My friend's Rubio/Flynn/Curry T-shirt went viral Tuesday night

In plain black, grey and white, it spells out the pain of the 2009 NBA draft for Timberwolves. The wearer is a friend of RandBall's (of course)

March 9, 2016 at 3:41PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

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.

about the writer

about the writer

Michael Rand

Columnist / Reporter

Michael Rand is the Star Tribune's Digital Sports Senior Writer and host/creator of the Daily Delivery podcast. In 25 years covering Minnesota sports at the Star Tribune, he has seen just about everything (except, of course, a Vikings Super Bowl).

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