Happy Birthday

It was yesterday 50 years ago that the Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys were born. January 28, 1960 at the NFL meetings the league decided to award Minnesota and Dallas with NFL expansion franchises.

The two teams opened their very first game against each other in beautiful (some would say) Sioux Falls, South Dakota in front of just over 4000 fans on August 5, 1961. Of course the Cowboys won 38-13. The two teams would represent the NFC in nine of ten Super Bowls between IV-XIII. The Cowboys won twice (VI, XII). Vikings not so much.

The Cowboys started during the 1960 season by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Cotton Bowl September 24, 1960. Minnesota's first regular season game was in the 1961 season against the Chicago Bears with a 37-13 victory for the Vikings.

STARS vs AVALANCHE

• Mark Fistric will play tonight avoiding a suspension that could have resulted from swinging his helmet at Eric Nystrom during an altercation. He was fined the league max $2500.



• In my opinion, he probably wasn't suspended by the NHL because he has no prior offenses, he already served nearly an entire game by being ejected and the major resulted in two Flames goals. It was the right call by the NHL, but had it been Steve Ott, they may not have been so generous.



• Jere Lehtinen will play tonight after missing time after his collision with Brenden Morrow.



• Alex Auld will start in goal tonight against the Av's he's 5-0 in his last five starts with a 2.31 GAA and a .914 save pct. at the American Airlines Center and is 3-1 in his last four overall.



• The Avalanche lost 1-0 to Minnesota last night at the Pepsi Center. Minnesota is 6-0-2 in thier last eight at Colorado and 13-2-2 in thier last 17 overall against the Av's.



• The Wild slow the game down, take care of the puck and wait to take advantage of their opponents mistakes. One reason the Wild may have a good match up against the Avs is because the Avs give up alot of shots, 32 per game, which is near the most in the NHL. If the Stars slow the game down, and frustrate a young but very quick Av's squad by keeping them to the outside they could have some success tonight against one of the best in the Western Conference.

I do like the Stars tonight against a very good Colorado Avalanche squad as long as their effort is consistant with the way it has been three of the last four games. Especially since Auld has been really solid at home as of late.