I have always loved sports. From when I was 3 I got into liking sports. Hockey, baseball, basketball, football. Why the Blazers? The Sonics were the closest team to me, and they moved and the Blazers are my new team. Plus they have grown up as a team, shedding the Jail Blazers image. And Brandon Roy emerged as a favorite player of mine. I’m not so much into sports on other levels. I like the B.C. Lions ( Canadian Football League ), and follow our local lacrosse team. Used to follow junior hockey ( Victoria, B.C. my hometown had a team in the same league as the Winter Hawks but they are gone to Prince George ). I do follow junior hockey a bit. but not to the level I did then.

Carrying on. Being a sports fan has helped me through a lot. Bad days at work, bad times in my life such as my ex kicking me out and my mom passing away 8 years ago. Sports is an outlet for me from a lot of life’s stresses. SLAM Magazine is part of that as I read it regularly. How do I show my passion as a sports fan? I learn about my teams and their opponents, I stock up on apparel or something that has one of my teams with it. Buy hoops mags like SLAM. Blog on Blazers Edge. I enjoy the human emotion, athletic displays, competition and camraderie too. Plus I enjoy athletes who are good people on the court and off like Steve Nash. Ones who are good at what they do, and don’t let fame go to their head. Getting back to sports on another level, I don’t play sports much anymore. The only one I play with any regualrity is golf. Love playing it, never watch it. More a social outlet for me.

Glad this post came up. I enjoyed sharing my feelings.

I was maybe 4-years-old… my dad introduced me to the Blazers and that was it. He was a fan since they became a franchise. We moved to California and I had to struggle with four years of being in “enemy territory” – when we moved back to Oregon I was able to watch more games and Clyde, Terry, and everyone became an important part of my childhood. Still now I watch games with my dad – its part of my blood now. I struggled through all of those awful rebuilding years – (Telfair and the gang) but it wasn’t really a choice anymore to be a fan – I couldn’t not be. I think staying through those rough years makes this year so much better, finally seeing all of the rebuilding process give me a team I can love to watch and listen to on the radio (which I have to do thanks to Comcast…).

Others seem to like same ball I want. I like them too. We all like ball.

We all really like ball.

Blazers have been a part of my life since I can remember. As I’ve gotten older, my passion has grown more intense. I haven’t missed a tv game in years, going back to the JR Rider days when you had to purchase on Pay Per View, to now when I literally get to see all of them. I think it’s a little bit of civic pride, a lot of competative nature, and a lot of love for the game of basketball. The day we win the championship is going to set off a string of celebration binge drinking that I haven’t experienced since I was 21!

And i used to play NBA Live back there and knew a little bit about the NBA and also little bit from tv coverage. Me being a sports fan, had no reason not to become a blazer fan since i dont see myself leaving oregon in the future.
I am pretty proud of my loyal fandhood towards my town’s team.

I came at it from a weird angle. I already wrote it up in a FanPost way back when I joined the site. I’ll just link to it in the interest of saving pixels.

A spiral into Trailblazer fandom

that is when my dad took to me to my first blazer game. i am twenty years of age now.

that first game is also when my deep seeded hatred for the l*kers began. that first game was on April 13, 1999. The opponent was the team that shall not be named. My dad didnt anticipate that the game would be sold out, so we just went up to the box office hoping to buy tickets. for better or worse the only tickets that were left were the standing room only tickets. at first my dad was kinda concerned about that, considering i was an 8 year old kid. in retrospect i think it actually made it all that much better. the atmosphere in that arena was incredible. up to that point in my life i had never experienced anything like it. throughout the game the entire crowd was entirely into the game and cheered on our beloved blazers as if it was the most important thing in the entire world. chants of ‘Beat LA!!’ were rampant and loud. In response the team went on to destroy the l*kers 113-86.

i have been hooked every since.

i’m pretty sure i took fifth grade from your dad at eastwood in hillsboro. sound accurate?

anyway, here’s a quote or two to help you out while i dodge my own final exams studying:

I was born at the very beginning of the Clyde Drexler era and have precious few memories of my own. I do remember singing songs about “Uncle Cliffy,” and that for my dad’s 26th birthday (I was 4) my mom bought him tickets to watch the home team take on the Bulls in the Finals. I remember he came home and got a Blazers tee from the kids (my mom bought it and put our names on it, natch). He had the biggest smile. Watching those early 90’s games on TV with Snapper providing the color; meeting Arvydas years later at the airport; catching a shirt from a center court cannon.
There’s also the terrible stuff too. My friend from back east has a favorite tee that reads “Yellow Hummers & Tin Foil & Rookie cards & Weed pipes & Dog Fights.” All through high school and most of my college years (until now, my Senior year) rooting for the Blazers was kind of embarrassing. Going to games left me lethargic rather than energized.
And now we have a shot at redeeming some of that embarrassment. I love sports because of the thrill of redemption.

Go Blazies!

   I was watching a game with him at a very young age (4 or 5) and since he was cheering and yelling, so was I. Of course I was too young to know what was goin on. My dad, realizing this, asked me why I was cheering. When I told him " Idunno" he told me that we were routing for the Blazers because we’re from Portland and the Blazers are our team. And they have been ever since.
   I’ve watched the Blazers on a big screen TV in a chow hall in Bosnia, in the comfort of my parents house back in Portland, in a bullet ridden house in the middle of Tikrit, Iraq, in my barracks room in Germany, at 7am in my house in Islamabad, Pakistan and now here in my apartment in Croatia (even though I have to get up at 2am!!). Even with half the planet between me and home, nothing will keep me from watching and keeping up with my team.

The absolute best way to watch the Blazers is with my old man at the Rose Garden, bar none.

I grew up or lived around my favorite teams, so that’s why I picked them. If I have my TV on, it’s on some sort of sporting event or sporting type of thing.