Am I a glutton for punishment?/Do I really want season tickets

I just returned to my desk after a trip to the printer. In my hand are two printed out tickets for tonight's Wolves-Memphis game. The seats are crappy, but the two tickets cost me all of $4.95 on eBay. Yes, that was the total for the both tickets. That's $2.47 each to see a NBA game.

Now, I realize there are many people in the Twin Cities who might say that seeing a March game between the Timberwolves and Grizzlies isn't really a NBA game. After all, the two teams combined 34 victories are less than the win total of 10 individual NBA teams. Throw in that it doesn't look like either Foye or Hot Rod Carney are going to play and there isn't a ton of reason to expect anything other than the Wolves' 12th straight home loss.

While I would expect that I'm going to see far more Kevin Ollie than I would like to tonight, I'm all right with going to see a game in which the home team seemingly has little chance. I'll be in the house for Saturday's game against the improving Bobcats as well. 

This brings me to the topic of the never-ending Glen Taylor commercials. You know, the ones where he says he never thought he'd own a NBA franchise, etc.

When the announcement on season ticket prices was made last week, I was initially very excited about the possibility. $5 per game gets you in the door, $15 per game gets you a seat downstairs. It is a very good value, there's no question about that. You can get two seats for every game for less than $500 total. Two seats for every game downstairs is less than $1,300 and the team will let you pay for it in nine interest-free payments. 

But is that really enough for the Wolves to turn me into a season ticket holder for the first time ever? Probably not. 

The more I think about it, the more I think I'm going to just keep doing what I'm doing. Go to two or three games a month and watch a bunch on TV. My reasons are pretty simple.

Even though going to games is very easy for me. I already have parking downtown and I live within 15 minutes of Target Center, I'm not sure that I want to commit 41 nights of my winter. There are other commitments, there are work things and there are times when I'd just rather not go. 

Then there is the whole where to buy seats thing. I wouldn't say that I'm cheap, but I'd be inclined to buy upstairs tickets. I don't mind the seats up there and it is super easy to move downstairs to a better locale for the second half. I often go to games with my girlfriend. She'll play along, but it is clear that she doesn't enjoy the chase of the free upgrade nearly as much as I do (for the record, I may never see my upper deck Row V seats tonight). If I was to buy season tickets, she kind of indicated that she would prefer me to get downstairs seats.

I get her point and it is nice to not worry about getting bounced from your seats or getting stopped by an usher. But then you move into a price point where if the tickets don't get used, you'll feel like you're throwing away cash. If you toss away a pair of $5 tickets, that's one thing, but throwing away $30 a pop is another story. And it's pretty clear that some tickets just won't get used.

It does appear on timberwolves.com that there is going to be a super saver 10 pack where you can get downstairs seats for $175. I realize the opponents won't be terribly sexy and the nights of the week might not be awesome, but I think that is what we'll do. We'll end up with reserved seats downstairs for a good number of games and I actually like seeing the non-marquee teams. I see enough of the Lakers, Celtics, Cavs, Magic, Suns, Spurs and Mavs on TV. (An aside, I'm twisted enough that I'm bummed that I'm going to be out of town when the Wolves host Oklahoma City down the stretch because I would totally go see the Thunder). 

So I think that's what I will do. I'll get a 10-game pack and then catch probably another 5-10 in other ways. Sometimes I get expensive work tickets. And there are always tickets available on eBay. I got a pair for the recent Portland game that were downstairs for $29 with shipping. I saw New Orleans earlier this season for $8 for two seats upstairs. 

As much as I enjoy watching the NBA -- there are amazing players and amazing plays at almost every game -- I still don't think there is enough demand to warrant buying season tickets. Tonight, I'm afraid, will prove that. I expect to see acres of empty seats.

Fairly amazing to be honest

What in the name of Bill Blair is happening? 

As futile as the Timberwolves have been during certain parts of their 20 years in these Twin Cities, they had never lost 11 consecutive home games before last night's loss to a horrible Washington (or as the mother of a childhood friend of mine would say, Warshington).

The last time the Wolves won at home was the Jan. 25 overtime victory over the Bulls. That was back when the Wolves were among the hottest teams in the NBA and back when this Minnesota team had both a healthy Al Jefferson and a lot of promise.

I do still think this team has promise and some good young parts. Al is tremendous, Randy Foye is a nice player, I like Kevin Love, Ryan Gomes has shown promise of late and the team has a boat-load of draft picks.

But last night was bad. Because if you can't guard the Washington Wizards -- a team that has very few true NBA players, has been horrible on the road and was finishing up a four-game road trip -- who can you guard?

That's it for now. Must do my real job. Will have more of a take later.

A few items.....

1. Still very undecided of what to think about Jim Souhan's column last week in which he says McHale needs to go. There is part of me that agrees that a fresh start is probably needed, but I also wonder what that will really accomplish. There will be new plays to learn, a new system to install, new roles to be defined. I still think my preference would be for McHale to actually start a season and go from there. In neither appearance on the bench has McHale gotten a training camp and the ability to start from scratch. 

I'd like to see him take a healthy Corey Brewer and, hopefully, a healthy Big Al and see what happens. I say that because the Wolves have been better under his watch despite the horrible run of late. They've been more entertaining (for sure), they've played harder (most of the time) and there are players who have improved (Bassy, Gomes).

2. This week is a big one for me. I think everyone understands that the Wolves are going to have a difficult time competing with the top teams right now because of their injury issues. That's much of the reason why this team has won only two of its last 19 games. That said, how many truly bad losses were there in that stretch? The loss at Washington was bad. And how the team lost to Golden State last week was discouraging. Should they have beaten Indiana at home or won one of the games against Toronto? Perhaps. But other than that, the Wolves have had a high-protein diet of playoff teams.

That's why I would like to see something change this week. There is Washington tonight, Memphis on Wednesday, the Knicks on Friday at the Bobcats on Saturday. All at home. None of those teams are playoff teams right now, but the Bobcats are still in the mix in the East. What's realistic? I'd like to see two wins this week. Will it happen? I don't know.

3. A little reading material. Britt Robson, who knows a whole lot about this team and is at virtually ever home game, penned a very good piece for his blog here. It's certainly worth a few minutes of your time.

4. Trying to decide if I should go see the team early this week. I have tickets to the Charlotte game on Saturday. Tonight is probably out, but am considering either Wednesday against Memphis or the Knicks on Friday. There are certainly plenty of good seats available.

A little morning after exercise

So what do you on the morning after a brutal 24-point loss to a below-average Golden State Warriors team?

Well, after catching up on a bit of NBA news this morning on espn.com, I made my way to the Lottery and Mock Draft simulator there. Because what else is there after as poor of a performance/effort as I have seen this season. 

How many tries would it take for me to get the Wolves their first-ever No. 1 selection? Who would be the most likely selection according to the ESPN lotto gods? 

I spun the wheel (OK, hit the refresh button) 20 times and this is what I came up with:

- It took until the eighth try for the Wolves to win the thing and get the No. 1 overall pick.

- The average of the 20 pulls was a draft position of 5.95.

- I got the top pick once and the second pick twice.

- Wake Forest point guard Jeff Teague and UConn center Hasheem Thabeet were the "winners" in terms who the Wolves will select. Teague was the selection on eight occasions and Thabeet was selected seven times. The other five picks broke down like this: Oklahoma combo guard Willie Warren (2), Spanish PG Ricky Rubio (2) and Blake Griffin once. Not sure if Rubio is actually going to enter the draft.

Will any of it happen? Who knows. But it is better than thinking about that nonsense at Target Center last night.

Yuck

Went to the gym after work. Figured I'd get home in time to watch 2 1/2 quarters or so of Wolves-Golden State.

Got in the car after the game, turned on KFAN and heard the Warriors score to go up 53-23. 

30 points. In the second quarter. Are you freakin' kidding me.

Ugh.

More Bobby Brown please

So I subscribe to the Timberwolves feed on Twitter. A little while, news crossed that Bassy is going to miss his second consecutive game with a groin issue and that Kevin Ollie was going to start his second consecutive game at PG tonight.

One word: Why?

Another word: No.

I don't know Kevin Ollie at all. He might be a nice, upstanding guy. Might kiss babies and pet dogs and walk little old ladies across the street. But Kevin Ollie is as slow as I am. And, trust me on this, that's pretty darn slow.

After being in attendance for both games over the weekend -- a completely wretched performance against Portland that required many beers to get through and a better effort against Houston -- all I want to see is more Bobby Brown. He's quick, he can get into the lane, he makes adequate decisions, he forces the defense to react and, in turn, get out of position.

While he freaks me out because he looks a little too much like McCants with the head band, arm sleeve and that he wears No. 1, I like me some Bobby Brown. He did some nice things in garbage time against Portland and he was clearly the Wolves best point guard against Houston.

A quick check of the Popcorn Machine shows Ollie at minus-14 against the Rockets and Brown at only minus-2. So, large man with the bad sweater collection, can I have more Bobby Brown please. It really is My Prerogative.