Lynx are honored with a parade in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS — There were the diehard fans who have been with the Minnesota Lynx from the beginning. There were bandwagon jumpers who rode along with the wave of success the team had this season.

There were groups of schoolchildren, and other kids who perhaps called in sick to school with Lynx fever. There were businessmen and women in suits who came outside during their lunch breaks to watch the festivities and take pictures.

In all, an estimated 15,000 people were on hand Tuesday to witness the victory parade for the WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx downtown Minneapolis. It's the first professional title in the state of Minnesota since the Twins won the World Series in 1991, and fans finally caught another glimpse of a championship parade.

"It's unbelievable. Overwhelming, really," Lynx guard and Minnesota native Lindsay Whalen said of the fan support. "But I knew that would be the case. Minnesota fans are great fans. Every time there's a successful team, there's just an outpouring of support. We are just happy to have won and happy to have given the young girls and boys role models to look up to."

Of any of the current Lynx players, perhaps no player embodies the title of role model quite like Whalen. A star at the University of Minnesota earlier this decade, Whalen joined the Lynx before last season. This year, she was a big part of Minnesota's success as the Lynx finished with a 27-7 regular-season record and rolled through the playoffs to claim their first WNBA title.

Before the parade began down Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, Whalen took time to sign autographs for fans. As Whalen signed one woman's T-shirt, the fan told Whalen that her daughter started playing basketball after watching Whalen play.

"I saw so many (young girls) out there today. It makes you really think of giving them, us as role models, that they can achieve things, whether it's sports or school or art, music, whatever kids want to go into," Whalen said. "Just to give them that role model that they could one day achieve these kind of things, just to have that is really cool. It makes it that much more special. I think we all really take pride in that."

Whalen's teammate Seimone Augustus, the WNBA Finals MVP, joined Whalen in the final car of the parade. During the Finals, Augustus averaged 24.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists in Minnesota's three-game sweep of the Atlanta Dream. Many of the thousands of fans watching the parade chanted "MVP! MVP!" as the car carrying Augustus, Whalen and the championship trophy drove by.

Augustus has spent her entire six-year WNBA career with the Lynx. Since joining the league in 2006, Augustus had yet to be part of a winning team before this season. Having been through the lean years made this championship even sweeter for Augustus.

"It means a lot to me, just the way that we won it, the players that I was able to win it with," Augustus said of the team's title. "Being with the organization that we've been through everything together, it makes it the icing on the cake, the cherry on top."

The parade started at the corner of 12th Street and Nicollet Avenue, traveled down Nicollet Mall for several blocks and then turned toward Target Center, the home court of the Lynx. Fans lined up plenty early to get their spot on the parade route.

That included Rex Anderson of Minneapolis, who said he has been following the Lynx since the beginning, through thick and thin.

"I'm a basketball fan, so ergo I've been a fan from day one," Anderson said. "I've always watched them and I've been to games, practically one every year. It was frustrating watching them lose all the time, so, obviously, a winning season makes me even more of a fan."

Marlee MacLeod was also stationed near the beginning of the parade route. Unlike Anderson, MacLeod said she just recently caught the Lynx fever — thanks largely to one particular player.

"I've never liked any kind of basketball before this summer," MacLeod said. "I was told that the games were fun, but it wasn't until I heard Candice Wiggins interviewed on the radio. She made such an impression on me as a person and how she talked about the game that I thought, 'I want to see those people play.' "

MacLeod, who sported her Wiggins No. 11 T-shirt on Tuesday, began attending Lynx games in early September and was at Target Center for every playoff game.

"It was wonderful," MacLeod said. "It's a winning team that plays as a team and is really humble about success, which is a breath of fresh air."

The festivities continued after the parade, as the Lynx and several thousand fans moved into Target Center for a rally. There, each player was introduced individually, along with the coaching staff. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, who is currently in France, proclaimed in a video message that October is "Lynx Month" in Minneapolis. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton also proclaimed Tuesday "Minnesota Lynx Day" statewide.

For a state starved of success in the sports world, Minnesota seems to have fully embraced the champion Lynx.

"It was like a joy ride. So much love," Wiggins said of the parade. "I was making eye contact with so many people, and I could just feel their positive energy and their spirit. It was an amazing day for the young girls in this community and the city that they can see, 'You guys can be just like us.' "

Added Augustus: "Just to see the fan support out there on a Tuesday when they're expected to be at work and kids to be at school is just amazing to see. You could try to imagine it, but never like that. I really didn't expect it to be that big of a crowd, but the fan support has been growing throughout the season and it's just getting bigger and bigger. Everybody's falling in love with the Lynx, so that's a great thing."