Being a Trailblazer fan is an exercise small town-itis, passionate old-school-ism, and an inordinate need to connect to our players. Most true Trailblazer fans grow up in the Portland area. If they leave, it is by necessity. They leave for studies or employment or adventure somewhere else. But in their hearts they remain Portlanders, loyal to the “Rose City” and to our team, the only professional sports team we have: the Blazers.

 When I was almost 7 years old, the Portland Trailblazers won the NBA World Championship. My family had just moved to Oregon from California. I wasn’t even 7, but I understood how important that team was. I understood the passion of a Blazer fan. I never forgot it, I never lost it, and I harbor an inordinate amount of pride in my connection to the city and the team (though I have since transplanted a few times - most recently to Las Vegas - BY NECESSITY ONLY).

 I had a friend - we’ll call him David. His parents had season tickets to the Blazers and every once in a while I was privileged enough to ride in the back of their green with wood-paneling station-wagon to the game. We listened to the pre-game show on the way there, and the post-game show on the way home. The voice of Bill Schonley still rings vividly in my ears. We parked in a vacant lot, walked about a quarter-mile to the Memorial Coliseum (pay for parking? not a chance.), and then arrived at the scene.

 One of my first memories of attending a game included being very confused because the crowd seemed to be “boo-ing” Maurice Lucas, the Blazer power-forward and local enforcer. I asked my friend, “Why are they boo-ing Lucas?”. David, managing a very condescending response at the tender age of 8, responded, “They aren’t boo-ing him. They’re saying, ‘Luuuke! Luuuke!’”. I had been educated. I was becoming a local, a regular. I watched eagerly from our upper section seats. I cheered loudly, waited for autographs after the post-game show, reveled in the victories, languished after losses, and openly worshiped everyone on the team over the years from Ronnie Brewer (Sr.) to Jim Paxson to Clyde Drexler.

 The early 90’s were very good to us. Drexler, Porter, Kersey, Williams, the “Duck”. They were the NBA elite and came painfully close to bringing championships home in 1990 and 1992. The mid-90’s were mediocre. Arvydas finally came over from Russia. He was “Our-Vydas”. He came about five years too late. His skill was in tact, but his body was ravaged; he had the knees of a 62 yr. old Siberian potato farmer. The late 90’s got ridiculous. Our GM, “Trader Bob” Whitsett, accumulated talent and famously proclaimed something about not understanding chemistry. How true. The implosion of Pippin, Wallace, Stoudamire, Schrempf, and company during game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference finals did me in. I was sick for a week. The team became, “unlikeable”. I constantly apologized for being a “JailBlazer” fan. My excuse was that I rooted for the team, not the players. They disgusted me with their police-blotter antics.

 It took almost about 8 years, but the Blazers finally managed to rid themselves of every last shred of evidence from the “JailBlazer” era. It crippled the team in so many ways. The resurgence came on a balmy June night in 2006 when the boy-wonder Kevin Pritchard - then the future GM of the team, pulled off draft night magic. Brandon Roy AND LaMarcus Aldridge. Talent AND character. KP’s sixth sense continued the next two drafts. The Blazers are now loaded with the kind of players and citizens that other teams around the league greedily lust after. But he didn’t make these decisions because of greed. He’s just smarter than everyone else. He understands the kind of players a team needs to acquire to build a championship squad. The core group is now in place. Coach Mac is on board - on the same page. Captain Roy, “the Reason” - is an All-Star and arguably one of the top five players in Blazer history, in only his third year in the league. Bill Walton beams with pride when he talks about this team. Lucas is on the sidelines, coaching them. And the fans, we who have watched the success and failure of the last 30 years or so, are excited. Again. Finally.

 Blazermania is back. “Rip City” isn’t just a hollow slogan anymore. We are on the verge of greatness. We must stay healthy, humble, and focused. We must score more points than the other teams. We must do this consistently.

 In 1995 the Rose City helped fund the “Rose Garden”. No fancy corporate names. Just, the “Rose Garden”.

 It’s blooming.  

This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 9:00 pm and is filed under Basketball, NBA-West, Portland Trailblazers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.