Dear Times Readers:
The following article contains a three-letter word starting with A that is considered vulgar. We would avoid the term, but it doesn’t seem possible. My sincerest apologies in advance.
Okay, take a deep breath:
“Bring your ass.”
On the final day, basketball fans and the people of Minneapolis-St. The Paul area in general has been saying it. That includes the city’s basketball star, who inaugurated it, the local tourism board and many fans happy for a great victory.
It all started with victory: in a do-or-die Game 7, the Minnesota Timberwolves rallied from 20 points down to defeat the defending champion Denver Nuggets, 98-90.
Afterwards, the star of the winning team, Anthony Edwards, was interviewed by television commentator and former NBA great Charles Barkley.
“I haven’t been to Minnesota in about 20 years,” Barkley said. Edwards interrupted him: “Bring your…” and so on.
The offhand comment, with a more informal pronunciation and spelling of “you,” suddenly became a meme and then something else.
Minnesotans began asking Gov. Tim Walz to make it the state’s tourism motto. He responded on social media with the eyes emoji, seemingly implying his willingness to look at the idea.
I doubt? Well, the state tourism board, with or without the governor’s approval, went ahead and posted the phrase in large letters on its home page, although it demurely translated the offending word as A**.
Photoshop virtuosos got to work adding the phrase to the state seal and several area landmarks. Fans suggested the phrase was the epitome of memorable Minnesota sports sayings, although there was still strong support for a 2005 statement by the Vikings’ Randy Moss, who, when asked how he would pay a $10,000 fine, responded: ” cash, buddy.”
On the postgame broadcast, Barkley had asked Edwards for a list of good restaurants, and some Minnesotans began recommending places people could take their hindquarters to for the Western Conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks that they began Wednesday in Minneapolis.
Few seem to be wringing their hands at the proliferation of this three-letter word.
Minnesota sports fans may have other things on their minds. The region could use a winner. Since coming to town in 1989, the Timberwolves have only reached the conference finals once, losing it to the Los Angeles Lakers in a heartbreaking Game 6.
Baseball’s Twins last won it all in 1991. Football’s Vikings never won a Super Bowl, and hockey’s Wild and their predecessors, the North Stars, never won a Stanley Cup. The WNBA Lynx have been the leading trophy winners of late, claiming four titles in the 2010s.
Minneapolis-St. Paul is not the first region to adopt a silly slogan or bother grammar scolds. New Orleans Saints fans like to say “Who is this?” The 1973 Mets celebrated an improbable run with the inspiring motto “You Gotta Believe” (they lost in the World Series). The 2008 Phillies asked “Why can’t we?” (they won).
The state of Mississippi took a sarcastic insult toward its hometown of Starkville and ran with it, dubbing the city “Stark Vegas.”
With athletes, municipal leaders and, for all we know, maybe ministers and even English teachers proclaiming Minnesota’s new motto throughout the Twin Cities, another blow has been dealt against the Blue Sox’s efforts to regulate public discourse. and purge the language of obscene words. .
Before you accuse Edwards, born and raised in Atlanta, of being a mercenary devoted to the Twin Cities because he gets paid there, consider his words to Vanity Fair earlier this year.
New York and Los Angeles are “great,” he said. “But they’re no better than Minnesota.”
Keynote USA
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