Greg Oden posted his interview with Miss Gossip to his blog (Miss Gossip posted the interview on her blog a couple weeks ago).
I don’t like the ‘Optimus Prime’ nickname either. Any one got a better one than ‘O-G’ or ‘G-O’?
Harry Potter free zone; some books for the rest of us
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
This 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
Listening 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).
Rasheed Wallace Vindicated!
NBA referee Tim Donaghy is being investigated by the FBI for betting on NBA basketball games that he officiated. I never liked that guy. Donaghy is the referee with whom Rasheed Wallace had the infamous confrontation on the loading dock after a game at the Rose Garden in 2003.
I always thought Rasheed got a raw deal when he was suspended 7 games without pay for allegedly threatening Donaghy. Over his playing years in Portland I got the impression Rasheed wasn’t so much a hot head as he was a man who would not tolerate injustice. In general an admirable quality, but in the realm of pro-sports – not always helpful. Referees, as we well know, aren’t perfect. And NBA referees, in particular, hold obvious grudges and pick favorites, perhaps at the behest of the Head Office, and, apparently, at the behest of the mob.
New Blazer Channing Frye tries Filipino food
I’ll stick with lumpia myself.