Just joined here. Love this site!!! It's the only site a Wolves fan like myself needs to keep informed.

Anyway, just curious how you guys first supported the Wolves. I'd been a Suns supporter prior to 1992, NBA was pretty big here in Australia more then than now, it's kinda died down here now I think.

I was dying for an NBA jacket, it was like the coolest thing in high school.
There was this sale on in a sportswear and I hinted that I would like one for my birthday to my folks, hoping for a Suns or Bulls or Hornets... when I unwrapped the present I got a Timberwolves one... first impression like WTF?!?!?!? Who are they??? Apparently it was the only one left my size.

Maybe I won't be cool cause who the heck has a wolves jacket (In Australia everyone is predominantly a Bulls fan)? Then I thought screw everyone, I'd wear it anyway and started calling them my own... supporting the underdogs (or wolves) from the start of the Laettner years till now, hoping one day for a championship that has seen elluded us.

Like the start of every season I'm excited. Ok maybe the team roster ain't perfect or far from it (we can argue all day about it) but hey in the end it's our team, and enduring **** seasons makes the good seasons when they finally come feel even better.

I was born and raised in Minnesota so I don't have a very unique story as yours. I am simply amazed though as to the Wolves fans from all around the world on this forum and I am anxious to hear their stories. Great thread idea!

T_Wolf_In_Sydney wrote:

QUOTE:


Maybe I won't be cool cause who the heck has a wolves jacket (In Australia everyone is predominantly a Bulls fan)? Then I thought screw everyone, I'd wear it anyway and started calling them my own... supporting the underdogs (or wolves) from the start of the Laettner years till now, hoping one day for a championship that has seen elluded us.

Welcome, fellow Aussie.

I started supporting the Wolves to be different too. Michael Jordan this, Michael Jordan that. I liked the name (and the old strip). The KG trade has galvanised me in some respects, taking it from being a team that I generally kept a track of and knew who was doing what to something far more passionate. it's like they needed me. I know they don't, but I was galvanised by crisis.

Wow that's an awesome story T_Wolf_In_Sydney, never thought there were many Wolves fans beyond Minnesota itself but beyond the US is pretty neat to hear.

Ummm my story is same as mmaland, born and raised in 'Sota. I only live like 15 minutes away from the Target Center and have been going to games since like Kindergarten.

I grew up playing basketball and baseball so when the Wolves drafted Pooh, I was hooked from the get-go. Before that, I was a big Seattle fan. I really started following the team when baseball went on strike in 1994. Sam Mitchell and KG are the players that really turned me into a home-town fan. But for a while there, it was hard not to keep rooting for Seattle.

I was never really interested in basketball or the Wolves for a long time. I'd occasionally flip on the game on TV to watch them lose. I didn't get hooked until 2003 when we had a really good team, I watched the entire playoff series and after that I've watched almost every game. The last few years I go to about 10 games a year (Spurs, Suns, Nuggets, Cavs, Warriors, Mavericks, etc) I am hooked, and I don't see myself changing anytime soon!

I lived in Minnesota ever since I was 5 but I was a Bulls fan as a kid cause of MJ, but then in I think 1994 when J.R. Rider did the EASTBAY FUNK Dunk to win the Slam Dunk contest, I was hooked ever since.

I really first started watching the Wolves in 03, when we finally got a top 4 playoff seed, only to draw the Lakers (it was also bad because Troy Hudson had the series of his life, leading to our fearless leader Kevin McHale giving him that fat contract). Of course, the 04 season was great for everyone. By that time, I was a senior in high school, and I used to cut out all the articles on the Wolves from the paper in study hall, then tape them to my locker in between classes. Nerdy to the max, but I couldn't get enough. These days, I feel a lot more pride in being a Wolves fan than I did back then....it's almost like being really into a band that's still local, but is (hopefully) primed to make the move to stardom! Except all the other bands have better musicians!

I love hearing these "how I got into the Wolves" stories by the way, great thread.

I guess I could elaberate a bit more. Even though I was born and raised in MN. I haven't lived there for 30 years but have always thought of myself as a Minnesotan. I remember when they picked the name Timberwolves I thought it was the lamest name ever but as time went by it just became who we were. I also remember when they were negotiating with KG for a new contract and I was fearfull we would loose him. When they finally signed the richest contract in history, I was elated and proud that Minnesota would hold the highest paid player in the NBA.

I might add that I am very happy with the changes the Wolves have made in the past year and I really like the team we have now. I am optomistic as to the future of the Wolves.

I was a little kid on vacation with my family in Cape Cod of all places and my dad took me and my sister into a sports store and told us we could each pick out a hat.

I picket a blue one that said "Wolves" with the old logo as the "O". Had no idea what sport if was for at the time, where they were from, or if they were even any good, but at that moment I was forever attached to the Timberwolves.

I still have the hat. It's dirty and dusty, but it's one of my most prized possessions.

I am probably older than most of the contributors to this blog, but I share your enthusiasm for the NBA and Wolves in particular. I am not so old that I remember the Mpls Lakers, but I did grow up watching the weekly CBS broadcasts of NBA games and wishing there was a team I could see here in the state. Back then, if I had a team to root for at all it would have been either the Celtics (late Havlicek, Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White era) or the Bulls (Jerry Sloan, Norm Van Lier, Bob Love era). I was elated when the MN got the team in '89 and have been a solid fan for their entire run. I believe you root for your team (not a particular player). It may be like Seinfeld says that we are then rooting for the players' laundry, but so be it. Most don't have allegiances to a high school or college team based on who plays there. We accept their lot and cheer for them and enjoy the entertainment of teams (not individuals) doing the best they can with what they have. Geographically, I live too far from the Target Center to make it to all that many games (although my retired parents had season tickets for many years and would drive 200 miles each way to attend all the home games). Go Wolves!

DeROK wrote:

QUOTE:
I was a little kid on vacation with my family in Cape Cod of all places and my dad took me and my sister into a sports store and told us we could each pick out a hat.

I picket a blue one that said "Wolves" with the old logo as the "O". Had no idea what sport if was for at the time, where they were from, or if they were even any good, but at that moment I was forever attached to the Timberwolves.

I still have the hat. It's dirty and dusty, but it's one of my most prized possessions.

You are the second poster here that is a T Wolves fan due to a random clothing purchase. That is really funny. I guess we really need to think before we buy our children logo wear. It could affect the rest of their lives!

Speaking of that old-style logo, I was watching Season Four of the Wire last night and one of the characters rocked out an old blue and green warm up jacket. I forgot how nice they were.

Ever since the 2001-2003 season.

At that point, I think I was just in 7th grade, and I had never really been into sports. But I really liked basketball though, so I decided to dedicate all my time in finding out about the NBA and just all the players/teams. Amidst all that, I saw the playoffs that season and fell in love with Garnett and Billups. I was pulling for them so much, mainly because I knew they were the underdogs, and I just loved KG's intensity as well as Billups style of play. Everyone around me laughed at me for liking the T'wolves and questioned why I liked them, but I never really had an answer.

I have always grown up in the Sacramento area, so everyone and their mama's were Kings fans in the Peja-Webber era. I was too, however, I would always cheer for the underdogs, that being the Wolves. I followed them a lot during the 02-03 season, and absolutely fell in love with T-Hud and his playoff series against the Lakers. I loved his charisma, as well as Flip's (I still remember the game where T-Hud made a buzzer-beater trey between the 3-point line and half court, then Flip got down low to give T-Hud a high-five). Unfortunately, as we all know, it was the end of the T-Hud era after that, even though I still considered him my favorite unknown NBA player.

It seems like it was fate during the 03-04 season, as they took on the Kings in the playoffs. It was a battle of my 2 favorite teams, but obviously everyone around me were telling me to pick a side and that I was being a bandwagon Wolves fan. I decided to officially jump off the Kings train and be a full-time Wolves fan before the series began. That was the high-point as a fan of the NBA/Wolves that series, as I was wagering so much money AGAINST the Kings with all my friends and family, and of course, we took it in 7. I've never yelled and cheered so loud for a sporting event on TV in my life during game 3 of the series.

Of course with the highs come the lows, as everyone laughs at me for being a Timberwolves fan, but I proudly sport my authentic Wolves jersey worth $120 on my wall. I finally attended my first T'wolves game live at Arco last year on my birthday (November 10), but obviously there was no KG or even T-Hud by then. I sported my Sprewell jersey on in the 2nd deck amongst Kings fans, but we lost that game unfortunately. I still think about how I never got to attend one of the Kings-Wolves playoff games back in 04....



I hope one day to travel to Minny and be able to see a home game... one day.....

Been a fan of the team since its inception. I guess with yet another logo, my name should change to the original logo. I still liked our old colors and logo better. Unlike the Wild, my basketball loyalties start with the Wolves. When I first started liking sports, the North Stars were still in the state, so I don't really care about the Wild. Wolves, Vikings, Twins.

What a great, great thread. Howl to you TWiS. I find everyone's stories very interesting. I also can't believe that there are so many fans from outside Minnesota (and outside the USA!) in our forums. That's really awesome. I love the diversity and different perspectives.

As for me, I started liking the Wolves about 2 years or so before they drafted KG. I was about 10 I believe. I didn't really like basketball at all before that, so I've never had any other favorite teams or anything like that. Once I got hooked on basketball and started watching on TV and playing it myself, I've been a Wolves fan through and through. No matter how much we suck and how ugly our jerseys are... that will never change.

I can't wait to start brainwashing CW Jr. into liking the Wolves, watching them on TV, learning all our players' names, etc. Also, until he knows any different, he will consider the two best players in the NBA to be KG and Gomes.

It's cool hearing all of the responses, boy it brings back some fond memories... Drafting of a skinny young KG, JR Rider blowing us away in the dunk comp, T-Hud's playoff heroics, the sadness of losing Malik Sealy (I still wonder what might have been if he was still around), the first playoffs with Steph/Googs/KG in 96'-97' (again imagine what could have been if they all stayed together?),KG MVP2004, topping the division in 03'-04' KG/Sam/Spree and finally passing the first round playoffs, being an Australian the signing of Shane Heal and Luc Longley (not that it did the team any good, but those two guys are legends here in Oz).

Auswolf was right, everyone basically was a Bulls fan here in Australia back then (why wouldn't you? consider how well they went with AirMJ and co)
and got one NBA game on free-to-air TV once a week, and it'd always be Bulls and the bigger market teams...never Wolves obviously. Now we'd only get to see an NBA game on payTV. I'd only ever get glimpses of highlights on the internet or check box scores on NBA.com. That's how I support the wolves.

Back in 2001 I got interested by the NBA just about the time the playoffs were starting... (polish TV thought it might be fun to broadcast a game or two from time to time) I wondered which team would be nice to cheer for and watch and I recalled that Garnett guy who was in lots of papers. They had a pretty cool Wolf logo too.... so I started cheering for them and I've been doing so for the past 7-8 years.