Recent content from Michael Rand
North Stars lost in two OTs in Game 7 of 1968 Western Conference finals
During last week's NHL Eastern Conference finals Game 7, a graphic flashed once as the Penguins and Senators prepared to head to double overtime: There…
Numbers tell the story in difference between 2016 and 2017 Twins
Are the Twins for real? Well - a 25-18 record near the end of May is better than a team that was 25-54 on July 1 last season. A look at those numbers and more.
'Still kind of in shock': St. Kate's makes Division III softball nationals
The success of the St. Catherine softball program, including a sweep of neighboring St. Thomas in the super regional, has even the players a bit stunned.
Take note, Timberwolves fans: Warriors aren't going away any time soon
After his team was thoroughly defeated again Monday, capping Golden State’s Western Conference finals sweep and keeping the Warriors undefeated in the postseason, Spurs coach…
NCAA hurt Gophers softball team by sending it on road
This weekend's softball action in Alabama provided a convenient narrative for those who doubted the Gophers softball team and/or thought the NCAA was justified in…
Bottoming out: Should the Wild get real bad to get good again?
Wild owner Craig Leipold has rejected the idea of letting the franchise get so bad that it potentially could rebuild with young stars through the draft. But here's why the concept has some merit.
Twins won't get much rest from here out thanks to so many off days and rainouts
If you felt like the Twins didn't play very much during the first month-and-a-half of this season, you are correct. If you're worried about the…
Williams, Mariucci arena names may be up for bid by Gophers
Contained within a recent MinnPost piece by local attorney and University of Minnesota journalism school graduate Marshall Tanick on finances and naming rights at his…
Improved defense the difference in this year's Twins team
After setting out to prove just how huge of a role defense was playing in the Twins' 2017 resurgence and 19-15 start this season, it…
Jose Berrios just might be Twins' most important prospect
By now, Twins fans are more than familiar with the team's young hitting prospects.Miguel Sano is in his third season with the team and is…
Thursday's Talker: Minnesota fans can sympathize with those in D.C.
Maybe it's only because we pay particular attention to these things when they actually happen, but it does seem like Minnesota teams have a habit…
In Denver, sell at own risk
It's not uncommon to see a high-demand sporting event these days "sold out," only to find hundreds if not thousands of tickets available on secondary…
As Twins face Chris Sale, little from last time seems familiar
Three thoughts from the weekend in Minnesota sports:• What a difference a year makes. The pitching matchup Sunday between the Twins and Red Sox — Ervin…
Twins' deliberate at-bats benefit team, but foul commissioner's shorter-game wishes
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred will visit Target Field on Friday before the Twins begin a three-game series with the Red Sox. One might…
Twins' Ervin Santana is putting up dominant stats
Somewhat lost in all the home runs hit by the Twins in Tuesday's 9-1 rout: Ervin Santana continued his brilliant start to the 2017 season,…
McShay missed on Mitch Leidner
Around this time a year ago, ESPN's Todd McShay put out his "way too early" mock draft for 2017 NFL first-round picks. Some of it…
Let's mock the 2042 draft
The 2017 NFL draft just ended, which naturally means it's time to start fixating about future drafts. If you haven't already read — or ignored…
The biggest Vikings draft steal of all: Fran Tarkenton
This week, Michael Rand counted down the 25 biggest draft "steals" in Vikings history — a list that encompasses several different eras of the draft and goes all the way back to the Vikings' first draft in 1961.
Ervin just might be second Santana to be a Twins ace
From 2004-07, former Twins pitcher Johan Santana won 70 games, led the American League in strikeouts three times and took home two AL Cy Young…
When Twins draw walks, they often convert into runs, wins
Stymied on offense through four innings Monday night, the Twins once again returned to a lesson that has served them well this young season: Before…
Local sports teams' postseason failures nothing new
Reader Brian Roberts checked in Monday morning with a blast of research that will not improve the moods of Minnesota sports fans but will put…
Dealing with the end of the Wild's season
Wild fans are in different stages of grief after the team's five-game ouster from the playoffs by the Blues.
St. Cloud bowler Brady Stearns tells of his 900 bowling series
Every Tuesday night, 23-year-old Brady Stearns bowls in a league with two friends and his father, Bob, at St. Cloud's Southway Bowl.And most days, Stearns…
Mom from Chaska makes history as hand cyclist at Boston Marathon
Michelle Love won the women's hand cycle race as lone entry.
'His heart was a Ferrari.' Carew, donor's family tell story of transplant
"We know we have one grieving family and one elated family," Rhonda Carew said. "For the grieving family to step forward and seek this out really says a lot about their character as people and a family."
Wild reminds of quiet playoff exits of Minnesota's past
It is impolite to write matter-of-factly about the near-dead while they are still clinging to life. So it is only fair to point out first…
Twins showing signs of life while the Wild nears its final breaths
If we can now look at the evolution of this Wild-Blues series with the benefit of hindsight, it's becoming clear that Game 1 was a damaging loss in so many ways.
How high and who Wolves will draft remain unsettled as of yet
The NBA regular season is over. That means we know more than we used to about the June draft, though we don’t know anything really…
Globetrotter Zeus McClurkin loves his job, playing for smiles
When Zeus McClurkin was a little kid, he hoped one day to hold a Guinness world record. There was just one problem."Everything was so outlandish,"…
Leading — a near-liability
When they write the book about the failings of the 2016-17 Timberwolves (please don't let there be a book), it could certainly go in chronological…
Twins are worth watching, analyzing
Three hours on Sunday solidified a few notions about these suddenly fundamentally sound, 5-1 Twins. Let's take a spin through five of them:
Success just didn't register for the Wild of 2006-07
Members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins — the only team in the NFL's Super Bowl era to go undefeated, including playoffs, for an entire season…
Twins, Wolves kindred spirits on progress
Basketball and baseball are different.(You're welcome for that clarification. If you had been confused all of these years, trying to bat a ball through a…
The new and improved Ricky Rubio
During March, as the Timberwolves' slim playoff hopes faded and fans began thinking more about the NCAA tournament, the draft lottery and better days ahead,…
Let's do a quick U review
With four of the Gophers' highest-profile teams having just finished their seasons while a fifth embarks on an interesting transition under a new head coach,…
Ready or not, Twins on deck
After a stretch of gray days in the Twin Cities, it might be hard to believe that Opening Day for the Twins — which, in…
Best- and worst-case scenarios for Minnesota pro sports teams
This feels like a vulnerable time for Minnesota pro sports teams, with a wide range of possible outcomes that could dictate each team's future. As…
Latavius Murray a better fit for Vikings than Peterson
Latavius Murray is a good running back who topped 1,000 yards in 2015 for the Raiders. Adrian Peterson is a future Hall of Famer who…
Rand: Using figures to figure out Wiggins/Towns, Park and Dubnyk
Here are a few numbers of note as we work our way through March:
Repeating success is far from guaranteed
As we get older, allegedly we get wiser. We're perhaps not necessarily smarter but rather have gained enough repetitions in life to understand patterns that…
Speaking of Gonzaga …
As Gonzaga plays in its 19th consecutive NCAA men's basketball tournament — dispatching first-round foe South Dakota State on Thursday — Yahoo has an interesting…
LaVine's negative impact on Wolves' win-loss record when he's playing is puzzling
After all the sifting, sorting and calculating are finished, sports tends to be very bottom-line oriented.Did you win or did you lose?For the Timberwolves this…
Rick Spielman's drafts have not aged well
Rick Spielman became the Vikings general manager in 2012. He ran drafts for the team before that as the VP of player personnel — who…
Another memorable TCF Bank Stadium first
TCF Bank Stadium opened in 2009 as the home for Gophers football. While the Gophers have been the primary tenants, the stadium has almost become…
RandBall: Gophers win and United loses — mostly
The convergence of Minnesota United's first home match in Major League Soccer and Selection Sunday made for an interesting day.
Challenge: Cover a classic
If you've followed the Wild even casually over the past 16-plus years, you are familiar with the "State of Hockey" song.Written and composed by the…
Will these longtime Minnesota stars retire with their teams?
Chad Greenway officially retired Tuesday during an emotional news conference at Winter Park, while Vikings greats Bud Grant, Paul Krause and Alan Page looked on.Greenway…
Any of MN United's losses in MLS won't hurt for long
It could be a long season — which wouldn't be out of line for expansion teams in any sport. But one thing casual fans should come to appreciate about soccer: You will not be in for long games.
ESPN makes cuts but we pay
News of layoffs in the media industry has become all-too-familiar in recent years, owing to declining user rates and hollowed out advertising revenue. Even sports…
Loons predicted to struggle, and that's not necessarily bad
National soccer writers are starting to weigh in with regularity on the upcoming Major League Soccer season, and the outlook from their perspective doesn't look…
What is Adrian Peterson's legacy?
The Vikings made an "as expected" move Tuesday in announcing they weren't picking up Adrian Peterson's $18 million option for 2017. Even if it was…
Oscars gaffe brings to mind some Wolves drafts
If you stayed up late to watch the Oscars on Sunday night, you were rewarded with a mess-up for the ages. Better yet: if you…
Looking back to Gophers' victory at Michigan to clinch the 1997 Big Ten title
Two decades ago Sunday, the Gophers won a Big Ten title that has since been wiped from the record books.
Hilarious 'Slap Shot' still a hockey talker at age 40
"Slap Shot," the greatest hockey movie ever made and the most memorable sports movie ever made, was released in theaters on Feb. 25, 1977 —…
KG tells his side
If you've had lingering questions since Kevin Garnett's retirement in September — such as, why are the Wolves essentially paying him not to play this…
Big trade appears to be the Kings being the Kings
The Sacramento Kings finally did it. After years of speculation as to whether the Kings would trade DeMarcus Cousins, it happened. One of the most…
Page 2: Warmth spell puts spring sports on the mind
The population of Minnesota is around 5.5 million, which makes sense given that I counted about 5,499 million people outside this weekend. A good million…
U won't permit tailgating for United games
Professional soccer in Minnesota brings to mind not only a love of the beautiful game but also a thirst for pregame parking lot festivities.Having a…
Speculation running wild on what's next for Vikings' Adrian Peterson
We're less than a month away from the Vikings' deadline for deciding whether to keep Adrian Peterson at his current salary or letting the soon-to-be…
Injury prevents Wolves from figuring out LaVine
Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine had surgery Tuesday to repair the torn ACL in his left knee, an injury he sustained Feb. 3 against Detroit.That much…
Reaction to former players' first game back against local team is mixed bag
Kevin Durant returned to play against Oklahoma City for the first time Saturday since signing in the offseason with Golden State. He was booed (predictably).…
RandBall: For OKC's Westbrook, doing it all can be too much
If you have a little (or a lot) of alpha dog in you, maybe you start trying to do too much.
At least for a night, we got the calls
Wednesday was another one of those nights where consuming local sports was akin to drinking out of a fire hose.The Wild and Timberwolves both had…
Wild is state's best men's team since 1998 Vikings
The Wild had played 52 regular-season games entering Wednesday's showdown with Chicago. There's a lot of season left, and it's good to keep that in…
Here's some baseball projections bound to soothe Twins fans
Baseball Prospectus released its PECOTA projections for MLB teams and players Tuesday — basically, the projected records for teams and stats for various players based…
Yet another dramatic finish in The Big Game in the past year
If you strip aside rooting interests, most sports fans would agree that when it comes to a major team sports championship game or series, the…
Numbers show that Wolves are better than last season
The Timberwolves endured their most lopsided loss of the season Wednesday, a 125-97 humbling at the hands of the Cavaliers. So naturally, this is a…
Hey P.J., how about saying 'darn good' instead of elite?
New Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck used the word "elite" 27 times Wednesday as he talked for nearly an hour about the Gophers recruiting class…
These pros are our current greatest unsung heroes
I woke up at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday — not by choice, never by choice — but it provided the extra time to create the sports…
No jinx to identifying Wild as Stanley Cup favorites
The Wild at the NHL All-Star break is the team with the best betting odds to reach the Stanley Cup Final. And according to Hockey…
Big-time tennis, while overshadowed by team sports, can be compelling
Somewhere along the way, the United States forgot about tennis.Maybe you, specifically, didn't. And maybe collectively we didn't forget about it completely. But in a…
Carew, Dozier among top Twins Diamond Award honorees
The Twins' annual Diamond Awards gala was held Thursday at Target Field — with proceeds benefiting the University of Minnesota's neurological research.
The race for eighth is on in the West
Going into this season, there were two schools of thought about the Timberwolves and how they might fare: 1) Their young core would take some…
Consider these Rubio trades
It's sure looks like Ricky Rubio's time in Minnesota is running out. You don't have to love Rubio's game or hate it to come to…
Not many NFL teams end season satisfied
By my count, there were six NFL teams who satisfied their fans this season with their performances — with the possibility of a seventh joining…
More from Star Tribune
StarTribune.com welcomes and encourages readers to comment and engage in substantive, mutually respectful exchanges over news topics. Commenters must follow our Terms of Use.
Comments will be reviewed before being published.