Sunday, July 1, 2007
BLAZERMANIA IS BACK
There's lots to talk about right now, and let's start with this: Make no mistake about it, Blazermania is back.
At the Blazers' draft party inside the Rose Garden arena, upon the announcement of Greg Oden as the team's #1 draft pick, the fans actually stormed the court. That happens when championships are won, not on draft day. Well, this year it happened on draft day in Portland. The franchise is re-introducing Blazermania to Portland, and the fans are up to the idea of keeping it going.
Zach Randolph is gone, having been dealt to the Knicks during draft day along with local favorites Dan Dickau and Fred Jones. And while the Blazers didn't get a whole lot of value in return (Channing Frye and Steve Francis), they got rid of their last real cancer (assuming Darius Miles won't return, and odds are he won't). The trade is good for a team that is starting to shed the "Jail Blazers" label.
On to baseball: During draft day we learned that Craig Biggio got his 3,000th hit and Frank Thomas hit his 500th home run. And this was kind of weird: Biggio was thrown out at second on the hit, and Thomas was thrown out of the game later on for arguing with the umpire.
Barry Bonds managed to squeak past Alfonso Soriano and come in third in the All-Star voting, meaning he will start the game in San Francisco, on July 10. And he deserves it, if only because of a sort of career-recognition honorary thing. He still has good enough stats to warrant being voted in by the fans anyway.
At the Blazers' draft party inside the Rose Garden arena, upon the announcement of Greg Oden as the team's #1 draft pick, the fans actually stormed the court. That happens when championships are won, not on draft day. Well, this year it happened on draft day in Portland. The franchise is re-introducing Blazermania to Portland, and the fans are up to the idea of keeping it going.
Zach Randolph is gone, having been dealt to the Knicks during draft day along with local favorites Dan Dickau and Fred Jones. And while the Blazers didn't get a whole lot of value in return (Channing Frye and Steve Francis), they got rid of their last real cancer (assuming Darius Miles won't return, and odds are he won't). The trade is good for a team that is starting to shed the "Jail Blazers" label.
On to baseball: During draft day we learned that Craig Biggio got his 3,000th hit and Frank Thomas hit his 500th home run. And this was kind of weird: Biggio was thrown out at second on the hit, and Thomas was thrown out of the game later on for arguing with the umpire.
Barry Bonds managed to squeak past Alfonso Soriano and come in third in the All-Star voting, meaning he will start the game in San Francisco, on July 10. And he deserves it, if only because of a sort of career-recognition honorary thing. He still has good enough stats to warrant being voted in by the fans anyway.
