Larry and the Mayor at the Canadian Honker

Tomorrow's the big day.

The 2005 NBA Draft.

After tomorrow, or maybe the next day, I will stop talking about basketball until October. I promise. But tomorrow... tomorrow I will come home from work and hunker in front of the soon-to-be-transported-to-the-new-apartment TV, with Kettle Crisps perhaps, and I will compare my intricately fashioned mock draft to the actual players drafted. I will shamelessly root for my favorite team (the Timberwolves) and my 2nd and 3rd favorites (Lakers and Clippers) to not draft those long-named Europeans and choose instead a gritty American kid with 2 years of college. I can say this because I was born a (short-named) Euro. I will chart the number of times Hubie Brown says "upside" - that is, if Hubie is on the crew this year now that he's gone bigtime with ABC. I will continue to wonder what anyone sees in Charles Barkley as a television personality (as a player he was good - a poor man's Maurice Lucas, a rich man's Caldwell Jones). The next day, I will, as I do every year, feverishly read Bill Simmons' Draft Diary, as well as his timeless draft archives. I will forecast the Timberwolves 2005-06 roster, predicting playing time and stats. In my predictions, I'll assume Fred Hoiberg's heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic goes well. And am I the only NBA fan who wonders if some day this week Fred and Pistons coach Larry Brown (soon to be at the Mayo Clinic for some tests on his bionic bladder) will hang out while they're both in Rochester? My bet is they'll be having lunch at the Canadian Honker on Thursday. Or maybe it'll be lattes and bear claws at Daube's.