Enough Already

If I was Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman or head coach Mike Zimmer I would have lost it months ago. How many times have they had to answer questions about running back Adrian Peterson. How many times are they going to have to answer the same damn question? "Is Peterson going to play for the Vikings?" It's beyond ridiculous. The answer from the Vikings hasn't changed. Why would the media expect it to change? The answer isn't going to change simply because some clown in the media asked it again. And again. And again. And again. Even Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf have stated the fact that Adrian Peterson is a member of, and will remain a member of, the Minnesota Vikings. If the owners say it's so that usually means it's so. This is far worse than the media-driven soap opera around the Vikings two year dance with Bret Favre. That was only truly annoying for at most a couple of months for a couple of summers. This Peterson nonsense has been going on since September. I just wish that it would end. Please. Just end.

Adrian Peterson's idiot agent Ben Dogra might be even worse than the media. Check this out:

Dogra said that the standstill comes down to how the Vikings view his client. "I would like to have their position in writing and they have not done so," Dogra said. "Is Adrian the face of their franchise or is he in their mind a 30-year old running back? I want them to tell us that."

Seriously? In writing? Uh, Ben, Adrian Peterson is a 30-year old running back. He might be different than any other 30-year old running back that has ever played but he is a 30-year old running back. Dogra wants the Vikings to state, in writing, that Peterson is the face of the franchise. Well, Peterson can't be the face of the franchise when his agent is dicking around suggesting that his client would be much happier with another franchise. Which is it Ben? The face of the franchise? Or a nuisance? Adrian Peterson has been the face of the franchise since he was selected with the seventh pick of the 2007 NFL Draft. He's been the face of the franchise since he bobbled a screen pass and took it about 60 yards for a touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons in his first NFL game. The chaos brought by a crazed, drama-hungry media and a dipshit agent are pretty much the only things in the way of Peterson continuing as the face of the Minnesota Vikings. There was a moment during the 2014 season that Mike Zimmer said that the Vikings had become Teddy Bridgewater's team. Maybe Bridgewater's emergence as the quarterback of the present and the future has made Peterson feel a little smaller. Who knows? Peterson didn't need a hand-written note from the office stating his importance when Favre became a team leader in 2009. Why does he need it now? Maybe Dogra is the one that really needs it to feel like he's more than a clown. The best way to remain the face of a franchise is not become a thorn in the side of that franchise.

The thing that bothers me most about this mess is that Adrian Peterson is the one that created this mess. He disciplined his child in a manner that is now frowned upon in this supposedly civilized society. That's why we are in the middle of this ridiculous soap opera. It's not the Vikings fault that Peterson's questionable act required discipline from the league. The Vikings have supported him throughout the ordeal. According to Cris Carter, the Vikings fought with the NFL to get Peterson put on the Commissioner's Exempt List so that he could continue to be paid. Few knew that this Exempt List existed. Let alone it's purpose. I'm not sure what the alternative was but it was more severe than this secret list. The Vikings supported their face of their franchise. Peterson was, and still is, upset with Vikings VP of Legal Affairs Kevin Warren. Peterson saw Warren as working to keep him off of the football field. Warren was simply acting in the Vikings best interests from a legal point of view. He was doing his job. It wasn't so much that he was working against Peterson as he was working for the Vikings. Peterson complained that he lost a lot of money last fall. He lost some to fines. He lost a lot more from a drop in endorsements. That sort of thing happens when you do something that gets you kicked off the field. I love Adrian Peterson as a football player but he's out of his mind if he thinks that anyone other than the person in the mirror is the reason for his woes.

In early February, outside of a courthouse after another day in court, Peterson was asked if he wanted to play in Minnesota next year. "Of course" was his answer. Through the constant barrage of amazingly redundant questions over the past several weeks the Vikings have made their strongest comments in support of Peterson in a Vikings uniform. Peterson is supposedly whistling a different tune a couple of months later. What's changed? Not a damn thing. Except for the media's bizarre interest in asking the same question at a mind-numbing rate. And a ridiculous agent.

I want to see this nonsense end. I definitely want to see Adrian Peterson continue his career as the face of the Minnesota Vikings. But, I really want to see this nonsense end.