Hmmm... training camp already? Seems like it was just yesterday that everyone was talking about Brett Favre retiring and debating whether or not Tarvaris Jackson would be good enough to get the Vikings to the playoffs. Oh yeah, that was yesterday... and the day before that... and the day before that...

So, as per usual, it’s time for the committee to come up with some nominees for Viking of the Year. Not that anyone has cared since Travis Taylor won a few years ago. His winning will be remembered in the future in the same way that people remember the St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series in 2006. (No, really, the Cardinals did win. I checked. It was after the Red Sox and White Sox, and before the Red Sox won it again. It actually happened.)

The past two winners were actually nominated by non-committee members, and the committee really doesn’t like what that says about their job security. Nevertheless, nominees will still be accepted and either mocked or co-opted – one or the other. Just to kick things off, a reminder of the rules: The player has to be nondescript – not a superstar – but still on the field often enough to affect the outcome of a game. This player will receive an inordinate amount of credit for success and an equally inordinate amount of blame for failure.

So here are the committee’s two nominations. Other nominations will be accepted until the final preseason game, with the winner being announced before the season opener. Nominations need to be pithy but not offensive, timely but not clichéd. And no puns. (Note: Brett Favre is not eligible for nomination.)

Ryan "The Swede" Cook: Two reasons here. 1) Heartbreak Ridge has been on TV a lot lately. Quite possibly the finest American movie dealing with the invasion of Grenada. 2) This should be one of the better offensive lines in the NFL, and Cook is by far the most nondescript member. Birk is the smart one, Hutchinson is the nice one, McKinnie is the crazy one, Herrera is the funny one (not really basing that on anything, but it is kinda necessary for the narrative); that leaves Cook as being the mean one. And for a while there, there was no one meaner than the Swede. (Ed. Note: The committee has since been accused of connecting Ryan “Cook” to the Swedish Chef of Muppet fame, which would qualify as a pun. While the committee is generally pro-Muppet, this was not the committee’s intent.)

Marcus "Mookie" McCauley: America has been without a Mookie for far too long. We had Mookie Wilson in the 80’s, Mookie Blaylock in the 90’s, and sandwiched in-between, Spike Lee’s character Mookie in Do the Right Thing. The committee thinks that we’re ready for a Mookie resurgence. Plus McCauley, as a back-up cornerback and the player most likely to take over for an aging and due-for-injury Antoine Winfield, may be the key to a much improved Vikings pass defense. Whether he’s the next Kenny Wright or the next Jimmy Hitchcock (who deserves all the credit for the 15-1 record ten years ago) remains to be seen. (Another plus for McCauley is that the Irish are hot lately, what with McCain or O'Bama poised to be the next president. Let's give it up for the potato-eaters.)