#?- Blazer's Game

You know those unforeseen opportunities I talked about a few posts ago? This is one of them.

Buck Williams, Terry Porter, Clyde Drexler, Jerome Kersey. Cliff Robinson. Those are the Blazer names with which I am most familiar. The era of my childhood. I even have proof of my (limited) following of the Blazers. It was probably partly due to my brother and dad being fans. Even though my brother is younger than I am, I still wanted to do lots of things that he did. And so, at a young age, I was a Portland Trailblazer fan.

 

These are still in my possession---proof I was a Blazer fan.

You might say, I held on to this hometown pride. I would get excited when the Blazers were doing well, but didn’t follow in any particular way. I can name Brian Grant (yes, I loved his hair), and Brandon Roy…two players, who in my eyes, tried to hold together a, at times, pretty depressing team (remember---not a true fan, don’t necessarily have all of my facts straight).

And so it comes to this. I know no names of Blazer players. I don’t know who coaches them any more, or who owns them, or whether they play at the Rose Garden or the Moda Center (okay, kidding about that last one). And yet, I married a true Blazer fan. Someone who checks box scores, knows the different positions and which Blazer plays them, can tell if a guarding match up is in one players favor or another’s, cheers and mourns with the team, but is always faithful. As the season progressed and I heard excited cheers each game evening from my husband as he checked ESPN, I knew what his Christmas present had to be. Especially after once or twice he would talk about the excitement of games and how it was something that we should do together.

Thursday night it was our first ever, date night to the Blazers. Blazers versus the Clippers. It was going to be a good game, and they didn’t disappoint. I won’t put all of the details because those can be easily looked up, complete with highlight clips from the game and people commenting who are much more knowledgeable in this area than me (heck, I know 10-year-olds with more knowledge in this area than me). However, I will say, it was highly entertaining. This team has great 3-point shooters, highly creative passing style, and teamwork. Perhaps that is one of my favorite things. When a team has one really good player and everyone else plays backup to that player, it isn’t quite as exciting as having several good players who support each other.

My Blazer gear- even though I don't really deserve it.

 

“We” were ahead the whole game until the 4^th quarter, when things started going down hill. So much so, that the 2 girls seated next to us decided to leave during a timeout with 10 seconds left in the game and the Blazers down by 3. Bad time to leave, ladies. They came in from the time out and Batum hit a 3-point shot to tie the game, leading to overtime. They battled back and forth, keeping us all on our feet for the entire 5 minutes and won, 116-112, partly due to foul shots (thanks Clippers!). Awesome game. Awesome date. After watching live for the first time (I wanted to get a certificate and button for my first game, but they said it was just for kids) I might be a Blazermaniac. Rip City!