It’s been awhile — thanks, or no thanks, to the Fourth of July and to a proprietor vacation — and so I’d like to officially welcome you back to Saturdays with RandBall. It’s nice to get back into the swing of things, with the All-Star Break mercifully over and Vikings training camp just six — six! — days away. And so we hurry on to the weekend links:

* I’ve been looking forward to posting this one: the Daily Norseman has the correct take on the whole Favre situation. Even better, he’s got facts at his disposal, not just the usual Favre-just-loves-football mumbo-jumbo that infects discussions with such irrational boundless optimism about the 38-year-old quarterback.

*In other Vikings news (via Pacifist Viking), Advanced NFL Stats does some digging into how sacks correlate with wins in the NFL — and specifically, how Jared Allen might be expected to affect the Purple in ‘08.

*What’s the deal with Royce White?

*J.E. Skeets has an interview with Greg Oden. If that doesn’t interest you, scroll down to the interview’s final question, which I really wish Stu would have asked to Brandon Paulson, as well.

I think that’s enough for one Saturday. Enjoy your summer weekend, rain-filled though it might be.

Brandon has posted on one of our favorite topics: How to define a sport. You can see his fine work right over here; you can also likely see him a less coherent state tonight.

Roughkat also chips in with a site where you can create your own sport. In your face, Brandon! (We think something that involves both the RandBall Car and competitive milkshake drinking would be delightful).

Rounding out the Wolves season ticket triumvirate, we invite you to vote for the Commenter Of the Week. Also note that we will be back at full strength next week. Always were! And now, we will be attending the new Batman film.

Personal Note from Stu: With the Summer Games right around the corner, it was suggested that I track down past Minnesota Olympians. It’s always easier to fulfill this request when the one local athlete you know is a Minnesota Olympian.

Name: Brandon Paulson

Claim to Fame, Minnesota: a three-time Class AA wrestling champion at Anoka HS and l998 All-American at the University of Minnesota.

Claim to Fame, Everywhere Else: took home a silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta (pictured), and has a laundry list of championships and achievements at every level of the sport. Perhaps more importantly, lost the 2007 Runyon’s FFL Super Bowl to me by a score of 70-46 (thanks once again, Aaron Stecker).

Where He Is Now: has been in the news recently for coaching Jake Deitchler, a fellow Anoka alum and the youngest U.S. Olympic wrestler in over 30 years. See the Strib and the New York Times for more details. He leaves for Beijing in a couple weeks.

Glorious Randomness: in an exclusive Stu’s Hunt Down Q&A, I had a chance to ask Brandon about a couple things.

STU: When you’re not working with Jake, are you still in the custom-built home business?
BP: I am still in custom home building business with my father. (Shameless plug) If anybody wants a custom home in the northern suburbs visit us.

STU: Can you name all the different places on the planet where you’ve had meets, trials, etc.? I know you’ve been pretty much everywhere. Will this be your first time in China?
BP: Countries I have been to for wrestling: Colombia, Dominican Republic, France, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Czechoslovakia (before the split), Czech Republic, Serbia, Poland, Russia, Uzbekistan, Japan, and went to China last year and coached Jake in the venue where the Olympics are being held. Never been to Canada. My two favorite places are Wladyslawowo (Poland) and Japan (People are great).

STU: Should the Vikings pursue Favre?
BP: Favre is a cheesehead — Tarvaris is the man. I think you should bid $20 for him in the upcoming draft. (NOTES FROM STU: 1. I picked up Favre for $1 last year. I’m awesome. 2. Brandon’s irrational disdain for the Packers almost makes up for him wearing his medal* to the draft every year.)

*He does not do this.

Sassbottom wrote to us the other day saying he was “totally insulted” that we hadn’t used his 2008 sports post yet. “The Best Sports Year ever e-mail I sent last week was golden!” he wrote, and you could practically hear in his words the years of getting pushed out of the sandbox, being picked last at kickball and puking on himself in pressure golf situations. We talked the hothead down and told him we’d post it this week sometime. He even added a few more to his list. So here we go. Sassbottom?

I think we have a healthy amount of evidence that 2008 may go down as one of the greatest sports years ever — and it’s only July. Here are just a few examples of some seriously *crazy* [redacted] that’s happened so far: (more…)

Seeing as how it’s about the only thing that’s caused us to come out of vacation hibernation recently, you could say we’re a little obsessed about the Brett Favre story. And what could cause us to post after 7 p.m. on a Thursday while on vacation? Why, a Brett Favre maze, that’s what. (AP story and photo):

Carlene and Duane Schultz decided to use Brett Favre’s image in their corn maze after he announced his retirement in the spring. And even though Favre’s desire to be released from the Packers has created controversy, Carlene Schultz thinks people will be open to going through the maze when it opens Sept. 1.

The maze at Schultz’s Country Barn in Eleva reads “thanks” and shows Favre’s upper body holding a football, with his No. 4 jersey.

Carlene Schultz says they have had mostly positive reactions so far, but a few grousers are saying they won’t visit. She says she doesn’t know what to expect if Favre gets traded.

The family plans to give $1 from each ticket sold to the Deanna Favre Foundation.

RandBall field trip?