For Blazer newbies, from a Blazer newbie

Hello there, Blazer newbie!  Welcome to the Blazer's Edge.  I'm sure you heard the big news about the one pick.  Maybe you're a Buckeye fan who loves Greg Oden and wants to keep an eye on him?  Or maybe you just haven't watched the NBA that closely lately, and now you feel like you might be able to get back into it, thanks to the dynamic duo of Durant and Oden?  

So you're thinking about potentially becoming a Blazer fan.

I was in your shoes a year ago.  As a kid, I grew up rooting for the Bad Boy Pistons.  Yes, ok, you can hate me for that.  But I grew up close to Detroit, so what can I say?  Eventually, I grew disenchanted, primarily because I discovered that, yes, Bill Lambier was an evil sonuvabitch.  And Dennis Rodman went from being the worm to being, well, whatever that was.  And the college game had much less of that crap, so I started watching college ball.  When the Pistons got good again, I shrugged.  It seemed artificial, almost contrived.    So I didn't go back.

I went to a rinkadink little school to get my bachelor's degree, and, while I kept up an affinity for Big Ten basketball, I was far removed from it.  Then I had the good fortune of attending the University of Washington just as Lorenzo Romar began turning that team around, thanks in part to Brandon Roy.

I became a big fan of the UW team, and of BRoy in particular.  I was disappointed when Nate Robinson left early and abandoned a team that could've had a shot at the title.  And I remained a big supporter of Roy.  When the Blazers bent heaven and earth to pick him up, my interest was piqued.

Oh, the Blazers!  That team that took on the Bad Boy mantle after the Pistons went soft.  Rip City, right?  Small market team, good town.  Terrible record, true, but now they've got Brandon Roy.  And, hell, I was used to rooting for crappy teams.  Tiger baseball, anyone?  I was moving back to the East Coast, but, what the hell, maybe I'll watch them this year.

Let me tell you, Blazer Newbie, it was a helluva ride.  For a while, there, I thought we'd actually make the playoffs!  I haven't felt this good about a team that finished this badly since, well, never.  And, the icing on the cake, Roy was R.O.Y., and now they're going to grab (fingers in ears to Durant-supporters) Greg Oden.  What a great core of solid young players!

So, if you're thinking about becoming a Blazer fan, let me say welcome aboard.  Next year you'll probably be able to see them on TV more often, thanks to Oden.  And, the people on this site, good folks.  Plus, I actually won a contest for picking games and got a little prize sent, totally free.  That was awesome.