Dave Knows Portland

Red Hot and Rollin’ at Blazer’s Edge

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Red Hot and RollinThe first day of the Blazer’s Edge Summer Book Club is upon us. A book discussion on The Blazers Edge: A Site by and for Blazer Fans? Makes perfect sense since the book is Red Hot and Rollin’: A Retrospection of the Portland Trail Blazers’ 1976-77 Championship Season (Library | Powell’s), edited by Matt Love. (You can read my mini-review from last month here.)

The discussion today is about the book’s first four essays. Dave (no relation) at Blazer’s Edge suggests a few starting points for discussion:

–How has Blazermania and your being a Blazer fan affected your family? Is it contagious? Are you just considered weird? Do you have any good family moments/memories surrounding the Blazers to share?

–How important is the style of game to fan enjoyment? Is it OK with you if the Blazers play ugly but win or do you need a more aesthetically pleasing style of ball to really be happy?

–Talk a little bit about the Blazers’ relationship with the national media. Portland fans have historically felt slighted. Is that legitimate or is it simply to be expected because of the size of the market?

Have at it!

2007-2008 NBA schedule is out!

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BlazersCasey at the Blazer blog on Oregonlive.com has the schedule, and points out some interesting things:

The Blazers kick off the season on the road on October 30 against the World Champion San Antonio Spurs. And it’s on TNT! That’s national. In fact, they’ve got 11 nationally televised games (six on TNT, five on ESPN) and seven NBATV games.

Looking over the schedule, a few things stand out. The first game against the Sonics is at the Rose Garden on Christmas Day! That’s an awesome way to spend the holiday. It’s also the first game on ESPN.

I bought season tickets (a pair) for my first time this year (like thousands of others when the Blazers won the top pick), so I’ve got lots of planning and negotiating with friends to figure who gets to go to which games. Bribes are welcome.

Harry Potter free zone; some books for the rest of us

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Can I be the only one not obsessed with all things Harry Potter? For those of you who got your fill of children’s books when you were children, here are a couple Portland-related books I recommend you read while all your friends enjoy making J. K. Rowling even richer.

(If you *must* read fantasy, at least read something good like anything by local legend Ursula K. Le Guin. Her books: Library | Powell’s)

City of Readers: a Book Lover’s Guide to Portland by Gabriel Boehmer

City of ReadersThis little book is brimming with information for Rose City readers; best places to read, local authors, bookstores, libraries, volunteering, and even “Twenty-five ways to sustain and improve Portland’s literary quality of life”.

The book has a website: www.cityofreaders.com

Where to find it: Library | Powell’s

Red Hot and Rollin’: A Retrospection of the Portland Trail Blazers’ 1976-77 Championship Season Edited by Matt Love

Red Hot and RollinListening to late-70s Blazer games with my dad is one of my fondest kindergarten-aged memories. Bill Shonely’s bouyant and booming voice marvelously survived the tinny radio on the window sill above the kitchen sink. Anyone who similarly reminisces about the Blazers of that era will adore this book. It consists of photographs and accounts, by various writers and hangers on, of the epic season. Those who weren’t here in 1977 should read this book to get an inkling of how “Rip City made us lose our minds,” if only to prepare for a repeat in the next few years (I’m an eternal optimist).

Where to find it: Library | Powell’s