This is how every seat gets a shirt and towel for Timberwolves playoff games

posted in: News | 0

It’s roughly 1:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, and tipoff between the Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks is quickly approaching.

As the hustle and bustle in downtown Minneapolis slowly picks up ahead of Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, well over 100 employees of the Timberwolves are working feverishly inside Target Center making sure everything is set up for the occasion.

There are pockets of people in different sections throughout the building draping shirts on seats and laying towels on top of that. The scene resembles something out of National Geographic, like various ant colonies working in unison to complete a task.

This is how every seat gets a shirt and towel for Timberwolves playoff games. The giveaway for fans has produced immaculate vibes at Target Center over the past month. It’s spectacular to see more than 18,000 fans wearing the same shirt while waving the same towel.

That’s exactly what the Timberwolves are going for as vice president of fan experience Jeff Munneke is concerned.

He doesn’t want fans thinking about the work that went into the moment. He just wants them to soak in every second of it.

“Just being able to do something like this helps create even more of an atmosphere inside the building,” said Munneke, the organization’s longest-tenured employee, who was hard at work in Section 110 in the hours leading up to tipoff. “You’ve got people walking into the Target Center, and they’re howling and chanting. There’s already a bounce to everybody’s step, and then they come in here and it’s so vibrant with the shirts and towels. It’s a lot of fun.”

The planning process for the Timberwolves started with casual conversations in late February and early March.

What did they want the giveaways to entail?  What was the aesthetic going to look like? What were they going to do to promote whatever they decided on?

“We decided to do both a shirt and a towel,” said chief marketing officer Mike Grahl, who was bouncing around Section 108 helping anywhere he could. “There was so much energy around, so we wanted to give fans something to wear and something to wave.”

The design for each shirt and towel has come from within the organization. That allowed the Timberwolves to stray from the plainness that is usually associated with giveaways.

“We’ve had a lot of fun with it,” Grahl said. “We’ve gotten to lean into a little bit of Wolves culture.”

It’s gotten pretty weird at times — in the best way possible — as the Timberwolves have catered to the diehard fans.

They had a shirt with niche mascot Air Crunch flying over downtown Minneapolis for a home game last round against the Denver Nuggets. They opted for a more traditional “WOLVES BACK” insignia with the Timberwolves hosting the Mavericks in Game 5.

“We always talk about this could be on somebody’s bucket list,” Munneke said. “We want to make sure it’s a great experience, because that’s what it’s all about.

There’s actually an art to the setup at Target Center. In fact, the Timberwolves sent out a tutorial video to their employees prior to the playoffs, detailing how to properly place the shirt on the seat with the towel on top. The techniques vary.

“I’ve been doing this for 35 years,” Munneke said. “I figured I’ve laid down almost 200,000 shirts in my life. That doesn’t include playoff games like this where we’re doing both shirts and towels. I’ve worked on every type of technique imaginable to figure out what works.”

The way the shirts and towels end up on the seat doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters to the Timberwolves is that the fans enjoy it.

“Nobody in the organization is above it,” said Kelley Wollak, a partnership and marketing executive, who took a moment to look around Target Center after finishing up her portion of the set up in Section 112. “We do it because we know it’s going to make a big impact for our fans. Just seeing how much joy each shirt and towel brings the fans makes it all worth it. It’s incredible to see it all come together in that moment when it’s tipoff, and everybody is wearing their shirt and waving their towel.”

Related Articles

Minnesota Timberwolves |


Fate of the Western Conference Finals may hinge on the health of Dereck Lively II

Minnesota Timberwolves |


John Shipley: No matter what happens Thursday, Timberwolves’ Game 2 conference semifinal victory remains an all-timer

Minnesota Timberwolves |


‘I just couldn’t see much’: His vision finally restored, Kyle Anderson is again playing a big role in Timberwolves’ success

Minnesota Timberwolves |


Dane Mizutani: Suddenly, the impossible feels possible for the Timberwolves

Minnesota Timberwolves |


Karl-Anthony Towns comes alive in second half to carry Timberwolves past Dallas in Game 4, keep season alive

Ex-Viking Everson Griffen charged with DUI, drug possession after traffic stop in Minneapolis

posted in: News | 0

Former Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and cocaine possession after a traffic stop late Tuesday in Minneapolis.

Griffen, 36, of Mound, was pulled over by a Minnesota state trooper for driving 82 mph on southbound Interstate 35W near Lake Street, the charges say. He failed sobriety tests, and a small vial with cocaine was found in his back pocket during his arrest.

Everson Griffen (Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)

Griffen was released from the Hennepin County jail Thursday afternoon after posting a $12,000 bond. He’s scheduled to make a first court appearance on the charges June 13. Court records do not yet list an attorney for him.

The charges are the latest in a string of legal trouble for Griffen, who is on probation for a reckless driving conviction that stemmed from a DWI arrest in Chanhassen in July.

According to the latest charges, the trooper pulled over Griffen, who was driving a Bentley Bentayga, at 11:35 p.m. He had watery eyes and smelled of alcohol. A passenger was in the front seat. Griffen said he had one drink and they were headed to Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake.

A preliminary breath test showed Griffen’s blood-alcohol content was 0.10. The vial found during his arrest contained 0.02 grams of cocaine. A breath test taken just before 12:30 a.m. also registered a 0.10 BAC. The legal limit in Minnesota is 0.08.

Griffen faces two counts of gross misdemeanor third-degree DWI and one count each of gross misdemeanor fifth-degree drug possession and misdemeanor careless driving.

During his July DWI arrest, Griffen’s blood-alcohol content registered 0.09, according to court documents. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless driving after striking a plea deal with Carver County prosecutors and was sentenced to a year of probation in February.

Three months after the arrest, Griffen crashed his 2017 Mercedes-Benz into a car, then a fence and gazebo in Mound on Oct. 28. He was convicted of failure to drive with due care, a petty misdemeanor.

Griffen was cited for speeding Dec. 7 after a Shakopee police officer caught him on radar driving his 2020 Bentley truck at 55 mph in a 30 mph zone.

The former All-Pro has struggled with mental health issues over the years.

While he was with the Vikings, Griffen was placed on the non-football illness list following an incident at his Minnetrista home on Nov. 24, 2021, in which he posted a since-deleted disturbing video on Instagram that showed him holding a handgun and expressing concern for his safety.

He called 911 to report an intruder, but none was found. Police and mental health officials worked for several hours to get Griffen to come out of his home before he was taken by ambulance to a mental health facility.

Griffen also missed five games in 2018 because of a mental health situation. He wrote in an Instagram post Dec. 3 that he is “bipolar” and will “be an advocate for mental health.”

Griffen played with Minnesota from 2010-19, making four Pro Bowls, and rejoined the team in 2021 after spending the 2020 season with Dallas and Detroit.

Related Articles

Crime & Public Safety |


Minneapolis man gets 30 years for killing St. Paul 19-year-old amid Mall of America holiday shoppers

Crime & Public Safety |


Twin Cities man admits to robbing five metro gas stations with airsoft gun

Crime & Public Safety |


Man dies after shooting in St. Paul’s North End

Crime & Public Safety |


Suspect charged with beating 81-year-old man in restroom of Duluth supermarket

Crime & Public Safety |


Minnesota man sentenced for soliciting minor to have sex with dog

Rochester starter DJ Herz stifles Saints in Red Wings 6-3 win

posted in: News | 0

Rochester starter DJ Herz allowed one run on two hits over 5 1/3 innings in the Red Wings’ 6-3 win over the St. Paul Saints in a Thursday morning game in Rochester, N.Y.

Herz, who struck out 10 and walked one, came out after allowing a single and getting a strikeout in the sixth. Reliever Orlando Ribalta struck out Royce Lewis, then gave up a two-run homer to Matt Wallner, his seventh of the season.

The Saints’ Yunier Severino hit a solo home run, his ninth of the season, in the ninth inning.

Lewis, who is on a rehab assignment from the Twins, started at third base and went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts. Alex Isola went 2 for 4 for St. Paul.

Saints starting pitcher Jordan Balazovic allowed two runs on five hits in two innings, and Austin Schulfer followed by giving up two runs on three hits over two innings.

Related Articles

Sports |


Saints shut out Red Wings on the road in series’ game 3

Sports |


Saints pull off split of doubleheader against Red Wings

Sports |


Saints drop last of series to Bison

Sports |


Festa cruises as Saints shut out Bisons 7-0

Sports |


Saints walk their way to a win in Game 1 in Buffalo before loss in second game

Donald Trump is convicted of a felony. Here’s how that affects the 2024 presidential race

posted in: Adventure | 0

NEW YORK — Having been convicted of 34 felonies, Donald Trump cannot own a gun, hold public office or even vote in many states.

But in 158 days, voters across America will decide whether he will return to the White House to serve another four years as the nation’s president.

Trump’s conviction in his New York hush money trial on Thursday is a stunning development in an already unorthodox presidential election with profound implications for the justice system and perhaps U.S. democracy itself.

But in a deeply divided America, it’s unclear whether Trump’s status as someone with a felony conviction will have any impact at all on the 2024 election. Trump remains in a competitive position against President Joe Biden this fall, even as the Republican former president now faces the prospect of a prison sentence in the run-up to the November election.

In the short term at least, there were immediate signs that the unanimous guilty verdict was helping to unify the Republican Party’s disparate factions as GOP officials in Congress and in state capitals across the country rallied behind their presumptive presidential nominee, while his campaign expected to benefit from a flood of new fundraising dollars.

Standing outside the courtroom, Trump described the verdict as the result of a “rigged, disgraceful trial.”

“The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people,” Trump said, referring to Election Day. “This is long from over.”

The immediate reaction from elected Democrats was muted by comparison, although the Biden campaign issued a fundraising appeal within minutes of the verdict suggesting that the fundamentals of the election had not changed.

“We’re THRILLED that justice has finally been served,” the campaign wrote. “But this convicted criminal can STILL win back the presidency this fall without a huge surge in Democratic support.”

Strategists predict a muted impact

There has been some polling conducted on the impact of a guilty verdict, although such hypothetical scenarios are notoriously difficult to predict.

A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll found that only 4% of Trump’s supporters said they would withdraw their support if he’s convicted of a felony, though an additional 16% said they would reconsider it.

On the eve of the verdict, the Trump campaign released a memo from its polling team suggesting that the impact of the trial is “already baked into the race in target states.”

Trump campaign advisers argued the case would help them motivate their core supporters. So many donations came into WinRed, the platform the campaign uses for fundraising, that it crashed. Aides quickly worked to set up a backup platform to collect money pouring in.

Trump headed Thursday night to a fundraising event scheduled before the verdict, according to a person familiar with his plans who was not authorized to speak publicly.

His two most senior campaign advisers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, were not with him in New York, but in Palm Beach, Florida, where the campaign is headquartered.

And while it may take days or weeks to know for sure, Trump’s critics in both parties generally agreed that there may not be much political fallout, although some were hopeful that the convictions would have at least a marginal impact in what will likely be a close election.

Sarah Longwell, founder of Republican Voters Against Trump, who conducts regular focus groups, suggested the guilty verdict may help Biden on the margins by pushing so-called “double haters” — a term used to describe voters who dislike Trump and Biden — away from Trump.

But more than anything, she suggested that voters simply haven’t been following the trial very closely.

“The best thing about the trial ending is that it ended,” Longwell said, describing the courtroom proceeding as a distraction from more serious issues in the campaign. “There will now be an opportunity to focus the narrative on who Trump is and what a second Trump term would look like.”

Republican pollster Neil Newhouse predicted that the trial may ultimately have little impact in a lightning-fast news environment with several months before early polls open.

“Voters have short memories and even shorter attention spans,” Newhouse said. “Just as the former president’s two impeachments have done little to dim Trump’s support, this guilty verdict may be overshadowed in three weeks by the first presidential debate.”

A plan to campaign after sentencing

The judge set sentencing for July 11, just four days before the scheduled start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Each of the falsifying business records charges carries up to four years behind bars, though prosecutors have not said whether they intend to seek imprisonment. Nor is it clear whether the judge — who earlier in the trial warned of jail time for gag order violations — would impose that punishment even if asked.

Trump will be able to vote in Florida, where he established residency in 2019, if he is not in prison on Election Day.

And imprisonment would not bar Trump from continuing his pursuit of the White House.

Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who was with the former president in court this week and also serves as co-chair of the Republican National Committee, said in a Fox News Channel interview before the verdict that Trump would still try to campaign for the presidency if convicted.

If Trump is given a sentence of home confinement, she said, “We will have him doing virtual rallies and campaign events if that is the case. And we’ll have to play the hand that we’re dealt.”

There are no campaign rallies on the calendar for now, though Trump is expected to hold fundraisers next week.

Biden himself has yet to weigh in.

He was spending the night at his family’s beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after marking the anniversary of his son Beau’s death earlier in the day at church.

Voters grapple with the verdict

Texas voter Steven Guarner, a 24-year-old nurse, said he’s undecided on who he’ll vote for in the upcoming election.

Guarner, an independent, said the verdict will be a deciding factor for him once he studies the details of the trial. He didn’t think it would sway the many voters who are already decided on the Biden-Trump rematch, however.

“I think his base is the type that might not care much or might agree with him about the court system,” Guarner said of Trump.

Indeed, Republican officials from Florida to Wisconsin to Arkansas and Illinois condemned the verdict as a miscarriage of justice by what they described as a politically motivated prosecutor and blue-state jury.

Brian Schimming, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s executive committee, called the case against Trump a “sham” and a “national embarrassment.”

“There was no justice in New York today,” Schimming charged.

And Michael Perez Ruiz, a 47-year-old who was ordering food shortly after the verdict at Miami’s Versailles restaurant, an icon of the city’s GOP-leaning Cuban American community, said he would continue to stand by Trump.

“I would vote for him 20 times,” Perez Ruiz said.

AP writers Emily Swanson and Zeke Miller in Washington; Jill Colvin and Michelle L. Price in New York; Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin; Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami; and Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, contributed.

Related Articles

National Politics |


Trump could still vote for himself after New York conviction if he’s not in prison on Election Day

National Politics |


Guilty: Trump becomes first former U.S. president convicted of felony crimes

National Politics |


Trump’s hush money trial verdict could come this week. Here’s what each outcome could mean for the election

National Politics |


Jurors in Trump hush money trial end 1st day of deliberations after asking to rehear testimony

National Politics |


Prosecutor says Trump tried ‘to hoodwink voters’ while defense attacks key witness in last arguments