In Minneapolis, Paul Walsh reported T'Wolves F Kevin Garnett has bought 1,000 tickets for tonight's home game against the Clippers "as a way to say thanks to fans for their warm welcome upon his return to the team last week." Beginning at 9:00am CT today, the "first 500 fans to claim the tickets on www.timberwolves.com/kg will receive a pair of tickets." The tickets are available "only through this link" (STARTRIBUNE.com, 3/1). Meanwhile, in Boston, Gary Washburn wrote the T'Wolves "needed Garnett." They "needed fan support" and they "needed to invigorate a region that has mostly considered the Timberwolves little more than a youthful team that will eventually lose a game." Their acquisition of Garnett just before the NBA trade deadline "was more for image and perception" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/1).
MEET THE METS: In N.Y., Tim Rohan writes Spring Training "is the only time of the year when the Mets’ production arm and SNY ... have extended access to players, so SNY has been shooting the various player videos it plans to sprinkle through its six-month run of regular-season games." The Mets "have also been shooting everything they plan to show on the Citi Field video scoreboard," including PSAs and short player features. The visitors’ clubhouse "has been transformed into a studio." The Mets "have three video stations there, and SNY has one." The Mets' videos "seem to carry more importance this year because Citi Field will have a new center-field video board 62 percent larger than the one it is replacing." The Mets "want to impress their fans, and they think more, and better, videos will help" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/2).
SENS-ING SOMETHING: In Hartford, E.J. Devokaitis in an op-ed wrote the city "needs a high-profile, solid baseball team name" for the planned relocation of the Double-A Eastern League New Britain Rock Cats, "one with an old-school feel yet a regal connotation that conjures up tradition and historical significance." Devokaitis: "So, how about the Hartford Senators?" It is a tradition "passed on from those Senators who made Hartford proud during baseball's infancy (1902 to 1934)." The name Senators "sounds regal" and "has the resonance of a major league team." Since DC "scrapped the name" after that MLB team folded, it "feels like the time is now to use it again" (HARTFORD COURANT, 2/28).
