Dave Knows Portland

Scheduling conflict 2011

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timbersvstrailblazersAt the Timbers game last night, briefly at half time, the Blazer game was shown on the jumbotron. We learned, those of us without fancy Blackberries and iPhones, the Blazers were down nearly 20 in the fourth quarter.

I’m a season ticket holder for both teams, and so a part of me was relieved I didn’t have to decide between a Saturday game 7 at the Rose Garden and a second match up in 3 days against Carolina at PGE Park. But as I contemplated the possibly developing dilemma earlier this week, I found myself leaning towards attending the Timbers match over a Blazer game 7 playoff game, even if it rains. The realization struck me that I do have a hierarchy of favorite teams, and the Timbers are at the top.

But in 2011, when the Timbers make their MLS debut, I anticipate severe scheduling conflicts, as the Blazers are destined to win the NBA championship that year (even less optimistic/prescient fans will have to concede the Blazers are likely to advance past the first round fairly regularly for the next several years). I have decided I will skip an early season Timbers match for a Blazer NBA finals game, but for a 2nd round game? The conference finals?

I’ll cross that bridge in 2011.

Never underestimate the Trail Blazers

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Trail BlazersA headline somewhere on Oregonlive yesterday called Blazer fans giddy, which I think is the perfect word to describe the general feeling. I grew up in Portland, so the playoffs were a regular rite of spring throughout my childhood (as was a first round exit most years). From 1977 through 2003 the Blazers only missed the playoffs one season (1981-2). But it’s been five long, disorienting, years since we’ve tasted the playoffs, and those last few times left a bad taste. This year’s playoff appearance is particularly sweet – the team is in the upper echelon of the Western Conference ahead of schedule, we have a young team still getting better, and they’re playing so goddamn well right now.

Back in October, before the 2008-2009 season began, I guessed that the Trail Blazers would go 49-33. At the time I felt my prediction was too conservative, but very few people were predicting a 50 win season, and with the Western Conference’s parity in the top half it seemed reasonably optimistic to hope for a 7th or 8th seed. I had correctly predicted a 41-41 record the previous season.

Clearly I underestimated the Trail Blazers this year. And I’m not the only one who’s glad to be wrong.

A few commenters on my October post also made their predictions. Let’s see how prescient, or not, they were . . .

  • Some character named Mizzzzzz scoffed: almost 50 wins? here’s hoping! I suspect about 44 wins-38 losses.
  • Drew was slightly more optimistic, I think they would win at least 47 games, but then he commented again but they won’t make the playoffs because the west is too strong. Just saying I’m not dissing my favorite team
  • Diane came the closest, with I think they’ll win at least 52.

I hope Mr. Mizzzzzz is enjoying his heaping serving of crow. And Drew, be more optimistic! Diane wins the Dave Knows Trail Blazers record prediction contest this year – Congrats! 😉

My prediction for round 1 is Blazers in 7.

I’ve seen optimistic predictions that the Blazers will win the series in 6, but I give Houston more credit than that. I expect Aaron Brooks (a Duck) and Von Wafer (former Blazer) to play well in Portland. They might be the catalyst for Houston taking a game in Portland. And Yao’s tough to defend – we’ll see how the refs call things. I do fully expect Artest to do something stupid, like get kicked out of a game or get a suspension; whatever he does Blazers, don’t leave the bench!

So anyway.

Go Blazers!

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Nicolas Batum has a bloc-notes

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Allez Blazers!The best rookie Frenchman in Portland Trailblazer history has a blog (bloc-note? ) for French basketball website, Basket Session.com.

In a recent post Batum writes about All-Star weekend. He shares his experience doing color commentary for the Rookie Sophomore game on Canal+, partying with Steve Nash, setting world records, and more. But despite my best efforts learning French, I’m glad that Oregonlive.com’s Tim Brown has translated the post for us at the Blazer Blog.

El Blog de Rudy (de Bart King)

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I have a new favorite Trailblazer blog: El Blog de Rudy (not to be confused with el blog de rudy at ADN.es, the newspaper with a Sexo section!)

The blog’s first post in December was merely the (bad) translation into English of a post from Rudy’s Spanish language blog. The Spanish post, ¡Greg Oden es enorme! became ¡Greg Oden is huge!

The blog continued in that vein, with a link to the original Spanish, for the next several posts, but then it got weird(er) . . . some examples:

Now my team heckles my sweaters. This amuses me less than others are.

Sometimes fans say I am like Pistol Pete Maravich. I am not sure about him. He played for the Polish National Team?

Since first being in Portland, I have noticed an oddness. Greg Oden was more anxious in his demeanor at the start of the season. Today, he is more youthful. When I asked him about this, Greg said, “One day you’ll be as old as I am, if you go backward like a crab!”

Then he laughed really hard.

The blog is the brainchild of Bart King (yeah that Bart King).

So yeah, highly recommend.