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MINNEAPOLIS -- Like a lot of NFL veterans on teams that travel out of town to start summer practices, Adrian Petersons enthusiasm for the approaching season has often been temporarily dampened by the drive to training camp.Arrival at the familiar site of dorm room life, two-a-day workouts and overall drudgery, however brief, can prompt unpleasant feelings.This time, vibes around the Minnesota Vikings might be good enough to make even a player with 10 years of experience embrace the trip.Im excited as far as what we have and the vision that we have for this season, Peterson said. So that makes things better. Itll make it a lot better going into camp this year.The Vikings will report to Minnesota State University on July 28, bringing expectations of postseason success as high as theyve been since 2010. That became an ugly year for the Vikings. The picture for 2016 has a pretty frame, and now its time to fill in the illustration.Peterson sounded as resolute as ever when he declared recently the Vikings should be seriously considered as a Super Bowl contender. Theyre coming off an NFC North title, their first since 2009.We have the pieces and what it takes to accomplish that. So theres nothing wrong with saying it, Peterson said last month. If any other guy on this team doesnt feel that way, then we need to be trading him and bringing somebody in that feels that way as well.The timing is right for Peterson, who rushed for a league-high 1,485 yards and 11 touchdowns last season and turned 31 in March. His contract will carry an $18 million salary cap hit in 2017, so his future with the Vikings beyond this upcoming season is unclear.I dont see an end in my future anywhere soon, but of course I know Im coming around the last lap. And Im itching to get a couple before Im done playing this game, said Peterson, referring to a championship that the franchise has unsuccessfully chased since its inception in 1961.Here are some key angles to follow around the Vikings this season:BRIDGING THE GAP: Teddy Bridgewater finished in the bottom third of the NFL in most quarterback categories in 2015, and his accuracy on deep throws was perhaps the most problematic. He connected on just 11 of 42 passes that traveled 21-plus yards in the air, according to STATS research.For Bridgewater to take a meaningful step forward in year three, and for the Vikings offense to improve upon its 29th-place ranking in total yards last season, hell have to hit more long targets. Drafting Laquon Treadwell in the first round ought to be a boon for Bridgewater.He wins games, and to me thats the most important thing, coach Mike Zimmer said. Theres a lot more to playing quarterback than just throwing the ball through the wall.ON THE LINE: The biggest weakness over Bridgewaters first two years, the offensive line has been significantly upgraded. Its now the most expensive in the league. Alex Boone left San Francisco for a lucrative deal to be the left guard. Andre Smith, who left Cincinnati, is the front-runner at right tackle. Hell compete with Phil Loadholt, who like center John Sullivan has returned from an injury that sidelined him for the 2015 season.WILL WALSH BOUNCE BACK?: For all of the highlights from last season, the most memorable moment was the improbable miss by Blair Walsh of a 27-yard field goal that wouldve given the Vikings a victory over Seattle in a frigid first-round game in the playoffs. Walsh followed an off year in 2014 with a solid regular season in 2015. But a strong start to 2016 would go a long way toward ensuring hes not negatively affected by that heartbreaking shank.THE TIME IS NOW: The teams backbone lies in recent first-round draft picks such as Bridgewater, linebacker Anthony Barr, cornerback Xavier Rhodes and safety Harrison Smith. The soul rests in the veterans such as Peterson, linebacker Chad Greenway, defensive end Brian Robison and cornerback Terence Newman whose Super Bowl pursuit is still hot. Greenway and Newman signed one-year contracts, deferring retirement to remain with a team thats in prime position to make a run.BANK ON IT: The ship-shaped, glass-fronted $1.1 billion U.S. Bank Stadium will soon be unveiled, with the Vikings set for their first performance on Aug. 28 for an exhibition game against San Diego and the regular-season home opener on Sept. 18 against rival Green Bay.---Online:AP NFL website: http://www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Alan Trammell Jersey Large . -- Al Jefferson found a groove just in time for the Charlotte Bobcats. Authentic Custom Tigers Jersey . The 20-year-old Pelicans big man glanced up and smiled widely at the well-wishers -- a fitting end to a day he wont soon forget. Davis responded to his selection earlier in the day as a Western Conference All-Star with 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-91 on Friday night. http://www.customtigersjersey.com/ . The Lightning are 2-0 so far on a four-game road trip, giving the club five straight wins as the guest and improving Tampas away record this season to 11-8-2. Cheap Tigers Jerseys . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Custom Tigers Jersey China . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. GLASGOW, Scotland -- The World Anti-Doping Agency calls its ongoing project to revamp its structure and load up with increased regulatory punch The Way Forward, but that path will continue to meander through the past for at least a little while longer.?At Sundays WADA Foundation Board meeting, deputy director general Rob Koehler called for Russian sports officials to acknowledge the countrys pervasive, government-enabled doping culture, calling that acceptance vital to being fully welcomed back to global competition.Vitaly Smirnov, appointed by Russian president Vladimir Putin to bring the countrys sports establishment back into good graces, said that admission would never come. We know the [doping] system did not exist, he said. Detailing his 35 years in high-level positions in elite sport dating back to the Soviet era, he said nothing nefarious could have happened without his approval.So there. That non-meeting of the minds sums up where Olympic sport has been stalled for years, without public accountability or consequences for anyone other than the athletes themselves.?Individual athletes were held to the highest standard, punished even if they inadvertently ingested a banned substance. Yet the systems that surrounded them could be dysfunctional or corroded and avoid paying much of a price. WADA limited itself to suspending labs and flunking national anti-doping agencies for incompetence, but as athletes from those countries kept showing up at the start line, it became increasingly clear that a system created 16 years ago to harmonize rules across borders harbored deep inequities in testing and enforcement.?WADA has launched a salvo to try to break the stalemate, saying it can and should regulate any entities that sign its code, including national Olympic committees and international sports federations. In a new, graduated set of sanctions presented publicly Sunday for the first time, WADA would impose oversight, fines and -- as a last, drastic resort -- the threat of an Olympic ban in cases where it finds sustained, deliberate sabotage of its rules.?Canadas Rene Bouchard, the veteran government administrator who led the WADA committee that came up with the new standards, called them the opposite of political, as far as Im concerned -- its open, its known. The draft will now undergo legal review, but Bouchard and others made it clear they want to put it into practice as soon as possible.?Sterner sanctions could gain impetus next month if, as expected, the conclusion of law professor Richard McLarens investigation adds to the already considerable evidence that Russian doping was state-sponsored. Part II of his report is slated to be released Dec. 9.?Joseph de Pencier, CEO of the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations, predicted the report would uncover more skulduggery in a way thats very detailed and cant be dismissed as allegations. ?It sure would be nice to see some contrition, he said of Russias sports establishment.?But scrutiny of WADAs plans will be intense and resistance is inevitable. Potential collateral damage to innocent athletes will be a hard needle to thread.dddddddddddd The International Olympic Committee, which has commissioned its own investigation of Russia, will almost certainly resist encroachment on its turf and its traditional role as sole gatekeeper for its flagship event. That was amply demonstrated last summer when it steamrolled WADAs objections and made most Russian athletes eligible for the Rio 2016 Games.?In recent months, the IOC has oscillated between pledging support to WADA and attacking it. Beckie Scott, the retired Olympic champion cross-country skier and chair of WADAs Athlete Committee, labeled those broadsides an effort to destabilize and undermine WADA ... the only fight that should be taking place is the fight for clean sport.?The feud is complex because its familial. The overlap between the two bureaucracies is written into WADAs structure and embodied in its current president, IOC member Craig Reedie, who was elected unopposed for another three-year term Sunday. If WADA succeeds in extending its regulatory reach, the potential conflicts of interest could multiply. Sunday, the agency committed to forming a working group that will review governance and ethical standards.?Max Cobb, president and CEO of the U.S. Biathlon Association, said he would prefer to see IOC members excluded from WADA executive positions. Like many whose sports have been dented by doping, Cobb, who attended Sundays meeting as an observer, is impatient with the infighting and wants to see concrete progress. You wonder whether theres a desire to really resolve this, or if its just turf wars and pleasantries being exchanged, he said.?WADA is bidding to expand its jurisdiction and authority at perhaps the most demanding and transitional time in its history. Many of the governments that fund it, the national anti-doping agencies that implement its rules, and the athletes who submit to them have raised their voices and are putting pressure on the agency to assert itself.?The agencys to-do list includes figuring out how to grow its budget to match its bigger ambitions, including a beefed-up investigative unit; drawing up a template for an independent global testing entity; and implementing a new policy for encouraging and rewarding whistleblowers. Cyberattacks by Russian hackers exposed athletes medical information by leaking therapeutic use exemption documents this year -- payback for WADAs stance that Russia should be banned from Rio -- and forced a $200,000 IT upgrade.?The events that propelled WADA to this juncture may seem to hark back to the Cold War, but Edwin Moses, the double Olympic hurdles champion and chairman of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency board, balks at too simplistic a narrative for the sides that have been taken.?Me being an American has nothing to do with it, he said of his support for a stronger WADA. I dont want your daughter, your son, under the impression they have to take drugs to compete. Thats corrupt. And that right is not just for American athletes. ' ' '