This goes under the category of "My personal greatest Blazer moment."

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This weekend I experienced probably the biggest thrill in my short career as a college journalist: I got to cover the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Rose Garden for the first two rounds of the tournament.

I was sent by the Gonzaga student newspaper to cover the team during its tourney run, and a spot in Portland for the South Region meant that I was going to be working at an actual NBA arena. This wasn't a small college gym anymore - this was the big time.

Entering through the club level entrance, I took an elevator two floors down, to a level called "courtside access." Walking through a short tunnel, I found myself in the underbelly of the Rose Garden, my first glimpse of things behind the scenes. I was below the seats - I could hear the sounds of fans cheering, muffled by concrete.

After walking through the spacious hallway, I saw another tunnel with a sign that read "courtside." I walked through it, and felt the bright lights of the RG hit me. I was courtside. Long rows of tables ran alongside the sidelines, filled with members of the media watching Purdue hold off Northern Iowa. I had never seen the RG from this perspective, and let me tell you, it's a lot better than up in the 300 level.

I went into the media room to get to work, and the area they cordoned off for us was huge. There must have been room for hundreds of media people: writers, radio, TV, photographers.

The writers semed to be wrapped up in their work. I don't want to say they were antisocial, but there wasn't a sense of friendliness to be found among their intense glares and frantic typing. I can relate: in a deadline-driven business there isn't much time for chit-chat. I said hello and inteoduced myself to the journalists I was sitting next to in the press room, but I didn't get much more than a simple hello.

The photographers, though, seemed like they all knew each other. They were joking, laughing, and having a much better time than everyone else. I guess that's what happens when you sit on the floor at the games, you're practically part of the action!

The one thing I can say about being media at the RG, is that they hook you up! They have a "courtside club" lounge, complete with free food, restaraunt-style seeting, and plasma TVs to watch the games. As for your work, there are limitless media guides, stats, even transcripts from the press conferences.

But the Rose Garden looks a lot different than how it does at Blazer games. The NCAA is doing everything to promote it's brand: All Blazer logos have been replaced or covered. Every Blazer banner has been taken down. EVen the Portland features on the scoreboard have been blacked out. It was almost like I was in a completely different arena.

As I was leaving the game on Thursday, pulling out of the parking garage, I passed by a man who was leaving the Blazer ofices at that moment. As he walked by my car, I suddenly realized it was Kevin Pritchard!  He looked like something was bugging him (probably the loss to the Cavs) so I decided not to annoy him further by trying to talk to him.

It's been such a great experience covering the Zags in Portland. As a Blazer fan, actually getting to work in the Rose Garden as a member of the media - something I hope to as a career - was such a thrill, and I couldn't be more thankful.

One more game to go, the Zags take on Western Kentucky in two hours.

-Which reminds me, I posted this in the open chat thread but it might have gotten lost in there: I want to give BlazersEdge a chance to get something into my next game recap. Send me suggestions for a particular word or phrase, and I will try to work it into my game recap later tonight.

Come on, Courtney Vandersloot wins WCC player of the year, and her, Heather Bowman, and Vivian Frieson were named First-Team All-WCC! Hell, even Kelly Bowen was named to the all-freshman team!

Just another great year for a program that has continued to build on it's success every season. For the third year in a row, Gonzaga has had the WCC Player of the year.

And now with a 2-round bye in the ladies tournament, the Zags only have to win 2 games to go to the NCAA tourney.

Show some love, SSF!

Scoop Jackson recently wrote a new column in which he picks the "Mt. Rushmore" for every NBA team. In other words, he wanted to choose the four most significant faces in the history of each franchise.

Some of those teams are easy to pick - The Magic have Shaq, Penny, Nick Anderson, and Dwight Howard. But others, he admits, are hard to choose - how do you pick only four Celtics to represent the franchise?

For the Blazers, Scoop picked Clyde Drexler, Bill Walton, Jack Ramsay, and ... Billy Ray Bates.

He makes the point that while Bates isn't necessarily a household name to casual basketball fans, Scoop says that Bates is "the most exciting player in Blazers history."

While, I'm not quite sure that I agree with that, it is an interesting selection.

For me, the top four has to be Clyde (most beloved player in the franchise's history), Walton (without him, no championship), Ramsay (the man who put it all together and build a Blazer legacy for years to come) ...  and finally, Bill Schonely. How many people became Blazer fans simply by listening to Schonz on the radio? In the early days, Schonz would visit small towns in Oregon promoting the Blazers and helping them feel like the team belonged to the entire Northwest. He convincec companies to advertise with the Blazers when no one else would.

Any thoughts on the subject? Do other Blazers belong up there instead?

I'm suprised there hasn't been a lengthy discussion on this topic yet. but I wanted to gage the reactions of my fellow Blazer fans to see how today's trade sending Iverson to the Pistons and Billups to the Nuggets will affect the NW division standings.

Obviously, the first reaction will be that the Nuggets traded one of the league's best scorers, and will therefore be more limited offensively. You can't replace the scoring of an Allen Iverson. From that standpoint, it would seem like the Nuggets would be weaker.

However, they got a solid poing guard in return, one who doesn't demand 30 shots a game like Iverson. Granted, Billups is definitely a scorer, but does is presence ease things for Denver and allow Carmelo Anthony to be the focal point? I suspect that there won't be any confusion about whose team it is, and there wont be any fighting for shots. 'Melo will be the main guy, with Billups running point and providing scoring here and there to back things up.

Before the season, most people had the Northwest division being won by Utah, with Portland second and Denver third. Does this trade change things? Is Denver any better, and if so, does it hurt the Blazers' playoff hopes?

Or, will nothing happen? Is it simply inconsequential in regards to the Blazers?

Personally, I think the Blazers still take second in the NW, with Denver finishing at about 10th in the West.

Any thoughts?

Courtesy of Sandberg On Sports

I spent Tuesday, Oct. 7 trying to figure out something meaningful to do for my birthday. Turning 22 isn’t exactly a huge milestone, but I wanted to find something significant that made this birthday stand out, something to make it more than just another day.

With no presents, lots of homework, and no time for a party, it seemed like this birthday would pass by with nothing to show for it.

Then the Portland Trail Blazers came back.

You see, they’d been gone for quite some time now. After those ill-fated attempts at a championship in 1999 and 2000, the team seemed to disappear for a while. There were reports that a gang of hooligans calling themselves the Jail Blazers had been masquerading in their place, but I dismissed these claims. They weren’t the Blazers. The Blazers had been missing since 2000.

Suddenly, in the last year and a half, there were sightings. Draft party madness. Brandon Roy carving up defense. A mastermind named Pritchard behind the helm. A 13 game winning streak. They were all glimpses, signs that the Blazers could be returning after all these years.

And then, to top it all off, the Blazers’ first 2008 preseason game was Oct. 7. My Birthday.

I didn’t want to succumb to these feelings of euphoria too quickly. I had been fooled by the Blazers before during the past eight years, so I didn’t want to put too much stock in a preseason game.

I was afraid that if I let myself believe they were back, that they would vanish like a mirage.

But it looked like fate was working on my side. This game had the long-awaited debut of Greg Oden. It had a burgeoning young Blazer team that had shocked the league with 41 wins last year. Rudy Fernandez was playing his first game in the United States. Draft day steal Jarryd Bayless was bringing his tenacity to the Rose Garden.

And to it all off, I could watch it on my birthday.

After all these years of waiting for my Blazers to come back, could this game finally convince me that they had finally returned? Could it ever live up to my expectations? Was fate destined to bring joy to this Blazer fan on his birthday?

You bet your ass.

For 3 hours, I was as estatic, as pumped up, as giddy as I have ever been as a Blazer fan. For 3 hours I was a kid again, leaping out of my seat, screaming, fist-pumping, and dancing around my apartment. Judging from my shouts, other people in my building must have thought that someone was dying.

Well someone did die: the cynical, jaded Blazer fan I once was. In his place was the full-fledged Blazermaniac that had been missing since 2000, since middle-school Blazer rallies, since English teachers ending classes with “go blazers,” since headbands and mighty mice and Lithuanian centers.

“ODEN!!!”

“OOOOHHH RUUUUUUUUUUDY!!!”

“DID YOU SEE THAT?!?!?”

“OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD! HAHAHAHA!!!!”

“I LOVE THE BLAZERS!!!”

He was back. So were my Trail Blazers.

Yes, it was a preseason game. Yes, it was against the Kings.

No, I don’t care. The Blazers gave me one of the best presents I could have received on my birthday. 

People may say that these preseason games don’t count for anything. Well, this preseason game brought back all those feelings of happiness I used to feel for the Blazers; it brought back my team. After all this time, the gift of the Blazers was finally returned to me, on my birthday, no less. And as a result, I could let myself believe again.

Don’t tell me that this doesn’t count for something.

Has anyone else noticed that Comcast SportsNet has been replaying the 1977 NBA title series this past week? Games 1 and 2 were on the past 2 nights at 7 p.m.

That means that for the next four nights, we can watch (***spoiler alert***) 4 Blazer victories over the 76ers!

Has anybody been watching this at all?

I'm mad that I missed game 2, I wanted to see the fight between Lucas and Dawkins.

But I can't wait for Sunday night. Game 6! If only they could replace Musberger with the Schonz!

As I said, former Blazer Vincent Askew was arrested today.

Does Jail Blazer status count if it is applied retroactively?

Granted, no one associates Askew with the Blazers (I think even John Crotty played more games than him), but I just want to know what the consensus is: if a former Blazer gets in trouble, does that count against the Blazers?

Personally, I don't think so at all, I just wanted to get other people's thoughts.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs were playing an intersquad scrimmage tonight in front of the fans, and I happened to go just to check out next year's team. As I watched the first game, I noticed a player out there whom I didn't recongnize as first. "Who is that guy? A new recruit?" I thought, before finally realizing "It's Kopponen!"

Apparently the Zags have been scrimmaging every night this week while they hold summer basketball clinics, with players from the team and the incoming freshmen taking part, and Petteri has been there playing with them (I also may have heard about this on BlazersEdge earlier, not sure). But he was out there, and quite frankly, he looked good.

Damn good.

Here's a little courtside scouting report based on watching him play in a few games tonight:

Pros:

-He can pass! This kid has incredible court vision. He wasn't doing anything particularly flashy, but he seemed to have a keen sense of where everyone on the foor was at all times. He was seeing passing lanes and exploiting them quickly - threading the needle for passes that I'm sure no one in the building thought were possible. Late edit: He worked really well on the pick and roll, hitting the cutter with bounce passes between defenders. That's pretty hard to do.

-He can shoot. He was knocking down 3's and pulling up for midrange jumpers as well. He seemed to be a good spot up 3-point shooter, one of the best out there on the floor. But he was working off the dribble, too, pulling up fro 15 feet and hitting jumpers.

-He's good in transition. He was hitting teammates on the fly or taking it to the basket himself for reverse layups. He seemed like he wanted to run whenever he got the ball.

Cons:

-On-ball defense needs work. He struggled to keep up with fast guards (Dimitri Goodsen) or body up against bigger guards (Jeremy Pargo). (Edit: Although just to make clear, he was having these troubles when guards were driving on him. On the perimeter he looked solid).  On the plus side, he seemed like a good off-ball defender, staying on his man (usually Pargo or Micah Downs) and denying him the ball.

All in all, Petteri gave a good performance tonight, and he definitely deserves a lot of attention from the Blazers during the Summer League. Honestly, I envision him in the Taurean Green role as our 4th point guard.

Of course, this is all based on one night of watching him play against the Gonzaga Bulldogs, so my judgement may be a bit skewed.

Hey everyone, I wrote this a few days ago, and I figured it would be best for everyone to read it. As big of a Blazer fan as I am, it is a total travesty what Stern and Co. are doing. Read on...

http://sandbergonsports.blogspot.com/2008/02/time-to-stand-together.html

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Hey everyone, just wanted to show that even though I'm 300 miles away, I still represent the red and black.

When I first started going to Gonzaga, I thought that it would be hard to adjust to not being able to be as close to my team as I could if I were in Portland. Then one day I was sent some Blazer clippings in the mail, and my future long-distance connection with Rip City was born.

http://sandbergonsports.blogspot.com/2008/01/rip-city-co-spokane.html

Rip City!!