Does anyone else think that text messaging is the scourge of the universe?  Consider a typical text message:

"You"  Y-O-U...another sentient being, a miracle of nature, a fellow sojourner on this walk of life.  Three letters are far too many for that.  Let's cut it down to one.  "U"

"Are" A-R-E...a state of being, of existence itself, a verb which is common to every language on the planet but distinct in each.  Eh...three letters are too many for that too.  Make it one!  "R"

"Hot"  Attractive...desirable...arousing. Now this one could get me in your pants.  Better add three "T's" to the end PLUS an exclamation point!

We contort our words glibly, making them servants awaiting our convenience.  We slice them, dice them, groom and grow them until they conform to our own meanings, desires, and goals.  Our public discourse seldom involves ideas or ideals anymore.  We never get that far.  The great battles of this generation are about definitions.  Who controls the words in play?  Who can define the terms and labels?  How tight is their grip and how much will it cost us to break it?  The great public sin of our time is not being wrong, but being inadequate in your ability to convince and control.  From ad slogans to political debates to sitcom scripts to pick-up lines we weave our way through a frantic fray as varied interests compete to get their message across quickly, forcefully, and with the most desirable results.  Our public, shared words are malleable, manipulative, mercenary weapons of mass distraction.  They are measured, calculated, and encased in a protective coating designed to make them easy to swallow but difficult to differentiate.  

That is why words such as the one we're here to discuss today retain importance among us.  Consider this word:  Blazermania.  It's unwieldy.  It sounds almost archaic.  It has five whole syllables, impossible to abbreviate.  Any slogan writer in his right mind would discard it without a second thought.  It would run off the sides of the t-shirt.

It has two parts:

"Blazer"...referring to the only team in town.  We're all familiar with their scarlet and black uniforms.  We share communal images of Bill Walton dunks, Clyde Drexler's effortless gliding, Scottie Pippen's harassing defense, or more recently Brandon Roy's jitterbug drives and Lamarcus Aldridge's silky turn-around jumper.  We remember, or have seen pictures of, Jack Ramsay patrolling the sidelines in horribly mismatched pants.  We can still hear Bill Schonley's dulcet tones translating the action.  To this day we despise CBS for not letting us watch the championship celebration.  Some of us as a result have never seen a single episode of C.S.I. in any of its various forms and believe wholeheartedly that 60 Minutes should be re-named "56 minutes and the beginning of the Kemper Open".  Take that Andy Rooney!

And after Blazer comes "Mania":  ecstasy, euphoria, great happiness....with connotations of being beyond our control.  Did you catch that?  Beyond...our...control.

Blazermania is not something we can will, calculate, or devise.  It is no accident that none of the marketing schemes in the past thirty years have been able to recapture the magic of that first, spontaneous word that heralded the love affair between a city and its team.  Blazermania cannot be reduced or bottled.  It can't even be defined really.  Like "love" or "faith" it remains one of those inexact words that frame the best parts of who we are but refuse to be bounded by an easy explanation.  You just know it when you see it.  You know it by how it makes you feel.  You know it as it washes over you and sweeps you away.  And it will be known in this way or not at all.

We need words like this...words that escape our control and casual manipulation.  We need words that lead us, that inspire us, that bind us together, maybe even make us a little crazy.  We need words that remind us it's OK to be out of control, that not every experience has to be self-defined or self-serving.  We need the chance to gape in wonder as we discover that thousands of others--unrelated by the bonds we've been taught are essential--have been similarly swept away and are seeing, believing, rejoicing, and being a little crazy too right alongside us.  We need more words that make us feel like kids again, living in a world where giants-come-to-earth sweep past us in their awe-inspiring dance, pausing to touch our hand before they glide onward to perform feats even they didn't know they were capable of.  The greatest joy a person can find is to be captured by something larger than you can understand, taken to places beyond those you could reach alone, and then deposited back home, richer for having taken the trip.  This is neither a dream nor a distraction...this is life.  We need more life in our words and in our relationships with each other.

For some reason the Portland Trailblazers touched this town and reminded us of that bigger, fuller life.  We don't know why.  We don't know how.  It remains beyond definition.  All we know is that in defiance of probability and of culture it happened.  It was, it is, and we desperately need it yet to be.  Few of our public opportunities lead us beyond our preconceived distinctions to see communally with our hearts.  Enjoy this one as you hear these stories told by some of the people who know them best.  Blazermania--that uncontrollable, indefinable word--is still alive among us.  That is reason to celebrate, to cheer, and to believe again.