With all of the attention that Brandon Roy recieved during his contract negotians, I noticed myself cringing more and more every time someone would refer to him as "B-Roy".  Now it has come to the point where I absolutely detest the name and have decided to do my little part to dispose of it.  I know it is an unwinable battle but if I can get just one person to stop using the name, then my post has done it's job.  Here's my case:

The name B-Roy is extremely un-original.  Taking someones first initial and adding on some, if not all, of their last name has become so commonplace that by doing the same thing to Brandon's name send a message that he wasn't worth our time to come up with something that sets him apart from the rest of the sports world.  Also, using that formula to come up with his nickname only serves to put him into the same company as the likes of A-Rod, J-Lo, Man-Ram etc.  It seems to me that he deserves more, and besides, is it really that hard to just call him Brandon or Roy?

So what do we do then?  Well, really we don't have to do anything.  Brandon already has a great nickname "The Natural".  It's original, it fits his style and best of all it's catchy.  Yes, it takes a few more key strokes to drum out but if that is your worry then "Roy" alone works just fine.  The next time you are about to use Brandon's cookie cutter moniker, stop and think of some of the great nicknames that have come before (The Dream, Pistol Pete, The Glove, Magic, His Airness) and then ask yourself if our most beloved player doesn't deserve a little bit more than Blah-Roy.

Although I am a Blazers fan, please rest assured that this is not my attempt at stirring the pot eve further between Lakers fans and Rockets fans.  I just wanted to point out an observation that I had.  If you have a couple extra minutes, swing over to http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/ really quick and you might notice the difference between how those on that site are decribing the events from game 2 and the way most posts on this site have described them.  From what I've seen, few on this site are trying to justify any poor actions on the part of the Rockets players in game 2.  While many have gripes about what might have led up to those events, most also think that Artest went a bit too far in how he handled the situation.  That right there is the difference.  The posts at the Lakers site, including the front page recap, are full of not only appologists for the actions of players like Derek Fisher, but are also APPLAUDING his actions and using them as a source of pride.  As if poor sportsmanship were some sort of status barometer for them and Derek Fisher was the last player that they were waiting for to finally come around to the L.A way of doing business.  Kudos to the majority of fans on this site for having a clear vision of what makes a respectable fan (and athlete for that matter).

                  I have to say that other than the fact that the Blazers will not be playing for the next six months, the worst part of the off season (as fresh as it is) is the lack of thought provoking posts and/or questions that Bedge is known for.  I know, I know there are tons of trade/draft posts out there but I'm talking about the FACTUAL posts that so many of us became so reliant upon throughout the regular season.  I know who I think should be traded.  I know who I think should be acquired in the free agent signing period.  Even if I didn't already know these things, there are about 200 posts that would help me make up my mind.  But since we have no control over either of those situations, I'm offering a forum for people who want to talk about what "will be" instead of what "might be". 

                    I want all BE fans to come to terms with who we know will be here next season and then share their thoughts on what those core players can do with the very valuable six months ahead of them.  We have a few players who we know wont be traded, so that being said it is fair to say that "No speculation means no room for doubt".  So, what individual observations do you have considering the "un-tradables"?  What can they improve on?  Can we win a title based on their improvement alone?  Is their possible improvment enough to justify a possible quiet off season in tems of a lack of charactaristic KP concocted drastic draft day moves or blockbuster trades?

Once again, I'm not interested in who should be traded/drafted.  What I want to know is, "What is the best possible outcome of this offseason that we can expect from our non-expendibles?"