Ya you are talking to a guy that drove from Longview to Seattle for every home playoff game in '95 and had to work the next day...every day. Then when wife wanted to move to somewhere warmer I picked AZ just down the road to Mariners spring training. That was a great 8 years in AZ for sports. So ya, 20 years and counting and it kills.
I just saw the Mariners roster the other day and Seager and Haniger were the only guys I knew...they always trade away players I like...confusing organization but I loved Ichiro ..Griffey Jr and Randy Johnson...was worth the price to watch those guys play..haven't followed that team since Cano and Cruz left
Lived the first twelve years of my life there. The Blazers winning the NBA Ship, i was there. I lived it. RIP CITY was born. Blazer Mania was born. Got to meet the team a year or two prior at Lloyd Neals house. Still have a pair of his Nike Sneakers. Got to meet my idols Bobby Gross and Lionel The Train Hollins. It's in my freaking blood man. RIP CITY FOR LIFE
Ya you haven't missed much since they left. Heck, I haven't missed much the last 20 years and I have watched 99% of it...lol. It is so tough being a Blazers/Mariners fan.
Jerry Dipoto was a Rockies pitcher, and learned how they do business( Great at making money, lousy @ keeping top talent). He was good with the Angels, but once he got to Seattle, he went back to the Rockies, crying small market(yet somehow we're raking in the cash) ,mentality. Which means lots of top talent traded away for a Cheese sandwich, & bag of chips to be named later.
Never been to USA Never been to Oregon Never been to Portland Never seen a Blazers game live. I'm in New Zealand and grew up watching the NBA from the early 90s on. I loved the Hawks and Nique. Then i saw some coverage somewhere on Damon Stoudamire for Arizona and took a bit of interest in him. Then the whole expansion draft in 95 was really exciting and there was a lot of hype in general, Isiah Thomas was the Raps GM and he was a smaller PG and Damon was a strong possibility for selection. Everyone wanted Ed fuckin Obannon but IT went with Damon to a chorus of boos - loved it. anyway, i started collecting Damons cards in 97 ish once Ebay kicked off, wasnt really much of a scene here, but when he was traded to Portland I officially adopted a team. I was never super into the Raps, just more followed Damon. 25yrs after starting to collect his cards n stuff, im still collecting and have long passed being a super collector of his cards. He also follows me on IG etc and im also glad he's back in the NBA again - so maybe more cards in the future! I loved the whole jail blazers era, maybe due to not being a local or something - but the team was just so full of talent and drama, it was like a magnet. since then its been a hell of a ride, i loved Brandon Roy, love Dame and have gotten pretty used to disappointment and 'what ifs' too - all part of being a fan i guess. one day i hope to catch a game live, but the way the world is now - being in NZ seems like a far more desirable situation
My reason sucks but here goes.... I’m actually not a big basketball fan but a football fanatic! I live in Hawaii and grew up here where we have fans of all teams in football and basketball. Being a Dolphins fan my Son to spite me became a Raidahs fan. He likes basketball more than football. He is a big time Blazers fan because we have family in Portland and he went to his first pro game there. When he was 15 (2009) I struck a deal with him, he choose the Dolphins over the Raiders and I’ll root like crazy for the Blazers. This was easy trade off for me as I never had a basketball team to root for.
Pretty simple. Born and raised in Portland. my brothers were big NBA fans so I started paying attention in the mid 90s as a grade schooler. The late 90s early 2000s teams were what got me hooked in as a kid. Then the troubled Sebastian telfair era allowed me and my broke high school friends go to a lot of games live which helped solidify things even though the teams sucked.
I grew up in Vegas and when I started watching basketball I first liked the Running Rebels. During that time, JR Rider was doing his thing there. My sisters used to hang out in his circle so I really became a fan. He got drafted by the Wolves so I had his Wolves jersey. He got traded to Portland so I became a Blazers fan. Then he went to the Lakers and I just couldn’t do that. Been with them ever since. Even moved from Nevada to Oregon about 6 years ago partially because of them. Go Blazers!!!
My Dad was a hard core Blazers fan ever since he came to America in 1977 (good year, right?). I remember him yelling his lungs out as he passionately watched and listened to Blazers games on the radio. My Father forced me into playing basketball every year starting from when I was in kindergarten. I remember going to a couple games at the Memorial Coliseum when I was in grade school and just followed the crowd cheering on the Blazers. It wasnt until I was in 6th grade that I really became a fan. Brian Grant with his classic pump fakes and post ups was my first favorite Blazer. Then a year or two later we picked up Pippen and I was hooked. I really looked up to Rasheed Wallace for years and he remains my favorite Blazer ever.
My family was more into football and baseball growing up, so being a blazers fan wasn't an expectation like beaver fandom was. Brian Grant was pretty active in our community when I was in elementary school and that got me pretty hooked. I was mostly just a casual blazers fan until we got Dame, though. How he can't be everyone's favorite player in the league is still a complete mystery to me.
I got hooked on basketball back in my junior year of high school. We went to state that year and finished third but we were clearly the second best team. Parkrose was the champion and the only team to beat us. Then I went to college and we had fantastic teams which hooked me further. Then along came the Blazers right after getting out of the Army. We bought our tickets the morning of the first day they went on sale. We got cheated out of our priority number. I was adopted when my father died. When my stepfather retired to the coast he gave me his tickets which I wanted badly because I went to a lot of games from the first season on. We never knew there was a priority number until we looked at our new priority number when the tickets were transferred to me. Holy hell, my priority number was in the thousands and should have been in the low 100s. I explained to them what happened and said I wanted our original priority back. They said they couldn't give it to me and no longer even knew what it was. I talked to one of the vice presidents who was extremely hard to reach. He finally gave me a bum priority number and I was exhausted from going round and round with him so I just took it. There, the Blazers screwed me. I was so in love with the team that all my attention turned to that and I forgot about my screwed issue. So, Hoopguru, you've opened my wound to bleed again so thanks for that.
Moved here in 2002. Born and raised in Chicago, but was never a huge Bulls fan. Winning the titles was fun to be a part of, but never felt like my team. Was easy to jump in feet first on the Blazers when I moved here.