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."

*Matt Birk - you remember Matt Birk, don't you? - got fined $5,000 for, of all things, not wearing a microphone. Birk makes a bunch of money and I'm sure nobody feels bad for him, but let's take a step back here: Holy smokes, Matt Birk got fined a bunch of mortgage payments for not wearing a microphone even though HE IS A CENTER. Sometimes, the NFL is really, really confusing.

*And finally: let's all extend our hearty congratulations to the city of Vancouver. Well done, Canucks fans!

That's enough for this week. Enjoy your Saturday, which may actually feel like October this week, rather than mid-July. If your house is anything like mine, you've got about two feet of leaves in the backyard that blew off the trees last week without even turning colors, so you might want to get after those.