Friday Recap (On Saturday): Dalvin Cook, Stealing Home and 53-Man(ia)

A busy Friday moving out of a house meant no Friday recap. At least on Friday. This week, we go over roster projections, a fun Little League video, and microclimates

Sorry for the late recap — it turns out that moving can occupy a good portion of your time. And yes, I’ve been “moving” for months now, but without a car, it does take a bit more of my day.

On to the recap — any pieces marked with ($) are behind a paywall of some sort.

My work

• Do you still want a recap of the Vikings-Cardinals game? Have at it ($).

• When the roster was released, I went live on Bleacher Report. You can watch the replay at this link if you have the B/R app or if you scroll down far enough on the Minnesota Vikings tag on B/R and find the video labeled “🚨 Vikings’ Final Roster 📋”

• I also broke down the Vikings initial 53-man roster ($) in more detail. In review, I’m happy to have correctly called the Jalen Reagor and Kene Nwangwu moves (and in a way, Myles Gaskin move), but underestimated the Vikings’ fondness for Theo Jackson.

• And of course, my Norse Code discussion on the topic.

• My discussion on the T.J. Hockenson deal ($) and how we report stories about contracts.

• I was on the Viking Age Podcast with Chris Schad to discuss the roster, T.J. Hockenson’s then upcoming deal and more for an hour.

• I looked at undrafted rookies in the top 200 of the Consensus Board to determine how often they made the roster.

• On the Play Like A Jet Podcast, I discussed Dalvin Cook’s history at FSU, the Vikings and the highs and lows of his off-field impact.

Work I Liked (Football)

• JT O’Sullivan’s breakdown on Jaren Hall’s preseason was awesome (and encouraging).

• The next in the Dorktown series on the Minnesota Vikings — covering the 1990s — demonstrates that a truly great storyteller can make you feel the impact of a story even if you know how it already ends.

• We also saw the Why Your Team Sucks on the Minnesota Vikings, a classic every year.

• Alec Lewis has a phenomenal profile on Harrison Smith ($) worth reading

• This profile on Bill O’Brien ($) is worth the time as well.

• Technically this is non-football, but this video from Jomboy Media on a Little League baseball game is very fun

Work I Liked (Non-Football)

• This is a really cool video on a feature of geography that creates extreme micro-climates

• I mentioned the Linus Tech Tips/Linus Media Group drama two weeks ago. Here’s his final response

• Liv Agar broke down the concept of the Sigma Male in conservative electoral figures ($) and uses the case of Ron DeSantis to explore the point

• Ettingermentum, who generally does excellent electoral analysis, has a piece exploring the history of transphobia in electoral politics.

• Zoe Bee has a phenomenal video on why Prager U Kids has poor teaching pedagogy. This one does not address much of Prager U Kids’ actual content and spends more time breaking down why it’s not good for teaching from a pedagogy perspective. Big Joel has two good videos on the content itself.