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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 Gophers
Friday (MarQueis Gray vs. Philip Nelson) edition: Wha' Happened?
Posted by: Michael Rand Updated: December 28, 2012 - 7:56 AM
Nelson to Gray? Or Gray instead of Nelson?
It brings us to a quick but interesting question: Would that be the right move?
When the Gophers lifted the redshirt off of Nelson midway through the year, partly because of injuries to Gray and Max Shortell, partly because of their up-and-down play and partly because they thought Nelson was ready and healthy himself, we thought Nelson should take every snap along the way -- including a potential bowl game -- to make it worthwhile.
We still think that, but we can also see the logic of this: Gray is a senior. Not only has he stuck with the program thought a lot of bad times -- team-wise and individually -- but he also might give the team the best chance to win a game against a prolific offense but shaky defense. Winning is always the bottom-line objective. But would it be better for the program to try to win -- and finish 7-6, a winning record, vs. 6-7, a losing record -- in order to go into the offseason with a better sense of accomplishment, or would it be better to play Nelson and continue his development?
It's a conundrum. Your thoughts in the comments -- including this twist: Does Gray, presumably somewhat rusty even though he has had bowl practices, even give the Gophers the best chance to win if he is at QB?
Weekend Links with Jon Marthaler: NHL alienating its hard-core fans
Posted by: Michael Rand Updated: December 22, 2012 - 11:32 AM
Jon Marthaler bakes up a delicious batch of links for you every weekend. Other times, you can find him here. Jon?
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Merry Christmas to all! When you think about it, Christmas is probably the closest thing we have to a universal day off; few people work the day, with the exception of essential services, some gas stations, and (at least in the movies) Chinese restaurants. It's the one day of the year that virtually everyone expects to have a chance to spend with their families. Even Scrooge gave Bob Crachit the day off on Christmas Day.
The one exception to this rule seems to be sports, where the NBA has no compunction about ruining Christmases far and wide. The league has a quintupleheader scheduled for Tuesday; you'll be able to watch basketball from 11 am to midnight, should you so desire. It's one thing for the home teams, who theoretically will get a chance to have Christmas morning and/or Christmas dinner fit around their schedules, but those five games have five road teams, all of whom are away from their families this holiday. The Celtics, Knicks, Rockets, Thunder, and Nuggets - sorry, guys. You're spending your Christmas on a plane and in a hotel room.
Speaking of the players is to say nothing, too, of to the thousands of other people who'll miss Christmas thanks to these games. Stadium staff, team personnel, TV crews, team beat writers - all of these folks have to give up their Christmases as well, thanks to the league's desire for holiday hoops. Spare a thought as well for a few college football teams - the Gophers among them - that have Christmas Day scheduling issues.
The jokes all say that most people can't wait to escape their families on Christmas, but the truth is that most of us relish the chance to get together and celebrate. This year, though, I'll be thinking about all of those people who give up that chance as a blessing to the rest of us - not just nurses and doctors and firefighters, but Kevin Durant and James Harden, and all of the ESPN announcers, and the Staples Center staffers, and all of the football players across the country who'll eat Christmas dinner in a team lounge. Merry Christmas, everyone. Thanks for giving up your day to make it better for the rest of us.
On with the links:
*I want to print out this Steve Rushin column about hockey, and hand-deliver a copy to every owner, possibly by stapling it to his forehead. If somebody wanted to dump a hundred thousand copies on the houses of Jeremy Jacobs and Craig Leipold, I'll start buying printer ink. Dear NHL: You're not alienating casual fans now; none of them now exist. You're alienating your actual fans, and we're a disappearing breed. You're on your way to second place in CANADA, and if you lose Canada you might as well fold up shop.
*This three-part interview at The Classical with the guys behind Fire Joe Morgan was absolutely delightful. Here's Part 1, here's part two, and here's part three.
*Brian Phillips of Grantland heads to the rodeo finals in Las Vegas, and the whole thing becomes a wonderful mishmash of one part stranger-in-a-strange-land diary, one part Vegas travel journalism, and one part elegiac rumination on his lost Oklahoma childhood. It's tremendous.
*And finally: not only am I now convinced that squash should be an Olympic sport, I'm also convinced that it is the greatest sport ever invented.
Thursday (If J.J. Watt had kept his Gophers commitment) edition: Wha' Happened?
Posted by: Michael Rand Updated: December 20, 2012 - 9:49 AM
This is one of those facts that has somehow slipped through the cracks of our consciousness for a good six years or so, and we're not sure if it had ever been printed in the Star Tribune until now: J.J. Watt, now a dynamite pass rusher with the Houston Texans -- who face the Vikings on Sunday -- was once committed to play for the Gophers. However ...
"I was committed to Central Michigan, then Brian Kelly left, so I committed to Minnesota. Then Glen Mason was relieved, so I ended up back at Central Michigan." Watt transferred to Wisconsin in 2008.
Watt had a couple of nice seasons in Badgers-land, became a first-round pick, and is now tied for the NFL sack lead with the 49ers Aldon Smith. They both have 19.5 and are in the hunt to break Michael Strahan/Brett Favre's single-season record of 22.5.
Would things have been different for Watt and the Gophers had Mason not been fired? Well, he played tight end at Central Michigan before transferring. There's no telling what role the Gophers would have found for him.
Still, it's one of those curious little what-if moments -- and will only continue to grow if a FORMER GOPHERS COMMIT ends up breaking the sack record.
TFD: Gophers players get 32-inch flat screen TVs as part of bowl swag
Posted by: Michael Rand Updated: December 7, 2012 - 5:29 PMCollege football bowl season officially starts in eight days (!), and we're here to remind you that it's not just about fans traveling to warm climates and ESPN filling up a bunch of programing. No, it's also about the $550 per player the NCAA allows the bowl games to spend on gifts for up to 125 members of each school.
Per that link, Sports Business Daily has the breakdown of what virtually every bowl game is handing out.
The Gophers players in the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, for instance, are getting:
Fossil watch, 32-inch flat-screen TV, belt buckle, T-shirt, lapel pin, backpack.
Hopefully those TVs don't have to come home with the players. Those overhead bins would fill up real quickly.
Wednesday (Bret Bielema and Badgers fans' curious reaction) edition: Wha' Happened?
Posted by: Michael Rand Updated: December 5, 2012 - 8:33 AM
That is why there were two shocks Tuesday -- first, the news that Bielema is leaving for Arkansas. The fit seems odd, and we really don't see how it gets him any closer to success. It had to be ego-driven (I can win anywhere, even the SEC) and money-driven, and Bielema presumably has no shortage of either. But the second shock is that we found the "good riddance" sentiment not just coming from Gophers fans glad to have a disliked and successful rival coach out of the way, but also from Badgers fans.
Almost universally -- whether they were comments on stories or conversations with fans -- we found Wisconsin fans carrying a "don't let the door hit you on the way out" mentality when it comes to Bielema's departure.
Maybe it's his 0-2 record in Rose Bowls. Maybe fans never connected with him the same way they connected with Alvarez. Maybe it's some curious in-game decision-making at times.
Whatever it is, Badgers fans, we will tell you this: Unless this is a facade, you really need to be careful what you wish for. Bielema might not have been perfect, but from where we sit he was a pretty effective coach. And sometimes when you lose pretty good and assume you will upgrade to great, you find out just how nice pretty good felt.
On a lesser scale, Gophers fans can tell you exactly how it felt. Six years ago, Glen Mason was fired after a modest run of success that never resulted in getting over the proverbial hump. That season, Minnesota was 6-6 in the regular season and faced Texas Tech in a bowl game -- exactly where it is now after many more lows than highs.
The Badgers have certainly built their program to a higher point than Mason ever did, but the point sticks. Enjoy these Rose Bowls, Wisconsin, and the man who took you there. It might be a really long time until you go again.
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