Color Day

I don’t know how much of a presence we will have this year, but I kinda wanna attend.

As for this series. Broy said it best “If only we had been more prepared in game one.” This year was preparation for a deep run next year. Let’s hope our boys like the taste of playoffs and work even harder this offseason (looking at you Travis).

that I want to go to the airport to welcome them home….Anyone know when that will be?

Than all those first round exits in the 1990s because we have hope…

Except for Ruffin, Frye and Sergio, sorry, you don’t cut it….

The Blazers far exceeded my pre-season expectations and I though I was being a homer by predicting 51 wins!!!!

I am excited to see what KP and the Gang have planned to make the 2009-2010 Blazers even more awesome!!!!!

60+ wins anyone?? Divisions Champions anyone?? WCF??????

The possibilities are endless!!!!!! I already so excited I can’t stand it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

…and it came from Kelly Dwyer, who I have a great deal of respect for. Writing of the game tonight, he said the following:

Portland gutted out a Game 5 win by denying Yao Ming and continuing to learn and grow on the fly. How well they sustain this in Texas, with backs against the wall, could define this team for years. That’s right, I’m putting all that on one game.

With all due respect, KD—rubbish.

Da Bulls received several whippings from Detroit before they learned how to win in the playoffs. Detroit, in turn, took its lumps from Boston back in the day. While the Rockets aren’t a championship team (and they’ll likely be smoked by the Lakers), it took them numerous tries to advance.

Prior Portland teams bowed out routinely in the first round, before going to the WCF (in 1999 and 2000) and the Finals (in 90 and 92).

The players that truly matter on this team—especially Brandon—stepped it up. Some of the role players did not—some of this was matchups, some of this was experience, and some of it was they aren’t as good as we like to think.

But are the Blazers likely to be ruined by this? Unlikely.

Anyway, on to the off-season….

Although I’m going to end getting in many arguments with all the people who have freaked out and are now calling for us to trade everyone but Brandon. I’m so proud of this team and I’ve had a wonderful time watching you guys.

To go out in the first round, the WCF or the finals, never the semis…

The group that made us relevant again:

go read the lottery thread

I’m surprised we haven’t seen much trolling or knee jerk posts. Or maybe you are just deleting em.

For the first 15 minutes after the game, I was really sad that it was all done this year.

About a half hour later, I felt sad, but not as sad.

An hour later, I was equally sad and pleased about the season .

Right now, I actually feel excitement. This team is so far ahead of schedule that the idea of further improvement would be outstanding. This team is going to be a thing of beauty to watch in the upcoming years. I can’t believe it…..but it’s actually going to get better!!!

I can’t wait for the draft, the summer league, training camp, and then sooner than we know it……

Next year.

when I was watching the game and after the game I was just angry. Now I am sad again because the season is over and I have to wait months to see another Blazer game. This was such a fun season I just can’t believe it’s over already. It sure seems like it flew by. I also thought about how much more sad and angry I would be if the Blazers did advance only to lose to the Lakers. That would have officially broken my heart. So I guess it’s best to get it over with now.

I watched every single game (some even more than once if they won…those Comcast Sportsnet replays are awesome) and loved every second of it. Comcast Sportsnet will be replaying games this summer I believe, and it will be awesome to relive the best parts of the season again.

I can’t wait to see what this summer brings and am so stoked for next season.

for my first BEdge off season! This must be how it fealt when KP first took over!

truly love you Dave.

can hurt worse, yes, as expectations grow. I mean, my expectations were in the dirt after game 4, and yet game 5 raised my hopes enough that game 6 was like donating bone marrow. But that sharpness of that pain fades soon enough, and at least after a deep run you are left with pride. Soon getting to the playoffs will be expected, and an exit in the first round will always be seen as failure.

Not so, the deep runs. Otherwise, we wouldn’t view the three deep years of the Drexler days with such fondness.

Of course, I was greedy and dreamed of the Blazers getting past the Rockets and even the Lakers. But in fact, this season was a complete and total success.

54 wins by the youngest playing rotation in the league; are you kidding me? Greg Oden finished out the season healthy as a bull? No way! The guys were deer in the headlights in their first ever playoff game, but played tough and showed growth from that point on. OK—until they ran into an incredibly determined opponent on the road in Game 6. What’s not to like?

Becoming a champion is like playing a hole of golf. The Blazers just hit their tee shot 350 yards straight down the middle. All that’s left is a sand wedge to the green. Personally, I’m liking their chances of finishing out the hole with a birdie. Aren’t you?

The “what-if’s” are removed in a blowout loss.

To me the game illustrated just how much our team needs to have Nicholas Batum on the floor. His defensive abilities were sorely missed and I feel we need to commit to to developing him to be our main guy at the 3 position. That development of course needs to come at the offensive end where he has obvious potential. He needs to work to refine his skills for next year and the team needs to start running plays for him. It will be to every one’s benefit if enemy teams stop viewing him as a non – threat to score.

For the past number of seasons I have steadfastly defended T-Law throughout all the criticism he received when many were calling for him to be traded. Over and over I stated that I thought trading him would be a huge mistake. Now, judging from his very poor showing in the playoffs, I’m just not sure he has what it takes to adjust to playoff intensity basketball and I won’t nearly be so inclined to go postal if KP sees fit to include him in a trade. Sorry Travis.

It was a fantastic season! Oden still standing at the end was huge in my mind. If he can stay healthy enough to develop throughout next season, we will be a team to be reckoned with in the play offs with a decent chance to win it all.

I watched every single minute of every single game this year (hooray for NBA League pass), well except for the first half last night and living on the East Coast, I feel like Brandon. Tired. So now it’s time for me to rest up, start paying more attention to the wife and kids, get the honey do list completed, start working out and dieting, gain some brownie points at work, etc….. Why you ask?

So I can do it all again next year and hopefully for a bit longer! What a ride this season was and what a wonderful group of individuals we got to tag along on that ride with.

Thanks to Dave and Ben for a wonderful sight, thanks to the very insightful contributors to this site, and mostly thank you Blazers for making me proud to wear the Red and Black colors!

Yeah! You love my colors! Next year- Now!

I too will be among the non local Blazer fans joining you for Color Day. I may be the only person in the Boise Idaho area to be wearing my Blazers gear today, but I will do it proudly!

I missed a few.

two people have asked what it was. “My favorite player on my favorite team”

I’m a big guy…..like…..bigger than normal big guys. So most Blazers gear is either too thin or too short for me to wear. So, I don’t really have much of any.

On a whim, I decided to go on the Blazers website to see what I could find today. Lo and behold, there it is. A 4XL Brandon Roy Red alternate jersey. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen something like that available. What are the odds?

It’ll make me smile just that much more when it arrives home.

I always thought the best and most important day to show your colors was after a tough loss or end of the season—to say “You bet I’m still a fan, no matter what!” It says you’re in it for the long haul, and that pride in your team isn’t based on the W but on the team itself.

Because KGW didn’t have the game preprogrammed for the TV listings, I had to tape TNT. Because the Bulls/Celts went 3 OT, I didn’t get the end of the game, so when I came home I had to ditch the first half and start watching live at the end of the 3rd so I could see the ending.

I was pretty morose and defeated, but right at the end, maybe even fighting back a tear or two, I said out loud, “Thank you. What a season.”

This morning I’m just depressed that there’s no game to look forward to anymore. But I am so, SO proud of everything that was accomplished. I’m not even mad at Trout!

I was hoping to do it at lunch—didn’t get to it—but my season-end post at LoadedO was already going to be titled “Thank you, Blazers.”

But once I do, I’m putting on a red Blazers t-shirt or my Blazers Edge shirt. It will depend on which one makes my boobs look smaller.

unaware of this ritual, i woke up on friday, put on my black and red AF1’s and my brandon roy rook of the year shirt, the season never ends, and blazersedge is the best evidence of that