Looking at the predictions for how the Blazers would fare in 2009-10, it's interesting that not a single commenter predicted 51 or fewer wins for Portland this regular season. A few of you threw out 52, but most gave straight-faced 60-65 win predictions.

No one predicted major injuries.
No one predicted the major display of heart and cojones our Blazers showed this year, expecting simple dominance instead.

Question: Let's say the Blazers had a charmed, relatively injury-free season (like OKC has enjoyed) and got the 63 or so wins people were expecting. Would that really be any more satisfying than what they've accomplished this regular season, with all the adversity? What do you thinK?

The pick that KP turned into Jerryd Bayless is poised to set a very dubious record. Way to go, KP!

The title is right: ex-Jordanaire and 3-pt specialist Craig Hodges, now a shooting coach for the L*kers, apparently lacks a filter between his brain and his mouth. Which is a big reason why this piece by Dave McMenamin is so entertaining and insightful.

I don't care that they added Haywood and Butler. Or that they won 13 in a row. They lost to the Knicks. At home. By 34. In March. This is a team that can be taken in a 7-game series.

Try to take care of your hydration/food/bathroom needs during timeouts, because you don't want to miss Monday's halftime entertainment. The Portland Cello Project does awesome arrangements of pop and rock favorites and gets talented singers to put the revamped tunes over the top and get everybody excited. I don't know everything PCP will do during the halftime set, but my friend John is singing a-ha's "Take on Me" with them, and then my other friend Brian will be singing what should be an amazing rendition of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." Stick around at the half, won't you?

"I'm taking a step back and quitting the Yahoo! blog game. I would consider it more of a Brett Favre retirement, but still, I'll be away from the blog as long as I'm in the NBA realm. It just seems that I'm closer than ever and I'm no longer going to give anyone a reason to scratch me off their list."

Best wishes, Rod. Doesn't look like there's a spot for you in Portland but I hope you can catch on somewhere.

A rousing tribute to a teammate and friend.

If true, the Blazers will be playing the Hornets in the latter's first game without their coach. Who knows how this might impact the Hornets' play.

It's going on right now. I tuned in because I heard "Chad in Portland" from the MSP was going to be a contestant. I listened to about 20 minutes and have no idea what the hell these people are talking about. I mean, yeah, they're talking smack, but I don't know who they're talking about, nor do I get all the lingo they're using. Talk about in-jokes!

Can anybody translate this stuff? Or tell me why anyone should give a crap?

The Hawks play-by-play guy Steve Holman (who's been at the mic since the '80s) has some serious hate for DWade! What do you think? Out of bounds?

This was just uploaded to YouTube today by "wiltatkansas," a Spaniard with an astounding collection of vintage NBA/ABA videos (seriously, go through the whole list sometime, it's impressive).

It's Game 2 of the 1978 WCSF, Blazers vs. Sonics, 1st and 2nd quarter action. At 00:50 the Blazers are beat down the court for a fastbreak bucket, and a limping Bill Walton calls timeout in order to take himself out of the game. I wasn't positive because the video skips ahead a bit after the timeout, but a quick check of David Halberstam's "The Breaks of the Game" confirms what I thought: these are Bill Walton's final oncourt moments as a Blazer. The would-be dynasty, in effect, ended right then and there.

I seem to remember a certain Western Conference Finals in which the team with the homecourt advantage lost it early on by getting drubbed by nearly 30 points. Said team came back to (barely, and painfully for us) win the series.

Apples and oranges? Perhaps. But it's an example of how a horrible home loss does not necessarily spell doom.

Sad news. I remember watching Marvin Webster back in the '70s/early '80s. Condolences to Martell and the rest of the Webster fam.

Update: Posters have questioned whether Marvin Webster was actually Martell Webster's uncle. The original version of this story stated that this was the case, but it was redacted from later versions. I have long seen the Marvin/Martell connection stated as fact on the Internet. It's possible that this is just not true and that Marvin's death has led to some factchecking.

After Nate he is totally my favorite NBA coach.

I have never been a fan of John Canzano's rather, shall we say, over the top way of writing, but today's column about Kevin Love's family takes the cake. It's the usual blend of Canzano-style hamfistedness and self-insertion, just taken to extremes. My favorite part was his encounter with Przybilla. Did it really go the way Canzano described it? Did Joel see him with a far-off look in his eye and say hey, John, a penny for your thoughts? Seriously?

But most of all, this column was a masterpiece of paragraphs that aren't really paragraphs, just quick declarative statements isolated to look more meaningful and dramatic than they really are. If you follow the bald-faced wonder at any length, you know this is Canzano's calling card as a literary stylist. Here are, verbatim, whole paragraphs from today's column:

"Emily Love is 15."
"What?"
"You were expecting Kevin here?"
"Not one."
"Not two."
"But three."
"And maybe it's right there."
"Not weird before."
"Weird now."
"And that really tells you all you need to know."

Does this man have an editor?

Because that's what I want to know.

It's the least we can ask.

As readers of Portland sports media.