MINNEAPOLIS — If you are a Minnesota Timberwolves fan who thinks the 9:40 p.m. tipoff for Game 5 in Denver is late, imagine having to set your alarm for 4:40 a.m. watch the pivotal playoff game.
That's just one obstacle to being a Timberwolves fan in Italy, but it hasn't stopped a small, dedicated community of fans from growing there.
Most Minnesotans wouldn't understand a word of the La Tana Dei Lupi podcast, which translates to The Wolves Den in Italian, but the man who started it absolutely understands what it's like being a die-hard Minnesota sports fan.
"I feel like I am in a love relationship with this team and I have been cheated on so many times that I don't want to get my hopes too high," said Francesco Della Ferrera.
Francesco is an English teacher in Italy who has never been to Minnesota, let alone seen the Timberwolves play in person, but as a long time basketball fan who was looking for an NBA team to follow in 2009, he somehow landed on the Timberwolves.
"I saw the logo it was amazing and so I said, 'Alright, let's try following this team.'" Francesco said. "And then it turned out that that was the worst losing team in the history of the NBA. I didn't know that at the time."
Despite the team tying a franchise-worst record in the 2009-2010 season, Francesco kept running with his favorite team.
He decided to turn his passion into the first Italian-language, Timberwolves-focused podcast in 2020, and even though the team is much better, the initial comments he received were mixed.
"'Oh, you have a podcast about the Wolves? How strange,'" Francesco recalls. "I also heard, 'Hey, I'm a supporter myself, I thought I was the only one in Italy and here you are.'"
Within a couple of years, he heard from other passionate Wolves fans and the podcast grew into a full-fledged community. Other fans help run an Instagram page, YouTube Channel and even a Telegram community.
He says this season the community has steadily continued to grow. The Instagram page has more than 800 followers.
Francesco's favorite topic? Two words...
"Naz Reid," he said. "I know that he is a Minnesota favorite but I'm really happy that I've seen him grow into the player that he is today. He's 6th Man of the Year, so he's definitely one of my favorite players on the team right now."
And to all his fellow fans in Minnesota, who may be concerned about the last two playoff games and worried about what Game 5 might bring, Francesco's advice is to keep things in perspective.
"I think that unexpected is the adjective for this season, and it's really hard to remind ourselves to keep calm the season is not over," he said. "We can play a game against anyone in the NBA and still have some chances of winning, which is not a sentence that I have said about the Wolves a lot in general."
Despite being a fan for 15 years, Francesco has never seen his favorite team play in person, something he says he hopes to change in the seasons to come.
"The valley that I come from is very similar in terms of geography and climate to Minnesota, so I think that I would feel at home," he said. "So I know that I have to go there some day in the future."
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