Vikings’ Adrian Peterson rants about unfairness on Twitter

Good god man, for your sake if not ours: shut up! Adrian Peterson fell off the Twitter wagon yesterday. Samer Kalaf at Deadspin writes, “Head coach Mike Zimmer said Wednesday that the running back “can play for us. Or he can not play.” While the two sides got nowhere, Peterson went ahead and aired grievances through Twitter. He sounds like he really wants a trade. … [Peterson] ‘I know hundreds of player’s that wished their team would’ve HONORED the contract! But instead got threw to the side like like trash. … [and again] … ‘Feels for whatever reason! Family, Change of scenery or simply – what they feels just might work best for them! Those same laws don’t apply!’ “ He’s either getting no negotiating advice or he doesn’t understand what he’s being told.

At ESPN, Ben Goessling says, “Peterson later clarified his tweets, saying, ‘This is nothing against the Vikings. I am just frustrated that our union did not get guaranteed contracts for its players.’ And a source close to Peterson said, ‘Adrian sees this issue as bigger than him. He truly believes that football players should have more protection with truly guaranteed contracts. It is easier to be quiet and not take the hatred from many people. However, that is not in his DNA.’”  Is the “source” charging Peterson by the hour or incident?

In USA Today Chris Chase asks the basic question. “ … there’s a reason Zimmer made the statement: Because he can. He and the Vikings have all the leverage in this situation. Peterson has close to none, something he either doesn’t realize or is currently blind to, as evidenced by his response to Zimmer’s comments … . But there’s one fact here that trumps everything else: Adrian Peterson is going to play for the Vikings this year because no one is bullheaded enough to give up $750,000 per week, which is Peterson’s haul for every game as part of the $12 million he’s owed in 2015.”

In the PiPress, Tom Powers says, “You know, I don’t think there is a public relations firm in the world that’s going to be able to put Peterson back together after this. He’s done everything but drop his britches in the produce section of the local supermarket. And it’s early yet. To summarize, after missing virtually all of last season while enmeshed in a child abuse case, Peterson now is holding out for more money. Otherwise, he stands to make about $13 million in 2015 by reporting for work and doing his job.”

Perhaps related. Chris Serres of the Strib says, “In an effort to ease chronic overcrowding of hospital psychiatric wards, the state will add 150 pediatric mental health beds in the next three years as part of an unprecedented expansion of services for children with mental illnesses.”

Big solar is coming to a field near you. Stribber Dave Shaffer writes, “The largest solar power project in Minnesota won approval Thursday from state regulators. Geronimo Energy, an Edina-based renewable energy developer, is authorized to build large solar parks at 21 locations across the state for a combined output of 100 million watts, or the equivalent of a small traditional generating station.”

If this happened in Texas they be grabbin’ their guns, knowning fer sure Big Gummint was finally invadin’. Matt McKinney and John Reinan of the Strib report, “Aviation buff John Zimmerman was at a weekly gathering of neighbors Friday night when he noticed something peculiar: a small plane circling a route overhead that didn’t make sense to him. … Zimmerman’s curiosity might have ended there if it weren’t for something he heard from his aviation network recently: A plane registered to NG Research — also located in Bristow — that circled Baltimore for hours after recent violent protests there was in fact an FBI plane that’s part of a widespread but little known surveillance program, according to a report by the Washington Post.”

Also big … the drug bust on several state reservations. Laura Yuen and Jon Collins at MPR say, “A federal grand jury has indicted 41 people in connection with a drug trafficking ring focused on two Indian reservations in Minnesota. Authorities say the ring distributed drugs including heroin, methamphetamine, oxycodone and others in and around the Red Lake and White Earth Indian reservations starting in April 2014. Drugs were obtained in Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis.”

In case you’re counting. Catharine Richert at MPR says, “Thousands of workers across numerous state departments will get layoff notices Monday, state budget officials confirmed Thursday. The official tally from Minnesota Management and Budget pegs the number at 9,451 people. That’s the number of employees who will be out of a job on July 1, the start of the 2016 fiscal year, if Gov. Mark Dayton and legislators are unable to reach an agreement on three budget bills.”

And because we believe he could actually get elected, this from Matthew DeFour at The Wisconsin State Journal. “Gov. Scott Walker’s top aides and a powerful lobbyist pressed for a taxpayer-funded loan in 2011 to a financially struggling Milwaukee construction company that lost the state half a million dollars, created no jobs and raised questions about where the money went, a State Journal investigation has found. … Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said Walker was not aware of [the company’ owner’s] donation to his gubernatorial campaign. According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Minahan was one of 32 people who made the maximum $10,000 individual donation to Friends of Scott Walker in 2010.”

His in-box will max out. City Pages editor Pete Kotz puts out the call for … columnists. “City Pages is looking for a pair of freelance news columnists for the front of our paper. The job entails more than riffing on headlines from the comfort of one’s laptop. Good reporting skills are a must, as is an eye for original, low-to-the-ground stories that can’t be found anywhere else in the Twin Cities. The ideal applicants will be curious, contrarian, adventurous of wit, with a most fetching way with words. They will possess a knowledge of general news, politics, culture, and the way we live. They will avoid the predictable, the doctrinaire, the paint-by-numbers yammering of the commentariat. They will bring a servant’s humility to the daunting task of engaging the modern reader. Benefits include almost-respectable pay, D-list fame, and occasional swag of dubious value … .” Wait. Did he say, “pay”?