As I was driving to pick up the kids after school I heard a commercial highlighting that tonight was the Blazers' last game of the season. One of my lesser noble life goals is to get Trailblazer season tickets; I could not let this season go by without entering the pearly gates of the Rose Garden at least once! When I suggested it to the kids, Trinity responded appropriately: We have to go! We just have to go! Being quite early, we played outside in the freezing cold for 90 minutes before joining the mass entrance. Up to the very, very tip-top row we went, but no complaining from any of us! When we found ourselves down 8-5, Trinity became rather despondent: Mom, we're gonna lose. I just know it. Thankfully, a fortune teller she is not. It was a great game, with the Blazers up by fifteen when we left at the start of the fourth quarter (already way past bedtime). The best part of the evening was passing on the joy of this Portland tradition. I remember the '77 championship and my brothers' room adorned with Blazer paraphernalia. Now my kids, thanks to fan appreciation night, have their own Blazer posters to put up. We talked about the importance of home court advantage and the sixth man (we also discussed the importance of dancing appropriately, unlike the Blazer Dancers!) It was great seeing Trinity raise her arms and yell with each three-pointer. I laughed as people four rows up looked back to see if there was a bald-eagle screeching in the rafters - Nope, that's just Fiona screaming for joy like everyone else. Connor's biggest concerns of the evening were that the blimp couldn't throw things to us because we were too high up. Some day we'll be in range, buddy. Someday.
Tuesday, April 15
The Making of Super-fans
As I was driving to pick up the kids after school I heard a commercial highlighting that tonight was the Blazers' last game of the season. One of my lesser noble life goals is to get Trailblazer season tickets; I could not let this season go by without entering the pearly gates of the Rose Garden at least once! When I suggested it to the kids, Trinity responded appropriately: We have to go! We just have to go! Being quite early, we played outside in the freezing cold for 90 minutes before joining the mass entrance. Up to the very, very tip-top row we went, but no complaining from any of us! When we found ourselves down 8-5, Trinity became rather despondent: Mom, we're gonna lose. I just know it. Thankfully, a fortune teller she is not. It was a great game, with the Blazers up by fifteen when we left at the start of the fourth quarter (already way past bedtime). The best part of the evening was passing on the joy of this Portland tradition. I remember the '77 championship and my brothers' room adorned with Blazer paraphernalia. Now my kids, thanks to fan appreciation night, have their own Blazer posters to put up. We talked about the importance of home court advantage and the sixth man (we also discussed the importance of dancing appropriately, unlike the Blazer Dancers!) It was great seeing Trinity raise her arms and yell with each three-pointer. I laughed as people four rows up looked back to see if there was a bald-eagle screeching in the rafters - Nope, that's just Fiona screaming for joy like everyone else. Connor's biggest concerns of the evening were that the blimp couldn't throw things to us because we were too high up. Some day we'll be in range, buddy. Someday.
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10 comments:
Loved this blog, laughed really hard.
Great tradition - one that Lanny is hoping to start with our family =) I'm glad you made it to the game and that we won - YAY!
Passing on these fun traditions is great. These are memories that will last a lifetime. I love that my boys get as excited about football season and MOJO games like I did as a child.
How fun! Wish we could have gone with you.
I don't think we made it to Uganda with any Blazer stuff, but we do have Oregon State flags that go on the car...I think it will be funny to put those up; I wonder what people here will think of it.
Oh, that is great. I'm glad you guys got to go.
By the way, I saw Fiona today in chapel and she yelled "class!" and gave me a hug...I think perhaps my name is just class to her *smile* It makes me laugh every time. She is just so stinkin' adorable!
and you got Chulpas!
Love those spontaneous moments.
The only blazer game I ever made resulted in having my car towed. It was an expensive game!
It's in Trinity's blood. She was present (in utero) at the last apex of the Blazers' power: the game 6 victory over the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. The sound was deafening (she's still sensitive!).
Go Blazers! Next year we pwn the West!
Fun Fun Fun I mean I'm a laker fan but the blazers are easy to root for, young brash, and full of energy. A little bit like the summer program which it sounds like I might get to visit this summer.
That is just straight up good parenting and that's all there is to it.
A brief story you might find interesting. I proudly sit on the Blazers' Fan Board which is something like a focus group the Blazers use to get fan feed back. We met for a couple hours with the COO and their marketing execs a few weeks ago. I voiced my concern that sports marketing was blending sports and sex too much for my taste as I introduce my young sons to the wonderful world of sports fandom. I lamented all the viagra commercials during TV broadcasts and brought up the Blazer Dancers and their....let's just say "suggestive" atire and routines. For adults? Maybe no big deal, or maybe it is. For my young sons? I'd much rather see Blaze or some local youth team scrimmaging than introduce that perception of how women should be viewed. The marketing people openly ridiculed my perceived prudeness until one after another other members of the fan board echoed my sentiment. Basically, it was my concerns followed by every woman on the board. Eventually, the COO said something like, "well, I had no idea some people felt like this, clearly that's something we need to take more seriously."
Not saying anything will change, but our good friend Jennifer pointed me to this post because she knew about this story, so I thought I would share.
Go Blazers!!!!!
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