Without intending to cause a Thanksgiving Day outbreak of upset tummies, dare we mention that the Green Bay Packers are on national TV tomorrow against the Detroit Lions?  The 9-1 Packers, the surprise team of the NFL season, are tied with the Dallas Cowboys for the best record in the NFC.  Even those who bleed Viking purple may want to have a look at this game where the 6-4 Lions, in second place in the NFC North, try to tighten up a division race for themselves, the Chicago Bears and Minnesota (both 4-6).

The task for the Lions obviously won’t be easy going against a Packers team that is off to its best start since 1962, seven years before 38-year-old fountain of youth quarterback Brett Favre was born.  Vikings’ kicker Ryan Longwell played in Green Bay for nine years before coming here for the 2006 season.  He thinks the Packers are the best team in the NFC, better than the Cowboys. The two teams can settle some things on the field soon when the Packers play in Dallas a week from tomorrow night.

“You know, I think that the Packers defense is highly under rated,” Longwell told Sports Headliners last Thursday.  “Not many people know about them but I think they got two shutdown corners (Al Harris and Charles Woodson) that would match up really well against the Dallas offense. … Kampman (Aaron) is one of the most under-rated guys at d-line in this league. …I think that each offense (Dallas and Green Bay) is pretty even. …”

Longwell said that except for Terrell Owens of the Cowboys he thinks the Packers could “shut down” the other receivers.  “I don’t know that Dallas could shut down all of the Packers receivers, they’ve got a good group,” Longwell said.  “So I mean after seeing them both, I really feel like they’re the team (the Packers) to beat, especially if they could somehow get home field advantage, playing in the cold. Brett’s really good throwing the ball in the cold which is tough to do.”

Longwell was asked about a Packer match-up with the defending Super Bowl champs, the Indianapolis Colts, or undefeated New England Patriots, 10-0.  “I don’t even know,” he said.  “I think they (the Packer players) really bought into coach (Mike) McCarthy’s program and they have fun.  You can see they’re playing with more and more confidence every week. And you’ve seen Indy hiccup the last couple weeks and you don’t know how New England is going to go down the stretch.  They look pretty powerful.

“You know, Brett just seems to have this magic about him that I would never say never. I wouldn’t say they couldn’t beat either one of those teams for sure.”

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Another player to watch in the Eden Prairie versus Cretin-Derham Hall game is the Raiders’ sophomore right offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson who is already 6-7, 300. KARE TV sportscaster Randy Shaver is an admirer and said by the time Henderson is a senior he could be even more highly recruited than Floyd, a player sought by the who’s who of college football.

The Vikings play the New York Giants, 7-3, on Sunday at Giants Stadium.  Vikings coach Brad Childress expects the opponent and venue to challenge second year quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, another test for the inconsistent 24-year-old.  “It’s significant to the standpoint it’s hostile, it’s noisy, and it’s a very good pass rush (from the Giants),” Childress said.  “It’s a team that’s playing with a lot of confidence. So it will be good to evaluate him. …And just watch him manage it (the game) and play and do the right things with the football. … It’s the only test he’s got to pass this week.”

Childress talking on Monday about running back Adrian Peterson who missed last Sunday’s game because of a knee injury and whether he will play against New York:  “I would say it’s a long shot right now to get back there (against the Giants) but we’ll see.  He’s surprised me before.”

The Vikings have the No. 1 rushing offense and defense in the NFL, while the Giants rank No. 7 in both categories.

Gopher football coach Tim Brewster said because the Big Ten Conference season ends earlier than other major conferences, the teams in his league have more time to devote to recruiting.

Mike Wilkinson, author of the book on former Gopher coach Murray Warmath, called to report that recruiting expert Tom Lemming is praising Brewster on CSTV and predicting better days for the Minnesota program.

The Gophers’ 2008 home schedule isn’t a marketer’s dream.  Northern Illinois, Montana State, Florida Atlantic, Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan and Iowa play here in Minnesota’s last season in the Metrodome before moving into the new TCF Bank Stadium in 2009.

Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman often has reluctantly used under sized power forward Al Jefferson, 6-10, 265, at center.  When 34-year-old often injured center Theo Ratliff is hurt, or resting on the bench, it usually means minutes for Jefferson at center. “I don’t want him to be a five (center),” Wittman said. “I don’t want him to bang with a five all night long.”  Wittman said Jefferson needs to be more physical defensively when he plays center and sometimes to front the man he’s guarding.

Paul Carter, a junior college star who will play for Tubby Smith and the Gophers next season, will be in town with his Missouri State University-West Plains teammates on Saturday for a 2 p.m. game at Minneapolis Community College. Carter, a 6-8 forward, could be one of the best junior college players in the country this season.

Former Minnesota Wild goalie Manny Fernandez, now with Boston, hasn’t been playing since last month because of a knee injury. In four games he’s given up 16 goals.

Jen Schoullis of the Gophers is the WCHA Rookie of the Week for her performance against Minnesota Duluth last weekend. The freshman forward scored the Gophers’ third goal in a 3-0 victory over Minnesota Duluth on Sunday.  She has scored two goals in the last three games, has eight points in 12 games and is tied for fourth in team scoring.  The rookie of the week award is determined by WCHA administrators.

The Minnesota Twins winter caravan presented by Dodge will start January 14 and likely end on January 31, according to Patrick Klinger, vice president of marketing.  The caravan is expected to stop in 60 communities and include current and former Twins players.

Bethel head coach Steve Johnson was chosen as the 2007 MIAC Coach of the Year for a second consecutive season.  He coached the Royals to the conference championship with an 8-0 record.  Selected as MIAC MVP was Bethel quarterback Ben Wetzell.  He finished the year third in conference rushing (91.9 yards per game) and fifth in total offense (258.4 yards per game).  Conference coaches made the selections.

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Before a quiet crowd with a show-me attitude the Minnesota Vikings defeated the Oakland Raiders 29-22 yesterday at the Metrodome.  In a game characterized by false starts, fumbles, and inept offensive and defensive line play by the Raiders, now 2-8 on the season, the Vikings won for a second time in three games and moved their record to 4-6.

Give the Vikings credit for surprising the San Diego Chargers two weeks ago at home in a 35-17 win, and for combining a strong running game (Chester Taylor, 164 yards) with a per usual stingy run defense that limited the Raiders to 61 yards (it was a curiously focused Oakland game plan that insisted on running the ball persistently at the Vikings’ stud defensive tackles, Pat Williams and Kevin Williams).  In between those two wins, however, was an embarrassing 34-0 loss to the Packers in Green Bay.

The Packer loss was one more mark on a list of disappointments that Vikings fans have been memorizing in recent seasons.  Whether it’s a lot of losses (10-16 in the last two seasons), missed playoff years (last time was 2004), questionable personnel decisions (like Tarvaris Jackson now, Randy Moss awhile back), coaches (Mike Tice versus Brad Childress), off the field incidents (where to start?), or whatever, the fans have become disappointed, angry and more reluctant to buy tickets.  Each week of a home game it’s a news story to see what other organization in town will buy the remaining tickets to create a sellout in the dome and avoid a local TV blackout.

Even when Adrian Peterson rushed for an NFL single game record 296 yards against the Chargers, the multitudes didn’t storm the box office for tickets to future games.  While TV ratings remain similar to past seasons (there are still a half million or so fans in the marketplace watching each game), the public has issues with the Vikings, according to John Rash.  He’s an advertising executive in Minneapolis with Campbell Mithun, an expert on pop culture and follows the popularity of the team.

In an interview with Sports Headliners last week he was asked what’s newsworthy about the Vikings from a cultural perspective.  “To the degree of how people still are so passionate,” he said.  “The only thing worse than the anger being expressed at them (the Vikings), is apathy, and they haven’t reached that point. They’re bordering it at least with enough fans that (it) might mean a potential blackout on this week’s as well as subsequent week’s games.   But this team truly is the state’s soap opera and they’re following them (the Vikings) even through the bad times, and the key is to give them (the fans) enough hope that good times will return.”

How close is the fan base to apathy?  “The NFL has transcended a sporting event and become a social experience where a lot of people plan at least a portion of their weekend on how to get together for THE game, and so even when they (the Vikings) don’t play well, it’s still part of people’s media and social habit,” Rash said. “The bigger question is, do they (the Vikings) have enough relevance and resonance, and if not an outright embrace, to accomplish the team’s bigger goals of getting a stadium.  And for now that is a much more difficult endeavor for them to accomplish.”

What will it take to have more fans buying tickets for home games?  “Hope.  Hope sells always for a sports franchise,” Rash answered. “Right now many Viking fans don’t have hope that there is any significant improvement on the immediate or long term basis.  It’s not certain if it’s going to mean a coaching change but it certainly means the change in perception of the direction of the team, and right now the feeling among most Minnesotans is uniformly negative. “

Does Rash agree that the TV ratings are comparable to the past?  “No question about it,” he said.  “People make this a part of their relaxation, their entertainment, their diversion over a weekend. That’s a long ingrained habit, very difficult to change, and certainly the Vikings are going to have enough of a grace period to get people back and even increase those television ratings, and indeed, one great game by Adrian Peterson changed the perception, at least for a week.  But longer term the team has to address several issues to be able to stay the unquestioned top sports franchise in Minnesota.”

What are those issues?  “The quality of the team, the front office judgment, the coaching and the perception that there’s a cohesive long term strategy,” Rash said.

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