Goodbye Brandon Roy

(photo from yahoo!)

I didn't follow any professional sports until around 2007, and that wasn't a coincidence.  This was right when Roy began his rookie of the year campaign.  This was the first good news I had heard about the Blazers since Drexler led the Blazers to the finals.  To be clear, I didn't even know that happened until the last couple of years.  My point is that Brandon Roy was the reason I started following, and am now completely obsessed with the Portland Trail Blazers.  

Watching Roy's injuries the past 2 years has been hard.  But the Blazers had Lamarcus to pick up the slack as well as the never ending hope for Greg Oden.  I always thought that Roy was so good that despite any injury he would be able to fill some sort of role for the Blazers.  I was ecstatic watching Roy dominate the Mavs in game 4.  But watching him struggle through the remaining games was heart breaking.

When sports writers everywhere suggested that the Blazers use the amnesty clause on Brandon, I was hardly surprised.  I hoped Portland would give him another chance and let him fill whatever role he can for this team.  Everybody in Portland loves him despite his injury woes.  My mom barely knows what basketball is and even she loves him!

Then came the news the Blazers wouldn't cut him using the amnesty clause, yay!

Then Brandon announced his retirement, wait?  What!?!?

I wanted to be more sad than I felt when I found out he was retiring, but I couldn't.  Watching Roy, he is a warrior.  Seeing him struggle through these injuries was difficult.  I know that his retirement has to do with his family.  Who wouldn't want to run around with their kids.  For the exact same reason that Portland fell in love with Brandon Roy, is the exact same reason he is retiring.  He is a great guy.  He dragged us out of the Jailblazer era, and now he will be MORE of a family man.  I wish him nothing but the best. Thank you for entertaining fans for 5 years.  Good luck with whatever you choose to pursue in the future, I know you will continue to be an all star.

Letter to the NBA About the Lockout

 

(Picture from Yahoo! Sports)

I love the NBA, I read 2-3 blogs everyday about the NBA and my team the Trail Blazers.  I live in San Jose California and I am from Portland, so the team the last couple of years has been a huge point of pride for me.  I have been able to joke around with my local friends about the Warriors, even if every Blazers-Warriors game I have gone to at Oracle the Blazers have lost.

My point is this, my best friend doesn't like professional basketball.  His reasoning is "they are all overpaid and don't play hard until the playoffs."  I don't think that's true, and if it was I wouldn't care.  I love/hate Kobe, I love/hate Lebron, Lamarcus was my hero last year, I have dreams of LA, Oden, Roy and Batum leading the Blazers to a championship.  When this season rolls around I can distract myself with the NFL and the NHL, but it won't be the same.  I am not emotionally attached to the Seahawks or the Sharks.
But as time wears on, I will eventually accept the invite to watch the Sharks game instead of staying home to watch a league pass Blazers game due to the lockout.

I'm not delusional, I don't think one email will have an impact on a business as large as the NBA.  This is more to vent...please figure out a way to end this lockout.

Sincerely,
Nick

Blazers Draft and the Impending Lockout

Last draft, Wa, Wa, Waaa (Picture from OregonLive.com)

Two topics I am not particularly excited about.  First the draft and its weakness coupled with a low draft pick means not much improvement here.  If KP was still here, I would be more excited about some crazy 5 team, 10 draft pick, 15 player trade possibility.  I miss that feeling of getting rid of the bad and bringing in the new era of BRoy, LMA and Oden.  I feel like we could use help at the center or point guard positions, and if this truly is a weak draft, take a gamble.  We have a solid rotation of SG/SF/PG in Matthews/Roy/Rudy/Batum/Wallace/Aldridge.  Leave those positions alone unless we are making a trade.

And the lockout is super depressing.  I expect the Blazers to win over 50% of their games and make the playoffs.  I don't see them as deep enough and strong enough to make a championship run right now, but I love watching them play while I scream at my TV.  The only positive I see is that Oden and Roy will get a little extra rest for whenever the next season starts.  I just hope its over as quickly as possible and we can start watching basketball in the fall.  I guess there's always hockey.

On the Brink of Elimination

 

(picture from Yahoo! Sports)

I was discussing the Atlanta Thrashers yesterday with a friend, and how they are likely to move to Winnepeg.  He is Canadian, and a fan of the Maple Leafs.  We go to talking about the Sharks, and he surprised me by saying he was cheering for them.  His team was out, he lives in San Jose, why not?

3 hours later the Sharks are down 3-1 in the seven game series, and I am worried.  They have only won 2 games in the last 8, and I'm worried.  My roommate is flying to Vancouver Tuesday to watch what could possibly be the last Sharks game this season.  But I'm going to think of it as the the first game in an amazing comeback on the way to the first San Jose Sharks Stanley Cup.

Quality time

I hate wasting time, but I am always doing it.  From reading stupid articles on the internet, watching hours of TV to sleeping in unnecessarily, I am not very efficient.  I try to get in groove where I get things done, but I just can't seem to stay, something always throws me out.  Sometimes I will budget every week for a couple of months and hit my savings goals.  Other times I workout 5 times a week and I start to notice a difference.  Eventually something comes up and I get out of my routine.

I am learning that no matter what I do, the one thing that I know is not a waste of time is when I can help or support someone else. This is especially true if it is an inconvenience to my schedule.  When I do that my life becomes interesting, the opposite of dull and monotonous. I have ideas on what I think is best for me and I work towards those goals.  Ultimately the most rewarding experiences are the ones that I could not have planned.

Two In a Row

The Blazers have the weapons to explode at any given time. Heck, Andre alone has scored 52 points against this team in one game. Roy just surged two games ago. Wallace was the unquestioned leader of the Bobcats before the trade, and we have seen that he can still do it in a Portland uniform. And don't forget Aldridge. He exploded the entire regular season.

Top that with not one but two defensive stoppers in Batum and Matthews, and the Blazers are out of excuses. Dirk is going to get his and JET is probably going to get his too. If we play some defense, and we get some performances out of Aldridge, Wallace, Miller and Roy we will move on. Let's see it.

Slide Into the Next Round

Weeeeeee!  (picture from Yahoo! sports)

The crappy part about my two favorite sports being basketball and hockey is that they both have the same off season.  The awesome part is that my two favorite teams are both in the playoffs right now.  And while Roy and the majority of the Blazers let me down last night, the Sharks moved on to the second round.

So three of their four victories came in overtime, and three of four were road victories.  Kind of a weird way to get it done, but on to the next one.  Everyone who is anyone that follows hockey knows that the Sharks always struggle in post season, no matter how good they are (knock on wood), but here's to them making it past the next round...and hopefully a couple more goals from the sliding captain.