love is in the air

Kevin Love, that is. The star player on our generally star-lacking Minnesota Timberwolves.

We went over to the Wolves game last night because it was to be the game where Kevin could break the all-time (at least, modern times) NBA record for the most consecutive "double double" games by a player, a double double being at least 10 scored points and at least 10 rebounds in a single game. 52 games in a row. And he did it.

... and Timberwolves fans, looking at the Wolves' pathetic win-loss record, have so few reasons to cheer that Kevin got multiple standing ovations, and the atmosphere was fun. And then the Wolves even went on to win the game, trouncing the Indiana Pacers 101-75.

So how long will it be before some other team steals Kevin Love away from us? :-(

a late-spring sports update

Two or three years ago, as I was walking into the locker room at the gym, innocently wearing my Philadelphia Flyers t-shirt (because it happened to be clean, probably!), a guy walked up to me, got in my face, and said, "The Penguins are going to kill the Flyers this year!" Who was I to argue? This guy was rabid, and it's rare to run into a rabid Pittsburgh Penguins fan in downtown Minneapolis. I thought of him this morning when I opened the sports page, something I apparently hadn't done recently, and noticed that somewhere in the world (specifically Pittsburgh and Detroit) people are still playing that icy sport of hockey -- the Stanley Cup finals. That Penguins fan must be having a meltdown by now. Wow!, what a long season. Seems like the Wild -- and, later on, the Flyers -- were eliminated ages ago.

And there across the page I saw that there are four teams still playing basketball. Hey, go Celtics! Kevin Garnett deserves a ring after all those frustrating years with the Timberwolves.

The gym where I work out is at Target Center, home of the Timberwolves. One cool thing about working out there right now is that the new Twins baseball stadium, set to open in 2010, is being built next door. Three or four times a week (or however many times I can drag my unmotivated butt to the gym), I get to check out the progress. It's fun watching a stadium being built. A slow process, almost as slow as baseball itself.

Baseball?.. a true spring sport? The Twins, I see, (still playing in their domed stadium) are two games behind Chicago in their division. Ah, better news: The Phillies are only a half game out of first place in their division. Go, Phils. Philly needs a championship of some kind.

What else matters?

P.S. Happy Birthday, Heron... :-)