C.J.: How's that? The Lynx fit Sid to a T

Sid Hartman just stood there Friday, in a manner of speaking, during his Lynx T-shirt fitting.

Lynx fans never thought they'd see the day when the Star Tribune sports columnist, and reluctant supporter of Minnesotan's only winning major league franchise, would be seen wearing team gear. Well, that day hasn't come yet, but thanks to the hijinks of mostly Timberwolves staffers, Hartman's statue outside the Target Center got dressed for Game 3 of the Lynx's WNBA Championship run. It will end tonight in Atlanta if Lynx fans get their Dream.

What's that you say about how a T-shirt could never be fitted over the microphone Sid's statue is holding?

Jeff Munneke, Lynx and Timberwolves veep of client development and community youth basketball, had the answer to that little mic problem in his pocket. What you won't be able to tell from my startibune.com/video is that Munneke ripped an opening using a key.

As for Munneke's supporting cast during the statue fitting: "Many of the Lynx staff went down [to] Atlanta, so it was more Wolves crew, but we all sell and market both. About once every couple weeks, we have some fun with statueSid.

"I've got, I think, 46 photos with statueSid, including two with him interviewing himself," Munneke said. "[The photos are] on my Facebook, my Twitter page. We do some crazy caption from something that Sid will say to us or a media member. I have a catalogue. This is the first time he's donned a Lynx shirt."

A few weeks ago I called somebody at the Lynx and asked to borrow a jersey and cap to put on the Sid statue. Curiously, nobody returned my call.

Bill Lester, executive director of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, observed all the action taking place around the statue.

"Priceless," said Lester. "Sid in a Lynx jersey. This is rarer than Halley's Comet."

Something about as rare at Halley's Comet occurred during Game 2 of the championship series.

Quoting the Twitter.com account of @minnesotalynx: "Never thought we'd see the day. Sid Hartman appearing at his 1st Lynx game." The Lynx tweeted a photo of Hartman in the crowd.

@jrwald7 tweeted "Hell just got very cold! Sid Hartman appearing at his 1st Lynx game." @stephenlitel tweeted "The world is ending."

"Let me say this," he said. "In all the years I've been watching sports, I've never seen a crowd react like they do. Screaming. Waving that whatchacallit. Going back to the Timberwolves [conference] finals when they played the Lakers, there was nothing like that. I'm just saying these people never stop cheering. Never stop standing up. The reaction of the fans was the greatest I've ever seen.

"This reminds me, to a degree, of when that Brenda Frese coached the Gopher women. They had fantastic [fan] reaction but nothing to this extent."

And what about the wicked skills of guard and forward Seimone Augustus? Everybody else can be stone cold. Augustus calmly puts the team on her back and takes it the hoop or starts to drop in jumpers!

"She's a great player," Sid said of Augustus. "She's a great player, but without Lindsay Whalen they'd be in trouble. If you don't have a good point guard, you don't win."

"I'll be back [at Target Center] when they play that next game," said Sid.

The Lynx aren't going to finish off this Dream in Atlanta?

"I think they'll have a hard time beating them. That 35 [Angel McCoughtry] is so good at home," said Sid.

Coach Cheryl Reeve: Please use the preceding paragraph at half time as bulletin board material, if necessary, tonight.

I asked Sid if he noticed that McCoughtry's false eyelashes seemed to cause her some distractions during Game 2.

He did not notice that or that it looked as though caterpillars had taken up residency on both McCoughtry's eyelids. I also noticed that refs seemed particularly preoccupied with protecting not only Angel's fluffy eyelashes, but every hair on her head and the air around her during Game 2. I expect better refereeing to ensue.