Both sides have a case. But I do know that a new Vikings' stadium is something I would use, either directly or indirectly. Even if it is waste, at least it's some waste that a rube like me can enjoy. Yeah, it's selfish. So sue me."
Well, you can't say it fairer than that.
On with the links:
*Christian Peterson at the VikesCentric blog goes inside the numbers - or, at least, the player grades - and finds out that not only is Phil Loadholt not useless, he's actually been one of the best run-blockers in the NFL so far this year. (About pass blocking, we will say no more.)
*Loved this story from SB Nation about Frank Matrisciano, who's a trainer at the University of Memphis but is better known as Hell's Trainer. Former Stanford basketball player Dan Grunfeld, who trained with Matrisciano in college, tells his story.
*Spencer Hall explains why both Brett Favre and Tim Tebow are magnets for stupid. Key quote: "No player in the history of the NFL attracted as much pure, uncut stupid as Brett Favre, a figure whose appeal for stupid people exceeded all previous attractors."
