As bummed out as so many of us are about how this past season went for the Blazers and as concerned as a lot of us are about the future direction of this franchise, I am reminded that things could be worse.

I'm not watching the playoffs closely, but I have watched some of the OKC/L*kers and Indiana/Heat games. It must really suck to be a Heat or L*ker fan right now. Long time Blazer fans have been there and we know how excruciating it is to watch a team that we thought had a real shot at winning it all crash and burn. I remember the pain and disappointment of seeing the Blazers lose to the L*kers in 2000. It was devastating. I felt the same way when we lost to Detroit and Chicago a decade earlier.

That's the problem I have with sports. It's personal. I always want to win it all and anything short of that is totally unsatisfying. I want excellence all of the time, from the top of the organization to the bottom. I don't think we've seen that from the Blazers for quite a while, and I HOPE that we will see it again beginning with a great new GM and HC coming to town and with high quality picks in the draft and judicious trades.

In the meantime, I'm just glad that I don't have to suffer the pain of watching my team lose in the playoffs.