Would have wrote this hours earlier had I not been up all night celebrating the Blazers win and watching the Timbers replay, PTFC! Timbers take edge with win vs. Seattle Started out the night at Spirit of 77', had the Miami v. Florida State Game on the big screen and it was packed as always. Love the atmosphere in there, all the screens, and the free buzzer beater arcade game. Spirit of 77' A few Imperial Pints of Ten Barrel IPA and Hub Lager later, we finally got them to turn on the Chicago Philadelphia game on one of the screens just in time for the forth quarter. Man Michael Carter-Williams looks for real. After the Bulls blew the game we headed over to the Rose Garden errr Moda Center on foot. As the MC game into view, it got my attention. "Wow, it looks surprisingly good," I said. The bright new logo on the outside looks good at night. Walked across the bus mall and came up on the protesters. "Blazers Yes, Moda No! Blazers Yes, Moda No!" yelled a group of like 25 people maybe haha. Once we got into the building and barely past the Bunk Sandwiches we found our seats with free t-shirts draped over them. For a shirt that has a Moda Health logo on the back they weren't bad at all. Head over to Blazers Edge for a picture: Media Row Report: Blazers 115, Spurs 105 The arena was mostly the same sans a large Moda logo above the scoreboard on all four sides. It looked good and fresh, that was until I was reminded of the Portland cityscape that used to be there. As long as the 5 mil a year goes towards overall arena upgrades I'm fine with the sponsorship, despite it's inherent disadvantages. Speaking of upgrades. The Wi-Fi was nice, as long as your in the stadium bowl. Soon as you hit the concourse it dissipated, three hundred level anyway. We sat on the side of the court and it made a huge difference vs. sitting on the end. Seats were not that bad at all and the sightlines were great for 300 level. (Big ups to Blazer Prophet for the tickets). After an awesome National Anthem the Blazers game out to one of their new videos that pays tribute to the Blazers of the past. Brian Grant got a huge applause with his brief appearance. While the MC was technically sold out there were a lot of empty seats, luckily the free t-shirts made it not look so bad. The game was a battle but a blast to watch. While the crowd was not as loud as a packed house there was something present at the MC that produced a refreshing change. There was less music and contrived chants. It made the game more intimate and put the limited crowd on the edge of their seats the entire time. It's pretty cool to watch the chants get started from one section (usually 300 lol), and spread throughout the stadium with no prompting at all. More welcome changes. Don't think I've ever had such a tasty meal at the RG errr MC, still getting used to that. Delivered a Drop Top Amber to my seat and went back to get it's pairing, a cubano pork belly bunk sandwich. In this case it wasn't bunk at all, but really really good. Especially with the tasty beer and legit potato salad side. Who Needs Chalupas? New Blazers arena food is on fire! Speaking of Chalupas, as the Blazers began to put the Spurs away, (before the epic Mathews dunk, thanks to Lopez), the crowd was prompted to chant Mic-E-Dee's but instead blurted out the time tested CHA-LU-PA! Loved the crowd sticking it to the man. I don't know if Mic-E-Dee's will ever stick to be honest with ya. Blazers Fans: I’ma Bring My Own Chalupa! And to the highlight of the night, Batum's magic huck at the rim. No way did I think that was going in! In my mind I thought why mess up your shooting percentage Nic? But when it went it, the arena blew up. And a statement was made, the Moda Center is OUR HOUSE. Batum apologized after the game profusely, but as a fan I was proud, and now praying that this new aggressive attitude is here to stay. Apologetic Nicolas Batum mean no disrespect with triple-double It's going to be a great season! Go Blazers.
Sounds like a blast. That was Batum who went high, battled hard for the rebound, and knocked it to Wes for the 'epic dunk'.
Was a great time. Awesome start to the season. The Blazers are looking very well rounded. Lopez may not put up a killer stat line but that guys makin a huge difference. The only way Mathews gets space to throw down that dunk is because RoLo is boxing out the space. But you're right Batum was everywhere, can you say superglue guy?
Is the 'Memorial Coliseum big enough to hold a NHL team? I know the Winter hawks use it but they are WHL. Just Curious.
Superglue. I like that. Lopez definitely contributes more than the box score shows, and makes his teammates better. We talk about his impact on Batum and Wes, but he's helping Aldridge big time. Not the least of which is that by being our muscle guy down low, Aldridge has more in the tank to score and finish games strong. And you are right: Lopez had the entire key sealed off on that dunk. He's a big guy.
Great post but you misused the word "sans." "The arena was mostly the same sans a large Moda logo above the scoreboard on all four sides." Sans means without. So "the arena was mostly the same sans the Rose Garden logo and the addition of large Moda logo etc. Or you could've just used the word "except"
