MINNEAPOLIS -- Mike Zimmer is finally a head coach in the NFL. Custom Dallas Mavericks Jerseys . The Minnesota Vikings think now is the time for the veteran defensive co-ordinator. The Vikings announced on Twitter on Wednesday night that they had hired Zimmer for their top coaching job. "Im extremely excited to bring a championship to the state of Minnesota and to the great fan base of the Vikings," Zimmer said in a video posted on the teams Twitter account. "I cant wait to get to work." Long after reports first surfaced about the hire, the Vikings remained quiet. Their silence was strange, considering a report by ESPN that they had already requested and received permission from Cleveland to interview offensive co-ordinator Norv Turner for the same position in Minnesota. The top headline on the team website touted an area winner in the annual NFL Punt, Pass & Kick contest. That doesnt mean the Vikings werent delighted about the ninth head coach in their 54-year history. Tight end Kyle Rudolph, centre John Sullivan and defensive end Brian Robison were among the players who expressed excitement about the former Bengals assistant via their Twitter accounts. "Fired up about Coach Zimmer! As a Cincy kid hes been fun to watch there and cant wait to work with him!" Rudolph tweeted. For the Bengals, the news was bittersweet. Zimmer, who has been an NFL defensive co-ordinator for the last 14 seasons, spent six of those with Cincinnati. "Today is one of the happiest and yet saddest days for me. Happy Coach Zimm finally gets to be a head coach and spread all of his knowledge," cornerback Terence Newman tweeted. The Bengals were third in the league in yards allowed and fifth in points against this season, though they lost in the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year. "Gonna miss you coach Zimmer! Wish you nothing but the best in Minnesota. You brought out the best in each of your players! So honoured to have been coached by you!" tweeted linebacker Rey Maualuga. Zimmer replaces Leslie Frazier, another former Bengals defensive co-ordinator who was fired Dec. 30 after the team finished 5-10-1 this season. General manager Rick Spielman interviewed at least seven candidates. He and Vikings owners Zygi Wilf and Mark Wilf settled on the one who was widely considered around the league to be the most overdue for a head coaching job. Zimmer has interviewed for several vacancies in recent years, including this month with Tennessee. The 57-year-old Zimmer played at Illinois State and spent 14 seasons coaching in the college ranks before being hired in 1994 as an assistant with Dallas. He got a Super Bowl ring the following season as defensive backs coach. Then he became defensive co-ordinator of the Cowboys in 2000 and spent seven seasons at that post, the last four under coach Bill Parcells. Zimmer led defences in Dallas that operated in both the 4-3 and 3-4 alignments, including the 2003 group that surrendered the fewest yards in the league. The Wilfs, natives of New Jersey, grew up as New York Giants fans and are admirers of Parcells from his days coaching that team. After one tumultuous year as the defensive co-ordinator for Atlanta, when Falcons coach Bobby Petrino quit midseason in 2007, Zimmer went to Cincinnati to work for coach Marvin Lewis. In 2009, when his wife, Vikki, unexpectedly died, Zimmer was named the winner of several NFL assistant coach of the year awards. Zimmer has a fiery personality, as evidenced by his profanity-laced appearances on HBOs "Hard Knocks," which featured the Bengals in 2009 and 2013. That overt intensity is a contrast to Frazier, who went 21-33-1 in three-plus seasons with one appearance in the playoffs. Frazier was a popular figure in the locker room and throughout the organization, but as a former defensive coach his area of expertise became the teams biggest downfall. Despite a carousel at quarterback, the aged, injury-depleted defence was mostly responsible for the sorry showing this season. The Vikings allowed an average of 30 points per game, the most in the league, and 397.8 yards per game, the second-most. Five of the seven reported candidates who interviewed for the vacancy had defensive backgrounds: Seattle defensive co-ordinator Dan Quinn, Cleveland defensive co-ordinator Ray Horton, Arizona defensive co-ordinator Todd Bowles, San Francisco defensive line coach Jim Tomsula and Zimmer. The other two were offensive co-ordinators: Seattles Darrell Bevell and San Franciscos Greg Roman. Dallas Mavericks Jerseys . Im very excited about the playoffs, particularly in the Western Conference with amazing match-ups, as well as the wonderful local story in the Toronto Raptors. It should be a blast. Here are my predictions, but based upon my lousy prognostications during the NCAA Tournament, you might be better off going the other way on some of mine - particularly with the Raptors, who I hope and pray are able to win an incredibly difficult match-up. Seth Curry Jersey . “Momentum is only as good as the next days starter,” the long-time Baltimore Orioles manager famously quipped. http://www.nbamavericksauthority.com/yogi-ferrell-mavericks-jersey-c-20/ . The Henry Burris-led squad finished second in the East Division before advancing to the Grey Cup where they ultimately fell to the home field advantage wielding Saskatchewan Roughriders.MONACO -- Canadian Milos Raonic is out at the Monte Carlo Masters. The hard-serving native of Thornhill, Ont., was limited to just six aces in a 7-6 (5), 6-2 quarter-final loss to third-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka on Friday. Raonic, seeded eighth, was playing his first clay quarter-final at the Masters 1000 level but struggled with consistency against his Swiss opponent, the reigning Australian Open winner. Raonic, 23, is currently ranked No. 10 on the ATP but has lost all three head-to-head matches against Wawrinka. The previous two were hardcourt contests in 2012 and 2013. Raonic played well in an opening set that lasted nearly an hour before getting into trouble in the tiebreaker. He held leads of 3-0 and 5-3 but mental lapses allowed Wawrinka to rally for the victory. Raonic stormed out to a 40-0 lead to start the second set but again Wawrinka rallied to earn the break and take the early lead. "Stan found a rhythm and played more free," said Raonic. "On the key points, he was really going for his shots. He overtook me and started dictating. "But Ive done something Ive never done before (reach quarter-finals on clay at Masters level), so its still very positive for me." Raonic was broken in the seventh game to trail 5-2 before Wawrinka cemented the win a game later. "I was really focused on my serve to be really aggressive from the first shot, to make him move, to make him work every ball," Wawrinka said. "I just feel strong from the baseline. I feel good physically. "I know that on clay courts, if I play my best tennis, I can beat those guys." Raonic will try to regroup as the French Open draws closer but found solace with his accomplishment in this clay event. "I have to be happy with things if I look at the big picture," he said. "Of course I wish I would have done better, but after one week on clay Im playing well. "I had expected to work through the weeks up to Paris, getting better as I go along. Thats still the goal. I need to get better on the clay, spend more time on it and do all the clay-specific fitness. This week does give me confidence though." In doubles action, Torontos Daniel Nestor and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic, who won this event in 09 and 10, face Monacos Romain Arneodo and Benjamin Balleret in quarter-final action. In other singles play, Rafael Nadal lost his quarter-final match to Spanish compatriot David Ferrer 7-6 (1), 6-4. Its Nadals earliest exit at the Monte Carlo Masters in 11 years. While he beat Nadal just last year, Ferrer hadnt defeated Nadal oon clay since 2004. Josh McRoberts Jersey. A day after becoming the 11th man in the Open era to reach 300 wins on clay, Nadal committed 44 unforced errors and was broken four times. Ferrer lost his own serve three times in the match that lasted over two hours. Nadal won eight consecutive Monte Carlo titles from 2005-12 before he lost last years final to Novak Djokovic. Ferrer will face Wawrinka in semifinal action. "I know I am supposed to be among the favourites, but every time I play a match I am in the state of mind of a challenger who is trying to win an additional match," said Wawrinka. Swiss star Roger Federer advanced with a 2-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1 win against No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France. Federer was two points from defeat at 0-30 serving at 6-5 down in the second set. Federer, who improved to 11-4 against Tsonga, wasted 15 straight break points and three set points in the second set But at 6-6 in the tiebreaker, Tsonga hit a wild forehand into the net and Federer tied the match with a volley winner. After finally breaking Tsonga at the 16th try, Federer clenched his fist in relief. He broke him again with a forehand winner down the line and held for 5-0. "It was just many things went wrong at the wrong time for me: Jo playing well, me playing wrong at certain times, wrong shot selections," Federer said. "Im happy I found the way to tough it out." Tsonga said the changing conditions in the late afternoon as the match went into a third set suited Federers style of play more. "I dont think it was that much of a change. I dont think there was any wind change or any crazy, like, quickness change," Federer said. "We played in those conditions a million of times." Djokovic set up a 34th career meeting against Federer, a 17-time Grand Slam champion, by downing unseeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. "I started very poorly. Garcia-Lopez played well and I had to work for this win," Djokovic said. "I finally started to play as I wanted in the second set." Federer leads Djokovic 17-16 in head-to-head matches and they are 1-1 this year. Federer won in the Dubai Championship semifinals while Djokovic emerged victorious in their showdown in the final at Indian Wells. The Serb was close to losing against Garcia-Lopez, saving a break point in the fifth game of the second set and two more when trailing 15-40 in his next service game. Djokovic then made a crucial break to take a 5-3 lead, served out the set, and then broke Garcia-Lopez twice at the start of the third. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '