Been a sports fanatic since early days. My dad was a mechanic and had been involved in car racing before he had kids and a very serious accident that almost took his leg got him out of that. Growing up I wanted to be a racer and we would go up to Rocky Butte and watch the quarter midget racers and I was envious. My mom made it a point that I would not be racing cars so baseball, basketball and football gave me the outlet I needed. I am still a huge racing fan to this day and follow it closely and my dad later on bought a midget race car and toured the circuit for a few years. My sophomore year it was apparent basketball wouldn't be my strength and concentrated on baseball which turned out to be a smart choice as I made the varsity my sophomore year and was starting second baseman for a top 10 team in state. I later was all state my senior year and then went on scholarship to University of Portland starting all 4 years. I've been a fan of the Blazers since day one and before that I was a huge Sixers fan as Hal Greer was my favorite player. I still remember to this date laying on my parents living room floor next to the stereo console listening to the Blazer games as TV and cable were still a ways away for NBA basketball, That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
They had hope. The crushing loss of hope was much worse than this is now. And maybe I'm too morale, but I'd rather have this team than the goddamn JailBlazers.
I was 16 years old and a junior in HS when the Blazers came into being. I was always a highly enthusiastic but low skilled ball player who kept the bench shiny as a CYO participant in grade school (and HS for that matter). But I did play regular rat ball throughout HS and into my early married years. Great times. Later I spent more than a few years coaching my sons in youth basketball (and being reasonably successful). I wasn’t much of a pro basketball fan in 1970 (had gotten thoroughly sick of an obscenely steady diet of Lakers, Sixers, Celtics and Knicks every.....EVERY!!!.....frickin’ Sunday) and the Portland Buckaroos did a great job of holding my attention until the Blazers came to town. Back then the Blazers were a fairly inexpensive date and tickets were easy to come by (as was the parking) and I attended quite a few games through HS. Obviously the championship can’t be ignored as a high point but the piece of Blazer history that sticks with me the most is the creation of that first team, from the hype and excitement of our very first draft pick (in what is still arguably one of the very best NBA drafts in history, generational differences be damned) to the expansion draft, searching out every bit of info I could find on the players picked (in an era where the internet and Google didn’t exist) and trying to determine what kind of a team we might have (while knowing full well we’d occupy the cellar). It’s really hard to describe the whole experience but I’m so grateful I was “there”. It opened up a whole new world and was truly unique for a young sports fan. Which is probably the only reason I’m rooting for an expansion baseball team rather than an established team moving here. The process of creating a team from scratch is so effing fascinating. Which is probably why I was also such a rapid fan of the original Timbers team in 1975.......
Knowing there is no chance for the foreseeable future is worse for me. I too hated the JailBlazers, but they did win
Lifelong second generation baseball fan. My parents were at Jackie Robinson's first Major League game. Considered a renegade for cheering for the A's over Dodgers in World Series (won one, lost one). Became Blazers fans during 1989-1990 season, working as lab tech at Emanuel Hospital and damn near everyone were Blazers fanatics. I caught the fever. Was at the Rip City rally after the 1990 Finals taking pictures with a cheap Kodak Brownie camera, still have them. I got there hours early to get right up front. Sad, four people by count in those photos have since died (Drazen Petrovic, Kevin Duckworth, Jerome Kersey, Paul Allen). Got a Nikon F and took volumes of pictures of games over the years until arenas banned "professional" cameras. Moved to Bay Area and remained Blazers fan. At that time I could JUST pick up radio signal so listened to games, static-y, on radio. Brought radio broadcasters a cake by way of thanks. They liked it enough to mention on air so next game brought another. One time is a gift, twice a tradition, so started bringing post-game cakes up and down the West Coast, Portland, Sacramento, Oakland, LA. Was at last game of conference semis in 1999 when Blazers knocked off Jazz. Was at Game 7 of 2000 WCF in LA. After 9/11 arena security tightened and no more packages could be brought in so no more cakes. Due to some health issues crowds and noise (especially indoors) are problematic for me now so I rarely go to games but still follow my team.
Egads and ewwwwwwwwwww I have woken up with other men in the same room. Of course there were scattered beer bottles everywhere. I've even picked up a few half empty ones which I started to chug and felt a cigarette butt bumping my lips. Here's another ewwwwwwwwwwwwww. All this and I wasn't even 21. I'm telling you, kids can be incredibly dumb. Hey, one night while in the Army in New Jersey, this acting company sergeant invites me to a Christmas party at his girlfriend's house. I got stinking drunk, tried to make out with one of the girls there. She rebuffed me, I was really drunk, but did agree to sit on my lap, which only made me hornier. I don't know how I got to bed or undressed but I woke up and the acting sergeant told me I snored all night and flopped my arm on his face. So, I had to pass out to actually sleep in the same bed with a man. I guess when my arm flopped on him, he bopped me on the head. Geez, drunks can be disgusting.
My father was a gambler down in Georgia, And he wound up on the wrong end of a gun. And I was born in the back seat of a Greyhound bus Rollin' down highway 41. barfo
I was 4 when the Blazers won the title. I suppose perfect timing for a little kid to become obsessed with hoops. played through HS, was on verge of walking-on my college team but got hurt. Still hurts. Anyway. Coached HS basketball for 7 years and college basketball for 3 years in San Diego. Worked for a pro team for 2 years. Stopped actually playing for fun around 29, 30 because my body hurt too much. Havent played a pickup game in probably 15 years, which is sad actually. Coach my kids now and it is both the best thing and drives me nuts. I like the blazers but don't lose sleep over them.
You're 14? You would have been illegal when you first started posting. Should we reserve a cell for you at Trump Towers Rikers division. Donald should be arriving soon.
I've been a Blazers fan since they drafted Walton. I followed them a bit before that, but I wasn't hard core until they got Walton. As far as I know, I'm the only one here who's been to a Blazers Championship Victory Parade. Going to another is on my bucket list, so get your shit together, Olshey.
I've already described my appearance at the victory parade. You must have missed it about ten years ago. What's going on? Long term memory problems? I thought everyone was glued to what I said in all of my thousands of posts.
I didn't see you at the Summer League Championship Parade this summer. Although to be fair, the crowds were so huge it would have been easy to miss you. barfo
