Hey basketball fans! It’s been a while since my last update. I think I just got burned out. I never gave up graphing but blogging takes a lot more work. Scanning, writing, trying to come up with original content. It just all caught up with me. But I'm back! And no, that's not the Christmas Miracle. Last night I had the opportunity to graph the Minnesota Timberwolves. This is our last home game before Christmas so I was hoping some players might be a little nicer because of the holiday. I got there right on time and secured a spot on the first row and waited. Andrew Wiggins was already out warming up and Tyus Jones was sitting on the bench. The first player to make his way to the lockers was none other than star center, Karl-Anthony Towns (KAT). Regular readers of this blog (if you're still here, thank you!) know that KAT doesn’t usually warm up. If he does, he blows past the throng of people waiting for his autograph. That was not the case this time as he not only signed one for everyone waiting but he allowed me a photo op! Granted, the crowd was smaller than I expected for this team, but this is most definitely a once-in-a-lifetime thing! I could be wrong though and I really hope so. He signed a card for my Hoops set and I couldn’t be more thrilled! I was actually shaking a bit afterwards. Thank you Mr. Towns! Dario Saric, Tyus Jones, and Andrew Wiggins signed for a few fans (mostly kids). I didn’t get any of them, but Jones was the only one I’d gotten before and unfortunately he came off at the same time as Wiggins and he saw me pull my cards back because I had the Wiggins stack on top. I could have gotten him but it was just bad timing. The next player I got was Luol Deng. As he was warming up I was debating back and forth if he was Luol Deng or Gorgui Dieng. Take a look at their headshots and then picture them both warming up from a short distance. Tell me you wouldn’t get them somewhat confused? Mr. Deng signed a national flag photo and obliged a photo op, but he said I had to take it while he was signing because he didn’t have much time. He actually got through the people next to me fairly quickly and had time to pose with me. He doesn’t smile, but I’m happy with what I got. Thanks Mr. Deng! The next player to come by was former Thunder forward Taj Gibson. He'd never been much of a signer at home, but I've come to expect that with our guys. The last time I'd seen Taj with the Timberwolves, he ran past everyone and high-fived people, but put his hand down before he got to me and so I awkwardly high-fived his shoulder. I didn't have high expectations for him, and just as I'd expected, he ran past everyone once he was done shooting. I don’t remember much about past experiences with Jerryd Bayless but for some reason I thought he wasn’t a fan of it (but that’s actually Gerald Henderson). I didn’t have a photo or a card for him — I checked — so I had him sign my logo photo. I’m working on the 16-17 Complete set and actually don’t have his card. Next time maybe. Robert Covington was the last player out and while I'd never seen him play before, I had optimism that he wouldn't let us down. However, when time started ticking down I got a little nervous. Even if he ended up being a nice guy, there didn't seem to be enough time for him to get to all of us. When he was through warming up, he ran past everyone, offering a few high-fives to the kids up front. All in all, I'm happy with this outing. I landed the best autograph I've gotten all season and we still have half the season to go. The next game on the schedule is New Year’s Eve against Dallas. I’m set on Dirk (still trying to get that selfie) and eager to see if Luka Doncic is as great at signing as I’ve been hearing Final totals: Bayless 1/1 Covington 0/2 Deng 1/1 + selfie Gibson 0/1 Jones 0/1 Saric 0/2 Towns 1/2 + selfie Wiggins 0/3 Until next time, J.R.
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