Lightning Round -- 011614

All of a sudden, it got newsy around here:

• After 15 months of silence, Orchestra Hall will be coming back to life. The musicians took their haircut, getting a 15% pay cut and having to pay more for benefits, with the added bonus of missing a year's worth of income. If you're a musician, there's no happy way to spin this result, since they could have accepted a similar offer at the outset of the labor dispute. While I'm not a regular orchestra-goer, there is an undeniable value to having an orchestra in our metropolitan area. Not as much of a value as the musicians thought, apparently. The question concerning the fate of resigned conductor Osmo Vänskä, and whether he'll now return, remains an open question. That he hasn't accepted a position elsewhere suggests that he might be willing to return. 
• Meanwhile, the Vikings have their new coach. Mike Zimmer got the job yesterday. Zimmer, who was the defensive coordinator in Cincinnati, is known for (a) having strong defenses and (b) sometimes displaying the vocabulary of a longshoreman. Vikings fans are used to having coaches who work blue -- Jerry Burns was a maestro of the F-bomb (link decidedly NSFW, by the way). It's difficult to say how Zimmer will do; my friend and ace blogger/radio guy Brad Carlson is optimistic and his post on the matter includes testimonials from Bill Parcells and nearly every defensive player in the AFC North. Some have speculated that Zimmer's age (he's 58) means he's been viewed as an also-ran in the past. I don't suspect it will matter that much; Burns was pushing 60 when he got the gig back in 1986 and the Bears hired Marc Trestman, who is about the same age as Zimmer, last season. I would say this; I think Zimmer has more upside than Jim Caldwell, who got the Detroit Lions job this week. Make sure to click the link to Brad's take on Zimmer; it definitely merits the "read the whole thing" seal of approval.
• Meanwhile, Gov. Dayton has put out his opening bid for a new bonding bill for the upcoming legislative session -- a cool billion. While the DFL controls everything, there's going to be considerable heartburn about this proposal, especially in an election year. We'll have a lot more to say about it once the legislators get back to town next month.