I bet Kevin Garnett feels a little nostalgic every time he faces the team he played with for 12 seasons: the Twolves. And today is one of those occasions, as the Celtics will be visiting Minnesota for Boston’s 13^th match of the season.

Back in February, Garnett was injured and could not play in front of many Twolves fans that came to pay him homage at Target Center, but this time, the 32 year-old power forward is set to play and I’m sure Minnesota fans will always have a good reception for him.

The Twolves picked Garnett from high school with their fifth overall pick at the 1995 NBA draft. When his journey in Minnesota had ended, Kevin Garnett had gathered more than nineteen thousand points and set more than twelve dozen franchise records.

Even current Minnesota players hold a great deal of respect for Garnett: ``the things he did here, how can you not love him? I watched him as a kid growing up in middle school and high school. The fans have every right to love him and respect him.'' forward Al Jefferson said.

Garnett never won a championship with the Timberwolves, but he led them to the 2004 Western Conference Finals. The it would come the trade to the Celtics for the 06,07 season when he was swapped for Jefferson, Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair and two draft picks.

But sadly for the Twolves, the two teams ended up going in completely different directions after the trade.

Proof of that is what happened last year, as Garnett came to Boston to team up with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen and won his first NBA championship, while the Timberwolves paired with the Grizzlies for the 3^rd worst record in the NBA.

Everything is served for tonight’s game, and I’m sure Twolves fans are happy this time either their team wins or losses.

At age 39 Mike Mussina said yes to retirement. Even though the brilliance is still there, a full MLB season is quite demanding, and Mussina is giving his family and other personal matters more importance at this stage of his life.

Mussina had a goal: 300 victories, but even though he did not make it, he wants to rest from baseball and be simply one more fan.

Mike Mussina spent the last 8 years of his career with the Yankees and previously played for the Baltimore Orioles from a period going from 1991 to 2000.

Mussina was drafted by the Orioles in 1987, but the young player decided to go to college instead of signing with the team, he went to Stanford University, where he played for the college team. He went on taking Stanford to two College World Series in the 3 years he spent there.

He played his first full year with the Orioles in 1992, and after a glorious career with the Baltimore team, Mussina went on to sign with the Yankees on a 6-year $88.5 million contract.

Mussina’s achievements include 5 calls to the All-Star team, 7 Gold Glove Awards, 7 nominations for the Cy Young Award, two MVP nominations and reached the World Series twice with the Yankees on 2001 and 2003.

His last season at the MLB was the only one when he could achieve 20 wins, and to retire after coming with such an important number is rare, in fact, it hadn’t happened in more than 100 years.

Mussina is also possibly going to make it to the Hall of Fame, even though there are some baseball critics whom say he does not deserve a space on it, while there are others who assure that his name is ready to be placed among the best players in baseball history.

The Dolphins are receiving the Patriots on Sunday for Week 12 and with both teams tied at 6-4, this is promising to be a defining game, and with a Jets loss to the undefeated Titans, Miami will almost secure a playoff spot at 7-4.

New York is leading the AFC East with a 7-3 record, following them are the Dolphins whom beat the Raiders last week; in the third spot are the Patriots whom were beating the Jets in overtime last week on one of the most impressive and attractive games of the whole season so far, and at the bottom, we find the Bills whom are still wondering why they moved from winning 4 straight to start a loosing streak that currently has them with a 5-5 record.

We still cannot say what is going to happen here, but there is something for sure: Buffalo will have a difficult time trying to win a wild card spot at least. There is something on their favor though; they will have poor rivals coming for their next games, as they will play the Chiefs on Week 12, and then the 49ers on Week 13.

The Jets are confident that Brett Favre will bring back the glorious years of the Joe Namath era, but hopefully accompanied of their first championship. And to come up with a victory against Tennessee is probably the hardest task for the team since Favre came to the team. Difficult? Yes, impossible, no.

Without Brady, the Patriots hasn’t suffered much after all, but this is the time for Matt Cassel to prove that he truly is a caliber quarterback, and the game against the Dolphins and Chad Pennington is more than a test, is a mission.

Pennington’s team is below his former one, the Jets, and Pennington is also a skilled quarterback who hadn’t had the chance to prove what he’s worth until now.

Overall, this division is the most interesting one currently at the NFL and Patriots at Dolphins is a game not to be missed.

The Mavs! Well it’s been nine years since they lost five straight games and about the same time since they lost playing at home against the Magic.

The Mavericks are holding a dominance over Orlando and surely they want things to stay the same, that is why the coming game between these two teams hold a great deal of importance for Dallas as they are looking to win their first game of season.

The Mavs have been one of the best teams in the NBA for nearly a decade, and this basically their worst 8-game start since the 98-99 season. Dallas splited losses and victories for the first four games and then went on to loose 4 straight, so if they lost this game against the Magic, it would be the first time to loose 5 games on a row since the 2000 season.

Maybe part of the problem for Dallas is that they do not play defense that much, instead, they are a very offensive squad but are aware of the need of some players to defend well.

On the other hand, the Magic have won five of their last six matches and resembles the team that finished with a 52-wins record last season. Proof of how well they are playing was the their match against the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that they beat easily by 109-92 with 30 points and 19 rebounds from Dwight Howard

Howard is a excellent player, and the Mavs know of his potential. He led the NBA with sixty nine double-doubles last season and is the current leader in rebounds in the league averaging 15.0 per game. Of course the NBA star will try to come up with the same or better numbers this season, and the game against Dallas is proving to be an excellent test for him.

Greg Oden made a great comeback with the Trailblazers last night as he helped his team to defeat Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat by 104-96 at the American Airlines Arena.

And surely a $5 million dollar contract is forcing Oden to play as best as he can.

Oden missed most of last season due to a sprained foot, and had missed the six games this one as he got hurt again on the Blazers opening loss to the Lakers, but the 2007 No. 1 overall NBA draft pick seems ready to prove that is a valuable asset for the team and the league in general. Oden just played 16 minutes and finished with three points and 2 rebounds, while teammate Brandon Roy ended with 22 and rookie Rudy Fernandez of Spain with 25 for Portland’s fifth victory of the current season. Oden did not scored on the game against Los Angeles but finished with five rebounds in 13 minutes.

On the other side of the fence, Wade ended the game with 36 points (this meant the fourth straight game where he scores 30 or more points), six rebounds and eight assists for the Heat, while 2008 NBA draft second overall pick Michael Beasley finished with 11 points, same as Daequan Cook.

With nine minutes on the clock at the fourth, the score was tied at 79, but a couple of three pointers open an 11-2 run and the Trailblazers got ahead for good.

This match meant the first loss for Miami in four home games.

The Blazers will probably not give Greg Oden a full time game just yet, they want to work the 19 year old center into their rotation cautiously, but chances are that he will be in shape real soon and most likely will become a basic piece on Portland’s strategic plans, that is… if he can stay injury-free

Now is time to talk about one of the most interesting games of Week 10: Buffalo at New England.

Rookie BenJarvus Green-Ellis has scored a touchdown for four straight games for the Patriots, including one on the second half against the Bills that gave his team a 20-10 valuable victory on the tight run at the AFC East, where New England and the NY Jets are leading with a 6-3 record, while the Dolphins and the Bills are sharing third and fourth places respectively with a 5-4 record.

Funny thing is that the Bills were 4-0 before falling for the first time this season, while the Patriots have struggled to climb to the top of their division, and as for what we can currently see, any of these teams can steal that place at any time.

And as Buffalo has lost 3 straight, they know their game play has gone down the hill. Certainly Trent Edwards is not supporting his team the same way and what we can see on the football field these days is just a confused signal-caller.

And I am sure the Patriots are looking to come up with their 6^th straight division title, and certainly Matt Cassel is making things work. He’s a better quarterback, that’s a fact and is proving that he doesn’t want to be just a shadow behind Tom Brady.

This is really a different middle season for New England, as last season they had just one thing on their minds, and that was the question about whether or not they would remain undefeated, this year they had been put as underdogs in a few games and questions on the Patriots locker room are surely much different.

Another excellent game featuring 2 teams of the AFC East will come on Week 11, when the Patriots receive the Jets at Gillette Stadium on Thursday, while Monday Night Football will see the Browns visiting Ralph Wilson Stadium to play against the Bills.

San Antonio is a great team, there is no a doubt on that, but they have certainly began this season with the left foot and are now 1-3 with their lone victory coming on Wednesday night to the Timberwolves by 129-125. The game ended with two overtimes. If the Spurs had lost this game, it would be the first time since 1973 (when still playing at the ABA) to start the season 0-4.

Tony Parker finished with a career-high 55 points, and this is the highest scoring output by a rival in the Twolves history, the second is Shaquille O’Neal whom came out with 53 points back in 1994. Parker also helped the Spurs with 10 assists, and became the second player – the other being Michael Jordan—to finish with that number of points and assists on the same game in NBA history.

Tim Duncan finished the game with 18 points and praised Parker’s efforts, “Just an unbelievable effort, especially with the minutes he’s played to continue to push like that.” He said.

Minnesota had a 9-point lead three times in the game but lost the edge late in the third quarter.

The Spurs are struggling this season without the services of Manu Ginobili, who will be without a San Antonio uniform for the first two months of the regular season as he went through surgery to repair his ankle. Ginobili led the Spurs in scoring last year with an average of 19 points per game.

So, if San Antonio lost such a great asset for the team, other players are forced to come up and raise up their level to a peak performance, which coach Gregg Popovich hopes to become a standard for the rest of the season, and for what we could see of Parker on Wednesday, I think he’s the first to get the idea.

When the Dodgers saw how Manny Ramirez leaded them to their best run at the MLB in a few years, they knew they had to come up with a good deal in order to keep him on the team.

And yesterday, the Dodgers made an initial offer of – it’s being said -- two years for $55 million to Ramirez. The offer was extended to Scott Boras, Manny’s agent.

Boras got Manny the four-year $160 million dollar contract he had with the Red Sox, and he will surely wait until more offers are put on the table before he and Ramirez to conclude what is the best future for experienced left fielder.

Our job is patience, but our job is also looking at other players to see how we can improve the club."

Manny Ramirez will be a free-agent officially on November 14, so before such date no team can put on the table any monetary figures, there can be discussions but nothing beyond that, so for the moment, the Dodgers have the edge.

The Dodgers currently have 12 free agents, and talks have come around Casey Blake and Rafael Furcal, their respective agents have advised both players to wait until the exclusivity period to be over so the real talks can begin.

Manny Ramirez came to the Dodgers after a last-minute, non-waiver trade back on July 31, and had an immediate impact both on his teammates and fans alike. He brought a winning spirit with him that was needed in the Los Angeles team. His Dodgers t-shirt and dreadlock wigs immediately started to sell in a good number, which means that Manny is not just a valuable asset for the Dodgers in terms of baseball results but also as a marketing figure

The Dodgers made it to the NL Championship series with Ramirez on the team, but were eliminated by the Phillies. If Los Angeles manages to keep Manny Ramirez on the team, they know he can have a bigger impact playing a full season for them, and the fight for his contract won’t go easy.

In one of the best games of the season, the Patriots visited the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium for the first time, and they came out from Minneapolis carrying one more defeat that is leaving them closer to the Jets and Bills at the AFC East, as the three teams are 5-3.

The game ended 18-15 favoring the Colts, whom are now 4-4 and second at the AFC south just after the undefeated Titans.

The game meant the 69^th regular season meeting between both teams, with the Patriots leading in victories with 42 to 27. Payton Manning is now 5-9 to the Pats since 1998, but has now won 3 of their last four meetings.

New England lost this match, but there is some good news: they have found a quarterback on Matt Cassel, who has now started 8 regular season games and has leaded the Patriots to a 5-3 record with his team leading the division.

Cassel hadn’t start a regular season game before Tom Brady got injured, in fact, he hadn’t start a game since his high school years, and seeing the kind of skilled quarterback he is becoming is just remarkable.

The way Cassel is handling the chance he’s given by the brady-less Patriots is much different than what Brad Johnson had done with the Cowboys as the 40 year-old veteran hasn’t delivered much football when he’d been asked to replace Tony Romo.

On week 10 we will see the Patriots facing the Bills on a game that can truly dictate which the commanding team of their division is. Both teams lost their week 9 scheduled matches as the Buffalo fell to the Jets 26-17.

Losers on one side, Colts at Steelers on the other as Indianapolis will face Pittsburgh, which is the team with the top defense on the league, so Payton Manning should raise his level to the one we all are used to see in order to help his team to improve their record, and he has enough talent to do it, after all he’s one of the Manning clan.