Dave and Ben should be busy chasing down trade rumors so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to discuss one of Blazer’s Edge’s taboos, specifically the taboo subject of banning. I fully understand why both of them do not discuss the details with us. Ben jokes a little about deleting bad comments and the most churlish trolls, but like Dave, he for the most part keeps it under wraps.

I for one love banning and I always get a kick out of it when someone gets banned. I know tominhawaii used to bait people on the verge of melting down into cussing, in hopes that it got them banned. Heck, he even wrote inflammatory things on Blog a Bull just to lure ornery Blazers fans out for Matt to ban. Matt at Blog a Bull is bantastic.

I also feel that Dave and Ben are pretty diplomatic when it comes to banning. They seem to give fair warning and even let some folks stick around that if put to a vote, others here would have banned a long time ago. I often wonder how some folks manage to stick around for as long as they do. I know if I had administrative rights to Blazers Edge, that I would ban a handful of people just because I disagree with them. I would also ban anyone who typed "first" after a post for a week, just to teach them a lesson.

Another thing that fascinates me are the posters who seem to disappear in the night. I wonder if TheGreatDane17 was banned or simply spilled soda on his laptop. It is thoughts like those that keep me awake in the afternoon.

So, what do you think about banning?

Is there anyone that was banned that you wish could come back?

Is there anyone here that you wish was banned? (Maybe you shouldn’t answer that unless you want them to cuss at you and get banned.)

Have you ever been banned from one of the other blogs?

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I catch the bus for work each night around ten ‘till eleven. When I get off the bus downtown around a quarter after eleven, there is always this elderly woman there pushing about a ten different contraptions containing all her worldly possessions covered in plastic, and taped up with duct tape. She pushes them from the park where Dog the Bounty Hunter catches a lot of his bail jumpers to an area near the bus stop.

She sleeps each night next to the bus stop in a folding chair, surrounded by all her possession, under an umbrella. Sometimes she has an older man with her who sits in a lawn chair as she moves all her possesions to her sleeping spot. Since she has about a ten carts to move, she moves one about 50 feet then goes back for another one, repeating the process, until she reaches her spot. It is a time consuming process and since she is gone each morning when I get off work, she must move everything back around 6:00 AM.

Each night when I see the lady moving her stuff, I get consumed by guilt. The first tinge of guild hits me because I never help her move all her heavy carts. Some of them are quite large. I can tell one or two of them are shopping carts, another is a luggage cart, she has at least two large suitcases, some other contraptions, and a stroller. Not once have I offered to help her move her bulky items.

The second pang of guilt comes from my failure to help her in other ways. I have never offered her money, food, or even a hot cocoa. I could call a shelter or some sort of church or government agency to help get her off the street and I do nothing.

Today, the guilt was too much for me so I took action. When I got off the bus, I walked behind the bus stop and dumped out a bottle of water. I made sure the woman had most of her stuff moved into her sleeping spot, and then I went to a payphone and called 911. I told the dispatcher that I saw a homeless woman urinating behind the bus stop. The dispatcher told me I should not have called 911, but she would send an officer to investigate. I checked about an hour later and the lady was gone. I assume she was arrested or told to move.

I hope and pray that the elderly lady was told not to sleep by my bus stop anymore. I have some other ideas to call the cops on her to make sure they keep her away. I just cannot stand being confronted daily with the guilt of doing nothing for her. I already feel better with the thought of not seeing her tomorrow and hope everything works out the best for me.

OK, I like the Blazers just as much as the next guy; I just don’t like wearing jerseys. 

Look, a fan has a right to wear a jersey if he wants to; it’s his or her prerogative.

Today a guy got on the bus with a home Brandon Roy jersey and at first I thought, “Cool that guys a Blazers fan.”  Then I though, “Why is that guy wearing a jersey in Hawaii on a non-game night?”

Now, hear me out.  Like I said, fans can wear what they want.  I just think that jerseys should be reserved for games and Halloween. 

So, basically, what I’m getting at is; are jerseys appropriate attire for daily life?

Here's a cool link too:  Claim Dwyane Wade Staged "Sex Parties" & Smoked Weed

It makes me wonder how Wade's momma likes it.

I made up another stat. This one is trade value or True Trade Value or TTV. I might have to tweak it a little, because I am sure there are additional criteria that might have overlooked.

I realized the purpose of made up stats is to prove something I already believe, so I had to tailor them to come out with the results I wanted. I wanted LeBron James to have the highest trade value in the league. I also needed to consider that he is also the least likely to be traded. I was not sure how to address that problem.

My solution was to create a scale and if the number is too low, the player has no trade value and if the number is too high, then the player is un-tradable. This was the best solution and obviously the most rational. After I compiled all the numbers, what I theorized was indeed true. LeBron James has the highest trade value with a TTV of 300 and Andre Brown had the lowest TTV at 13. The actual highest TTV that can be achieved is 308.4 and the lowest is 15.

I did extensive research and I devised a scale from 137 to 171. If a player TTV falls between those two numbers then they are in the Peak Trade Value Zone (PTVZ). If a player’s TTV falls within that zone, then they are most likely to be traded. I went back through every year of the NBA and the CBA and 97.63% of all players traded fell into the PTVZ.

One amazing discovery was the phenomenon of the TTV of 154; every player with a TTV of 154 was traded. This year, the only Blazer with a TTV of 154 is Jerryd Bayless.

Here is the Blazers TTV:

172 Aldridge, LaMarcus
142 Batum, Nicolas
154 Bayless, Jerryd
168 Blake, Steve
149 Diogu, Ike
170 Fernández, Rudy
156 Frye, Channing
155 LaFrentz, Raef
198 Oden, Greg
163 Outlaw, Travis
171 Przybilla, Joel
131 Randolph, Shavlik
151 Rodríguez, Sergio
204 Roy, Brandon
147 Webster, Martell

The numbers speak for themselves. The Blazers have three un-tradable players in Roy, Aldridge, and Oden, and one player with virtually no trade value in Randolph. The rest of the roster is in the PTVZ.

I must point out that this is not a number that must be adhered too. Teams might not call Portland and ask about Randolph, yet he still can be traded as a throw in to make salaries match. With that in mind, the only player that must be traded is Jerryd Bayless. The Blazers must cash in Jerryd’s TTV while it is at its prime. Kevin Pritchard needs to get the deal done now or all is lost.

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