We recorded a Sportive Christmas episode, two days after the holiday. It’s hard to listen to, but it was fun to record.

Note: This appeared first at RandBall, your home for new years.

Games of the week: NFL Playoffs

Two games today (Chiefs/Colts, 3:30pm; Saints/Eagles, 7pm, both on NBC); two games Sunday (Chargers/Bengals at noon on CBS, Niners/Packers at 3:30pm on FOX).

It’s strange; on virtually every fall weekend, you can watch football from morning to night on both Saturday and Sunday. Yet it’s not until the first round of the NFL playoffs, when the league lines up games on both Saturday and Sunday, one at a time, that it really feels like an event. Most Sundays, we’re inundated with one good game and a bunch of garbage. We’ve sat through it all year. This is our reward.

What else to watch

Today, 2pm: #5 Michigan State at Indiana (CBS). Sure, it’s still the first week of January, and March Madness is still months away. If you squint, though, a top-five team going to Assembly Hall on a Saturday afternoon isn’t a bad replacement.

Today, 7pm: Capitals at Wild (FSN). After losing six in a row, the Wild beat the hapless, hopeless Sabres on Thursday to temporarily staunch the bleeding. Today, then, is the first day of the rest of their season. Lose again, and Mike Yeo may not make it to Monday; win, and we will all start forgetting about the Christmas swoon.

Sunday, 1:30pm: Purdue at Gophers (BTN). The Gophers dropped a winnable one on Thursday against Michigan, and now, Purdue – probably one of the bottom four teams in the Big Ten – comes to Williams Arena. One game into the Big Ten season, it’s a little early for must-win games…. but still, this feels like a must-win game for Minnesota.

What to read this weekend

Scott Burnside’s look inside the selection of the USA Olympic hockey team is absolutely fascinating. And most importantly, defenseman Brian Rafalski will be nowhere near the team this time. HOW CAN YOU LOSE TRACK OF SIDNEY CROSBY ON THE HALF WALL, RAFALSKI? HOW???

NOTE: This appeared first at RandBall, your home for self-determination.

Game of the week, 3:30 today: USC vs. Fresno State, Las Vegas Bowl (ABC)

Somewhere out there, right now, someone is telling his family, friends, or assorted internet followers that he is above watching the beginning of college football bowl season today. The games don’t matter, he says; the matchups are nonsensical, and too many teams play in bowl games.

Our straw-man friend may well be right. But let’s look at this a different way: college football is on television today, and who doesn’t like that? USC, having just stolen Washington’s coach, is pounding the final nail in the coffin of the Lane Kiffin era today, for one. For another, they’re doing it against their in-state non-rivals, Fresno State, who were a single loss to San Jose State away from a perfect season and a potential bottom-drawer BCS berth. And the Bulldogs have QB David Carr, who could – you never know – be wearing Purple in 2014.

Next year, there will be a playoff for the Division I national football championship. It is the beginning of the end for bowl season; college football won’t be able to resist the lure of the untold billions that await from an ever-expanding, March Madness-style tournament. The regular season will grow meaningless and bowl season will become increasingly anachronistic, and someday we’ll all look back and wonder why this game was a glorified exhibition and not a first-round playoff game, with the winner going on to a spot in the Round of 16.

I think we’ll miss it. I think we’ll look back fondly on a time when the reward for any kind of decent season wasn’t a playoff beating, but a trip someplace warm at the end of the year, to play a team that you wouldn’t otherwise play, and a jump on next year’s season. Either way, though, there is college football on TV today, and that’s a good thing.

What else to watch

**3:00 today: Colorado at Los Angeles (NHL Network): **Los Angeles has a claim to be the best team in the NHL right now. Meanwhile, the Avalanche are young, fast, and skating serenely along above the Wild in the standings, always apparently teetering on the brink of a collapse but never quite tilting into disaster, either. Anyway, it’s not too early to start thinking about playoff positions in the Western Conference, and this game will have obvious implications.

**Noon tomorrow: Vikings at Cincinnati (FOX): **This is genuinely the best game going in the NFL tomorrow, on your television. The other three games are Denver-Houston (yikes), Green Bay-Pittsburgh (nope), and Chicago-Philadelphia (yecch). Meanwhile, the Vikings are ruining their draft pick more with every passing week; can they do it again this week, against the mighty Bengals?

2:30 tomorrow: PBA Scorpion Championship (ESPN): The other week, I somehow found myself living out a fever dream, in which Terrell Owens owned a professional bowling team and in fact showed up in a patterned shirt and was attempting bowling trick shots. This is all true, except for the part where I reveal that it wasn’t a dream after all, and that the whole thing was strangely hypnotic and televised on ESPN. (Anyway, if the VIkings are losing, this would do a good job of getting you an afternoon nap.)

**6:30 tomorrow: Wild at New York Rangers (FSN): **Do you guys remember when Nicklas Backstrom wasn’t terrible and starting him in net gave the Wild a decent chance to win? (Let’s hope Backstrom remembers too.)

What to read this weekend

The story of how Qatar came to host the 2022 World Cup is equal parts fascinating and infuriating. The short answer is that everything and everyone is for sale, for the right price, but it runs deeper than that – and by no means is the discussion over, given that now FIFA and Qatar are facing a fight against almost every other established soccer interest in the world.

Here’s a look at what’s made news for Minnesota United FC over the last ten days or so.

Spring schedule released

The North American Soccer League released its spring schedule, and it is… confusing. The original plan was for a ten-game spring season in an eleven-team league, but Virginia Cavalry FC – scheduled to join the league in the spring – are at the mercy of private financing for the stadium they’ll share with the owner’s minor-league baseball team. When the stadium got pushed back, so did Virginia’s launch date; they’re now aiming for 2015.

If you’ve spotted the problem here: a ten-team league means that the spring schedule is now just nine games long, which means that half the league gets five home games in the spring, and half gets four – including Minnesota. The expansion teams in Ottawa and Indy, along with league darlings New York Cosmos, get five home games. So too do San Antonio and Tampa Bay. The rest of the league suffers.

Of course, this leaves aside the curious decision to hold such a short spring season in the first case, a decision the league made ostensibly to avoid scheduling games during the World Cup. The winner of the spring season will again host the Soccer Bowl; every game in the spring is magnified, and the teams that get one fewer home game are thus at a considerable disadvantage. United officials refused to comment on the schedule.

Minnesota plays all four of its spring home games in the span of a month, with the first scheduled for April 26 and the last on May 24. Edmonton, Indy, Fort Lauderdale, and Carolina come to Minnesota in the season’s first half.

The coaching, and ownership, carousel

In a shocking move, the Atlanta Silverbacks chose to cut head coach Brian Haynes loose, despite Atlanta’s spring-season title last season. Neil Morris at Indy Week talked to Haynes, who told Morris that nobody from the club had expressed displeasure with his performance. Given that Atlanta rose from the league cellar to win the spring title, I’m sure Haynes thought that he would be offered a contract. However, the team’s minority owners led a group that bought out marketing firm Traffic Sports and assumed control of the Silverbacks, and decided that Haynes didn’t need to be part of the team’s future.

Fort Lauderdale and San Antonio also fired their head coaches during the season last year, but few expected to see Haynes get the boot. One would think that every coach in the league has to be feeling that his seat is a bit warmer, these days.

In other ownership news, a local businessman bought the Tampa Bay Rowdies and announced some stadium expansion plans – perhaps taking a leaf out of United owner Dr. Bill McGuire‘s book.

Player news

United has made no signings, though I’ve heard that at least one is in the works. There’s also been no word on potential new contracts for free agents Connor Tobin and Mitch Hildebrandt. The two are still in talks with the club, but the holidays have put somewhat of a hold on things; signings will probably pick up in January.

Elsewhere, Tampa Bay announced their contract moves, and there are some interesting names on their list of free agents – including midfielder Luke Mulholland, arguably the best player in the NASL. Mulholland was a key late-season pickup for Minnesota during their championship run in 2011, scoring twice, and I have heard that all that prevented him coming back to Minnesota for 2012 was the uncertainty caused by the team’s then-precarious ownership situation. He might be a good fit for United, which is in desperate need of attacking midfielders, Mulholland’s main role.

Another potentially interesting name on the list of former Rowdies is defender Andres Arango, who played in Minnesota from 2008-2010 – and married a Minnesota girl, giving him family ties in the area. United has a number of defenders already under contract, but if they can’t come to terms with Tobin, it would leave the door open for Arango’s return. Again, the team’s uncertain ownership played a part in Arango’s departure; it’ll be interesting to see if Minnesota talks to him about a return.

Combine time

United announced the details of their spring player combines – basically, a chance for unsigned players to try to impress team management and fingle a contract. They’ll hold an open-to-anyone combine for one day, as well as a more-serious, invite-only event that spans four days.

Most famously, the team found Johnny Menyongar this way; the midfielder went on to score 56 goals in his six seasons for the Minnesota Thunder between 2000-2005. Current club veterans Kentaro Takada and Simone Bracalello also came to Minnesota through the combine.

*NOTE: This appeared first at SoccerCentric. *

Patrick Donnelly, who covers Gopher basketball for 1500 ESPN and the Vikings for startribune.com’s VikesCentric blog, joined us last night for another episode of The Sportive. It was immensely enjoyable, as usual, so I demand that you listen.

Monday, Michael “RandBall” Rand and I got into a Twitter argument about Twins starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey.

As always, Mike was optimistic; he thinks Pelfrey will have a good year in 2014. I, however, think Pelfrey – in keeping with his long and distinguished tradition – will stink next year.  I think my reasoning is sound: Pelfrey was never that good in the National League, which when it comes to pitching is basically Triple-A. Then last year in the American League, following Tommy John surgery, he was rotten all year.

RandBall, however, remains optimistic, and so he proposed a wager. A beer windfall – beerfall? – awaits the winner of the following bet, which was arbitrated by local baseball expert Aaron Gleeman:

If Pelfrey throws at least 180 innings, AND beats the average for American League starting pitchers in ONE OF ERA, K/BB ratio, xFIP, WHIP, and OPS against, then Rand wins. Otherwise, I win.

I’d say the odds are roughly 95% in my favor, to be honest. First of all, thanks to the Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes signings, the Twins rotation is not the junior-high band concert it used to be; Pelfrey won’t get 34 starts no matter how badly he pitches, like he might have in past years. He’ll have to pitch well to make it to 180 innings, and he’ll have to stay healthy all year, and if the bet was “will Mike Pelfrey pitch 180 innings this year” I think I’d still be the favorite to win.

Even if Pelfrey does hit the innings target, though, he has to beat the average in one of those five categories. And he won’t. He’ll never get near the average in K/BB ratio because he strikes out nobody and would have to walk about five guys total all season to get close to the AL average. Because he strikes out nobody, he gives up a ton of hits, so you can throw WHIP and OPS against out, too. And it’s not like the Twins are good enough defensively to keep runs from scoring when the ball’s flying all over the ballpark, so his xFIP and ERA will be plenty high, as well.

Anyway, there’s your wager. I’m thinking about asking Mike to pay up now, as I don’t want to wait until next October to collect.

This appeared at RandBall, your home for plenty of stuff.

Game of the week: Wild at Colorado, Saturday, 8pm (FSN): This, then, is the beauty of the intradivisional playoffs: a Saturday night game in mid-December suddenly feels next to a playoff game in importance.

The Wild are now two games into a brutal stretch that sees them play seven of eight on the road, the first six against probable playoff teams. They’ve also sunk back into their goal-free tailspin, scoring just once each in losses at Anaheim and at San Jose to begin the first portion of their road trip.

The stats say that Colorado, which is giving up far more shots than they are taking, can’t continue to stay among the league’s elite. But for the moment, they’re not only ahead of the Wild in the standings by a point, but they have four games in hand – as does St. Louis, four points ahead of Minnesota.

A loss tonight, and yet another Colorado hot streak, could drop the Wild far enough behind the Avs that catching them would be next to impossible. Add in the pressure of the road trip, and the Wild’s recent troubles, and I’m willing to say that tonight’s game is the biggest of the year so far for Minnesota.

What else to watch

11am today: Coastal Carolina at North Dakota State, ESPN. The Gophers were 8-4 this year and things are looking up in Dinkytown, and even so, I don’t think they are the tri-state area’s best college football team. The Bison, the #1 seed in the I-AA playoffs, are the favorites for a third consecutive championship; they beat Furman 38-7 last week, and could reasonably be expected to punish unseeded Coastal Carolina similarly. But you’ll have to tune in to find out.

2pm: Army vs. Navy, CBS. I love the Army-Navy game. There’s no good reason for this; the football’s generally not great, and once the cadets from either side finish marching, they don’t provide much more in the way of pageantry than any other college football game. And yet, there’s something fun, something primal, about two schools for whom the biggest game of the year isn’t a conference championship or a bowl game or a battle for a better ranking. Army-Navy isn’t about any of that; it’s about beating your brother, and who among us doesn’t find that as important as possible?

4:15: #11 Kentucky at #18 North Carolina, ESPN. It’s a nonconference matchup between two Top 25 college basketball teams. Even if this doesn’t necessarily have the Top-5 Tar Heels-Wildcats cachet that we might have expected, we have to take excitement where we can get it, at this point of the season.

Noon Sunday: Vikings vs. Philadelphia, FOX. Friend of the blog Drew Magary wrote a (R-rated, so kids, look away) screed against cheering for the Vikings’ opponents so that the Purple can get a better draft pick. And maybe he’s right; maybe it’s better to always want your team to win. But at the same time, if the Vikings lose, then we’re one step closer to a host of other benefits; better draft picks, yes, but also potentially new coaches and new general managers and, if we’re lucky, fewer of these nightmare three-win Les [Insert Last Name Here] seasons. So there’s that too.

What to read this weekend

At Grantland, Sean McIndoe reviews some of the recent NHL research regarding zone entries, and whether it’s better to dump the puck and chase it, or try to carry it in. The Wild doesn’t seem like it is much for advanced stats, but Minnesota features heavily in this one, as a change the Wild is trying to make this year fits in pretty well with what the numbers show.

Also, the Twins have Jason Kubel coming back; Parker Hageman at Twins Daily looks at just why he was so terrible in 2013 for Arizona.

Just the four of us on Episode 40 of the Sportive, but we talked our usual nonsense – including a half-hour discussion of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album.

That’s us: your source for music discussions. (It was actually really interesting to listen to, even though I’ve never listened to Rumours.)

NOTE: This appeared at RandBall too.

We are all RandBall now.

For the first six years, these birthday posts have focused on the difference between RandBall (the blog) and traditional media; when the blog started seven years ago, it was a breath of fresh air that cut through the stale cloud of 2006’s newspaper industry.

Seven years on, RandBall is everywhere. The blog is just one small part of RandBall Industries; it stands alongside Page 2, the online videos, and an entire community of Twitterers and blogs and podcasts that can be traced, at least indirectly, to the group of goofballs that used to gather in the comments section of RandBall posts.

It’s almost foolish to continue to celebrate these birthdays; we might as well celebrate the anniversary of all of the people who signed up for Twitter, or of the first of the long-since-discontinued Redactulars, or any number of other milestones along the way. Don’t get me wrong, RandBall is great, as a blog — but it’s grown beyond these virtual blog walls. What started as something different than traditional media has itself become traditional media. We are all RandBall now.

I suppose the credit you can give to Rand is that he never, ever tried to wrestle this thing to the ground and control it. He let go and trusted us all to not ruin everything, and it – I would like to think – has paid off. As for me, on this auspicious yearly occasion, I offer my thanks to Rand for kicking all of this off. He didn’t know where it was going, either, but it’s spawned friendships beyond counting and fun beyond measure, and what else can I ask for?

So wish RandBall a happy birthday! Use the comments, or Twitter, or your blog, or your podcast, because the way this thing is going, those all make perfect sense.

Florida State defender – and Woodbury native – Kassey Kallman is in the running for college soccer’s highest award, the Hermann Trophy. The senior was named one of 15 semifinalists for the award last week, which will be given out at the Missouri Athletic Club’s banquet in January.

The three finalists for the Hermann Trophy will be decided through a weighted vote that includes both voting by coaches and an online fan vote. (You can go here to cast your vote, should you wish to make your voice heard in the voting.)

Kallman and her FSU teammates came within a whisker of adding a national championship to their trophy case, as well. They beat Virginia Tech 3-2 in Friday’s semifinals, but lost 1-0 in overtime against UCLA in Sunday’s championship, a heartbreaking end to what was arguably the best season in school history.

For more on Kassey – and the rest of the Kallman soccer dynasty – the NCAA website had a good story on the family. According to that article, Kassey plans to enter the Women’s Premier Soccer League draft; she could be following her brothers Brian and Brent into the pro soccer ranks.

In other local soccer news, NBC Sports ran a good online article about Maple Grove native Cody Cropper, who is perhaps the next great American goalkeeper. The 20-year-old is currently toiling at Southampton in the English Premier League, and hoping to become the latest in a long line of USA keepers who have made their mark in England, following greats like Brad Friedel, Kasey Keller, and Tim Howard.

It turned out the article was timed pretty well. Last week, Cropper made it into the match-day squad for Southampton for the first time ever, serving as the backup keeper on both Wednesday and Saturday. The Saints are down to their third choice in net at the moment, with two veterans out injured in front of him.

The article also mentions that Cropper commiserated with his interviewer about the Vikings’ and Wild’s struggles, and if that doesn’t make him officially “One of Us,” nothing will.

(My thanks to local soccer expert Brian Quarstad for sending over the above links, and keeping us all informed on the Minnesota soccer scene.)

*NOTE: This appeared first at SoccerCentric. *