We were sucked in last night. The RBBH went to bed early, leaving us to our own worst devices: the Timberwolves game. We watched the young lads take an early lead, then blow it, then get down by double-digits. At one point early in the third quarter, we almost gave up but decided to give the game one more commercial break. And wouldn’t you know it, the kids rallied and took a nice lead. They ended up holding an 8-point bulge with less than five minutes left. And we were thinking, “Hey, they might finally win a road game!” But then, of course, they proved what Minnesota teams (and not just the Wolves) continue to prove: nobody here knows how to close. A depleted Golden State squad forced overtime admid a flurry of terrible shots by the Timberwolves (everything from the perimeter, Al Jefferson wasn’t involved, Rashad McCants was jacking with 18 left on the shot clock while protecting a late lead), and then the Pups were smoked in the extra session in predictable fashion.

We’re not sure if we’re angrier with ourselves for being sucked in or just mystified by the lack of killer instinct shown by pretty much every major pro sports team around these parts.

Vikings? Not a single game this year has allowed fans to exhale early, and a few of them should have (hello, Colts! Hello, Packers! Hello Texans!)

Timberwolves? The only killer instinct they have is to choke off their own chances.

Wild? They’re hardly the worst offenders, but they’ve coughed up some late leads this year and have a history of giving us the impression that a lead in the third period is akin to hanging on for dear life.

Twins? Late leads disappear, often combined with those brutal games where they get five runs early and then coast.

Are we crazy? Does this happen everywhere else and we’re just not aware? Is it just inherently difficult to put a team away? Is it something about this state that makes teams tighten up — that makes the athletes here take on a collective persona to match the people here? Are we too nice? Is that it? Do we not want to seem immodest? Do we like the drama? Is it nature or coincidence?

We don’t have the answer, but this is disturbing. We’d just like to watch a laugher once in a while. Is that so wrong?

Fasola-link! 10 most irritiating phrases.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 9:21 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.