101 reasons to be Thankful

In no particular order:

1.       The Blazers are staying in Portland

2.       Brandon Roy’s leadership, heart, and championship mettle

3.       The $5 “super” nachos (w/jalapenos) at the Rose Garden

4.       Theo (the guy who plays guitar and sings outside the arena)

5.       Red, black, and white are a manly combination

6.       $10 tan section seats

7.       The biggest Blazers fan there ever was or ever will be:  The guy in the aisle seat in section 329 with the headband and Rip City jacket.

8.       Being able to honestly say you watched a lot of games during the “bad years”

9.       The national media murmuring about the rumbling Blazer freight train off in the distance

10.   The “out of frustration” once a game leveling of a pick-n-roll defender by Joel

11.   Steven A. Smith’s “total waste of my time” comments during the 2006 draft

12.   The “dead tree” media’s fascination with the Blazers

13.   Being guaranteed playoff seats with a half-season package

14.   The moment when #6 came up Milwaukee

15.   Rudy’s ability to maintain a beard length of exactly 45 hours at all times

16.   Roy’s ability to break ankles at will

17.   The glimpses we’re seeing of why Greg was touted as a “once-in-a-generation” center

18.   The fact that we don’t have Ricky Davis, Larry Hughes, or Antoine Walker on our team.

19.   The fact that the Blazers picked fresh blood over a retread when looking for a GM

20.   Batum, for allowing us to spot the phony that pronounces it “bay-tumm”

21.   The lack of “stat hogs” on the team

22.   LaMarcus’ scary accuracy (until late) from 18’

23.   The air of dignity Larry Miller lends to the franchise

24.   The fact that we never really found out what was wrong with Joel’s groin

25.   The Shonz

26.   The loose change to be found in Greg’s furrowed brow

27.   Antonio Harvey getting a little bit better each year

28.   HDTV

29.   The knowledge that we’re on the way up, we have a long ways to go, and that “up” could be plenty high.

30.   “Rudy does more than score.  He assists.  He passes.  He steals.”

31.   We don’t have the frilly uniforms some teams have adopted

32.   The MAX ride home after a big win

33.   The fact that Pritch doesn’t seem to have the DNA to get fat and happy

34.   Microsoft Windows and Office Suite, but only because they’re paying Blazer salaries

35.   Nate, for his astonishing lack of smarminess

36.   The stories of team camaraderie on the road

37.   The spending power we’ll get in the summer of 2009

38.   Jay Jenson, who probably didn’t plan for this much overtime

39.   The guy who invented microfracture

40.   The awkwardness it feels when a national announcer refers to Rudy as “Fernandez”

41.   Wheels’ ability to make the game easy to visualize

42.   Watching penetrating guards say, “uh, maybe not” when Greg’s in the game

43.   Phoenix, for selling us a worthless #24 pick

44.   Kevin McHale and Danny Ainge for providing us with Brandon Roy

45.   Brandon, isolated against his defender, with 6 seconds on the clock

46.   Players who you don’t cringe when they’re interviewed

47.   Knowing you’re probably going to win a close game

48.   Roy being so good that he can get you an “invisible” 20/5/5

49.   Blake, for running Nate’s system to perfection

50.   Sergio to Rudy for the “what the hell was that?!?!”

51.   The guy who designed the backboard and stanchion, who’s watching Greg play and wondering if he’s going to be getting a phone call

52.   The way the net swishes, unlike any other player, when Rudy hits a three

53.   Knowing that a wide open Blake means 3 points more often than not

54.   Greg, for teasing us with an “almost afro”, before shaving it down

55.   Jerryd for demonstrating the angry passion of youth

56.   82 televised games (for some of us)

57.   Sergio, for not allowing himself to be completely broken by Nate’s system

58.   Watching Martell’s stoke and being surprised that they don’t all go in

59.   Greg’s surprising free throw shooting

60.   Trout, for not realizing that only stars are supposed to hit the pressure shots

61.   Ma and pa Batum, for stretching their childs limbs from birth, even if it must’ve been painful

62.   Ike, for continuing to hold on to the hope that he’ll be an NBA contributor

63.   Amphetamines, the ten cups of coffee, or whatever Rudy takes before the game

64.   LaMarcus’ ability to draw charges

65.   Channing Frye, who, despite not responding to an invitation to be a pie judge this summer, remains quintessentially Portland.

66.   The ESPN announcer’s inappropriate, somewhat scary, teen idol fascination with Rudy

67.   Channing’s ever-so-slightly unhinged blog

68.   Joel, every grandma’s favorite player

69.   Sergio, for the surprising jumper this season

70.   Raef, who’s about to take the largest pay-cut in NBA history

71.   Greg coming to town in a Ford Taurus

72.   The mercifully short period of time we had to deal with the Faux-hawk

73.   Being 2” taller at every position

74.   Wondering how Brandon could possibly get better

75.   The fact that all of our star players have 2-syllable names that can be easily chanted

76.   Steve Blake’s wife, for giving hope to surly looking guys everywhere

77.   The way Greg keeps the ball in play after blocking a shot

78.   Quick and Freeman, for reasonably objective reporting and thinly veiled enthusiasm

79.   Dwight Jaynes, who somehow found the cure for curmudgeon-ism

80.   The knowledge that we’re not going to make a rush move to lengthen our “window”

81.   Aldridge beating the opposing PG down the court

82.   Ben, because he’ll eventually be forced to admit that drafting Oden #1 was the obvious and correct move.

83.    Frye, for the occasionally surprising rebounding forays

84.   The new jumbotron

85.   Draft day during the Pritchard era

86.   The fact that we don’t need a 25-point pledge anymore

87.   Nic, for reminding us how much good defense at the three can impact a game

88.   The fact that Larry Miller will never need “Smile Bigger” to appear on his teleprompter

89.   fatty, and the urge of the all the English teachers we hated to gouge out their own eyeballs

90.   That our key players aren’t “if onlys”.  If only he had a jumper, played D, would pass, would put the bong down, etc.

91.   Martell, who’s lost that “doughy” feeling

92.   The knowledge that the number of games we’re going to win doesn’t depend on politicians, the stock market, or your boss

93.   The well maintained Nike courts around the city where you can pretend to play while trying not to blow your knee out

94.   Greg, for the ridiculous amount of work to triumph over cartilage damage

95.   The fact that none of our players have ever been in serious off-the-court trouble

96.   Outlaw, for bringing some of the deep south to Portland

97.   Pritch, for having the guts to trade our leading scorer and rebounder

98.   Trout, for being too modest to enter, and inevitably win, the dunk contest

99.   Dave, for reminding us that “long term” means 5 years, not 5 games

100.  The thoughtful analysis of BlazersEdge posters

101.  The ridiculous amount of food we’re going to eat tomorrow