Bold guesses on Favre’s durability

Recently, quite a few NFL players announced retirement, and most of them are around 30 years old and none is older than 40. That’s normal in NFL, but it made me more curious about the durability of Minnesota Vikings quarterback, 41-year-old Brett Favre.

I have to guess hard why Favre could still play so well when he was 40 years old, two years after he first announced retirement. He never retired for real sense and returned to a different team every time after he announced the end of his NFL career. People got fed up with his uncertainties, but were still amazed by his excellent performance. By so far this season, Favre has not made any announcement on retirement or return, but he is highly expected to wear back his Brett Favre jersey because his performance in 2009 season has convinced people of his capability and durability. But why is he so durable while most other players end career shortly after 30th birthday or just have decreasing value even if they stay to age 40?

I have to doubt that whether the quarterback we saw on field was really the Brett Favre we talked about? Is there another man like Favre and playing as well so he and Favre can play in turn? If so, both men could have enough rest before playing his next game. I also guessed that Favre may use some kind of steroids to make his body stronger. He is 41 years old and a grandfather now, I can hardly believe he can do even better than he did while younger, and I even doubt he has a twin brother or clone to play for him when he is not in good condition. Oh, Vikings fans forgive me, I’ve just read too many conspiracy novels.

Vikings said Favre’s surgery was expectable

While a lot of people were excited about Brett Favre’s surgery on his left ankle, the responses from the Minnesota Vikings were not with much surprise. Calling it promising news, most of the Vikings said the move was just expected long before it really happened.

Tight end Visanthe Shiancoe’s words may represent quite a lot of his fellow teammates. Shiancoe said that Favre had to change some part of his body if he had even the slightest intention to play his 20th NFL season, and leading the Vikings so close to Super Bowl XLIV could just make the quarterback want more success in a new season. None of the Vikings, either player or coaching staff or even officials, has got any information from Favre on his playing status in 2010 season, but they all take the latest surgery as a strong suggestion of his plan to wear back the purple and gold Brett Favre jersey. If their wish comes true, Favre would be the first grandpa winning Super Bowl in the league.

The Vikings are still carrying on their offseason plans without a confirmed starting quarterback. They are confident that Favre will return to take the job back. Favre himself also used to say that playing with his former rivals gave him good feelings and the 2009 season could the best one he has had during his 19-year NFL career.

Young Vikings fan overcame Mount Everest

13-year-old Jordan Romero is now a new pride of all Minnesota Vikings fans, as he became the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest, and a picture of the young boy in Minnesota Vikings jersey is on hot sale on E bay now.

Romero made the achievements on Saturday and the first person he contacted to announce it was his mother. Proudly telling his mother that he was calling from the top of the World, Romero also had his mother update his facebook post and tell his fellow Vikings fans that big news. Congratulations and praises also climbed to a peak on Romero’s personal page. Romero’s mother told reporters that her boy dreams of being a star NFL player some day and he wants to prove his athletic talents by reaching all the highest peaks on seven continents.

After several days of break, Romero will return home in June and restart a trip to his next peak next summer. He has a plan to reach all the peaks before age 18, when he will concentrate on football training for college football career and hopes to be drafted by the Vikings by the time he enters the NFL draft.

Brett Favre wants to return with Packers

While most of us are expecting the legendary quarterback Brett Favre to wear back his No.4 Minnesota Vikings jersey, few people seem like to see him back with his old team, the Green Bay Packers, even though the quarterback himself actually wants to be with the green and gold instead of the purple and gold.

Some rumors spread recently to say that Packers told one of his close friends that he was actually attempting to play with the Packers again before retiring. It’s a reasonable guess, if it is, as Favre spent most seasons, 16, of his NFL career with the Packers before announcing his first retirement in 2008 offseason. We know that he later chose to sign with the New York Jets and retired again in 2009 offseason before signing with the Vikings. Favre had his best season in 2009 but did not make it to Super Bowl and finished the season with a lingering ankle injury that may require a surgery. It seems that Favre plans to play for one more season before a real retirement, and he wants to spend the last one with the team he loves most, the Packers, who acquired him from the Atlanta Falcons in 1992 offseason and gave him trust and starting job.

Without the chance given by the Packers, Favre could have developed into one of the best quarterbacks in the league. However, even if he wants to wear back Packers style of Brett Favre jersey, Packers fans would unlikely forgive him for what he did in 2009, when the Vikings led by Favre beat the Packers twice.

Vikings rookie RB Gerhart may miss part of mandatory minicamp

Because of some school affairs, the Minnesota Vikings rookie running back Toby Gerhart is confirmed not to take part in the start of Vikings’ voluntary Organized Team Activities at Winter Park, and he made addition on Thursday that he may also have to miss part of the mandatory minicamp in June.

Gerhart is scheduled to graduate from Stanford on June 13, before that he still has to return to school for classes and other matters. The OTAs is scheduled to begin next week and the minicamp will last from June 11 to 13. At this moment, Gerhart is still unsure how much time he is going to miss but he said he would try his best to find a way to miss as little as possible and take full parts of the minicamp.

As about the graduation, let’s congratulate Gerhart for graduating from Stanford with a 3.25 grade-point average with a degree in Management Science and Engineering. He is also expected to have even more brilliant achievements in the Vikings jersey. Actually, after taking part in the rookie camp a few weeks ago, Gerhart has already had a good understanding of how an NFL team runs and he is planning to get back in shape as soon as possible to fit in the team well.

Vikings backup QB Jackson is not affected by Favre decision now

Talking about Brett Favre, it would be understandable for the Minnesota Vikings backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson to say that he was unhappy when Favre changed his mind to put on Vikings jersey last season and took the starting job away from Jackson. But now the backup appears quite calm with anything new about Favre.

Actually, Jackson recently said that he has learnt a lot from Favre and his annual retirement soap opera. After some initial craziness on losing his starting job, Jackson learnt quickly to accept the fact and stayed with the Vikings to be a backup. Perhaps what he was thinking before making the decision was that Favre was already 40 years old and would not be able to play football long in the NFL. Staying and learning, Jackson surely had a great chance of getting starting job back. However, it seems that Favre still has no plan to end his NFL career and is still expected to play with the Vikings for another season. Jackson has to wait for another year, but this time he is much calmer about it.

"You have to think everything through and think of different scenarios and just try to be ready for anything because you never really know what (coaches and front office people) are thinking," Jackson told Sirius NFL Radio. "Honestly, it crossed my mind and I’ve wanted change, but change is not always good. One thing I learned from Brett is just be yourself regardless of the situation and the circumstances. Just go out and be yourself today, every day and they (can) take it or leave it. That’s what I’m going to do, and that’s how I’m approaching it."

Calmness is now definitely good for Jackson. Whatever Favre’s new decision is, Jackson still has his job with the Vikings. And once the grandpa player retires or even leaves field with injuries, he would still the first choice of coaches to be the replacing starter. He simply has more time than Favre, no need to worry.

Another college football star is to join Vikings rookie camp

Now things just happen out of Matt Winney’s expectation. The former Green Bay Preble graduate did not expect to continue with football career but eventually became a standout cornerback with the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. And now he is even given a chance to try if he could start a professional football career with an NFL team.

The Minnesota Vikings just gave Winney a call and invited him to have tryout in the team’s rookie camp.

"It was a goal all along, to get that phone call," Winney said. "When I received it Sunday morning, it was just a sense of relief and excitement. I worked hard to get to that point, and now I get a chance to go out there and show myself on the field. Just getting the opportunity was a big step."

With a height of 6-foot-3 and weight of 205 pounds, Winney could fit well both at cornerback and safety. With the perfect size and speed as a cornerback, he has had 122 career tackles, 23 pass breakups and seven interceptions during his college football career. He also has experience of being a starter in last college season, so it’s actually unsurprising when he told reporters that there were at least six NFL teams with interests in signing him. What’s more interesting, Winney himself is a fan for the Green Bay Packers, but he has said that it would be fine for him to put on Vikings jersey and play with former Packers star quarterback Brett Favre.

Stanford RB Gerhart joined Vikings as 51st pick

After drafting Virginia cornerback Chris Cook with the second pick in the second round, the Minnesota Vikings used another second-round pick to draft a running back from Stanford. Being the 51st overall being picked in 2010 NFL draft, Toby Gerhart could be feeling luck that he had the chance to put on Vikings jersey and work with Adrian Peterson, one of the best running backs in the league.

At the beginning of Friday night, the Vikings already showed strong intention to pick the former winner of the Doak Walker Award. At the cost of a second-round pick at No. 62 and a third-round pick at No. 93, the Vikings traded for the 51st overall pick from the Houston Texans and moved up 11 spots to have the right of picking Gerhart before other interested teams made the choice. With height of 6-foot and weight of 231 pounds, Gerhart was strong competitor for the Heisman Trophy and eventually managed to win the Doak Walker Award, which is prized to honor the nation’s best college running back.

Gerhart showed his power as a running back by rushing for 1,871 yards and 28 touchdowns last year while leading the Cardinal to the school’s first appearance in bowl game in eight years. The addition of Gerhart is expected to add more depth in Vikings’ running back. Besides, picking a cornerback and running back instead of a quarterback made more people to believe that the No. 4 Brett Favre jersey is very likely to appear with the team for the new season.