Today, I was walking through the Minneapolis Whole Foods, across from Lake Calhoun on Excelsior Blvd.  Suddenly, I came around the corner and noticed Lakers forward Ron Artest also shopping in the store.  This initially didn’t make any sense until I realized the Lakers are in Minneapolis to play the Timberwolves on Friday night.  I didn’t want to bother Artest on his off day on the road, but I did notice that he was wearing a Lakers stocking cap. The warm weather team from California must issue these hats to the players during cold weather trips.  This Lakers road swing has included stops in Milwaukee, Detroit and now Minneapolis. Since the teams stay in Downtown Minneapolis, it was interesting to see Artest 15 minutes outside of the downtown area.  Maybe he has friends in that neighborhood or maybe he’s really into healthy food. Who knows?  While most people either didn’t recognize him or just gave him his space, the checkout guy definitely knew who Artest was and made sure to say hello to him on the way out.  One take away from seeing Artest is once again realizing how big these guys really are.  Standing on the court, with the other giants, Artest’s height tends to blend in with everyone else.  But, away from the court, his 6-7 frame very much stands out among the crew shopping at the Minneapolis Whole Foods.  It was definitely fun bumping into one of sports craziest characters.