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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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The Packers' Increasingly Lost Season, Volume 12: Failing to heed lessons of the past
Posted by: Michael Rand under Professional football, Vikings 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 The latter has been replaced by Miller Park, America’s premier terrarium.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.
Thursday (What is wrong with the Wolves?) edition: Wha' Happened?
Posted by: Michael Rand under Wolves news Updated: January 3, 2013 - 10:08 AM
We only watched the second half of the Wolves/Jazz game last night, but that was enough in a couple of regards: enough bad basketball by the local club and enough to see that the Wolves are in a serious funk right now. After seemingly turning a bit of a corner, they have lost 5 of their last 7 and are back at .500 with a 14-14 record. So what's wrong? Well ...
*Energy: Despite not having played since Saturday, the Wolves were FLAT from what we could see. They've looked plenty flat in other games as well, but not like what we saw last night. Maybe that was the product of missing so many shots, which can be deflating. But it was startling.
*Injuries catching up: Ricky Rubio provided an emotional lift when he returned, but he's been slowed again now and hasn't been the player he was last year even when on the court. Kevin Love still doesn't look right. Brandon Roy and Chase Budinger have missed significant time.
*Love: Speaking of Kevin, it would be too convenient to blame his Yahoo flap for the recent funk. After all, the Wolves won their first three games after that story came out. More likely, it's his uneven play (to put it nicely) on the court of late. In the Wolves' last four losses, Love has missed one of them and shot a combined 9 for 38 from the field in the other three. His body language often looks bad. He needs to get fully healthy and re-focused.
*Alexey Shved is cooling off. Shved was a combined 21-for-45 from 3-point range during a 7-2 Wolves stretch between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15. That's a 46.7 percent clip and it opened up a lot of things. Since then, he is 12 for 41 (29.6 percent), coinciding with this 2-5 slide.
*Better competition: The early schedule was softer; now they're playing better teams, and if the Wolves are not at full strength they are exposed.
*Defensive lapses. The Wolves have held opponents under 90 points 10 times this season (going 7-3 in those games). Nine of those games came Dec. 7 or earlier. They have allowed at least 100 points 13 times this season (going 4-9 in those games). More than half of those games (eight) have come in the last month.
Any other reasons? We left some out for you to chew on in the comments.
TFD: Vegas got pounded in 2012 NFL season because all the favorites won
Posted by: Michael Rand under Vikings 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.
Because you asked: Here is the Randy Moss fake moon TD video
Posted by: Michael Rand under Vikings Updated: January 2, 2013 - 3:07 PMWe had to bust this out at some point this week. It might as well be now:
Latrell Sprewell feeds family with loud music, gets arrested
Posted by: Michael Rand under Basketball Updated: January 2, 2013 - 12:38 PM
Life just keeps getting better and better for Latrell Sprewell since he turned down millions of dollars to keep playing basketball for the Wolves several years ago. Per the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Milwaukee native and former NBA star Latrell Sprewell was arrested for disorderly conduct Monday afternoon after police received repeated complaints about loud music coming from a house on E. Pleasant St. on Milwaukee's east side, according to jail records reviewed by the Journal Sentinel Tuesday.
Police would not release details of the incident other than to report that police had received two complaints within one hour Monday afternoon and had received several complaints of loud music from the residence in recent months.
Sprewell, 42 and a graduate of Washington High School, was booked into the jail about 4:15 p.m.
Love the time on this one. 4:15 p.m. on New Year's Day. That is QUITE a party.
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