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Michael Rand started RandBall with hopes that he could keep lies from conquering the minds of the weak. So far, he's only succeeded in using the word "redacted" a lot. He welcomes suggestions, news tips, links of pure genius, and pictures of pets in Halloween costumes here, though he already knows he will regret that last part.
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Posts about Vikings
TFD: New vow, everyone -- no more talk of Percy Harvin until after the season
Posted by: Michael Rand Updated: January 4, 2013 - 6:20 PM
It's 24 hours to kickoff. No Percy Harvin talk until the game is over. Agreed?
Agreed.
Also: Remember that the season has been fun. It hasn't been perfect, but it has been fun. Nothing changes that Saturday.
It only continues.
Mid-day talker: The Vikings and the four-game path to franchise purification
Posted by: Michael Rand Updated: January 4, 2013 - 12:29 PM
Four weeks ago, few people gave the Vikings much of a chance of chugging through their final four regular-season games against Chicago, St. Louis, Houston and Green Bay and making the playoffs. As such, why not dream big?
The Vikings did win those four games. And if they win four more, they will be Super Bowl champions. We're not sure how many Super Bowls they have ever won, but we're POSITIVE some clever folks from Wisconsin could tell us, while at the same time telling us to stop living in the past when we bring up more pleasant purple memories.
Sorry, got sidetracked. Dreaming big. Let's think not just of a Super Bowl. Let's think of the dream streak of teams to run through -- the Vikings' road to redemption.
1) It starts in Green Bay. That much we already know. And it is perfect. While beating the Packers wouldn't specifically be redemption -- Minnesota is, after all, undefeated all-time in the playoffs at Lambeau Field -- it would be the ideal way to start a playoff run for obvious reasons.
2) A victory on Saturday night would earn Minnesota a game at No. 1-seeded Atlanta. This time, the Falcons would be the presumed home underdog after cruising through the regular season. Can you say payback for 1998? Can we exorcize the demons of wide left and take a knee? Yes we can.
3) The three possible teams to face in the NFC title game would be Seattle, Washington and San Francisco. The 49ers inflicted some playoff misery on the Vikings, but Minnesota did have the equal stunner in 1987. Seattle knocked off the Vikings this year, but it's hard to get worked up about the Seahawks. Washington? Ah, we have a winner. Let's never speak of Darrin Nelson's drop again. Let's work past it.
4) Super Bowl, homeboy. Unfortunately, none of the teams that may or may not have defeated the Vikings in prior Super Bowls (again, please help, Green Bay fans ... we're having trouble remembering the history) made it to the playoffs this year. So we'll have to go with the Broncos -- the team the Vikings should have played in the 1998 Super Bowl. Let's bring this thing full circle.
Why not, right?
TFD: RandBall Q&A excerpt with Dr. James Andrews, who operated on Adrian Peterson
Posted by: Michael Rand Updated: January 3, 2013 - 5:23 PM
Dr. James Andrews. Photo/Mike Oliver
Q Adrian Peterson. It was barely a year ago – Dec. 30, 2011 – that you performed his knee surgery. First off, did you find a man’s body underneath the flesh, or is he a cyborg as we all suspect?
A He’s been a miracle. He’s a genetic individual who has been blessed to do what he’s done. I answer that question, and I try to throw the recovery back to the athlete. If you operate on the right athlete, they make you look pretty good as a physician. The three people who really got him there were Eric Sugarman, his trainer with the Vikings. Russ Paine, one of the best physical therapists in the country, and then Adrian Peterson. He’s the guy motivated to do all that. The rehab is boring and tiring. He pushed himself and motivated himself and was determined to be better than ever. The surgery was only a small part of it.
Q But seriously, from a medical standpoint, how do you explain what he has been able to do this season so soon after that injury and surgery?
A His recovery and success has been a major miracle. My definition of a miracle is something that happens that you don’t expect to happen. Thank God for it.
The Packers' Increasingly Lost Season, Volume 12: Failing to heed lessons of the past
Posted by: Michael Rand Updated: January 3, 2013 - 11:43 AM
Stu?
-------
As noted in this space last week, a Packers victory was very unlikely at the Metrodome last Sunday. True to form, this overhyped bunch of insurance pitchmen was unable to stop Adrian Peterson, keep Christian Ponder from beating them, or fully exploit a Vikings secondary missing Antoine Winfield for the balance of the game. That injury no doubt helped wee Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers keep the score close, but in an increasingly lost season, are moral victories enough?
The answer to that question, as the playoffs now begin, is a self-evident “no.” With the (admittedly small) chance to snipe a bye week from the much better San Francisco 49ers, the Packers tried their level best. And it just wasn’t good enough. Now, the spectre of another cold-weather game in the House of Daunte looms on Saturday night.
Which leads me to my key to a Packers upset this weekend: change of venue.
It sounds nuts, and the logistics are no doubt nightmarish, but the numbers don’t lie: the Vikings don’t lose playoff games in Green Bay, and the Packers just can’t win in Lambeau with Aaron Rodgers on his tippy-toes at quarterback. In Minnesota’s own recent lost season, they played home games in a college stadium and at Ford Field, and a road game on a Tuesday in Philadelphia. The stakes for those games were much lower than an elimination game, so shouldn’t the team and its stockholders move heaven and earth to play somewhere, anywhere but a place where failure is, perhaps, the only option?
For many years, Green Bay split their home games between Lambeau Field and tradition-rich Milwaukee County Stadium. The latter has been replaced by Miller Park, America’s premier terrarium. The chance to play a game indoors, in Wisconsin, should be a done deal. Taking the elements away can only help the Flutie-style heroics of Rodgers and the unreliable leg of Mason Crosby. Frankly, that this hasn’t already been arranged is a baffling failure of imagination on the part of what is supposedly one of the NFL’s model franchises. It may turn out that Ted Thompson’s refusal to see what Graham Harrell can do won’t be his most glaring mistake this season.
Let’s assume that Green Bay unwisely chooses the path of least resistance and plays Saturday night’s game at Lambeau Field. It’s still preferable to the Metrodome, where the Pack would no doubt get steamrolled by a red-hot Vikings team that took their best shot. Can Green Bay and Lil’ Aaron, for one week at least, cast off the chains of their many past failures and win a home playoff game before getting flattened by San Francisco? In an increasingly lost season, don’t count on it.
TFD: Vegas got pounded in 2012 NFL season because all the favorites won
Posted by: Michael Rand Updated: January 2, 2013 - 5:19 PM
Nobody roots for the house to win in Vegas. And those shiny casinos weren't built because people win big. As such, rejoice! The big neon oasis in the middle of the desert really took it in the shorts during the 2012 NFL season, the LA Times reports:
The problem for Las Vegas sports books is that many popular NFL teams beat the point spread during the regular season. And with many bettors combining their picks in parlays, $20 wagers turned into payouts of up to more than $1,000, depending on how many winning bets they combined.
The result is what one Las Vegas sports bookmaker called a "staggering" financial hit from the NFL regular season, as bettors handed Nevada sports books their worst year in memory.
"We know the general public now has tremendous sources of information, that the regular player is sharper than the guy 10 years ago, but we've never seen a streak like this before," said Jay Kornegay, a 25-year veteran who heads the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino's 30,000-square-foot Race and Sports book.
Here's where it gets local:
On Sunday evening, Kornegay and a team of bookmakers huddled by text messages to post the first point spreads for this weekend's playoff games.
The number Kornegay most stewed over was how much to favor Green Bay by when it hosts the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday. This comes on the heels of the Packers' loss to the same Vikings in Minnesota on Sunday. In that regular-season finale, the Packers were favored by three points.
This season, the Packers are the favorite NFL team in the Las Vegas, drawing a wealth of emotional bettors who would gamble on the team whether it was favored by 7½ or 10½ points.
The current line favors the Packers by 7½ points in Saturday's game.
"We know people will bet the Packers regardless, but all it takes is one sharp to say, 'Here's $50,000 on the Vikings,' to counteract making a [quick] line simply for the public," Kornegay said.
Aside from the use of the word "sharp," which we love, we have to say this: We suppose in just this one case it's OK to want Vegas (and the Vikings) to win.
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recent posts
- TFD: New vow, everyone -- no more talk of Percy Harvin until after the season
- RandBall: The Vikings' four-game path to franchise purification
- Friday (The Wolves need Kevin Love) edition: Wha' Happened?
- TFD: RandBall Q&A excerpt with Dr. James Andrews, who operated on Adrian Peterson
- Want to watch the best 10 NBA bloopers from 2012? Sure you do
- The Packers' Increasingly Lost Season, Volume 12: Failing to heed lessons of the past
- RandBall: Tell us what's wrong with the Wolves
- RandBall: Vegas got pounded in 2012 NFL season because all the favorites won
- Because you asked: Here is the Randy Moss fake moon TD video
- RandBall: Latrell Sprewell feeds family with loud music, gets arrested
- Wednesday (First Vikings playoff roster vs. Packers revisited) edition: Wha' Happened?
- TFD: Could 2013 actually be a good sports year in Minnesota?
- It's safe to say Adrian Peterson got the "nasty" yards on Sunday ... and all season long
- Mid-day talker: What's your take on the evolving Royce White situation?
- Monday (That doesn't happen with the Vikings) edition: Wha' Happened?
- TFD: Denard Span .gif makes Deadspin's top 25 of the year
- Vegas gives Adrian Peterson an 18 percent chance of breaking Eric Dickerson's record
- RandBall: Exactly how did the Vikings get here?
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