about players not making the team from summer league! Means good things for us.

Another great one Dave.

The team will be good, in time. But now is the fun time where young Blazers flash exciting potential and we get peeks at what they will one day become.

Life has stages. We have to appreciate each stage, not rushing to get to the next, “better,” time of life, or, in this case, fanhood.

Watching the game last night, I said to my wife, “Thank god we’re not Phoenix fans, that would really suck. Nothing to gain, only things to worry about for 82 games.”

I’ve never been a believer that the holy grail for a sports fan is to have your team win a championship. For me, the best part is watching a team come together, to grow personally and as a team and watch them elevate their level of play. Watch them become competitive, watch them raise the bar. That’s what I’m here for and these Blazers are delivering by the truckload.

As fans, we extraordinarily lucky to be in place where so many things have all come together to make this happen, and I’m not missing a minute of it. It will never happen again in my lifetime, I’m fairly certain. Thanks for reminding us Dave!

I think a great thing about Blazers Edge is that we get to meet all the fans. We’ve all been to a game where there is a fan of your team sitting close by, who behaves so badly that you’re embarrassed he’s a fan of your team. Blazers Edge is great because it brings together the smart fans, the new fans, the old fans, the dumb fans, the rational fans, the irrational fans, the fans of only a single player, the fans of other teams… there is no point in trying to list them all. The point is, that we are all fans of the Trail Blazers.

We all, for the most part, have the same goals for the Portland Trail Blazers, we just have different ideas on how to reach them. Thankfully none of us are in charge, because the folks who are in charge are doing a way better job than any of us could ever venture. I am just happy to sit back and enjoy watching the players, the coach, the team, and the management, develop into a championship caliber franchise.

Right now I look at how the team plays, and I care more about that then the win it self. For me when we have so many players that are good it is interesting to watch their impact on the game, and how they develop. I want to see LMA get stronger so he can always go inside and be effective that way. I want to see Roy become that super start so he can get some respect from the refs and the league. I want to see Rudy play and do those amazing things he always does. And I want to see that monster in Oden that we hear he was in the training camp. I want Oden to become dominant where he is unstoppable. And I think that blazers are capable to be a playoff team but everything has to go perfect for that to happen. The only team in the west that might fall out of the playoffs is Denver, but I dont see Dallas, Suns or the Spurs falling out of the playoffs this year. I think the Blazers, Denver, and Warriors will be in hunt for the 8 spot.

Just in the short while I’ve been here, it’s been fun to watch this thing grow….with the old format and “Diaries” in the distant past, the days of 12-15 comments on a good fanpost passing, it’s interesting to see what your thoughts on it are.

Thanks Dave,
—Josh

Great post – this might be a nice thing to re-plaster on the front page periodically throughout the season, too.

Thanks for posting that Dave.

i have been reading this blog for the past few years, since i dont live in oregon (or the US for that matter) it keeps me up to date on the blazers, since the national media does not devote more than token info. i think i saw the blog from truehoop, and have been reading since, although i only signed up recently.

thanks for the great blog, and the great community

It’s the journey, not the destination. I guess what I worry about is will Nate give these guys the tools that they need to succeed? Talent, check. Character, check. Game plan, not so much? Like others have stated, the glaring problems of last season seem to be hanging around and I think that in fairness to Nate, a lot of those loops were not tied up due to injuries to Oden, Roy, Blake, Martell and Channing. That being said, what I really worry about is will Nate give these thoroughbreds their heads and let them run or will he be reining them in every time there is a miss step? That kind of coaching can produce more stress than the average athlete can allow. Any thoughts on this observation would be appreciated.

Dave, If I didn’t already have a dad with as much wisdom and calm, cool, collected common sense as you routinely display, I’d be on here asking if you’d be my honorary papa!

This is where I always come to get the down-to-earth team perspectives – the sky is never falling.

My handle (hurryup09) to the contrary, I’m really into enjoying the process of this Blazers team becoming contenders (and, hopefully, dynastic champions). Having been a San Francisco resident when the Warriors and 49ers won championships, I realize that the process is what’s truly cool. Once a team wins a title, a lot of the thrill is gone.

Hey, it still beats being in the lottery. But as anxious as we all are to see the guys reach the Promised Land, we should try to slow down and savor all the thrills & spills on the way.

1. As for the present, I have to agree with you completely. I have been preaching (kinda like you haha) that we will need a little bit of patience, I guess not so much patience but a realistic expectation of what the first 1/4 of the season will entail.

We are going through our toughest stretch of games this season, playing some of the toughest teams and on the road as well many of the times. We play on the road 12 times in this 20 game stretch including 5 back to back games and only play 9 more the rest of the season.

People are willing to trade 1/2 of the team and give no leeway to Blake or Frye disregarding their injury layoffs and lack of playing time with their teamates during the preseason, nor TOs lack of PT with the starting unit.

2. As for the future, never count our KP and his mysterious ways. Let us not forget that Batum, Rudy and Sergio were all 20 something picks. I still am at odds on who to get now that Batum looks to be filling in very well in what we need.

Keep an eye out on Jan 19th game vs Mil as that will be the 41st game and may be the last game our dear friend RLEC may be with us and we may be adding a few player/s to the roster.

We are getting far to upset over a bit of a rough stretch and need to chill out.

THE SKY IS NOT FALLING.

Enjoy this people!!

It never ceases to amaze me how you continue to write these spectacular editorials that always give me new perspective. This time it was your stated goal, but rarely do your editorials fail to accomplish that even when it may not be central to your editorial.

The one thing that miss from a year ago is the more intimate insider feel that this blog had before a thousand more people joined. Don’t get me wrong I love the fact that this blog as become famous and everyone wants to join in the fun. Who can blame them. But I do miss not having to “fight” just to get a quick comment in to the gameday threads and I liked actually having a pretty good handle on who the regulars were. Now the regulars list is way too big to have a handle on. Sigh. I do love my fellow BEdgers! You guys are “too cool for school”!

Now that my fit of nostalgia is over – G.O. Blazers!

There’s a lot of psychology built into the comments and posts of this blog… maybe someone should develop a “BlazersEdge Psychology Guide” to help orient us on this path toward the rings?

What are other good comparisons?

Who is the Clyde, the Terry (ok, that’s Ben I guess), the Sabas, the Rasheed, the Damon, the Brandon?

Who is Dave? Maybe Harry Glickman or Paul Allen (and Casey is Harry Glickman).

and a thanks.. I think?. :)

As one of the couple of dozen readers from the beginning, it has been a lot of fun to watch this thing grow. I knew from a very early time by reading your stuff that you’d be able to turn it into something bigger. As a blog, there have been some very fortunate breaks that have allowed for more readers. I know I don’t post nearly as often anymore as I used to, but it is soooo hard to feel like my voice is being heard anymore with the exponential growth of the reader base. I loved the “old days” when a comment on a post led to a response from you, and a few more from the other couple dozen faithful readers, but that’s just not here anymore. However, I’m still here almost every day, still reading, trying to read as many comments as i can, but I just don’t have the time anymore to be as active as i’d like to be. I’m amazed that you are still able to be as active on here as you are.

Since I was one of the first handful of your faithful readers however, I expect a shout out when you are accepting each and every blogger award that you will receive! LoL…

Thanks for all the great posts, and for breeding this wonderful community. Keep up the great work Dave!

I hate to ruin a great post, but I need to mention for the record that Shawn Respert was the #8 pick in the draft in ’95, and in ’96 he had cancer (as in “Shawn Respert had cancer”, NOT “Shawn Respert was a cancer”)… maybe you were thinking of Randolph “1995 ACC Tournament” Childress?

but wanted to say thank you for this post. I appreciate you taking a truth from another aspect of life and helping us apply it to our “fandom.”

Just because everyone thinks you work is excellent and you are a great guy,dont let it go to your head[smart ass font]

and thanks for your leadership. I have to admit, I’m envious of your celebrity; but you probably can carry it better. Really it seems like the gap between celebrity and common man is narrowing these days.

Curious though, are you still working your day job? I have a hard time keeping up on here myself with my day job. I’m not sure how some of these people don’t get fired. Maybe you should start up an unemployment fund for people who lose their job due to too much Bedging…

All I can say is I started reading sometime in the fall of 2006 because I was looking for fans who felt the same way I did, that we were finally headed in the right direction. I found them, along with some that thought we needed (insert aging veteran superstar here.) Thanks for putting way too much time into this. It shows. It is nice to see a lot of the veterans commenting in this thread.

 I am a reader from the Philippines. I have been reading and lurking around here ever since you took over from Casey. I don’t know how I stumbled onto this blog but the first post I remember was the one where you say goodbye to Khryapa after the 2006 draft. Its hard being a Trailblazer fan here in the Phils. where everyone like Kobe/LBJ/Wade.

Anyway, once again, thanks!

Your very first post on here. I loved reading Casey on here when you could count the amount of comments on two hands that were made in one day, and then he disappeared for a while and I talked to Blez, and he told me you were coming in to take over. Good times…

I believe I had the very first comment of the Dave era on BE.

It’s been amazing watching you grow. It has been and will continue to be just as fun and amazing watching the Blazers’ further progression.

I do miss the far more intimate Blazer Thoughts days or even your early B.E. period. Today’s traffic, although fun, can be overwhelming.

I remember when you were a guest blogger on BE filling in for Lance Uppercut (Casey) when he was on vacation (I believe that was before you started Blazer Thoughts). You absolutely stood out during that substituting stint. You had me hooked and just as soon as I learned about Blazer Thoughts I joined up.

With your talent, passion, extremely hard work and time commitment I am happy to see the fruition of your efforts to be this huge, popular run-away-train. I personally preferred the single engine, one club car and caboose of old but I’ll admit it is intriguing and exciting to watch as your blog grows and leaves me to wonder just how it will end up: Implosion, merger, stock options, buy out, downsizing, monopoly charges or something unforeseen?

Although we Bedgers would suffer, my wish for you has always been to see Blazer’s management offer you a nice juicy job somewhere in the organization. I can think of so many areas where you would be a perfect fit.

Anyway, thanks Dave. It’s been a fun ride with you and with the team so far ….. but yeah, as usual I think the journey will end up being better even than the destination.

I’m a long time Laker fan, which I’m sure makes me persona non grata around here, but take it from someone who has watched his team rise from the depths and ascend to the top a couple times, what I ultimately found to be the most enjoyable times as a fan were not the championship seasons but rather the ones building up to that. Dave is absolutely right that when your team is expected to win, especially if they are the consensus favorite to win it all, every single loss is a disappointment. A huge disappointment, even. Narrow victories can be letdowns. It can go beyond that too, where you find yourself having to listen to fans of your team piss and moan about how someone didn’t play well during a blowout win.

The real joy is in watching the potential of your young players become realized and watching as the chemistry begins to gel and the pieces all fall into place. The offseason definitely holds more intrigue when you’re at that stage than when you’re already at that “elite” level. Look at the offseason moves for a team like the Spurs, or the Pistons, or the Lakers or the Celtics or the Jazz: there really weren’t any, and the moves that were made were more of the financial variety (is it worth a 4-5 year deal to keep this bench player, etc), rather than being impact signings or trades.

It is important to keep in mind that the people on your Portland team will almost surely not all be the ones that are there for the real championship runs. The Blazers have a great “war chest” of talent right now, and while some pieces will be cornerstones of a championship (or championship-level) team, some will be used as trade bait to lock in the remaining pieces of a truly elite team. Be excited about the great young players you guys root for, but remember that everyone having the right role on a championship team, and having that proper chemistry is what will ultimately put your team over the top. No team constructed as this current Blazer squad has ever won a title, and there will almost surely be a fairly significant amount of shuffling in the next few years as Pritchard attempts to find that championship mix.

So enjoy this great time now where the sky is the limit and the future is incredibly bright, because soon these times will be in the past as the Blazers settle into the more serious business of Championship or Bust (which will inevitably be followed by a tumble to the bottom so the team can start over with a new rebuilding effort, as happens to every successful team). If the Blazers do go on and win a title in 2011 or thereabouts as many predict they will, you won’t see this phase of unbridled optimism about the future again for a long, long time, so savor it now.