Why this? Why now? Am I late to the party?

In other words, this is an introduction.

As I write this, the Minnesota Timberwolves are only about an hour from tipping off for their 42nd game of this 2008-09 season. As Kevin McHale's Project 600 prepares for what seems to be a winnable game against the Chicago Bulls, the Wolves are suddenly luke warm. 

Considering where this franchise has been for the past, say, four years, that's pretty good.

Despite a season that has seen Randy Wittman get fired and the Wolves lose 23 of their first 27 games, there are finally signs of life in these Timberwolves. Since Christmas, Minnesota has won 10 of 14 games and that building at 600 N. First Ave., is starting to come to life a little bit.

So why am I here?

It's a combination of things really. I have had something of a love/hate relationship with the NBA. There have been times when I've really loved the game, but other times when I had much more interest in the college game. But I've started to gain a much greater appreciation for the NBA. The league has the best players in the world, there is far more coaching going on than most people realize and almost every team has somebody worth watching. 

As far as the Wolves go, I guess I'm like a lot of Minnesota sports fans. I want them to have success, but have been repeatedly frustrated. There have been the countless lottery disappointments, the first-round exits, a list of knuckleheads ranging from Rider to McCants. There was the Joe Smith disaster, the failed experiment with Spree and the Alien and the complete dismissal of the second round of the draft.

But as I say that, there is no other pro team in town that I would rather invest myself in. I realize that sounds crazy, but it comes down to this for me: The Wolves appear to be headed in the right direction, they have a young core, they play hard and it's easy to walk out of Target Center after a game feeling like you got a very good return on your investment.

I realize there are other Wolves blogs out there and that's cool. I'm not out here to "compete" with any of them, but I hope to complement what is going on at twolvesblog.com and canishoopus.com. I'm not going to link as much as the twolvesblog folks and I don't have a message board. I'm probably not going to get quite as much into stats and math as canishoopus, but I do like some of that stuff. 

My hope is to provide some context, some entertainment and create a place that features some reasonably smart writing, some interesting stats and a little bit of humor. I hope you enjoy.