Many of our readers like to rip on the new Access Vikings site for various reasons, and usually I take the high road and tell the readers that Access Vikings is still one of the best at what they do.

Today I am not going to be so kind.

The Star Tribune recently gave readers the chance to write articles for Access Vikings, for which they won’t be paid.  Wow, what a prize.  The nearly bankrupt newspaper was simply trying to get creative as they seek new ways to spew as much content as possible about the Minnesota Vikings.  Apparently not paying the writers wasn’t cheap enough, but they also don’t seem to have an editor to check for spelling/grammar mistakes either. 

Now, I know I’m the last one that should be ripping on someone for their typos, but Vikings Gab is not the Star Tribune… a company that needs to desperately cling to their credibility… the only thing they really have left.

That being said, the tragedy here is not in vocabulary or spelling.  The tragedy is the content crap that was recently allowed to be posted at Access Vikings.

One of the fan blog contest “winners” recently posted a blog about the Vikings first round choice this year.

The article basically boils down to:

  1. I, like many people, thought the Vikings should have drafted Michael Oher.
  2. Percy Harvin and Phil Loadholt are good players.
  3. I saw “Blind Side” this weekend.
  4. I, unlike many people, am back to thinking the Vikings should have drafted Michael Oher.
  5. I changed my mind because I saw a movie.

Now, I was one that was ticked when the Vikings didn’t draft Michael Oher.  Those feelings disappeared for the most part when Phil Loadholt surprisingly fell to the Vikings in round two.  They disappeared for good when Percy Harvin took the field.

Time will tell whether Oher or Harvin, both of which have had great rookie years, turns out to be the best player.  Right now Harvin has the edge but it is still arguable.

The real problem I had with the article was the fact that someone who writes articles for the Star Tribune is “evaluating” a draft class based off of a Hollywood film.  That is ridiculous and fit for something on some half-assed blog (Vikings Gab will be running a similar story very soon… kidding) rather than a “reputable” newspaper’s site.

In my opinion, the Strib did the writer a disservice by not refusing to print the drivel and point out the pointlessness of the post, not to mention the many errors.  Now he is left to defend himself in the comments section in a way that only makes him look more helpless as a Vikings writer.

Bottom line?  The Star Tribune and Access Vikings have long had a very good thing going, but they are now ruining it and abandoning their own credibility in an effort to get more hits and have more content, regardless of how crappy, than anyone else on the web. 

Kudos to them for their years of great coverage of the Vikings.

Shame on them for throwing it all away.