So just when the Timberwolves are getting interesting again, Al Jefferson blows out his knee and is sentenced for the rest of the season to the Terrell Brandon Memorial Whirlpool.

If you're surprised by this, you're surprised by gravity.

Cubs fans love to whine about their cursed franchise. You want cursed? Slip on your game-unused Paul Grant jersey and your orthopedic Micheal Williams slippers, conceal your autographed Isiah Rider crack pipe in Christian Laettner's previously unopened Dale Carnegie "How to Win Friends" book, and let's get real about which franchise is more cursed.

The Cubs saw a black cat; the Wolves evoke memories of the Black Plague. Every dumb mistake they've made has been compounded by sheer bad luck.

You want whine about being cursed?

Whine about landing the third pick in the 1992 draft -- two after the Orlando Magic chose Shaquille O'Neal and one after the Miami Heat took Alonzo Mourning. The Wolves' consolation prize? Laettner was available. Still is.

Associated Press, Star Tribune
Mike Miller defended against the Raptors’ Andrea Bargnani on Tuesday night. The Wolves lost 110-102 in their first game since losing Al Jefferson for the season because of a knee injury.

Whine about watching Williams and Brandon proving there was a Bermuda Triangle for Wolves point guards, both of them getting hurt just when they started to look useful. Maybe it should be renamed "The Bemidji Triangle."

Whine about Kevin McHale making a logical trade -- Ray Allen for Stephon Marbury -- only to have it backfire because Marbury, a kid who grew up in the howling winds and crushing poverty of Coney Island, decided Minnesota couldn't make him warm or rich enough.

Whine about having two key players -- Corey Brewer and Jefferson -- suffer season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligaments in the same season.

Whine about the Wolves losing a draft coin flip to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers landed the first pick in the draft and emerging center Greg Oden. The Wolves landed the seventh pick and Brewer.

Whine about respected NBA operators such as Trader Jack McCloskey and Jimmy Rodgers waiting until they arrived in Minnesota to be exposed as frauds.

You can even whine about the origins of the franchise. When Harv & Marv decided they wanted to buy an NBA franchise, they had a chance at the Utah Jazz, which was breaking in a couple of youngsters named Stockton and Malone. Harv & Marv decided it would be better to start fresh, with their own players. Like Gerald Glass.

If you want to be morbid, you can even whine about Malik Sealy, a solid player and close friend of Kevin Garnett's, getting killed by a drunken driver. Or Fred Hoiberg seeing his career end because of a heart condition.

A lot of people shrug and say, "Stuff happens." The bumper sticker on the Wolves' team bus reads, "Stuff happens -- to us!"

Remember, it's not paranoia if someone is really out to get you, and the Wolves seem to have made an enemy of the Great Luxury Suite Owner In the Sky.

"I don't know, man," McHale said when asked about a curse. "That's in a spiritual realm above me. I try to stay in my spiritual realm, which is praying."

McHale thought losing Brewer and Jefferson and said, "I have never seen a team have two ACLs in one year. Two guys in your top five, six, guys. You go, 'Wow.'"

"Ow" might be more like it.

"I don't know, things happen for a reason," McHale said. "I just believe that. I'm not sure what the reason is. It's not my job to make sense of it."

That would be the purview of the Wolves' Vice President of Karma, a position that remains, tragically, unfilled.

Tuesday night, in their first game without Jefferson, the Wolves lost 110-102 to a lousy Raptors team, leaving the few spectators with the same sentiments often expressed after a car wreck:

At least nobody got hurt.

Jim Souhan can be heard Sundays from 10 a.m.-noon on AM-1500 KSTP.