Blazermania Returns to Seattle

I've been a fan of the Portland Trail Blazers for a LONG time. I've been watching them on TV and, occasionally, in person for as long as I can remember. I went to games as a kid with my dad, and I watched the Finals games against Detroit with my friends during some of the best days of my life (whoah... I was channeling Bryan Adams there for a second).

They've caused me an embarrassingly high amount of anguish when they've come up just short, or when they didn't live up to what I wanted from them.

But I remained a fan. Have discussed and argued about them online for about 12 years now. I even wrote a stats column for the team's official magazine for a year.

They had legal issues, and "character" stuff, but I didn't let it bother me. I watch them for the games. I'm not going to judge them as people or to blame them for their mistakes when speaking (many of them didn't even finish college, for crying out loud).

But about 2.5 years ago, they started getting bad. Really bad. They traded a couple critical players, who also happened to have acted like assholes. They reached in the draft for Sebastian Telfair. They traded away from Chris Paul.

Their decisionmaking aggravated me, they lost at a horrific rate. And I argued about the team. A lot.

Like, every day, I would argue about how bad the team was. About WHY they were so bad. I would argue against fellow Blazers fans that let their optimism blind them, and I was called some nasty names.

But I was right, and I maintained I was realistic rather than pessimistic.

Tonight, though, was the NBA draft. Portland traded Telfair for another high draft pick (to go with their own from their NBA-worst record).

And the Blazers made me happy.

They made six trades overall today, spending money and trading up and seemingly going in the right direction. I didn't agree with everything they did, but I liked it.

So I'm arguing again on the Blazers board tonight. Arguing that the team did well. Arguing that they've turned a corner and, while it's a ways off, the team is going to be good again. I'm arguing against people who are confused and disappointed in the team's actions. And I'm arguing against people who haven't seen the Ed O. from 3+ years ago, when I was happy to be a Blazers fan and I was optimistic about the team's chances.

It might be an overreaction and I might be all wrong in my analysis, but I feel good again about it all. Blazermania has returned for me, at least.