In the sports world, times are god in
Boston. Nobody is denying that. The Sox won 2 World Series in the past 4. The Patriots are looking for their 4
th Super Bowl in 7 years and are staring an undefeated season straight in the face. The Celtics have only 3 losses in 29 games behind the “Big 3” of Pierce, Allen, and Garnett. The Bruins are even having a winning season and
Boston College won its bowl game.
Boston sports teams are winning and fans ecstatic fans can finally express their “Celtic Pride” (a mere C film in my book).
But let’s talk about something that hits a little closer to home: Oregon sports! The Ducks dominated South Florida in the Sun Bowl, despite losing their last 3 games. This is the first win of the season by the Ducks without their star quarterback Dennis Dixon. Justin Roper, a red shirt freshman, led the Ducks to the win, forecasting a bright future for the Ducks. And maybe (fingers crossed), Jonathan Stewart will return for his senior year. I’m not a Beaver fan (the sports team), but even they had a better-than-expected season, defeating the Terps in their bowl game.
But how ‘bout them Blazers? Preseason expectations were drab, with the Blazers losing their first-round draft pick Greg Oden for the season due to a then-seemingly untimely knee injury. It looked like another disappointing season, as Portland got off to a 5-12 start. Many had given up on the Blazers, but they had something different in store. They would go on to win their next 13 games. This streak is current. The Blazers will try to make it 14 in a row with a(nother) win over the Jazz tonight. So why the sudden shift in momentum? The Blazers are a young team and generally tend to outrun and outshoot the opposition. I was privileged to witness win number 17 against the Timberwolves. Brandon Roy was a huge part of the win. When the momentum would start to turn in the direction of the Wolves, Roy would score or make a big play. Anybody can score when a team is on a roll. Scoring when times are bad is a feat that is reserved for Jordan and Kobe, which is why they score(d) 35 points a game. Roy has the potential. Blazers have a bright future this season and it will be even brighter next season when Greg Oden joins the rotation. The success could also be attributed to their dropping bad-news, no-defense Zach Randolph, but that’s a whole different topic.
Times are good. I am now wearing my Blazers hat with pride; something that I could not do a year ago, or really since the Sheed-Sabonis era. It’s funny how when your team is winning, you are happy. I know it’s bad to place my happiness something that I can’t control, but I can’t help it. It’s engrained in me and probably will be until the day that I die. Skies are blue in Oregon, literally (dang, no more snow) and figuratively. Keep winning Blazers!
Oh, and uh...Happy New Year!
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