Travis Outlaw is having surgery on his foot today.  Thought I'd start a thread so we could all wish him a safe surgery and a speedy recovery.  Pictures of balloons and flowers would be greatly appreciated.  Get well soon, Travis, we'll need you for the championship run!

Feel free to add your own your comments and pictures to the thread that's available below.  (No haters, please!  The guy's going under the knife.)

1) I confess to being one of the people who thought Blake and Miller should never play together.  Then Nate starts them both, and plays them together most of the game.  The Blazers then beat the Spurs by 12.  This is why Nate's the coach and I'm not.

2) I took my lucky charm to the game tonight, my 6-year-old daughter.  The Blazers are undefeated when she goes.  I was a little bit worried when she fell asleep in the 2nd quarter, but apparently she doesn't need to be conscious at the game for the Blazers to win.  With 50 seconds to go and the game clearly in the bag, I woke her up to say it was time to go.  "Is it over?" she asked.  "No," I said.  "I don't want to go then", she said.  Now there's a Blazers fan.

3) Can anyone tell me when the last time Greg Oden was the first Blazer in double figures.  Oden schooled Duncan all night long.  It was joy to watch.

4) I love the fact that Blazer fans know their team so well, that they went bonkers when Nate put Jerryd Bayless in the game.  How many teams have a fan base that tracks their 3rd string point guards minutes, and cheers when he plays.

5) On the hand, the jerks who yell Blake s*cks at the top of their lungs during a crucial free throw make me want to dump a beer on someone's head.   I'm so sick of the Blake/Miller "controversy."  Just shut-up and enjoy the game.

6) Boy, Webster looked mad that he didn't start.   Sure am glad he took it out on the Spurs.

7) Manu Ginobli is a whiner.

8) OK, but if Oden is schooling Duncan in the first and second quarters, maybe we could get a pass into him in the fourth once in a while too.  Not that Travis didn't once again carry us through the fourth, but Oden's shots just look so much easier--bump, turn, dunk a Duncan.

1) Our 2nd and 3rd string small forwards combined for 37 points.  That's depth.

2) Brandon Roy had a terrible night.  LaMarcus Aldridge, Joel Pryzbilla, and Greg Oden all had foul trouble.  We still won.  See #1.

3) Travis Outlaw and Martell Webster can play defense.  I don't care what other people write. (Yeah, I know who they were covering tonight, but let's not be cynical...)

4) Greg Oden's stat sheet should have a special column that reads shots disrupted = 67.

5) Steve Blake and Andre Miller should, under no circumstances, be on the court at the same time.

I took my daughter to the game tonight, 308 baby!  Some impressions...

1) Greg Oden spent his warm-ups shooting free throw after free throw.  Lovely to see him go 6 for 6 from the line.   And that shot looked smooth.  Likely won us the game tonight.

2) The replacement referies made this painful to watch (not to mention an extra 45 minutes long).  I'm not saying they called a bad game, I'm just saying...

3) The box score doesn't show it, but Nic Batum sure does the little things.  Some beautiful assists, a stunning lay-up block, an important three.

4) Sure was chippy for a preseason game.  You get the feeling there's going to be some nasty games between these two clubs this year.

5) Juwan Howard was a great addition to this team.  He fit in very well out there.  And, err, Travis Outlaw is not a power forward.

6) I haven't seen Martell Webster play in a long time.  I thought his defence was better than what other posters have suggested.

7) Jerryd Bayless is really fast.