Welcome to the Friday edition of The Cooler, where an anniversary is here and it’s time to get weird. Let’s get to it.
*Ahem. To the tune of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
It was 20 years ago today
The Strib hired me to stay
I’ve been going in and out of style
But I’m guaranteed to raise a smile
So may I introduce to you
The act you’ve known for all these years?
Michael Rand and his cozy RandBall blog.
I’m Michael Rand of the Star Tribune’s RandBall blog
Sit back and let the workday go
Michael Rand’s cozy, Michael Rand’s cozy
Michael Rand’s cozy RandBall blog
It’s wonderful to be here
It’s certainly a thrill
You’re such a lovely audience
I like to take work home with me
I like to take work home
I don’t really want to stop the show
But I thought that you might like to know
That the writer’s going to write a blog
And he wants you all to read along
So let me introduce to you
On the anniversary of working 20 years
Michael Rand and his cozy RandBall blog, yeah
OK, but seriously. Today is the 20-year anniversary of my permanent hire date at the Star Tribune. (Photo above is only from about 10 years ago, interviewing Anders Lee).
I won’t bore you with a career synopsis or a lecture on everything that has changed in those 20 years (because it is almost literally everything). This blog isn’t quite that old, but it is going on 13 years in December — which is almost one Hartman in blog years.
I love working every day, and it wouldn’t be possible without all you weirdos that insist on reading what I write and interacting with me.
So thank you. Let’s keep doing this for a while longer?
*Carson Wentz would have been a MUCH better search engine optimization headline, so Friday is already ruined by my vanity. But let’s talk about his contract anyway.
The Eagles QB got a four-year extension worth $128 million — including $107.9 million guaranteed.
That’s a lot of money for a guy who has had major injuries curtail each of his last two seasons, but in the NFL you either pay the franchise QB or you search (often aimlessly) for the next one.
Wentz, who grew up in North Dakota (like me!) and went to North Dakota State, now has as much guaranteed money to account for 0.2 percent of North Dakota’s annual gross domestic product. He also has about $24 million more guaranteed (albeit over one more season) than Kirk Cousins.
*The Nets reportedly traded Allen Crabbe, along with two first-round picks, to Atlanta in a move designed to clear cap space.
Brooklyn is now positioned to possibly get two max players — with its dream scenario, per ESPN.com, being able to land Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
If they did that, the Nets wouldn’t be able to re-sign restricted free agent D’Angelo Russell, making the rumblings that the Wolves might make a run at signing Russell (which would require a salary dump of their own) to pair with his buddy Karl-Anthony Towns a little more interesting.
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