So much welcomes! Many happys! From the grey skies of Thunder Bay all the way to the salted backroads outside Sudbury proper, I wish youse alls the merriest of merrys from northern Ontario. May the trees hewn over here provide you with the most comfy of Adirondack chairs over there. We willingly give our hockey players the gift of forever ice so that they may entertain up to several hundreds of people all over North America and beyond. And we do this expecting no thanks whatsoever aside from occasionally having our drive-thru coffee anonymously paid for by someone ahead of us in the line. It’s a simple life for simple people and we embrace our roles. May the spirit of The Hoser fill you with a slightly warmish feeling not unlike the onset of a fever.

TO THE GAME!

Vikes/Saints:

-Happenstance has dictated that these two have played each other five times in the last four years. As a result hearts have been broken on both sides. Will we see more of the same today? Unlikely!

-Both squadoos have lost two straight but only the Saints could afford it. By blowing it last week vs the Bears, the Vikes making the playoffs are as unlikely as the Bosa brothers embracing the Biden administration. With a W New Orleans wins the NFC South for the fourth year in a row.

-Brees had a tough go of it last week in his return, throwing at a 44.1% rate. His game is predicated on short, quick throws and it was obvious that his timing was off and that he missed Mike Thomas metaphorically and several wr’s literally.

-If you have Kirkie as your qb you may want to look elsewhere given that his average fantasy points at home sits at 24.8 and on the road he crumples with a 13.3 mark.

-Minny has quietly improved its passing D to the point that they haven’t allowed a passer 300 yards since week 6. Problem is, they dug themselves too big a hole at the beginning of the season. “Dig UP, stupid!”

-With Tre’Quan Smith sent to IR, maybe take a peek at Lil’Jordan Humphrey. He’s a 2nd year guy that runs about 70% out of the slot at 6’4″, 225 and caught himself a TD last week. Oh, and the Vikes give up the 2nd most TD’s to fellas that run out of that spot.

-How dominant is Kamara as a pass-catching rb? Despite having 5 games where he grabbed three or less passes he leads the 2nd-place rb by more than 250 yards.

Have a mulled wine and send me the bill.