Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Sports Talkers: Wolves Are So Freaking Back; Twins Acquire Gross/Powerful Rally Sausage
Man, how fun is it to be a Timberwolves fan right now? On Sunday the T-Wolves became the first-ever major Minnesota team to complete a 4-0 sweep in a best-of-seven series (calm down Lynx fans), having thumped the living hell out of the Phoenix Suns. It was the Wolves' first playoff series victory in 20 (!) years, back when KG reigned as MVP.
All aboard the 2024 bandwagon?
OK, your required reading is as follows: Britt Robson at MinnPost, who writes, "As someone who has covered the Wolves since the second season of their existence, I am qualified to state that the future has never been brighter"; and Jon Krawczynski at The Athletic, who writes, "Wherever you were, whatever you were wearing, whoever you were with, I hope you took a moment on Sunday night to soak it all in... For 20 years, the Timberwolves have been the butt of jokes across the league, and deservedly so." And here's the great/grouchy Patrick Ruesse, appearing in rare optimistic form on Michael Rand's Daily Delivery podcast. We're wishing Wolves coach Chris Finch, who suffered a freak ruptured patellar tendon during last night's 122-116 win, a speedy recovery—can't wait to see him out there for the Western Conference Semifinals.
Elsewhere in the world of sports: After starting slow, your 14-13 Minnesota Twins are on an absolute tear; they've won eight of their last nine games, including back-to-back shellings of the L.A. Angels over the weekend. The apparent catalyst? It's old. It's tubular. It's mystically powerful. It's probably smelly as shit. It's the team's Rally Sausage, and we'll let manager Rocco Baldelli explain WTF that means:
Where Da Late-Night Eats At?
It's a trend piece every food journo in town has considered: Why is it nearly impossible to score late-night food in this, the nation's 16th largest metropolitan region? So credit to the Strib's Louis Krauss for digging in (food term) to the issue today. If you're an Alpha News reader, here's where you trip over yourself to squeal "crime! crime! crime!!!" But that's reportedly just part of the story, especially since violent crime has been falling in Minneapolis for over a year. Krauss arrived at a multi-pronged conclusion: managers, workers, and industry boosters cite waning demand, evolving consumer expectations post-Covid, and, yes, public safety concerns.
"If your flight lands in Minneapolis and you're starving after checking into your hotel downtown at 3 a.m., you have zero options," says Sam Turner, owner of Nicollet Diner. "We're an option, but that's about the only one, and that's just very rare for a city of our size." Apparently 24-hour restaurants have declined nationwide by around 18% since pre-pandemic, per data from Yelp, though the Strib couldn't find hard, Twin Cities-specifics numbers. And here's the thing: We're using terms like "trend" and timeframes like "past several years" to discuss our graveyard shift restaurant desert... but has there ever been sufficient late-night dining 'round these parts? I'm a 36-year-old Minneapolis lifer, and I can't recall a time options really abounded—what say you, night owls who are older than even me?
Bike Museum Seeks HQ
The folks behind the the Cycling Museum of Minnesota call it a “museum in progress.” For over 15 years it has acquired one of North America's best bike collections, writes Bill Lendeke for MinnPost, though the museum has struggled to find a permanent home over the past 15+ years. Currently, it has nowhere to display its collection of over 100 bikes, spanning the locally made 1887 Victor High Wheel to the 1979 Mongoose BMX and beyond. CMM publicly launched at the 2012 State Fair, lost its building in Bloomington earlier this year, and now the nonprofit's organizers are actively seeking a new home. “It’s a rare opportunity to be able to acquire a ready-to-go museum,” reports museum board member Juston Anderson. “I just hope somebody realizes that, and we can pair together and get a great relationship worked out. If we could call a place home and have open hours, I think that would be just fantastic.” If you know of a public exhibit space, one with back offices and tons of room for bike storage, kindly hit up the folks at CMM.
Happy Homegrown!
Duluth's Homegrown Music Festival, the biggest week of music in northern Minnesota, kicked off Sunday evening. It's basically an eight-day live music takeover of the Twin Ports, akin to a totally DIY South by Southwest, and Perfect Day Duluth has a 2024 primer right here; the sprawling fest schedule, featuring 160+ performers, is available here. (If you'd like to support Racket's Twin Ports Dive Bar Correspondent, Kaylee Matuszak, she'll be rocking Earth Rider Brewery this Thursday at 9:15 p.m.) On a cool note, hometown heroes Trampled by Turtles are sponsoring a $5,000 grant to boost one lucky local music act. On a curious note, new Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert has reportedly declined to participate with Homegrown, bucking years of mayoral precedent. Area Redditors are displeased.
Asia Village Coming... Somewhere Soon?
Sorry folks, light on details here: An hour ago Keefer Court co-owners Michael Bui, Mai Bui, and Peter Do teased something called Asia Village—"our next and probably biggest project eva," Do writes on Facebook. Do's team is apparently partnering with the group behind Eden Prairie's wildly popular Asia Mall, and the renderings of the forthcoming Asia Village (posted below) look pretty exciting. Expect more crucial details—like where this thing will be, what it'll be, and when it'll open—at a press conference scheduled for Wednesday. "Let’s just say it’s in the North," Do adds on FB with a winky emoji.
