I've met Nate. Very nice man. Very good person. Not the coach for this team anymore.

Nate's offensive sets are below NBA level. He stands on the sideline with one of two stances. Stance number one...arms crossed looking like he's analyzing the game. Stance number two... arms inside his suit on his hips looking bewildered. Neither is productive, neither is going to win us games.

Why does this team consistently start their offence with ten seconds to go? Why does this team not put their players in situations where they can succeed? Why does this team not have an edge? Four letter word....Nate.

Sure, Nate was a good player.  Nate played with passion; played with smarts. Neither of which has been passed on to our players.

Nate's substitution pattern is robotic and unintelligent. When a player is hot it doesn't matter, he takes them out according to his "plan". When a player is cold he plays them to satisfy their minute requirement. Man up Nate. Be a coach Nate. Ride a hot hand, sit a cold one. Everything doesn't have to be a script.

Coach with some passion Nate. Your players aren't playing with any and that comes from where? You!

A small note to a couple players...Hey Roy and LaMarcus. Congratulations on your contracts, I'm glad you don't have to play hard anymore. LaMarcus, keep taking those easy outside shots. Brandon, you're right, complaining to the refs does make a difference but stop playing soft and expecting the call. You can, and might be, a prolific scorer but there is a thing called defense too in case you forgot.

I've never seen such an underachieving team in Portland. It makes me want to watch the games on television instead of going to the games. I used to be proud to tell people I am a season ticket holder. That pride is starting to fade.

Sorry, had to repost this after mistakenly deleting it.  Here it is again.

Here are some videos I took at the playoff party down at Pioneer Square.  Some bounce around a little since it was packed and I kept getting bumped.

They started out by showing some video on the big screen which got the crowd pumped (a few "beat LA" chants erupted).  Then they finished by introducing and interviewing each player.  All in all it was an awesome time!

I had to chop the videos up into 8 pieces due to size restrictions but they should be in order.  I never did officially hear how many people showed up.  I heard rumors ranging from 8-12 thousand  (UPDATE: 15 thousand!). 

Here are the links to the videos.  No fancy editing, just raw video. 

1 of 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB296Zw5TyM

2 of 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU13NUA7ytQ

3 of 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfRqqFwQ6Ek

4 of 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHjF8uQYBxY

5 of 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJnIJJTsA00

6 of 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWZXhMnXocQ

7 of 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgUf3mBZiUM

8 of 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t245p0hxrZg

I know some of you unfortunate souls don't have, or can't get, Comcrap cable. 

Would it be worth the effort to hook up my webcam and point it at my television?  I could then broadcast it using messenger or something similar.  You could log on, view my webcam, and watch the game.

I haven't tried this out and I'm not even sure if the video quality would be all that smooth (any computer gurus out there let me know).  I was just sitting here at work reading a blog that was compaining about this comcrap issue and thought maybe I'd give it a try.

So my question again, do any of you think this would be worth it?  Let me know and when I get home I'll try it out.  I also have a digital camcorder that I can supposedly use as a webcam too.  It will probably produce a better image but I need to get a cable for it so I'll try the webcam idea first.

If Comcrap would just man up and let the dishes broadcast the games we wouldn't have to resort to such things.

I JUST WANT EVERY BLAZER FAN TO BE ABLE TO WATCH OUR AWESOME TEAM!

As of Sunday, the Blazers have withstood a brutal, almost inhuman schedule.  Out of their 14 games, 8 have been against teams that were in the playoffs last year.  Last year those teams had a combine winning percentage of 67% (which equates to a 55-27 record).

Oh, that was last year you say?  Well, those same teams this year haven't dropped off at all.  They are on pace to win 66% of their games (a 54-28 record).  A whopping one game difference.  (the statisticians out there can point out a flaw here but just go with it nerds!)

Now sure, it's still early.  (so early in fact that Seattle, errrr, Oklahoma City isn't mathematically out of it yet).  But I for one feel awesome about our start.  We are currently on pace to win 47 even after the stiff competition and plethora of back-to-backs. I had originally projected us to win 48 games this year and put our stamp on that 8 spot.  I now feel confident adding a few games to that total.  I also wouldn't feel too bad about thinking maybe we can challenge for the division.

Your opinions would be......?

Is anyone out there interested in writing, performing and recording a few songs about the Blazers?  I don't write music but do play the drums.  I think it would be awesome if we could get some musicians together and write a couple songs.  Maybe we could practice and record them in time for our "Playoff Run?"

If anyone out there is a good video person we could all wear Blazer gear and shoot a video too.

We would need at least a guitar, bass, keyboard, vocals.  Anything else would be fine too but those are the bare mininums.

Just some thoughts....bored at work!

Lemme know.

Dear Darius,

   You recently took some subtle shots at the Trailblazer's organization and that confuses me a little.  You claim that you are happy to finally be with a "winner".  You also get your nice fat contract regardless of the Portland management keeping you down last year.  What's the matter now Darius?  Why the shots?  Maybe it's time to grow up huh?  Stop worrying about us and try to get yourself into playing shape so you can come back and visit the Rose Garden again.

You won't recognize our house any more.  It has been refurbished.  We have moved out the "smokers", the "abusers", the "head pounders" and the "lazy types".  I'm not saying you personally fall into any of those categories, I'm just saying you won't recognize the level of "class", "talent", and "commitment"  we have assembled here.  It's not a world you are probably familiar with.

Maybe I'm just as guilty as you for even reacting to your comments.  Okay, I'll admit, it's time for me to grow up as well.  But before I transcend into adulthood, I'd like to pose this simple poll to the fans of the Trailblazers.  And by the way Darius, by poll I mean a type of survey, not a pole you throw dollars at.

Yours truly,

Blazer Fans Everywhere

Personally, I think the original dream team would mop the floor with the redeem team.  Here are the rosters in no real particular order:

Charles Barkley               Carmelo Anthony 
Larry Bird                        Carlos Boozer
Clyde Drexler                   Kobe Bryant
Patrick Ewing                  Dwight Howard
Magic Johnson                Lebron James
Michael Jordan                Jason Kidd
Christian Laettner            Chris Paul
Karl Malone                    Tayshaun Prince
Chris Mullin                     Michael Redd
Scottie Pippen                Dwyane Wade
David Robinson               Chris Bosh
John Stockton                 Deron Williams

(Not counting the absurd) I just can't see any lineups that the Redeem team could put on the court and have an advantage.  Not inside, outside, defensively, you name it, they all point towards the Dream team in my book.  Don't get me wrong, I do think that this current team is extremely good, probably the second best team we've had in the olympics, just not as good as the Dream Team (Plus they had Clyde....nuff said!)

Here's an alphabetized list.  There isn't an "all" or "none" answer, you have to step up and pick one.  You can defend your answer in the comments section. 

I was on a Laker's fan site (just to see what fairweather fans talk about) and they had the same poll for their team.  Best thing was, most of them answered "none of the above, I love the Blazers!"  Okay, maybe that didn't happen but one can dream.

Let the picking begin...........

The beginning of the season is brutal, downright inhumane.  If we could just maintain a .500 record until after the first week of December I'd be happy. 

So the first home game is Friday the 31st of October (Halloween) VS the Spurs, you gonna go? (see poll)

It being Halloween and all, I say we trick the spurs and treat the Blazer fans!  I, as usual, will have my face painted (see section 225!), so I encourage all you ghouls to do the same!

I was looking for the 08-09 schedule and stumbled across this.  Not sure if the post was from an actual Laker fan or not but  this is a Laker fan site.  Either way, it's nice to know the world is watching what we're doing here in Portland!  Look for the post on the 22nd, it should be at the top.  I LOVE it when he says:

"Hate to be a pessimist but I was looking at Blazers line-up next year and its a little scary"

http://www.clublakers.com/forums/2008-2009-opening-day-line-up-blazers-match-up-t100069.html

41 and 41 was a great season as far as I'm concerned.  This year we should do even better.  I'm trying not to get over excited for this upcoming year, but it's hard to do with all the positive things that have happened (except J. Jones leaving).  My question (and poll) to you is how many wins do you think the Blazers will get this year?  I'm going with 48, that's 7 better than last year which I think is doable and should get us in the playoffs considering those extra 7 wins will hopefully come at the expense of western conference teams.

Will be in Sec. 225 all year with face paint on!  Go Blazers!