Wolves And Chickens…

I am still in Dublin, but this will be the final communique from across the Atlantic for this visit.  We have brought five consecutive days of sunshine to the city; so I expect the Chamber of Commerce and/or the Tourist Bureau here to offer to host us on a regular basis once they find out the cause of this outbreak of blue-sky days.

The Minnesota Timberwolves and their current owner, Glen Taylor have drawn the ire of animal rights activists.

• During the play-in game between the Timberwolves and the Clippers, a protestor tried to glue herself to the court.  [Aside:  Yes, you read that correctly.]  During the administration of a free throw, the game had to be halted as a protester ran onto the floor and attempted to glue her wrists to the court.  Security guards grabbed the woman and got her off the court and the area was cleaned.
• When the Timberwolves made it to the next round of the playoffs against the Grizzlies, play was interrupted again when another protestor chained herself to the basket as an act of protest.  Security guards unchained the woman and five of them carried the woman out of the arena.  While she was chained to the basket, the woman threw animal rights leaflets on the floor and she wore a tee shirt that said, “Glen Taylor Roasts Animals Alive”.

Here is my best understanding of the situation.  Glen Taylor owns a farm that raises chickens in addition to owning the Timberwolves – – which he has just sold .  Evidently, there was an outbreak of avian flu at one of his farms and the group that is orchestrating these protests alleges that Taylor’s farm – – and therefore Taylor himself by extension – – killed 5 million chickens by shutting off the ventilation systems in their habitat.

Taylor will no longer own the Wolves after they finish playing this season.  The new owners will be a consortium led by Alex Rodriguez.  Reports say that the new owners paid $1.5B to buy the franchise – – so I suspect that Glen Taylor will be able to withstand the loss he incurred from having to dispose of those infected chickens.

Finally, let me close with this observation about chickens by Oscar Wilde:

“People who count their chickens before they are hatched act very wisely because chickens run about so absurdly that it is impossible to count them accurately.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………