Three years ago, after a long but loveless marriage, the Minnesota Vikings let QB Kirk Cousins walk out the door. They felt free. Unburdened. Hopeful, even. No longer would they have to spend night after night asking themselves, “Where is this relationship going?” They could finally find someone new. They could believe in love again, and maybe even have a bit of fun getting back out there on the scene.
That scene, much to the Vikings’ chagrin, turned out to be far less exciting than they’d anticipated. Maybe it was them. Maybe they weren’t quite as charming and attractive as they thought they’d been. Regardless, they eventually found themselves lonely, broken, and frankly hard up. And so, with Taylor Swift’s “Style” playing on a loop in the background, they swallowed their pride, along with a good amount of red wine, and made the call they swore they’d never make. Kirk Cousins is a Viking again, and us Vikings fans feel a little bit ashamed that we let this happen all over again. That’s the subject of this week’s special Trade Deadline Edition of All Ball.
Arif Hasan and I would have been negligent if we had only focused on our sad-ass team throughout these two-ish hours on the mic. That’s why we led off talking about the suddenly unstoppable Jaguars, kicked off some light MVP debate, and got deep into all of the spurious reasons why NFL teams don’t run the QB sneak nearly as much as they should. If you enjoy listening to two tired men come to grips with their least favorite quarterback being their only hope, well then by golly this is the episode for you!
I also tell the story of how I was almost murdered at a Godzilla Minus Zero screening. Good movie.
So open up the podcast app of your choice and dig in. You can also watch All Ball on the Defector Media YouTube channel (and subscribe to it, too!). And hey, make sure you subscribe to Arif’s Wide Left newsletter for in-depth coverage of football (and other matters) that you won’t find anywhere else. And if you like what you see and hear, tell the whole world.
