PART 1 It was the 1970-1971 inaugural season and Dad took us boys to our first Blazers game. I’ll never forget as the players were coming back out of the locker room for the start of the second half when Jim Barnett reached down and gave me pat on the shoulder and a big smile. Oh my! It was a gold-colored sweater and when I got home I turned it inside out and wrote, “Jim Barnett tapped me here!” I hid my sweater from my Mom for as long as I could, then the inevitable happened; she found and washed my beloved sweater and erased a record of history…but not my first Trailblazer memory!
I guess I’ve got a bit of a kinky twist to my personality. The Blazers are my 50 shades of Oregon gray experience.
Part 2 1976-77 Season I was playing basketball for Evergreen High School over in Vancouver, WA. As Bobby Gross was becoming my favorite Blazer, I wore his number; “30” With new head coach Jack Ramsay taking the reigns, Bill Walton started the season with a new enthusiasm and a new image; once sporting a ponytail and oft injured, I think Walton found a father-figure in Ramsay, similar to his relationship with UCLA coach John Wooden. Walton arrived to camp with a “wash & wear” hair cut, and he quickly grasped Ramsay’s “motion offense” and the upstart Trailblazers were Red Hot & Rollin as the playoffs approached. My Dad had a banking relationship in Vancouver that was able to hook him up with four tickets for each playoff game - well…not exactly a “hook-up” as much as it was a “heads-up” when his bank would put a small number of playoff tickets available! This “tip” gave cause for us to borrow my grandparents camper trailer and we’d go to the bank the night before, spend all night taking turns standing in line and come 8am, we were first to buy tickets - and we didn’t miss a single home playoff game! That playoff run, that led to our NBA Championship victory in game 6 at home, cinched my love for the Blazers and I have been a Blazermaniac ever since! As some of you may have already heard, I own the game-worn (and now autographed) jersey of Bobby Gross - yes! From game 6 against the 76ers! In fact i have it with me here in central Mexico where I now live. Today I buy the single-team season pass on NBA.com and I stream EVERY Blazer game. And I probably log in to Sportstwo.com daily. While I have not had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. HCP (wait! I meant to say HCP and his lovely Esposa!) they should know that mi casa es su casa should they ever visit Mexico! Viva! Los Blazers!!