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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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Video: Will Ferrell introduced starting lineups at last night's Bulls/Hornets game
Posted by: Michael Rand under Wolves news Updated: February 9, 2012 - 2:57 PM
Will Ferrell introduced the starting lineups at last night's Bulls/Hornets game, and that's really all the introduction you need to the video clip of it:
Stu's Hunt Down: Ex-Gophers Hosea Crittenden, Ernest Nzigamasabo and Russ Archambault
Posted by: Michael Rand under Gophers Updated: February 9, 2012 - 1:21 PM
Each week, commenter Stu hunts down a former Minnesota sports figure about whom you might have forgotten. This week, he delivers in triplicate! Stu?
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The Hunt Down
- Nzigamasabo is a native of Burundi and graduate of Mound-Westonka. Some would say he was Ralph Sampson III before the fact, a towering, skinny low-post player who would disappear for games at a time. In his defense, there was incredible turmoil involving his country and family at the time, as this 1994 Minnesta Daily article from Joe Christensen notes.
- Crittenden, a Rosemount grad and the very last man on the bench, was beloved by the Williams Arena faithful, who would call for him to play when a game got out of hand. Made a memorable 3-pointer as the clock ticked down on Hosea Crittenden Night.
- Archambault, a Sartell-by-way-of-NoDak product, is probably best known for often being referred to as “the troubled Russ Archambault” and for his role in the Gangelhoff cheating scandal that brought down Clem Haskins.
Thursday (All eyes on Williams Arena) edition: Wha' Happened?
Posted by: Michael Rand under Gophers Updated: February 9, 2012 - 9:51 AM
The ol' Barn is squarely in the spotlight with a new athletic director primed to make a decision at some point about how long it should survive and when/where/if a practice facility figures into the mix.
Williams Arena is the center of attention, however, for a much more immediate reason: 6 p.m. tonight, Gophers vs. Badgers, on ESPN, in a game that Minnesota really needs to win. If you look at the Gophers' record (17-7, 5-6 in conference play) and remaining schedule, it gets far tougher to imagine an NCAA tournament berth with a loss to Bucky and far easier to imagine one with a "W."
Home games against Ohio State and Michigan State and the road rematch at Wisconsin will be very difficult. Add in toss-up games at home against Indiana and on the road at Northwestern, and you can see how important this game is. Minnesota needs to find three wins out of these next six games to put itself in shape to be 9-9 with a regular-season closing home victory against Nebraska. That record, which would obviously include quality victories down the stretch, would be enough -- in our eyes -- to make the Gophers an NCAA tourney-worthy team.
With that in mind, a pair of questions: Do you think the Gophers will beat Wisconsin tonight, and do you think they will put together enough of a stretch run to make the NCAA tournament after starting 0-4 in conference play?
TFD: Kevin Love tweets out giveaway in Uptown, meets with fans
Posted by: Michael Rand under Wolves news Updated: February 8, 2012 - 5:12 PMShortly before 4:30, the Wolves' Kevin Love -- serving the second game of his two-game suspension when his team plays at Memphis tonight -- tweeted that he would be giving away autographed gear in Uptown at the corner of Hennepin and Lake. Our Twitter pal @MarleyBigelow (you might recognize her as the female voice amidst all the hockey talk on the Judd n Phunn show) was on the scene and can confirm that the big fella really did show up -- on the Juut corner, for those familiar with the area. Here's the picture she took to prove it -- along with the simple comment from us that Love seems to have picked a nice way to spend his league-mandated day off.
ESPN's Keith Law ranks Twins' farm system 14th out of 30 organizations
Posted by: Michael Rand under Twins fans Updated: February 8, 2012 - 2:37 PM
Miguel Sano, reason for hope
The recent past has seen no shortage of rankings of the minor league systems of the 30 MLB teams. La Velle wrote about the MLB.com top 100 prospect rankings a little over a week ago and has written two follow-up posts since then. ESPN.com's Keith Law also will rank the top 100 prospects, but before that he put an overall evaluation on the various teams -- and Law has the Twins 14th, which you can either view as "upper half" or "mediocre" depending on how you want to spin it. Here is Law's brief summary of the Twins:
I pick on these guys for taking low-ceiling college arms with great control, but they have quietly mixed in some interesting high school bats and added a few high-impact Latin American prospects.
Yep, that pretty well sums it up.
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recent posts
- Video: Will Ferrell introduced starting lineups at last night's Bulls/Hornets game
- Stu's Hunt Down: Ex-Gophers Hosea Crittenden, Ernest Nzigamasabo and Russ Archambault
- Thursday (All eyes on Williams Arena) edition: Wha' Happened?
- That was Kevin Love in Uptown, giving away autographed stuff
- ESPN's Keith Law ranks Twins' farm system 14th out of 30 organizations
- Rocket's Red Glare: Learning to hate the Pacific Northwest and the Vancouver Canucks
- RandBall: Rubio and Pekovic need their own TV show
- TFD: 900 pounds of Butterfingers dropped off in Boston, in case Gisele Bundchen didn't humiliate Wes Welker enough
- Web site stirs up Troy Aikman + Erin Andrews love connection talk
- RandBall: Who is the best ex-Minnesota athlete not in the Hall of Fame?
- Tuesday (What should we expect out of Derrick Williams?) edition: Wha' Happened?
- TFD: Patriots Super Bowl roster had 18 players who were two- or no-star high school recruits
- RandBall: Gardy reveals Opening Day lineup (for now)
- Mid-day talker: Kevin Love's two-game suspension -- too much, not enough or right on?
- Monday (Eli Manning -- creating a Hall of Fame career?) edition: Wha' Happened?
- Weekend Links with Jon Marthaler: Super Bowl vs. Superb Owl
- RandBall: Urban Meyer has Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema all upset
- Frank Thomas might want to spread out his Big Hurt Beer and Josh Hamilton support tweets a little
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Post By Category
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- Video: Will Ferrell introduced starting lineups at last night's Bulls/Hornets game
- ESPN's Keith Law ranks Twins' farm system 14th out of 30 organizations
- Stu's Hunt Down: Ex-Gophers Hosea Crittenden, Ernest Nzigamasabo and Russ Archambault
- That was Kevin Love in Uptown, giving away autographed stuff
- Postgame: Wolves go deep into bench
- Rayno: Short takes on the Big Ten
- Gophers hockey ready for stretch drive, Denver up first
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