Let's get this out of the way:
The Wolves released the following statement:
NEW YORK, December 4, 2013 - The National Basketball Association game scheduled for tonight between the San Antonio Spurs and the Minnesota Timberwolves has been postponed due to a generator malfunction which produced smoke inside Mexico City Arena.
The date for the rescheduled game, which will be played at Target Center in Minneapolis, will be announced at a later time.
Wolves President Chris Wright:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>On behalf of the Timberwolves I want to say how sorry we are that tonight's game was not played in front of the 1000s of Wolves/Mexican fans</p>— Chris Wright (@WolvesPrez) <a href="https://twitter.com/WolvesPrez/statuses/408471863124193280">December 5, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Our friend Wrath of Zod had a fantastic night on Twitter surrounding this episode; here's an example:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>David Stern's cunning plan to get the people of Mexico City to build a new arena.</p>— Wrath of Zod (@raftsandmonkeys) <a href="https://twitter.com/raftsandmonkeys/statuses/408422626776723456">December 5, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Here's Jerry's Strib piece on the episode.
As much as I thought this was a bad idea from the start--as I wrote yesterday, not only would it have cost the Wolves a real home game but I didn't really see the marketing value in a one-off game on a Wednesday night--this sucks for the teams and especially the fans who had tickets to the game.
And for Mexico City's reputation among NBA fans. As far as I can tell, this was just bad luck. The Mexico City Arena is brand new; this isn't some decrepit old building.
Just a bad thing all around.
Meanwhile, after getting back to Minneapolis in the dead of night:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>As if this night couldn't get worse. Some guy driving to fast on the highway spun out of control on the icy road and crashed into me. Ugh.</p>— Dave Benz (@tweetdavebenz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tweetdavebenz/statuses/408550629162754048">December 5, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Looks like Dave is OK.
Elsewhere, the East went 3-0 against the West last night! Cavaliers beat Nuggets, Hawks over Clippers, and Pacers over Jazz.
The Jazz, however, have won three of their last five, roughly corresponding to the debut of Trey Burke, who has not objectively been spectacular, but when you are replacing John Lucas in the lineup...
The Blazers continue to win. I'm going to look pretty stupid (again) for refusing to buy into them. Down 11 at home at halftime to the Thunder, they blew by them in the third quarter and won 111-104 behind a huge night from LMA. I really thought their shooting was carrying them and wouldn't hold up, but they keep on winning.
Today in History
1492: A centuries long devestation of indigenous peoples gets its symbolic start as Columbus "discovers" Hispanola.
1496: Jews expelled from Portugal.
1804: Thomas Jefferson re-elected
1932: Albert Einstein granted visa for U.S.
1951: Dragnet premieres
1955: the AFL-CIO is formed from merger of American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations
1955: In wake of Rosa Parks' arrest, the Montgomery Bus Boycott officially begins.
Today's musical birthday is Jose Carreras, Spanish tenor, born in 1946
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