It has been said that very few NBA teams have a fan base as passionate as those who support and root for the Portland Trail Blazers. And this has been backed up by many opposing players who have mentioned in interviews that because the crowd is so loud at our home games it’s a lot easier to make mistakes and harder to communicate with their teammates. Well I think it’s safe to say that the same intensity you see in that place that used to be called the Rose Garden is right here on this website twenty four hours a day seven days a week. So it seems odd that here we all love the Blazers, so much so that to a person we would be ecstatic to one day watch our team win that allusive Larry O’Brien Trophy again, yet for some of us there is this constant struggle with getting along with usually just a few other fans. I mean you would think that since we are all in the trenches together pursuing the same goal this wouldn’t happen. But time and again things can get so heated in the exchanges between fans that the moderators are forced to delete what is written so others on this site aren’t affected by the toxic exchange.

Well the answer to that question would probably require me to write a book about human behavior, and since I have no interest in doing that and I’m sure you have even less interest in reading such a long and drawn out article, I will try to keep this somewhat brief and to the point. There are a lot of parallels between being a fan of a professional basketball team and working for your typical company. Generally when you go to work somewhere if the business is big enough your boss usually won’t be the owner, it’s going to be someone that person has chosen to oversee the crew. This individual is usually picked for the job because they have the ability to get things done. And more times than not the reason that person gets his employees to accomplish the tasks needed for the company to stay afloat is because they have a very strong personality. And this usually works pretty well until another person is hired who has a similar personality to the boss, and then generally as time goes by there develops an underlying tension and toleration between the two of them. And that toleration at times can come boiling to the surface when both of them get under pressure causing an explosion. I seen this happen when I worked in the timber industry, specifically working for a small logging company owned by a father and his son who had to work from day light to dark in order to stay in business. Anyway we had a foreman who we would run through a brick wall for because he never missed a day of work and always worked harder than those he was in charge of. But then one day the owner hires a guy who in the past had also been a foreman for a different logging company to work with us. And in the first hour you could start to feel the tension between him and his new boss. So it didn’t take much pressure before the toleration between the two turned into insulting one another, which then quickly led to the threat of a fist fight, and that eventually resulted in the owner having to fire the new guy before he lost the trustworthy foreman who had been with the company since the beginning.

It’s right about here that I start regretting using the term up above "Somewhat Brief" knowing that this thing has turned out to be anything but that. So now I will make a promise to wrap this up as quickly as possible so you can move on to more interesting and important ways to spend your time. So simply put even though we are all united in wanting a second championship in Portland, because all of our personalities are so different, and face it at times strong, abrasive, and just flat out irritating, there is going to be times when words are typed out that come across like that first shove to the shoulder from somebody looking for a fight. And then invariablyas the fingers begin to fly on the keyboard in reply to what just irked us there will be an even harder shove back right before the figurative fists come up. And sad to say I have been part of this behavior myself to the point that both my comments along with the persons comments who I was sparring with had to be removed. I now realize that I was part of the toxic negativity that can easily creep in at times forcing other contributors to have to tolerate that nonsense in order to enjoy the comment section that is supposed to be fun.

I’m almost done so just hang in there for one last paragraph after this one. So did I write this article because of having some twisted goal of trying to convince every person who visits this sight to be the exact type of fan of the Blazers that I am? Absolutely not. I think what sets this community apart from other sports sites is that there are so many different personalities on here. And so what if some of them are a bit strong, it doesn’t take away from the fact that we are surrounded by a lot of talented people who are part of the daily conversations we all enjoy. In fact we have multiple regulars on here who I would put right up there with the top sports journalists in the country.

Here’s my conclusion on this matter. It’s my belief that if we can get away from tolerating different fans who are regulars and really get under our skin, and instead embrace our differences and approach to being avid supporters of the Trail Blazers, than we will be part of the solution to make things more positive around here and avoid helping to feed the negativity that can slowly create a toxic atmosphere. So how about it Trail Blazers fans, does all of this commentary regarding my thoughts on being a fan sound like a bunch of hog wash to you? Well if that’s the case great. Because now you have the opportunity to tell me why I am wrong and then share your feeling about what you think could improve the morale on Blazersedge in the comment section below. Or it could be you really don’t see the same problem I do but have some thoughts about what it’s going to take to remain unified during this rebuilding process, because let’s face it there is going to be a whole lot of ups and downs ahead of us. But how great it would be to look back on this chapter of Blazer basketball and know that we didn’t turn on each other in times of frustration. Instead we stayed united in our belief that one day soon we will once again be contenders. And when we are back in the playoffs anything can happen. Go Blazers!