SteveSilver.net

Fouler

The Reggie Fowler/Vikings honeymoon lasted exactly three days, until tonight's reports of inconsistencies in the new owner's resume. Fowler has since admitted that he never actually played for the Cincinnati Bengals, got a business degree, or appeared in the Little League World Series.

Apparently, Red McCombs' legendary cheapness extends to failure to run a background check on the guy who's buying his team for more than $600 million. Then again, this is the franchise that employed football's most famous resume forger, George O'Leary, for two years as a defensive coach.

If this revelation ends up scuttling the deal- which, at this point, has to be considered a distinct possibility- I guess we can add it to the litany of recent Vikings embarrassments that has been repeated on this blog numerous times. At least they've got another potential owner waiting in the wings.

UPDATE: It's 24 hours later and the Fowler resume flap appears to have blown over. Because really, the O'Leary mess was a different situation- it was at Notre Dame, which is both an elite academic institution and a Catholic university, where they have impeccably high standards of integrity and morality. The Vikings, as should be clear to anyone who's been paying attention the last four years, have no such standards.

Meanwhile, one of Fowler's partners is a man with the rather odd name "Zyggi Wilf." Mr. Wilf is described as a New Jersey real estate developer, but a Google search of his name reveals no results other than stories about the Vikings purchase. Which leads me to believe "Zyggi Wilf" doesn't actually exist, and is merely a front for another investor in the Purple. Jeremy thinks it's Prince.

UPDATE II: As commenter Dan points out, Zyggi Wilf does indeed exist; he's better known by his given first name, Zygmunt. His family founded the American Society for Yad Vashem (Israel's Holocaust Museum), and Zyggi himself is set to chair a workshop next month at Brandeis, of all places. This is a good development for the Vikes, because if the last NFL season taught us anything, it's that having people with Brandeis ties in your ownership group is a surefire ticket to the Super Bowl.

Posted by Stephen Silver at February 16, 2005 11:28 PM