Science Why are you a Blazer Fan?

[Hoopguru]

For me, gowing up, I enjoyed watching games with my pop way before the Blazers came into existence. I also played in school and city league at the Milwaukie Elks for years. I simply enjoy watching the athletes at HS/College & Pros. When the Blazers came around it was great and even went to games alone if I couldnt get anyone interested. Back then you really had to like the game to jump on board and be a loyal fan. Of course when your team make the playoffs, it ramps up the enthusiasm and interest. There is nothing like winning a championship or advancing far and yeah it can be a bit anti climatic when a team goes through periods of losing and building as its so competitive. Look at how many fans support the Mariners but they haven't tasted playoffs in 20 years. I have friends that are Timberwolves's season ticket holders and its because they like basketball even with all the losing and rebuilding and ups and downs. SacTown still remains loyal to the team that has struggled for so many years. The Jazz have been close a number of times only to lose out but that city loves their sports. At all levels.
Yeah, sometimes the politics and bad management can piss me off about the game but it never has drowned out my interest in being a watching fan, win or lose. The game to me is more than just entertainment so if I dont like whats being played I dont stop watching like I will a tv show or movie.

 

[riverman]

When I was in the Navy I was studying at the Naval Training Center in San Diego and played pickup games on the beach at the same courts Bill Walton played on...his high school teammate and I played hoops together and Bill wasn't really famous yet other than locally...over the years when he joined the Blazers I started following the team and it stuck....I was lucky in that we won a championship 4 years after I got out of the Navy...I lived in the Sierra Mountains then and still followed the Blazers ...after a couple decades in Hawaii and asia I decided to move to Portland and the Blazers were a big reason....bought my place in Lane county and here I am..still a Blazer fan.....I grew up in Iowa on a farm 3 miles from a town with a population of 75 people.....3000 people in the county...I shot baskets on a hoop tacked up on the barn every night..the first great basketball I got to see was in the 60s seeing the Globetrotters come through Sioux City which we'd drive to and watch games..I used to plant trees in Oregon when I lived in N California to make money for land payments and fell in love with the Oregon coastal range....now I own a piece of it....

 

[MickZagger]

I’ve been a huge sports nerd since I was real young. The best Christmas gift to this day was a basketball hoop with a glass backboard that my parents got me when I was around 7 or so. All the neighorhood kids would come over and play pickup games all day, hours on end. It was the best hoop in the neighborhood. I remember I went to my first Blazer game at a young age with my grandparents at Memorial Coliseum and I was hooked. That was back in Drexler’s prime, the Finals teams.

Then I got hooked on the JailBlazers era. Those losses to the Spurs and the Lakers in the Western. conference finals had me in tears.

These days I look at fandom different than I did as a kid. Back then I could see no flaws in my teams decisions or their play. Haha I’d blame the refs for everything. As I’ve grown older the attachment hasn’t wavered. At the beginning of every season I’m hoping for a championship run. But, I’ve also wised up to the fact that even if I love a player like CJ, his game, his style, professionalism. I know if we don’t change things we’ll never get that championship that as a fan I’ve been longing for.

 

[Natebishop3]

The answer is so obvious! I became a blazer fan so I could come on places like this and annoy you all!

 

[barfo]

“It is painfully easy to define Blazer fans. They are beings who, for no good reason at all, create their own unnecessary suffering.”
― Natsume Sōseki, I am a Cat III

barfo

 

[Chris Craig]

I was born in Texas. I would watch the Texas teams play as a little kid and whenever they played the Blazers I would root for the Blazers. I was just drawn to them. My dad would say you are rooting for the wrong team. I would say no I'm not.

I moved to Oregon when I was 8 or 9. I would want or listen to the Blazers on the radio religiously. After the games I would go to the court a couple blocks away and play ball with the other neighborhood kids and talk about the games.

 

[GriLtCheeZ]

I was born a few years before the championship season and remember picking up on the excitement surrounding the team at that time. In the late 70's and early 80's the Portland Police used to hand out blazer basketball cards. So whenever my friends and I would see the police we'd run up to them to ask if they had any cards. I still had never watched a game though. I remember listening to a game for the first time on the radio on the way to the beach while my uncle was telling me about all of the players. It wasn't until our family moved close to my grandparents and uncles neighborhood that I started watching games regularly. My grandparents paid for "blazer cable", so I started going over to their house to watch games. I was about 12-13 years old and was reading the box scores every morning at that point. Neither of my parents liked team sports, so I went to my first couple blazer games by myself. I sat on those wooden benches at the top of the bowl in the Coliseum.

 

[tykendo]

When I was in the Navy I was studying at the Naval Training Center in San Diego and played pickup games on the beach at the same courts Bill Walton played on...his high school teammate and I played hoops together and Bill wasn't really famous yet other than locally...over the years when he joined the Blazers I started following the team and it stuck....I was lucky in that we won a championship 4 years after I got out of the Navy...I lived in the Sierra Mountains then and still followed the Blazers ...after a couple decades in Hawaii and asia I decided to move to Portland and the Blazers were a big reason....bought my place in Lane county and here I am..still a Blazer fan.....I grew up in Iowa on a farm 3 miles from a town with a population of 75 people.....3000 people in the county...I shot baskets on a hoop tacked up on the barn every night..the first great basketball I got to see was in the 60s seeing the Globetrotters come through Sioux City which we'd drive to and watch games..I used to plant trees in Oregon when I lived in N California to make money for land payments and fell in love with the Oregon coastal range....now I own a piece of it....

Hey River, I lived in Lane County for over 2 years, and was shocked how little Blazers support there is. Little Sports talk about them, and what was actually said when they did, was ill informed. No Merch sold in local stores except in the mall. It's basically all Ducks & a little Beavs in the Eugene/Springfield area. Very disapointing.

 

[tykendo]

Someone did tell me there were Blazers supporters who congregated at that arcade bar on the diagonal street Blair. But all in all, very little support.

 

[tykendo]

Born & Raised in Portland. My 1st sports loves were Football & Baseball. That all changed when i caught the Red Hot & Rollin Fever of '77. After that i was hooked. As a teenager going to Benson Tech, my Mom would give me money to go to the Paramount Theatre and watch the game on closed circuit. It was an awesome atmosphere. Sometimes it would even be full. And wow! did it get loud as we rooted for our Boyz to the call of the Schonz. Changed high schools in my soph. yr. moving to Vancouver. Stood in line overnight for playoff tickets. Saw Billy Ray Bates lead us to the win. Going into the Air Force in '83, got to attend a Blazers/Spurs game at the old Hemisfair Arena. Stationed in Wyoming, would drive to Denver to watch our Boyz take on the Nuggets at old McNichols Arena. Everywhere i served there seemed to be a ton of Lakers Fans, and their arrogance always pissed me off. By then i was full on Fanatical about our Boyz. Got out of the service after a little over 5 years, and moved back to Portland just before the Adelman Led Blazers would go on a roll. Moved to Denver in '94 but still rooted for our boyz. Albeit at a little less fervor because i was focused so much on the Broncos. But the Sheed led Blazers pulled me back to a higher involvement again, and to experience another huge heartbreak in that Laker series when it looked like our Boyz were heading to the Finals. Broke the footrest in half on the Lazyboy with a back kick, after the Shaq dunk and his Sasquatch lumber down the court. As mad as i've ever been after a loss. The JailBlazer Era was an embarrassment. But i still rooted for them. But the Brandon Roy/LaMarcus Era took my fandom to another level again. And the Dame Era has taken it to the highest level of Love for the Blazers, and my favorite player of all time Dame. I have watched every Blazers game of the Dame Era on League Pass from Colorado, or on NBCNW in Springfield. They are my 1 A, and the Broncos are my 1B. I still hope to move back to PDX in the near future. It's in my soul, and the Blazers are in my DNA.

 

[UncleCliffy'sDaddy]

I was barely 16 years old when Harry forgot his raincoat. I remember believing that podunk little Portland had no chance to swim with the big boys and was so amazed and grateful when Glickman pulled it off. The Beavers and Buckaroos were great to have around, but they just weren’t the big leagues. The biggest annual sporting event in town up to that time was the Globetrotters showing up every year around Xmas. I wasn’t real big into the NBA then because it was still considered below MLB and the NFL (and neck and neck with hockey!!). But I got on board instantly and by the time the college (still one of the best drafts in NBA history) and expansion drafts were done, I knew virtually everything about every player on the team, practically right down to the name of their first girlfriend. I went to numerous games the first two years. Like @Hoopguru said, they weren’t terribly popular right off the bat (6000-7000 people was a good crowd), and decent seats were cheap and easy to get. Most games you could find a parking place right in front of the Coliseum.

It kinda got a bit old that year, as we played our fellow expansion teams (Cleveland & Buffalo) an inordinate amount of times, but that’s how they did it back then…..and why we had an impressive record for an expansion team. But damn was it great being able to see all the greats in person, rather than on TV. We definitely wanted to win, but just having the team was something to be thankful for. We drafted Walton when I was in the navy and Lord almighty did expectations go through the roof. It took a few years but Walton delivered. It looked like he was going to do it again the next year…..until the wheels all came off. And expectations have been high (and unrealistic) ever since. If league politics and incompetent team management combine to keep us from winning it all, then I at least expect us to have a team that represents our city and state in a positive and professional manner. If nothing else, Olshey has managed to pull that off….all other failures aside. Again, I just appreciate having a team…

 

[riverman]

Hey River, I lived in Lane County for over 2 years, and was shocked how little Blazers support there is. Little Sports talk about them, and what was actually said when they did, was ill informed. No Merch sold in local stores except in the mall. It's basically all Ducks & a little Beavs in the Eugene/Springfield area. Very disapointing.

It's Duck madness here....Beaver fans get their cars keyed in Eugene....I wear Blazer gear all around Eugene when I drive there and occassionally I'll get a "Go Blazers" from somebody...this is a track and football town...

 

[Mr. Robot]

you want to support a franchise with a great gm

thats why im a blazers fan, thanks to my man neil olshey

 

[tykendo]

It's Duck madness here....Beaver fans get their cars keyed in Eugene....I wear Blazer gear all around Eugene when I drive there and occassionally I'll get a "Go Blazers" from somebody...this is a track and football town...

Do you live in Florence? I used to service the Buy2 when i worked for Cintas.

 

[tykendo]

I still have my rip city plates. Everyone knew i was a Blazers Fanatic when they saw the Pinwheel on my car when i ferried people around for Uber.

 

[riverman]

Do you live in Florence? I used to service the Buy2 when i worked for Cintas.

I'm half an hour inland from Florence..in the foothills between Southwest of Veneta and Noti...bout halfway between Eugene and the coast

 

[tykendo]

I'm half an hour inland from Florence..in the foothills between Southwest of Veneta and Noti...bout halfway between Eugene and the coast

Been through there multiple times ubering. Nice out there. Super dark at night though. You can see Bigfoot eyeshine.

 

[lamlor]

My first year of watching pro sports was 1976. Growing up in SW Washington I had a choice of the Sonics and Blazers and for me it wasn't even close. It didn't hurt that was the first, and only sadly enough, championship. Lucas was my guy. I played him on the grade school playground at recess. Imitating his scowl and percieved toughness (perceived on my part, real on his) helped me in high school when I was a 6', 165 lb center who played 32 minutes per game my senior year. Went on to play PG in JC here locally. Quite the change in positions. That led me into coaching for several years at the high school level here locally and for a few years in AZ.

I admit that while still a huge Blazers fan, I am not much of an NBA fan anymore. Go Blazers! Fire Olshey! Change can happen.

Oh, I think I read all the comments in several threads on here and felt the disappointment. Not to compare, but I was just as disappointed and was going through the Mariners trade deadline at the same time for a major double disappointment. I swear Olshey and Dipoto are the same guy. Slick looking, slick talkers, achieved nothing to warrant still having their respective jobs and of course Dipoto said after the deadline a quote Olshey would be proud of, "We tried", as the Mariners sat on their hands compared to their wildcard competition. Sigh.

 

[Hoopguru]

My first year of watching pro sports was 1976. Growing up in SW Washington I had a choice of the Sonics and Blazers and for me it wasn't even close. It didn't hurt that was the first, and only sadly enough, championship. Lucas was my guy. I played him on the grade school playground at recess. Imitating his scowl and percieved toughness (perceived on my part, real on his) helped me in high school when I was a 6', 165 lb center who played 32 minutes per game my senior year. Went on to play PG in JC here locally. Quite the change in positions. That led me into coaching for several years at the high school level here locally and for a few years in AZ.

I admit that while still a huge Blazers fan, I am not much of an NBA fan anymore. Go Blazers! Fire Olshey! Change can happen.

Oh, I think I read all the comments in several threads on here and felt the disappointment. Not to compare, but I was just as disappointed and was going through the Mariners trade deadline at the same time for a major double disappointment. I swear Olshey and Dipoto are the same guy. Slick looking, slick talkers, achieved nothing to warrant still having their respective jobs and of course Dipoto said after the deadline a quote Olshey would be proud of, "We tried", as the Mariners sat on their hands compared to their wildcard competition. Sigh.

20 without being in the playoffs? that's tough.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Born and raised in Portland. I was 10 when the Blazers came to town. The cheap seats were definitely..... cheap. (a couple of bucks) The lower bowl was empty for most games so you ended up with great seats. The highlights back then were being court-side for the pregame warm-ups. And you could actually stand out in front of the opposing team's locker room when players like Wilt, Walt, Pistol, Jerry, and Kareem walked out. In 1976-77 things changed dramatically.

 

[lamlor]

20 without being in the playoffs? that's tough.

Ya you are talking to a guy that drove from Longview to Seattle for every home playoff game in '95 and had to work the next day...every day. Then when wife wanted to move to somewhere warmer I picked AZ just down the road to Mariners spring training. That was a great 8 years in AZ for sports. So ya, 20 years and counting and it kills.

 

[riverman]

Ya you are talking to a guy that drove from Longview to Seattle for every home playoff game in '95 and had to work the next day...every day. Then when wife wanted to move to somewhere warmer I picked AZ just down the road to Mariners spring training. That was a great 8 years in AZ for sports. So ya, 20 years and counting and it kills.

I just saw the Mariners roster the other day and Seager and Haniger were the only guys I knew...they always trade away players I like...confusing organization but I loved Ichiro ..Griffey Jr and Randy Johnson...was worth the price to watch those guys play..haven't followed that team since Cano and Cruz left

 

[RonBrewer]

Lived the first twelve years of my life there. The Blazers winning the NBA Ship, i was there. I lived it. RIP CITY was born. Blazer Mania was born. Got to meet the team a year or two prior at Lloyd Neals house. Still have a pair of his Nike Sneakers. Got to meet my idols Bobby Gross and Lionel The Train Hollins. It's in my freaking blood man. RIP CITY FOR LIFE

 

[lamlor]

I just saw the Mariners roster the other day and Seager and Haniger were the only guys I knew...they always trade away players I like...confusing organization but I loved Ichiro ..Griffey Jr and Randy Johnson...was worth the price to watch those guys play..haven't followed that team since Cano and Cruz left

Ya you haven't missed much since they left. Heck, I haven't missed much the last 20 years and I have watched 99% of it...lol. It is so tough being a Blazers/Mariners fan.

 

[tykendo]

I just saw the Mariners roster the other day and Seager and Haniger were the only guys I knew...they always trade away players I like...confusing organization but I loved Ichiro ..Griffey Jr and Randy Johnson...was worth the price to watch those guys play..haven't followed that team since Cano and Cruz left

Jerry Dipoto was a Rockies pitcher, and learned how they do business( Great at making money, lousy @ keeping top talent). He was good with the Angels, but once he got to Seattle, he went back to the Rockies, crying small market(yet somehow we're raking in the cash) ,mentality. Which means lots of top talent traded away for a Cheese sandwich, & bag of chips to be named later.

 

[tykendo]

At least Neil doesn't operate that way.

 

[BlayZa]

Never been to USA
Never been to Oregon
Never been to Portland
Never seen a Blazers game live.

I'm in New Zealand and grew up watching the NBA from the early 90s on. I loved the Hawks and Nique. Then i saw some coverage somewhere on Damon Stoudamire for Arizona and took a bit of interest in him. Then the whole expansion draft in 95 was really exciting and there was a lot of hype in general, Isiah Thomas was the Raps GM and he was a smaller PG and Damon was a strong possibility for selection. Everyone wanted Ed fuckin Obannon but IT went with Damon to a chorus of boos - loved it. anyway, i started collecting Damons cards in 97 ish once Ebay kicked off, wasnt really much of a scene here, but when he was traded to Portland I officially adopted a team. I was never super into the Raps, just more followed Damon.

25yrs after starting to collect his cards n stuff, im still collecting and have long passed being a super collector of his cards. He also follows me on IG etc and im also glad he's back in the NBA again - so maybe more cards in the future!

I loved the whole jail blazers era, maybe due to not being a local or something - but the team was just so full of talent and drama, it was like a magnet.

since then its been a hell of a ride, i loved Brandon Roy, love Dame and have gotten pretty used to disappointment and 'what ifs' too - all part of being a fan i guess.

one day i hope to catch a game live, but the way the world is now - being in NZ seems like a far more desirable situation

 

[AquaXI]

My reason sucks but here goes.... I’m actually not a big basketball fan but a football fanatic! I live in Hawaii and grew up here where we have fans of all teams in football and basketball.

Being a Dolphins fan my Son to spite me became a Raidahs fan. He likes basketball more than football. He is a big time Blazers fan because we have family in Portland and he went to his first pro game there.

When he was 15 (2009) I struck a deal with him, he choose the Dolphins over the Raiders and I’ll root like crazy for the Blazers. This was easy trade off for me as I never had a basketball team to root for.

 

[Sean.ivity]

Pretty simple. Born and raised in Portland. my brothers were big NBA fans so I started paying attention in the mid 90s as a grade schooler. The late 90s early 2000s teams were what got me hooked in as a kid. Then the troubled Sebastian telfair era allowed me and my broke high school friends go to a lot of games live which helped solidify things even though the teams sucked.

 

[MickZagger]

Never been to USA
Never been to Oregon
Never been to Portland
Never seen a Blazers game live.

I'm in New Zealand and grew up watching the NBA from the early 90s on. I loved the Hawks and Nique. Then i saw some coverage somewhere on Damon Stoudamire for Arizona and took a bit of interest in him. Then the whole expansion draft in 95 was really exciting and there was a lot of hype in general, Isiah Thomas was the Raps GM and he was a smaller PG and Damon was a strong possibility for selection. Everyone wanted Ed fuckin Obannon but IT went with Damon to a chorus of boos - loved it. anyway, i started collecting Damons cards in 97 ish once Ebay kicked off, wasnt really much of a scene here, but when he was traded to Portland I officially adopted a team. I was never super into the Raps, just more followed Damon.

25yrs after starting to collect his cards n stuff, im still collecting and have long passed being a super collector of his cards. He also follows me on IG etc and im also glad he's back in the NBA again - so maybe more cards in the future!

I loved the whole jail blazers era, maybe due to not being a local or something - but the team was just so full of talent and drama, it was like a magnet.

since then its been a hell of a ride, i loved Brandon Roy, love Dame and have gotten pretty used to disappointment and 'what ifs' too - all part of being a fan i guess.

one day i hope to catch a game live, but the way the world is now - being in NZ seems like a far more desirable situation

We got a winner. *cowbell*