The Quintessential Quattro would first like to spread our congratulations to those who deserve it:

First: What an incredible game against Boston. Our utmost congratulations to Nate, his coaching staff and the entire team for that spectacular performance. Absolutely outstanding

Second: The Q4 would also like congratulate local all-pro Blazer's Edge contributor Blazermaniac Andy for his contest victory at the game last night, winning a voucher for a new pair of Jordan shoes. And again for his subsequent victory over the patron sitting behind him who stole his winning voucher, ripped it up, and then ran out. The Blazers security staff came through with the assist and scotch tape.

Now, to the meat and potatoes:

We at the Q4 are a collection of minds that have joined together in our love and support of the Portland Trail Blazers. As season ticket holders and sports fans in general, there are a number of items we expect to see at sporting events.

1. We expect that people are going to cheer for the home team (and the visiting team as well).

2. We expect that during big offensive and defensive plays, fans will stand up and cheer.

3. We expect that people will be chanting, clapping and cheering from tip-off to the final buzzer.

We at the Q4 participate in all of the above. When there is an alley-oop from Sergio to Rudy, we jump up and cheer. When Batum breaks the sound barrier chasing down a fast break and blocks the ball, we jump up and cheer. When Oden dunks and rocks the shot clock for a good minute afterwards, we stand up and cheer. When any of our myriad of 3-point shooters knocks down a huge three to cap off a big point run, we stand up and cheer. When Joel "The Thrilla" Dolla-Dolla-Billa takes a charge, we stand up and cheer.

We at the Q4 have noticed a growing trend that is very troubling to us. There is a smattering of people who come to games who are apparently not prepared for watching a sporting event in the company of 20,000 other fans. They seem to think that their sporting event experiences should be like their living room experiences when they are watching the game form home. From the 300s to the 100s, events have occurred to us and many others involving "fans" (supposedly rooting for the Blazers) who get belligerently angry when Blazer fans sitting around them are cheering, standing and chanting (and in one case, angry that people were leaning forward in their seat during the tense final minutes).

Being rational Blazer fans, we at the Q4 fail to understand this irrational behavior. Who spends money and takes time out of their lives to sit in an arena filled with 20,000 other people, and then proceeds to get angry when those around them clap, chant and stand up and cheer? We feel that it is reasonable (and perfectly normal) that on big plays fans will stand up and cheer. It is not going to happen on every play, and fans who stand up and cheer are nine out of ten times seated again by the time the visiting team clears the ball to the half court line so that everyone can watch the next play from the seated position.

We acknowledge that it is 100% acceptable if you do not want to stand up, yell, cheer and high-five. Some people are not into that. However, those people must realize that there are thousands of people in the arena every single game night who will be chanting, clapping, standing and cheering. We feel that Blazer "fans" who are unable to come to this realization need to either not go out in public and attend sporting events or sit and take a minute to think about how irrational it is to attend an event with 20,000 other fans and then get angry when those fans are standing and cheering for the home team.

We feel that these Blazer fan on Blazer fan conflicts perpetrated by people who do not seem to grasp the concept of being one non-cheering fan out of 20,000 cheering fans and feel they need to bring down those that are trying to cheer and enjoy the game are a detriment to the game. It hurts the fans, the Blazer organization and the entire atmosphere and energy created every game night at the Rose Garden. It is an unfortunate situation as it has reached a point where fans are threatening bodily harm on others simply for cheering for the Blazers. This trend is unacceptable and needs to be reversed yesterday if not sooner.

The bottom line is that this season has been spectacular for this team, people are excited, and people will cheer at the games. If other "fans" cannot handle Blazer fans cheering in a positive, reasonable manner for the home team, it is going to make for a long season.

Once again, congrats to the Blazers for the huge win over the Celtics.

We wish Brandon Roy a speedy recovery and we hope to see everyone at Friday's game against the Hornets standing and cheering!

Go Blazers!