Todd Swank: Watching the Wolves Beat the Odds Again

Watching the Wolves Beat the Odds Again

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for April 27, 2025

On Tuesday, we had a crew from Arbor Barber come out to take down three of our backyard trees before Mother Nature got any more funny ideas. After already having two trees crash down and turn our property into a demolition derby, we figured it was time to stop rolling the dice. It wasn’t easy pulling the trigger—mainly because tree removal costs roughly the same as sending a kid to college—but these guys crushed it. They navigated around the hot tub, gazebo, fences, and everything else we like to pretend makes our yard "nice," and somehow didn't wreck a thing. Professional, hardworking, and they cleaned up so well it looked like the trees just packed up and left on their own.

It’s crazy how much debris three trees can leave behind. They look so beautiful when they’re standing tall — but once they hit the ground, it’s a whole different story. Miss Sheri’s the real winner here, though. This fall, there’s going to be a lot fewer leaves trying to stage a hostile takeover of our yard.

Thursday night we hit up the Vikings NFL Draft Party at US Bank Stadium — because if there's one thing Minnesota fans know how to do, it's celebrate like champions even when we're very much not. They promised players, prizes, and plenty of chances to pretend this is the year it all turns around. And you know what? For a few hours, it actually felt like it might. That's the real magic of purple Kool-Aid season and I love to keep drinking it up!

Luke and Avery joined us for the party, and we jumped into the chaos immediately. Everywhere you turned, there were Vikings legends, sports anchors shouting over each other, and the draft broadcast blaring from every speaker like a giant purple tornado. It was loud, a little overwhelming, and exactly the kind of mess we love getting swept up in.

One of our favorite parts of these events is grabbing quick photos with the players. Even though we’re just blips in their night, they’re always incredibly nice about it. We got to meet Harrison Phillips, who’s been a beast on the D-line and even better off the field with his charity work, and Josh Metellus, one of the breakout stars of the defense last year. Absolute class acts, both of them.

Another highlight was meeting Brian Asamoah, who couldn’t have been nicer. He shook each of our hands, asked our names, and made us feel like we weren’t just the next faces in line—which, given he probably met a few hundred people that night, is seriously impressive. That being said, if I ever bump into him again, he better remember my name... or at least pretend really convincingly.

When we walked up to Vikings legend Pat Williams, I’ll be honest — he looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. And honestly, when you're a three-time Pro Bowler, one of the anchors of the legendary "Williams Wall," and spent years terrorizing NFL offenses, you’ve earned the right to be a little grumpy at a draft party. He was still kind enough to sign a poster I set down on the table, even though I wasn’t intending for him to sign it — it still had the plastic wrap on it, so now I basically own a piece of garbage with Pat Williams' signature on it. Still totally worth it to grab this photo!

I’ll admit, sometimes at these events I’m just shaking hands and smiling without a clue who we’re meeting. Blake Cashman? No problem — absolute stud last season, leading the Vikings with 112 tackles and 4.5 sacks. Levi Drake Rodriguez? I’ll be honest, I had never heard of him — turns out he’s a young defensive tackle drafted in the 7th round in 2024. Which makes sense, because if you're a defensive tackle trying to make the roster, you’re basically invisible until you start pancaking quarterbacks in real time. But with a cowboy hat like that, you just assume greatness and move along before he uses you as a tackling dummy.

Friday night, Miss Sheri and I made our way to Target Center to watch the Minnesota Timberwolves take on the Lakers in Game 3. The place was absolutely packed and buzzing like a beehive someone just whacked with a stick. We were fired up to be there, cheering our Wolves and hoping to witness a little history — and judging by the energy in the building, we weren’t the only ones thinking something special might be brewing.

Going into Game 3, the national media wasn’t exactly subtle about it — LeBron James (widely anointed the GOAT) and the Lakers were supposed to roll the Timberwolves. The experts said Minnesota wouldn’t have an answer for the Lakers' playoff experience, or for LeBron flipping the “Playoff Mode” switch. But somebody forgot to tell the Wolves. After shocking everyone by stealing Game 1 in Los Angeles, Minnesota had already made it clear: this wasn’t going to be the script the rest of the country had already written.

As if LeBron wasn’t enough, we also had Luka Doncic to deal with — the same guy who crushed the Wolves’ playoff run last year and somehow ended up on the Lakers with a whole lot of drama attached. Wolves fans hadn’t forgotten. Beating the Lakers would be sweet. Beating Luka would be even sweeter.

We couldn’t be prouder of how the Timberwolves have stepped up this season — especially Anthony Edwards. After making his first All-NBA team and earning serious MVP chatter, Ant has looked every bit like the future of the league. When the Wolves traded away Karl-Anthony Towns, we were nervous. But this team didn’t just survive — they got better. Over the past couple of months, they've played some of the best, grittiest basketball we’ve ever seen, and it's been an absolute blast to witness. Watching Anthony Edwards put this team on his back has been everything we hoped for — and honestly, way more fun than we dared to dream.

Right before tipoff, I had one of those "what are the odds?" moments when Pete Baillos sat down literally right in front of me. Pete and I grew up a few houses apart back in Mason City, Iowa — went to elementary school, middle school, and part of high school together — and I hadn’t seen him in probably 40 years. It was awesome to reconnect, even if we didn’t have a ton of time to dive into four decades of life updates between commercial breaks. Turns out, reminiscing about your childhood during playoff basketball is harder than it looks.

The Timberwolves didn’t just beat the Lakers in Game 3 — they outmuscled, out-hustled, and out-dreamed them. Jaden McDaniels turned into prime Jordan with a career playoff-high 30 points while playing defense like a guy who didn’t get the memo he was supposed to be tired. Anthony Edwards did Anthony Edwards things — 29 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and just enough swagger to rattle an entire city. LeBron went nuclear for a stretch ("shooting from Yucatan," as Ant put it), but even the GOAT couldn’t save them when it mattered. Meanwhile, Luka Doncic looked like he needed a nap and a Gatorade. Final score: Wolves 116, Lakers 104. Series lead: ours. Target Center: absolute bedlam. Wolves fans: starting to believe this might actually be our year.

The fish are spawning in the outlet between Spring Lake and Prior Lake just down the street from our house, which means one thing — it’s basically all-you-can-eat buffet season for the birds of prey. We’ve been spotting eagles everywhere lately, and let’s be honest — nothing gets us more fired up than watching bald eagles flex on everyone like they own the place. Which, let’s face it, they pretty much do.

This one is a little different — a juvenile bald eagle! We don’t spot these younger ones nearly as often as the adults, but every once in a while, one pops up trying to figure out how to be the next king of the neighborhood. Watching them grow up alongside the full-blown legends just makes it even cooler to be out here right now. Spring’s got the fish jumping, the birds showing off, and a world that feels wide open again — a pretty good reminder that it’s a great time to be alive.

@toddswank I survived the meteor—so now I hang with a moose and a bear. AI video creators, this is your sign to experiment. #klingai #aivideo #nextgencontent ♬ On Top Of The World - Imagine Dragons

@toddswank BREAKING: Man narrowly escapes volcano eruption caught on camera. Not real—but wow. This was made with the free version of Runway ML’s AI image-to-video tool. I’m seriously impressed. #runwayml #aivideo #genai #volcano #aiexplosion #futureofcontent #tiktokai #visualeffects #cinematicai #madebyai ♬ Adventurer - Lux-Inspira