“Everybody in Minnesota knows the photo,” Jefferson says, grinning. “Two superstars in the state of Minnesota; they were on the top of the league in basketball and football.”
He’s right, of course, except for one thing: People far beyond the Minnesota borders know the image.
Jon Krawczynski, now an esteemed senior writer for the Athletic, was a 21-year-old Minnesota sports buff and aspiring journalist when the Sport cover was released in March 2000.
“One of the things that made that image so special was that Kevin Garnett and Randy Moss were not just local heroes to all the sports fans in Minnesota and surrounding region, but they were hugely popular around the country,” Krawczynski recalled. “And so for an area of the country that often gets overlooked – you know, we get diminished all the time because it’s cold here; people in other parts of the country think we’re just some frozen outpost and there’s nothing cool here – that was one of the first time since Prince that, ‘Hey, Minnesota is cool.’ “
Krawczynski called Garnett and Moss state symbols, the latter coming off his third NFL season and third straight with more than 1,300 receiving yards and double-digit touchdowns. Garnett, the elder of the two by a year, already had five Timberwolves seasons under his belt and two of averaging a double-double per outing.
For the first time in forever, Krawczynski noted, Minnesota was at the forefront.
“I think it gave a lot of people around here incredible pride,” he said. “These guys were their people, and they were becoming stars and lifting everyone up on their shoulders.”
The original image was taken by the late photographer Tim Mantoani, who so perfectly captured not only youthful energy but also the essence – the fun – of winning.
But it was Garnett’s spontaneous suggestion that turned a rather standard, editorial photoshoot on its head that day:
“It was the perfect spin to take what would have been a cool photo and make it into an iconic photo,” Krawczynski said. “Because what K.G. did [with that idea], it actually made these superhuman athletes – that run faster, jump higher, are taller, are more athletic, are wealthier – like sports fans of each other.
“How many Minnesota sports fans had their own Moss jersey, had their own Garnett jersey, and wore them to games?” added Krawczynski, who in his own collection had a white 21 Wolves jersey and purple 84 Moss. “So now to see each one of them wearing the opposite jersey, that told us they weren’t just these amazing athletes, they weren’t just these superstar personalities but, really, they were also sports fans – and that made them just like us.”