A few thoughts on the Blazers vs. Rockets series:

 

A: The refs were terribly lopsided for all 6 games.

B: Houston fans are not very classy, chanting "Portland Sucks" when they have a 20 point lead. Keep it classy, you trashy bastards. I hope a tornado descends on your trailer park.

C: The referee system in the NBA favors stars and big men, allowing Yao Ming to punch, claw, and elbow with fervor but calling Przybilla or Oden for the most minor of touch fouls.

D: Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge cannot do it all alone. He and Aldridge carried this team to 6 games. During the regular season, the bench was good. But everyone except for Roy and Aldridge phoned it in once the playoffs started, and the bench especially let their team down in game 6.

 

The Blazers should have won this series, but did not, and if I had to blame one single factor, it would be the refereeing. It was like watching the Kings vs Lakers in the Western Conference Finals in 2001. Which is a funny coincidence, since it has come out now that at least one of the refs was dirty for that series.

 

 

So I'm at Goodwill looking for a mini-fridge for the office and I spot a homeless looking fellow sporting a B.U.M. equipment jacket. See the pic for details.

The first three of these are classics. It makes you scratch your head on
how these ever became the behemoths of gaming that they did. Just goes
to show, good games can overcome bad marketing.

The 4th is just thrown in for good measure. WTF? That's a game?

I would like to say that I haven't been posting to my blog because I've
been busy doing productive things like working, earning money, building
houses for orphaned kids, etc...unfortunately that would be a lie. I've
been slacking, straight up.

Watched the Blazer game last night while texting and twittering with
some other fans. It was good to watch the Lakers get humbled (see:
crushed, dominated, pwned, etc...) until Cheapshot McGee (aka Trevor
Ariza) decided to put Rudy Fernandez into the stanchion at a dead run.

Rudy was taken off the floor on a stretcher and hospitalized overnight.
Xrays and CT scans were good, so hopefully there's no long lasting
effects.

This was bad sportsmanship of the worst kind...you're down by 30, you
don't foul someone from behind who's running for an open court dunk.
That was just dirty ball.

In addition to this, Lakers fans showed their ignorance in droves via
Twitter, where, after doing a quick search, keyword "Rudy", the Lakers
fans were spewing all types of vileness about how their player did the
right thing by flinging Rudy into the hoop stanchion at a dead run.

Stay classy, Laker fans. May those who were showing your idiocy be
struck with herpes of the face.

One of the best parts was when Brandon Roy went after Ariza after the
foul, he was pissed! Any Blazer fan knows, you never see that side of
the Roy Wonder. He's usually the calmest dude there.

Either way, well played game. For us.

The Lakers? Not so much. Enjoy washing the Blazer's cars, fellas.

Ever notice that traffic sucks? Have you ever stopped to think that rather than hating everyone else, YOU are someone else's bad traffic?

Kind of makes you get all existential regarding your perception of the world around you.

Or you could be like me and think anyone you don't know personally is an asshole.

Just saying.

This lady in front of me at Wal-mart the other day decided to buy 20 $5 gift cards at the EXPRESS CHECKOUT. Scan, AUTHORIZING.......Scan, AUTHORIZING........  times 20.

It's people like this that make me want to kill everyone in sight.

Man, I get sucked into this every year. The week before the deadline,
ESPN goes crazy with the rumored trades in the NBA, with superstar
players getting shipped everywhere and your favorite team obtaining all
types of fantastic, season-altering difference makers.

It's like the Olympics. It only happens once every four years, and it
gets hyped so much that you can't help but get excited, but then you're
just let down when you watch it because nothing is "Four Years Of Hype"
good.

What has happened this year? Shawn Marion for Jermaine O'Neal? Meh.
One's a cancer and the other has knees made of eggshells.

Brad Miller and John Salmons for Andres Nocioni, Cedric Simmons, and
Drew Gooden's Goatee? Not even close. Miller's over the hill, Salmons is
a decent player but MUST START. Nocioni is a hustler though. Drew Gooden
is just a weird dude.

The best thing to happen so far was Tyson Chandler for Joe Smith and
Chris Wilcox. I had to check my eyes. Someone's been taking lessons from
Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace. (AKA the guy who traded Pau Gasol for some
Hot Wheels and a Red Ryder BB Gun)

Other than that, I always expect something crazy which never
materializes. Will it happen this year? We'll see. Less than 24 hours
remain. Let the superstars fly!