The good news just keeps on coming for the Austin Toros.
As of today, Feb. 6, coach Quin Snyder’s team is still in first place in the Southwest Division, three-and-a-half games ahead of the Tulsa 66ers. Their 18-10 record is also good for second place in the D-League, behind the 22-5 Idaho Stampede, who have yet to lose a game at home all season and whose players, I hear, are all hopped up on Human Growth Hormones and Indonesian lemon-grass tea, a combination any sports fan knows leads to enormous calf muscles and an inability to feel mercy.
And this week the announcement came down that two Toros have been selected to play in the D-League All-Star game. Spurs assignee Ian Mahinmi, with his 18 points and eight rebounds, will join sharp-shooting guard Keith Langford in New Orleans on Feb. 16 to play for honorary captain (and undisputed granny-shot champion of the world) Rick Barry’s Blue Team against Lenny Wilkens’ Red Team. Tip-off is at 2pm Central Time; the game will be shown on NBA TV.
On that note, I don’t have a TV, so if anyone out there is willing to let me come over and watch the game at their house, I will repay them by mentioning their name in this column as many times as is reasonable until the Toros’ season is over. I can’t guarantee that I’ll always write good things about them, but their name will be mentioned.
This article appears in February 1 • 2008.