Our Blazersedge party in Las Vegas went smashingly. We ended up with 17 people, which was not bad being in a foreign city. (Consider we would, what...quadruple that in Portland? So it was really a 68-person party in PDX terms.) Guests included such luminaries as Saregister, Junit, PTBBlazer, and the infamous Ratbastird--and Lance Uppercut himself even made an appearance! (We were so amazingly honored to have the Godfather of this blog among us. We will fete him more at our Portland gathering.)
Seriously, I had a fantastic time. One of the things I've said many times before is that in their Golden Age the Trailblazers were bridge-builders. It didn't matter who you were, where you were, how old, young, rich, poor, or whatever you were...you could mention the word "Blazers" and have a reasonable chance of starting a conversation with someone and meeting a new friend. Well, gathered around that table tonight were people of all ages from college students to senior citizens and everything in between. We were from all different places and came from very different walks of life. You know what? It didn't matter one bit. There, in that context, we were Blazer fans and we had enough common ground to talk for a few hours and then some, thoroughly enjoying ourselves the whole while. In the end, that's what being a fan is about, isn't it? You win sometimes, you lose sometimes. That's the way it goes. But that feeling of being bonded together, like you have a million friends out there who feel the same way you do...nothing can take that away.
It's so good to be in a time and place where it's so much fun and so easy to be fans together again. Thank you again to everyone who came and to everyone who reads and comments. This journey is a lot more fun with all of you.
I'd be remiss in not thanking Ken also, as he's the one who set this all up. You talk about meeting wonderful people in this journey of fandom? Ken is one of the best.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)