Bob CollinsIt was a year ago tomorrow that I wrote this post pointing out that Glen Taylor, the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, is making tons of money by subjecting Minnesota sports fans to an inferior product.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are enduring another wasted season as their fans have been convinced — again — that it’s impossible to build a culture of winning for a young team by actually, you know, emphasizing the importance of winning every now and again.
The team is next-to-last in official NBA attendance figures, which are usually doctored to inflate the number of people who actually go to games. Even by those numbers, however, about 500 fewer people than last year will show up at a Timberwolves game.
Meanwhile, Kevin Garnett continues to tutor his young charges on how to play winning basketball as he did at one point last night.
The outstanding Timberwolves analyst, Britt Robson at Minnpost, notes in his latest must-read essay that the team has regressed this season following early season success.
Since then, the Wolves are 5-21, a record of futility nearly as wretched as last season’s chaotic tanking to 16-66. “Bait-and-switch” feels like an understated description of how hopeful fans have regarded this pratfall back to incompetence. Something more vicious, like “sucker-and-fillet,” better captures their sense of betrayal.
As usual too, Robson’s column is one area of the Internet where you really do want to read the comments.
Meanwhile, it’s renewal time for the team’s season ticket holders. The team has announced it’ll raise ticket prices again.
