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Timberwolves forward Kevin Love's 31-point, 31-rebound game and nightly double-doubles that his coach terms "ridiculous" already are becoming the stuff of legend. So much so that you might not know where to separate fact from fiction about a ball-grabbing fiend who has shortish arms and can't jump. Did a pack of wild dogs really steal him away when he was 2 and teach him everything he knows about rebounding?

Love talked recently with Star Tribune beat writer Jerry Zgoda about his craft. In his own words, he explains how, at such a young age, he has become the NBA's most proficient rebounder whose 30-30 feat last was achieved 29 years ago by Moses Malone.

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That one, the one about the wild dogs, isn't true.

The one about my dad taking me out to the court when I was 8 or 9 and telling me that painted area around the basket could become my football field is.

I was always the biggest kid when I was little. I was always a kid that everybody liked and got along with, but I'd always get picked on and teased because I was the big kid.

I wanted to play football. My parents didn't want me to because they thought I'd get hurt, and I remember I couldn't play quarterback anyway because there was a weight limit and I was always 15, 20, 30 pounds over it. So I said, "Dad, I want to be a linebacker then. I want to be able to go and just crush the quarterback. Let me go in there and take some of my anger out."

So he took me out to a court one day and said, "This is your football. You don't need any pads down here; there's no weight limit. So you can really take your anger out down there. This is going to be your football, and basketball is going to be what takes you places."

Hey, he was right.