Did anyone get their seat at yesterday's open house?  How about the thrill of getting Greg Oden's voice on your answering machine?  Wasn't that something??  Just as I was thinking, "Wow man, way cool!  That is Greg Oden's voice!," I realized he was saying, "Hey it's me, Greg Oden, from the Portland Trail Blazers.  I bet you didn't expect to get a phone call from the number one draft pick in the NBA..."

I was so thrilled, I had to call my sister and replay the message into her answering machine. I forgot to say anything to preface it.  When she got her message, she was so excited, she called me at work and replayed her message into my voice mail at work! We had a major case of star struck going on.

Anyway, I got next year's tickets in section 317 on the aisle with 318. I'm so primed for next year.  Anyone else get their tickets?

No one likes to revel in the misfortune of others.  But how does the Kobe Bryant hand injury change things for the L*kers as they are trying to integrate the play of Pau Gasol into their team chemistry on the floor? Do you think the L*kers will let him postpone surgery?

For more information:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i29CRxG886C9b3F-zSg7BF0AEu4w

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Has anyone heard about the fate of the "Rise WIth Us" sign that is hanging from the grain elevators between the Willlamette River and the Rose Garden.  I read Canzano's article in the Oregonian about it.  How bogus!!  There is a deadline to bring it down because it did not comply with some obscure city sign code.  (Something about it not being molded to the form of the structure it was hanging from...right?) For more info on the problem, I found these links:

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf?/base/sports/120166352127540.xml&a mp;coll=7&thispage=2

  http://blog.oregonlive.com/playbooksandprofits/2008/01/blazers_rise_with_us_banner_vi.html

Wouldn't it be cool if a lot of people, no, a whole lot of people contacted city council members asking them to pass some sort of ordinance exception to the sign rule specifically allowing the Blazers to use this structure to hang this sign and others similary hung there in future???  Would we?  Here's a link that might be helpful should you feel so inclined.

http://www.portlandonline.com/index.cfm?c=28533

First game was a loss in New Orleans November 2nd and the the next two were wins in the Rose Garden November 7th and December 17th.  James Jones missed the 11/7 game and LaMarcus Aldridge missed the 12/17 game.  

I like stats on particular match ups to see which players have the most advantageous match ups against a particular team.  These stats are prone to early statistic anomalies.  So you can't infer too much.  But still, I like to look at them because between games I scavenge for more indications that the next game will be a great one.

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Last night after the Blazer game, my nephew and I took a quick look at the 7 game road trip. At that point six of the seven teams were .500 and above teams, although I noticed that Atlanta slid below that mark in this morning's standings in the Oregonian.  The seven games in eleven days looked very challenging. There are three days off before the first game. Of the two back to back games, I like Miami to Orlando better than Toronto to New Jersey but even in the Miami to Orlando I would prefer it to be Orlando to Miami. Our opponents will not be coming off any back to backs.  Yikes! Three of the seven opponents will have had two days of no games prior to playing the Blazers (new Jersey, Orlando, and Atlanta), but the Blazers won't have any two days spacing between games.

Prior games with these teams show 4 wins at home, 2 losses at home and 1 loss away. Of note, the three prior game losses (for Orlando, New Jersey, and New Orleans) were in November (2nd, 21st, 26th) which would be before the Trail Blazers reaped the benefit of the coaching (of film) changes.

All in all, I think the Blazers will get some very favorable national media attention when the win most, if not all of these games. I'd be real pleased with five wins and two losses.  But I think seven wins is not unreasonable.  

Here's what we found with today's standings:

1/13   Toronto  E-AT  .515  prior: 1-W-@-hm
          Toronto coming off away game 1-11 in New York

1-14    New Jersey  E-AT  .515  prior 1-L@-hm
          New Jersey coming off home game 1-11 Boston

1-16    Boston  E-AT  .906  prior: none
          Boston coming off home game 1-14 Washington

1-18    Miami  E-SE  .242  prior: 1-W-@-hm
          Miami coming off home game 1-16 Chicago

1-19    Orlando  E-SE  .629  prior: 1-L-@-hm
         Orlando coming off away game 1-16 in Charlotte

1-21   Atlanta  E-SE  .484  prior: none
         Atlanta coming off away game 1-18 in Toronto

1-23    New Orleans  .676  prior: 2-W@hm, 1L-A
          New Orleans coming off  home game 1-21 Milwaukee

Preparing a gag gift for a friend who is a Laker fan, I was cutting out pictures from a few issues of "Rip City" and came across a feature "Holiday Traditions" in the December 6th issue 3.3.  It was really cool to see how many Blazers spoke of family coming to their house for Christmas this year: Jarrett Jack, Sergio Rodriguez, LaMarcus Aldridge, Josh McRoberts, and Martell Webster.

My family is not so spread out except for my son who is in the Army and will be here for Christmas. It will be especially sweet as he deploys to Iraq early in January.  So, I am trying to clean, and cook, and work on the my Christmas Day banner for the Sonics Game.  (The matchup is a particular rivalry for me)  I hope everyone has a safe, happy, and wonderfully satisfying holiday.

"All I want for Christmas is 15 in a row..." MP

Since it will be like a child waiting for Christmas to wait all the way to Tuesday for the next game, I put together some leading stats amongst the Blazers to mull over. I am so pleased that they reflect the depth of the team.  Even though I limit it to the top three (unless a tie for third), everyone is listed except I omitted Taurean Green's and Josh McRobert's stats as  early statistic anomolies.  Mr Green's stats look great, though, so I hope he gets more play.

I like to look at the numbers like they tell a story.  I'm thankful the team plays for the sport and the joy of it.  Where would Jarrett Jack's first quarter ending half court long bomb be if he was inhibited by not wanting to risk his stats?  It wouldn't have been in the bucket.  And the crowd would not have been on their feet. And the stats don't tell a complete story.  There are no stats for setting a good pick, setting a great pick, big showboat moves that make the crowd go crazy, defining plays during the final seconds, plays that stop opponents run, plays that should have been in the stats if only the referree had done his job well.  Ah such is the limitations of stats.  

Also note, these are from my own spread sheet record keeping.  I use the box score in the fish wrapper, so there are a few places that it differs from what is in the Blazer web, but if it is my entry error, I can't find the problem.  This includes Jarrett Jack's assists being off by 4 and LaMarcus Aldridge's rebounds being 58 & 111 instead of 61 & 108. Minutes had even more discrepancies with small margins for Martell, LaMarcus, Jarrett, James, Sergio and Raef.  That said.

First and only so far to reach 1000 minutes: Brandon Roy 1014

Total Points            Points per Game              Points per Minute
Brandon Roy 516             19.1                        LaMarcus Aldridge .537
LaMarcus Aldridge 406       18.5                    Brandon Roy .509                  
Travis Outlaw 331           12.3                        Travis Outlaw .462

Field Goal Percentage                                      
Joel Przybilla 53.92 %
LaMarcus Aldridge 52.96 %
James Jones 52.44 %

Three Point Percentage                                 Three Point Field Goals per Minute
James Jones  53.0%                                       James Jones 8.0
Steve Blake 41.3 %                                       Martell Webster 5.5
Martell Webster 39.1%                                 Steve Blake 4.2

Free Throw Attempts                                    Free Throw Attempts per Minute
Brandon Roy 140                                          Travis Outlaw .151
Travis Outlaw 108                                         Brandon Roy .138
LaMarcus Aldridge 89                                  Jarrett Jack .126

Free Throws Made                                         Free Throw Percentage
Brandon Roy 107                                          James Jones 93.9 %
Travis Outlaw 78                                           Jarrett Jack 81.8 %
Jarrett Jack 72                                                Brandon Roy 76.4 %

Offensive Rebounds              Defensive Rebounds              Rebounds per Minute
LaMarcus Aldridge 58          Joel Przybilla 132                  Joel Przybilla .323
Joel Przybilla 55                    LaMarcus Aldridge 111        Channing Frye .230
Travis Outlaw 34                  Travis Outlaw 106                  Raef LaFrentz .228

Assists                                                           Assists per Minute
Brandon Roy 151                                          Sergio Rodriguez .184
Steve Blake 136                                            Steve Blake .174
Jarrett Jack 87                                                Brandon Roy .149

Steals                                                            Steals per Minute
Brandon Roy 27                                           Sergio Rodriguez .048
Travis Outlaw 23                                         Travis Outlaw .032
Steve Blake 20                                             Jarrett Jack .0271
                                                                     Brandon Roy .0266

Blocked Shots                                              Blocked Shots per Minute
Joel Przybilla 38                                           Raef LaFrentz .081
LaMarcus Aldridge 25                                 Joel Przybilla .066
Travis Outlaw 21                                          LaMarcus Aldridge .033

On Christmas day, when the Sonics come to play, I am hoping for a good long shot of Greg Oden on the jumbo tron.  He usually gets a short shot.  We cheer and clap, and he catches on that it is for him, and he smiles and waves.  This time I would like him to get a good long shot.  Something long enough that he can stand up, and look around, and really see our reaction. The fans can shower him with the noisy recognition that we are pleased to have Kevin Pritchard's choice on the bench as our hope for the future instead of the oft compared player in the Sonics uniform on the floor.  It can not be easy for young Mr Oden to be so compared.  And it can not be easy to be so long on the bench when his heart is on the floor.  I hope the camera puts him on the jumbo tron long enough for us to show him our hearts.      

I wish we had a diary that we could keep going back to throughout the season (using the search feature maybe) to keep track of horrible, seemingly anti-Blazers referee action in a Blazer game.  (Remember how horrible the refereeing was on the 3-16-07 Laker game)  

**If we post a comment in this diary specific to a particular game with horrible ref calls/non-calls and with the guilty refs name in the comment, then when we go into an important matchup we can be forewarned with vital information.**

It would take everyone's help.  I'm not good at remembering names be they players or refs, so I couldn't get the info from memory.  Also, it is harder to follow which ref was the "lousy caller" or the "pretend you didn't see it" type of guy when you are at a game.  and there will be times when I miss a game.  (sadly no cable to tape it.)  So it would take a collective effort.

I find it is listening to the radio that gives the best ref info because the reffing dirt is always dished better there.  

Is anyone else interested in amassing this information?

It struck me while on the way to the Pistons game.   Blazer fans are missing it by being nearly invisible.   I'm driving down the freeway, and I can't tell what portion of the traffic around me is also heading toward the game.  Once off the freeway, I still can't tell which vehicles are going to the convention center or commuting home, and which are going to the Blazer game.  Even on the street with the two parking structures, only blinking turn signals indicate the Blazer fans.  Now, this wasn't an absolute, but it was the norm overwhelmingly.  It would be interesting to count the cars as they come into the parking structures with a quick glance to count how many appear to be obvious Blazer fans and how many do not.  

I know some Raiders fans who love the ride to the Raider's games.  There is something about being a part of something bigger than themselves, and yet it is more.  It is beyond the traffic of joining with thousands of other fans.  It is joining your expression of your fandom with the expressions of others nearby.  It is the nods and the thumbs up of approval and admiration of the decked out appearance of each other's vehicles.  And then it grows with the convergence toward the arena building in excitement and intensity as the cars of the fandom get closer.  This excitement prepares the crowd for the intensity and excitement needed to be useful to the players during the first quarter.    

I have one Blazer car flag which is mostly black.  I wish there were more to choose from, like maybe a shiny red one.  I think they should be flown on game day whether you get to go to the game or not, regardless of how close to the game you live.  I've flown them while on the way home from work with the game on the radio.  I don't buy into the argument that if you were a true fan, you'd be at the game.  NBA seasons are long and sometimes games are often.  There is room for the fans who can't afford to go to every game whether it be because of the monetary commitment or the time commitment.  But, they can support with car flags.  House flags are great also.  The Blazer banner is really a cool one.  Flying it on game days, whether a home or an away game, is a visible way to support our team.   Even putting out pompoms in the back windowsill or a decal in the window can do so much.

And why aren't more fans wearing the Trail Blazer clothing?  We are not ashamed to be Blazer fans.  We should be willing to support our team with the apparel.  It is something we fans can do to contribute to the success of our team.  I don't buy into the argument that fans wearing more than one article such as a shirt with a hat, or a shirt with a coat etc have the appearance of wanting to pose as a coach or some other staffer.  I think team clothing for fans should be encouraged instead of focusing on what is too much.  It is easier to tone down a dangerous fanatic than it is to raise someone from apathy.  Women, especially, like to coordinate their outfits.  

Blazers could market a lot more variety of clothing for women.  Women do a lot of clothing shopping.  Even if the main fan of the family is her spouse, she'll buy for them both, so they can be coordinated in their clothing.   And, women's clothing doesn't need to be pink, or glittery, so long as it is cut in a manner attractive for the female form.  How many women are buying kids size large jerseys because Blazers don't market women sizes?  And if you are female and busty?  Forget it.   You'll shopping in the men's section.  Correct me if I'm wrong, please.  Do I just not know where to shop?  Where should I go?    

Wearing Blazer apparel helps bring attention to your team and it supports them monetarily.  I can't tell you how many times a stranger, after noticing my Blazer jacket or hoody or lanyard, has told me they used to follow the Blazers but stopped because of the character of the players.  In return, I share that it is a great time to get back into the Blazers because Kevin Pritchard and Paul Allen have formed a team of dedicated players with honorable character to compete for us.  "Real all-American boy-next-door-type of guys", I tell them.   This team is going places, and now is a wonderful time to enjoy the ride.    We should be doing whatever we each can to call attention to our team in a positive light.  Even people who have never followed the Blazers, seeing so many fans supporting them, may decide to check it out.  Fans can help Blazer fever spread.

The Blazers are trying to "Make It Better."  So can the fans!!  What's on your shopping list?