Who: Paul Allen and Pete Bercich

We have divided up the June homerism in to three categories:  Boot licking, Hope selling, and giving the benefit of the doubt

Boot Licking:

Mike Max said that when Coach Tubby Smith talks, many people listen.

Sean Jensen loved up Vikings management by calling the draft of Wide Receiver Rice over Jarrett “a great decision”.

Eric Nelson called the Twins extra innings victory over Toronto “a gutty performance”.

Sid Hartman called Vikings rookie Adrian Peterson “one of the greatest running backs to ever play”.

Hope Selling:

Paul Charchian struggled to come up with five reasons for Viking fans to be optimistic for the 2007 season.  Ultimately, the general tenor of his remarks was “they can’t play any worse”.

Sid Hartman declared, “Contrary to the negative media, I think they (Vikings) will be very good.  The receivers will be very good.”

Benefit of the Doubt:

Paul Allen called the Juwan Howard acquisition “a great move”.

Lavelle E. Neal wondered if the sunlight affected the Twins batters vs. the Oakland A’s.

After getting bumped from the NBA playoffs, Jeff Dubay conjectured that “Flip” Saunders would have “a tremendous amount of success at the U. of M.” had he become the Gopher coach.

Runner Up:

It was a very close call as Dan “Common Man” Cole uncharacteristically came to the defense of Timberwolves V.P. of Operations Kevin McHale on two separate occasions.

On one of those occasions he analogized the piling on of McHale to a kid who gets picked on at school.  However, that comparison falls flat as most kids don’t deserve the verbal abuse unlike Mr. McHale due to his decade of consistent incompetence.

Winner:

They initiate them very quickly on the Vikings radio network. Paul Allen and new Vikings color analyst Pete Bercich went through a game by game analysis of the upcoming 2007 season the their predictions were not surprising.  P.A. sold hope and Pete bought it hook, line, and sinker resulting in a projected 10 win 6 loss season.

Bottom Line: Let’s hope Mr. Bercich projects at least some of the candor his predecessor (Joe Sensor) contributed.