SB Nation Blog: robrun2

Live From New York: Updated with how the NBA really feels about Portland

robrun2 — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:19:19 -0000

Hey guys, I'm over in New York doing really nothing at all, and I decided to stroll over to Rockefeller Center, in hopes of maybe running into Conan O'Brien and accosting him into giving me an autograph. Unfortunately, that never happened. On the other hand, I found a rally for Team USA Basketball going on instead. The whole team was there, but I had the nasty luck to show up for only the last introduction - Tayshaun Prince. Still, the team seems to have great chemistry, as you could see guys like Deron Williams and Chris Paul joking during the PR events.

The spectacle itself was silly, as it involved a game of USA (A patriotic version of HORSE) for a pair of shoes for a section of kids from the inner city. Why Nike didn't give shoes to both sides, I'll never know. Those have always been my favorite kind of charity competitions. Both sides don't know they'll win, but then afterwards, they both get prizes. It's the pride that counts, right?

At the rally, Portland was well-represented, as I saw a few fans with Oden jerseys, and then there were my manic screams for Nate. If only The Marcus was there today.

I'll update this further when I go to the NBA Store, and see what kind of representation the Blazers have there in comparison to, say, the Milwaukee Bucks or the Oklaseattle Sonics.

Update:

The NBA store is a concrete-made-to-look-like-marble mammoth on Fifth Avenue in New York, across the street from a Salvatore Ferragamo flagship and down a block from the main locations of The Gap and Zara. It fits in nicely, as everything is a hue of gray due to the area receiving sunlight for about one hour a day because of the monstrous buildings. You're welcomed in with an HR Giger-esque revolving door that has the disembodied arms of Michael Jordan in place of bars on the door for pushing.

Inside, you immediately see what you expect: Knicks merchandise and Boston merchandise (They're the champs after all). As you go around the top/first floor, you get the range of normal touristy stuff: Adidas apparel, T-shirts that just say "NBA Store" for $35, (Nice, David Stern) and for a comedic break a small WNBA section. I have no right to expect the Blazers up here, because, after all, we weren't even in the playoffs this year, although we had an all-star.

Downstairs is where I expected our players represented to a degree that was at least proportionate to the rest of the league. After all, the Blazers were #7in attendance last year. What do I find? An Oden jersey displayed proudly as soon as I got down there. Joy flooded my body, a home three thousand miles away from home, they have our guy. Then I look at the jerseys surrounding him. Zach Randolph. Ugh. Then I wonder, where's Brandon Roy. Oh, he's tucked in the back, behind a ladder. I guess he was only an All-Star and there's valuable space needed for those Eddy Curry jerseys.

Still, the most disgusting part of this excursion came when I was looking through the t-shirt section. Here, there are a bunch of shirts with the retro logo of NBA teams. You know the type: Washington Bullets, cursive Chicago, the skyline of Seattle for the Supersonics. I was excited here. I finally had a souvenir from the NBA store - a retro Portland logo t-shirt, our proud pinwheel turned vertical. I looked all around. It wasn't there.

"Where are the Blazers shirts?" I asked a nearby employee folding Nets shirts.

"Uh, we have the Bullets shirts over there."

"Yes, I know, but where are the Trailblazers?"

"I told you, the Bullets are over there."

"Yeah, I know, but the Bullets are the Wizards now. I mean, the Blazers, you know, from Portland?"

"Oh!"

"So do you have them?"

"No."

Thus ended my search for an interesting Blazers shirt. At least it should have, but I still pressed on! I rifled through the area and found something of immaculate wonder: a back of a shirt with the number 22 and the word "DREXLER" spelled above it. Here it was I found it. I quickly unfolded it, to hold up against myself in that neutered form of trying on clothing. As the front revealed itself, a lump of sausage pizza rose from my stomach. It read "Houston Rockets." According to the NBA, Clyde Drexler isn't a Blazer.

I take away one lesson from my experience at the NBA store. We have every right to gloat and Pritch-slap whoever we damn please. The NBA gives us no respect, so we should be just as disrespectful to them. They don't care what happens in Portland. One of the league's biggest success stories, and they're thrown behind a ladder. We must continue with our pride. The French have a phrase for this (ask Batum) "Je m'en fous." It translates roughly to "I don't give a damn" (although slightly worse). This should be our motto. This makes me think more that Blazers really our team and not meant for anyone else. If people find them, excellent, the more the merrier, but the NBA sure isn't going out of its way to let customers or employees know we exist.

The History of Blazers Edge?

robrun2 — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:09:44 -0000

I've been going to this site for well over a year now, and it's always been Dave doing the posts (and now Ben, of course). What I'm wondering is how did this site spring forth? Was Dave the founder of it? How did he found this thing? Was he hanging out on some other SB Nation blog and just jumped into it? For some reason this nags me a little bit (I suppose it happens during the summer after school is done).

The Official "Let's Go Lakers!" Thread

robrun2 — Sat, 31 May 2008 21:05:50 -0000

It's finally happened. I feel like a castaway on Lost. I've been on the Island for so long with my group, and now I'm joining the Others - I'm a Laker convert, at least for these playoffs.

The Celtics are pure evil. They're a bunch of mercenaries, a bunch of old guys who couldn't do it themselves who band together for the most spoiled sports city in America. They must lose. They're the third biggest danger to the NBA (behind the Spurs and flopping, both related, I know).

The way I see it, it's choosing between two STDs, two things you'd never want. The Lakers seem like they'll be around forever and are kind of itchy, hence, they're herpes. However, the Celtics are sinister like Civil War syphilis. So remember - choose herpes.

via img.photobucket.com

Get Me To The Draft!

robrun2 — Wed, 21 May 2008 21:16:05 -0000

Okay guys, here's what's going on. This coming summer, I'll be making my first ever trip into New York City proper. (I say proper because a couple of times I flew though Newark and saw the Statue of Liberty from an airplane window. Not mine, because I'm always seated on the aisle so I have to get up wait while an elderly person or a kid with no bladder control shuffle their way past me, stubbing my toes.) Anyway, I'll be arriving on June 24. The draft is two days later, on the 26th. My question is, what does it take to get into the draft? Do you need press credentials? Is there a drawing? Do you just show up? Anyway, I don't know much about this sort of thing, so maybe you folks could help me, perhaps Dave or Ben also?

POWER SEARCH

robrun2 — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:31:29 -0000

Hey, we got something new this week! Let's see the results for certain phrases:

"Brandon Roy": 578 stories

"Greg Oden": 474

"Stephen A. Smith": 73

"Shakespeare": 47

"Bill Simmons": 314

"Scientology": 11

"Catholicism": 4

"LeBron James": 390

"LeBron": 700

Anyone got any other fun ideas to search? Holy crap, I have to write at least 40 more words. I guess this damn site doesn't recognize proper hard work. Good research is much better than a higher word count. Anyway:

"Fire Nate": 1

However, I found out the first time I said "fire Nate" was in order to tank the season to get Greg Oden and trade Zach Randolph. 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Fire Nate

robrun2 — Sun, 11 May 2008 06:55:02 -0000

God, I miss the season already. I loved overanalyzing every single move that was made in the game, like each was the end of the world, or at least the end of the franchise.

However, my favorite part of the season was piling on after any loss where it was due to some decision Nate made that really was trivial, but ended up costing us in some winding convoluted way through my lens of ridiculous logic.

Hilarious interview on Comcast Sportsnet

robrun2 — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:02:53 -0000

I don't have any video on this, but I can give you a basic rundown. Barrett is interviewing Jones, Frye, and Aldridge on their opinions of the upcoming season, and what their winning prospects will be with Rudy and Greg. Jones answers in all seriousness, "55 to 60." Frye, in his Nintendo t-shirt, responds "I'll respectfully disagree with James, I think we'll have all 82." Jones doesn't even realize it's a joke and just keeps on going "82's a good goal, but the Bulls won 72 and they were the best team ever. I think 60's in our range, though."

Just another example of how well these guys get along together.

The Frye Question

robrun2 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:32:46 -0000

Out of any of our frontcourt players, Channing Frye is the one with the most uncertainty swirling around him. At least since Darius was declared medically unfit.

Roy verus Odom on Digg

robrun2 — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:24:31 -0000

If you want to see what the general internet nerd population thinks of last night's cheap shot, you now have the opportunity. I made a comment on there as "Funyn."

It's pretty ridiculous in terms of the Laker homerism on there. Who knew there are people in the world willing to defend Odom?

http://digg.com/basketball/Lamar_Odom_drops_Brandon_Roy

The Requisite "Bill Simmons mentioned us" Thread

robrun2 — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:54:52 -0000

Guess what everybody, Bill Simmons mentioned us.

This time it was in reference to what Sonics fans should do now that their team is leaving Seattle. He said that it would be blasphemy that for them to switch their allegiance to the Blazers, that it would be violating their years of rivalry.

I'm convinced he hasn't watched a Blazers game for the last 25 years. In my lifetime, the only heated rivalries that we've had that I can remember are with Utah and with the Lakers. Even Phoenix was a better rivalry than the Sonics. This isn't Yankees-Red Sox. This isn't Giants-Dodgers. This is like Golden State and Sacramento. Just two teams that happen to be near each other.

Here's his piece:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080404