When I saw my friend this past Friday — some of you might know him as "John Sharkman" on Twitter and Instagram — he was wearing a T-shirt that, the minute I saw it, I knew tons of people (including myself) would want.
In plain black, grey and white, it spells out the pain of the 2009 NBA draft for Timberwolves — and the gleeful lens from which Golden State fans view that draft, when Minnesota took Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn right before the Warriors took Stephen Curry. I took a picture of him and posted it on social media (the same picture that's attached to this post). It caused a minor Internet brush fire, even though it was posted out of context late on a Friday.
As it turns out, the real blaze would come Tuesday.
Sharkman wore the T-shirt again, this time to the Wolves/Spurs game at Target Center. I wasn't there, though I saw him afterward. By then, the shirt had essentially gone viral. Colleague Jim Souhan had tweeted a picture of it from the game. Bleacher Report had picked up on it.
And away it went.
Sharkman says he got the shirt from a limited edition run from a Bay Area vendor. Something tells me there might be a few more printing sessions in the future.
The Wolves host the Warriors on March 21, by the way.
