I used to be a diehard NBA fan in the 80′s. I remember getting hooked in 1979, when I was sophomore in high school, watching Bird vs. Magic in the NCAA Championship.

Without an NBA team near South Dakota, we had very little exposure to the game or to teams. I vowed after watching the Indiana State/Michigan State game, that I would adopt the NBA team that drafts Larry Bird as my home team.

A decade later, I was a proud fan of the Celtics, watching three NBA titles go there way with a ton of Celtics t-shirts, Bird pennants and framed Sports Illustrated covers in my humble Richfield, MN apartment.

Today, I still consider myself a Celtics fan, but I defientely have a loyalty to the hometown Timberwolves. I am not as big of an NBA fan as a used to be, but I still go to one or two Wolves games a year. I also get to the Barn for Gophers games as often as I can.

• Greatest Moment: It was February in 1989 at the Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome when Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics made their first appearance in Minnesota. I have always been a big Larry Bird fan, watching him and Magic Johnson on TV from my home in South Dakota. I bought courtside seats for the first game as soon as they went on sale. I remember just being overwhelmed the first time the Green & White took the court. There was Larry Legend, Robert “Big Chief Parrish” and Kevin McHale coming into the Metrodome, and I was in awe. Pure awe. When Bird fouled out with 2 minutes left in the game, I took off. The Timberwolves actually won that game, and I was pissed.
• Favorite All-Time Timberwolves: Cherokee Parks, Christian Laettner and J.R. Rider.
• Favorite Moment as Fan of the Timberwolves: The playoffs in 2004 with Latrell Sprewell, Kevin Garnett, and Sam Cassell (KG, Spree and the Alien aka the MV3) lit it up and almost got a Minnesota NBA team to the championship again.
• Biggest Personal Achievement at a Twolves Game: I was picked as Fan of the Game in 2005 because I was wearing a throwback Kevin Garnett jersey, and Timberwolves hat from 1989.
• Favorite Timberwolves Draft pick: Felton Spencer? Ah hell, who am I kidding, that person is yet to be drafted. I guess the Ricky Rubbio pick in 2009 could be the one though.
• Favorite Target Center  Song:“Heard it in a Love Song” by the Marshall Tucker Band, who played it live during a Wolves Draft Party in 1990 or 1991.
• Best Autograph obtained:I have an autographed Larry Bird Dream Team photo in a frame. He is sporting the #7 Team USA white jersey
• Greatest Thrill: Seeing Larry Bird at the Dome for the Celtics first game in 1989!
• Minnesota Hoops Memories: Lindsey Whalen taking Minnesota Gopher women’s basketball to the Final 4. That was a great run for that program in 2005. In 1996, a Clem Haskins led Gophers team goes to the Final 4. That whole era was awesome for the Gophers, but ended in scandal. Watching Kevin Garnett for many years at Target Center was also a real privilege. Now he’s a Celtic