The Minnesota Lynx won the 2011 WNBA championship today, after defeating the Atlanta Dream, 73-67, for a three-game sweep in the finals. They were feted by a parade in downtown Minneapolis this afternoon: 15,000 fans came out to Nicollet Mall, and 4,500 more joined the team at the Target Center. All of the details, peppered with the usual sad twinge that comes with WNBA reporting, from the Star-Tribune:
The Lynx don't draw the attention the Vikings, Twins or Gophers get, but that didn't matter on this day. This was a championship parade, the kind of community pride Minnesota sports fans have been craving.
[...]
Workers on lunch break Tuesday streamed out of the skyscrapers in their suits, grinning at the unexpected entertainment as the players, coaches and staff went by. People lined up about five deep at the points where the car carrying Augustus and Whalen passed. Confetti was poured down from some of the rooftops.
Students who got out of school hammed it up, enjoying their freedom. Long-time fans - of a team that didn't win a playoff series from the franchise's start in 1999 until this year - cheered in green and white T-shirts.
And finally:
"They were just so solid. Every player contributed," said one fan, A.C. Flynn, who joined the celebration with Amy Jones.
Congratulations to the Lynx, who had never won a playoff game before this year, and to their very dedicated fan base: Solid all around. We hope this one lady got her autograph without throwing out a hip.
Lynx parade draws 15,000 to streets, 4,500 to Target Center [Star-Tribune]
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