For me, it was my grandma. She took me to my first game as a 5 year old at the glass palace and I was hooked ever since. She passed a couple years ago but was a Blazer nut. She would always give me a Blazer schedule from US Bank prior to every season and would hook me up with all the Franz bread cards she gathered (even though they always smelled like cigarettes). She would watch every game on TV but mute it so she could listen to the radio broadcast. We bonded big time with the Blazers. My furthest memory was watching us play the Lakers in Western conf finals back when they had Magic and also the Jazz playoff games when they had Stockton Malone and Mark Eaton. Been hooked ever since.
In the navy in San Diego I played pick up on the same courts Bill Walton played on...his good friend was a friend of mine and I followed his career to Portland and watched him win a chip there...never looked back, been a Blazer fan since 76-77...got to know Bill later on through my musical connections in Northern Cal..always loved the guy.
Really young 6-7 years old The Blazers in their first year decided to have a children's basketball camp at local high schools. I honestly forget what school it was at? Maybe Benson? None other than Rick Adelman who then played for the team and a guy named Bill Stricker who also was on the team were there. All i remember is Bill was really really tall. Don't think Bill ever really played? All that and i was born and raised here so i guess that would be enough. Yes the Championship team solidified it for sure.
The team being really consistently good and being lucky enough to go to a lot of games as a kid. Seasons like this make you question the affinity, but we power though (auto-sim to the draft please?).
I’d consider us all diehards. Something along the way separated us from being just a casual observer like most I know, to living and breathing it enough to post on a message board often about the team
My parents friends had us over for the 1990 WCF against the Suns. They got so into it and we won, so I thought that was pretty cool. Then the following season the same group took me to my first Blazer game against the Super Sonics in '91 and I was hooked!
Thats what I was looking for. Didn’t realize there’s so many squares in here. Stories of getting hooked and becoming a diehard. Once you got that itch in your youth it never went away. Love it.
Only a fan base like Portland could revere a guy who averaged 4 and 6 for his career like he did. But I also remember the glorification of Joe Wolf, so..
The late 80's and early 90's teams hooked me. Clyde was my childhood hero and the few times I met him and other guys from those teams they were always really nice to me. So this became my favorite team in sports and has remained that for me, through thick and thin.
When I was a little kid I lived in Texas. My parents had a Spurs game on and they were playing the Blazers. I kept getting excited when the Blazers had the ball. Watching them just felt right, even then. My dad was like your rooting for the wrong team. Nope. I was a Blazer fan from the moment I saw them. Ended up eventually moving up here to Oregon and the rest is history.
Dad took me to a blazer twolves game in 97. My elementary school gave out Blazer stickers. The library gave out tickets for reading a bunch of books. 99-00 playoff run. Damon Stoudamire. Misc: Geoffrey Arnold, Jason Quick, the O's NBA stat page, Wheels, Rice, KGW, Kobe hatred, etc
