Lightning Round - 122910

Life goes on as the year ends.

• One of the most annoying figures in public life is the current mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg. He's a scold and a 55-gallon drum of sanctimony most of the time, especially since he seems to believe that his own claims of independence from the two main political parties is anything other than an overweening belief in himself. While indulging in schadenfreude is not a good thing generally, seeing Bloomberg flail in his primary responsibility isn't bothering me much. The blizzard that rocked the East Coast over the weekend has left Bloomberg in the same position that then-Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic found himself in the brutal winter of 1979. It didn't end so well for Bilandic, who lost his office to Jane Byrne after repeated failures to get the streets of Chicago cleared. It's not really Bloomberg's fault, per se: two feet is a lot of snow, especially in a place as tightly packed as the Big Apple, but it does put the lie to some of Bloomberg's more grandiose pronouncements about himself. For the sake of New Yorkers who are suffering, I hope the city figures things out. As for Bloomberg, maybe a little less time chiding people about their proclivities and more time dealing with his actual job might be useful.
• I found myself in the unfamiliar position of cheering on the Vikings last night as they pulled off a highly improbable 24-14 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, following a 2-day delay in the game because of the aforementioned blizzard, which hit the entire Eastern Seaboard. Joe Webb, the rookie quarterback that the Vikings sent out last night, did a pretty good job against a team that many have touted as the best in the NFC. He didn't make any glaring mistakes and he made some key plays when he had to. It was a good performance under very difficult circumstances. I hope the Vikings fight the urge to give Brett Favre one last look against Detroit on Sunday. They don't really owe Favre anything and it would be useful to see if Webb can duplicate his performance against an improving Lions team.
• I also suspect that yesterday's performance could earn interim Vikings coach Leslie Frazier a promotion to permanent head coach. He's had to deal with more strangeness than any coach in the modern history of the league, including two home games on fields that are not home, and somehow he's managed to keep the team on task and motivated. No one would have been surprised if the Vikings had gotten drilled last night, but they managed to win in a very tough place and give the rest of the league a template for how to beat Michael Vick. That's a pretty impressive twofer.