Go, Wolves!

We didn't win the game, but the guys played great and what a fabulous time we had!

We got to the Target Center about an hour before game time. As soon as we got there, our T-Wolves ticket rep gave Peter a mini-basketball that said "Season Ticket Holder of the Game" on it, and I got an autographed pic of my guy, Craig Smith. Peter has been promised an autographed pic of the Timberwolves Dance Team as soon as it's ready to go. He's quite happy about that as it will go well with the one of the dance team from last year. :-)

Then we went down to sit courtside and watch the team's shooting practice for about a half an hour. It is really something to see NBA players up close and personal at practice. They are an impressive lot! While we were there, we chatted just a bit with Mike Miller about his dogs (He's a dog lover who has three German Shepherds), we watched our star player, Al Jefferson, work on shooting over defenders, and I got a fist-bump from Mark "Mad Dog" Madsen so hard that it made my knuckles hurt!

The oddest thing that happened was just before game time. We were standing where were told to wait, which was right by the Utah Jazz, our opposing team that night, getting warmed up. Peter just happened to make eye contact with one of their star players, Andrei "AK-47" Kirilenko, who came right on over to shake hands and say "Hello". We thought that was awfully nice of him to make an effort to be friendly to fans of the opposing team.

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At game time, just before tipoff, we stood on the sidelines at midcourt for the National Anthem, then it was our big moment! We were announced as the Season Ticket Holders of the Game, we wandered out to the middle of the court and had our picture taken with Rodney Carney while they showed us on the Jumbotron. (They will be posting the photo here.) Rodney signed our basketball, and we were taken to our super-cool seats right under the basket by the Timberwolves bench. And just to top the night off, they had given the couple that we split our season tickets with the seats right behind us, so we finally got to see a game all together for the first time since last season!

It is quite an experience to watch the game from that spot. You can really see how big and athletic those players are and how physical the game is, especially right under the basket. We were so close we could hear the coaches talking to the players, the players on the bench cheering for their teammates, and the trash-talking on the court, which is often quite funny actually. Oh, and we got asked by another fan if we were Mike Miller's parents! Nope. But I'd be proud if we were. :-)

And just in case you were wondering, I did get a couple of big smiles from my guy Craig! Big sigh. . . :-)