Tis A Ponderous Chain...

One of my favorite scenes in A Christmas Carol (the one starring George C. Scott) has a dead Marley telling Scrooge how heavy it is to carry around ALL the bad things he'd ever done while he was alive.

He told Scrooge in the most pathetic, helpless voice you've ever heard, "tis a ponderous chain."

I can't help think about that line every time Christian Ponder is called on to do something, ANYTHING, to give the Vikings a chance to win a close game.

It doesn't matter how many BIG plays this team manages to pull off (yesterday it was THREE INTs by the defense) you can always depend on Ponder to weigh the team down just enough to cost us the game. He is truly a PONDERous chain.

But let's talk football a little bit more. The Vikings are 0-3 now. You know, that WAS pretty much expected. I thought the Vikings actually had a chance to win yesterday, but we saw something much cooler in the hapless Cleveland Browns. Desperation. They KNEW they had no chance going in so they were forced to try TWO trick plays, one on a punt and one on a field goal try, that gave them an early lead. They knew they HAD to resort to the tricks to win.

Coach Frazier still lives in the dream world of thinking we just need to make a "few adjustments" to win this division. Cleveland's coach is scratching and clawing in reality while Frazier sees SIX sacks on his pocket passer and still thinks things are just fine.

More football? While the Vikings at 0-3 was pretty much expected, some really weird things are going on with what was thought to be much better teams. Green Bay is only a game ahead of the Vikings in the standings at 1-2. Their only win? That was against the now 0-3 Redskins, who are featuring a very different looking RGIII. More? Ely Manning and the Giants are also 0-3. Colin Kaepernick and the Niners are 1-2 as well. Pittsburgh is being featured in prime time every week and they can't be happy with their 0-3 start either. The whole world gets to see how bad they've become.

The Vikings have been horrible so far this year. But they are in some very good company. At least there is that.

Jolly old England awaits next us week. We have the rare opportunity to stink it up on TWO continents this season. Tis a rare privilege indeed.

And I can't help but thinking that Scrooge and Marley were from London as well.

Tis a ponderous chain.

I like typing "tis," what can I say?