So… the Blazers’ playoff debut? Kind of a bummer.
The Houston Rockets, led by genetically engineered Yao Ming, made 58.5 % of their shots and beat Portland 108 to (let’s not talk about it). I don’t know what it was like for you folks watching from home, but watching it live and in person was an experience I don’t care to repeat. The Blazers have won almost every home game I’ve attended this season (my boyfriend and I have a half-season ticket subscription) and I’m not used to seeing my team lose.
You can get more in-depth play-by-play analysis elsewhere, it’s really not my forte. A few game details did have me scratching my head, though, like why is Channing Frye still in the game? I love Channing’s personality – but his playing? Not so much this season. So why on earth did Joel spend more time on the bench than Channing did? Argh!
And then there was the officiating. Somewhere near the end of the 3rd quarter the entire crowd starting chanting “These refs suck! These refs suck!” It’s hard to pinpoint exactly which call (or in many cases – lack of call) inspired the crowd’s anger. For me it was when Brandon Roy lay on the court clutching his head for what seemed like an eternity as the game play continued on like nothing happened.
If you take the team’s inexperience and combine it with odd-ball lineups and partially-blind referees, it’s easier to understand how the Blazers lost so badly last night. But to be honest, I was sort of expecting a blowout. We’ve struggled to beat Houston all season, and I kept thinking back to that season opener against the Lakers. The game where we lost by 20 and Greg Oden hurt himself. If it were any other team but Houston, I might have been slightly more optimistic – but yesterday’s game just seemed like a recipe for a big loss to me.
While I wasn’t surprised by the final score, I left the arena last night in state of rage and disbelief. I wasn’t disappointed by the team but I sure as hell was disappointed by the “fans”. About half-way through the 4th quarter these so-called Blazer Believers started heading for the exits. It was nothing less than pathetic to witness. People in our section started chanting “Fans don’t leave! Fans don’t leave!” as these losers filed down the steps, coats and purses in hand. By the time the game was over, the Rose Garden was half-empty. Way to support your team!
When I took this photo there were five minutes still left on the clock. These are not cheap seats either. Playoff tickets are not easy to come by, unless you are a season ticket holder – then it’s pretty easy. Season ticket holders get first crack at buying their regular season seats and then have the opportunity to buy four additional seats per game before they go on sale to the general public. The additional seats went on sale to season ticket holders on Monday and sold out in less than an hour, leaving about 1,000 tickets out of 20,000 to be sold to the general public. So one can assume that the people who left early have season tickets, or were the guests of someone who does. To me that makes it even more pathetic. What a bunch of spoiled babies, leaving when things don’t go their way.
I’m sure there are plenty of true fans out there that value how special it is to be at a playoff game and would somehow manage to stay for the entire game, cheering loudly for their team all the way – win or lose. That is what it means to be a fan. And how can you not be a Blazer fan? Every team member is extremely likable and the team has so much potential. Who doesn’t want to cheer for that? The Rose Garden should be full of fans that want to cheer for that.
But I guess, for a lot of people, getting out of the parking garage or on the MAX train five minutes faster is more important than letting our team know that we are still behind them. Rather than curse the darkness – I have a few solutions. Now there’s probably some kind of regulation in place making it illegal to just close the exits of the parking garage until the final buzzer – but what if a few cars just happen to break down and sort of make it really hard to leave? Or what if the MAX train has “maintenance issues” during the 4th quarter? Another idea would be that you need to have your ticket punched after the game, as you leave the Rose Garden, in order to get into the next playoff game.
Or, what if we had an angry mob (comprised of people who were not able to get playoff tickets) just outside the exits that beat the crap out of the “fans” that leave early? That’s the most fair and most appealing option. Why?
Because FANS DON’T LEAVE!
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Fans only leave when their coach doesn’t coach and their team doesn’t play. They already got everyone’s $100-$300; they didn’t deserve any more of our time.
You said it yourself, you simply aren’t fans. Maybe you personally are, but Portland sure isn’t. Last night I saw more people in Blazers colors than I ever have in my 3 years here. Today, and I was out quite a bit due to the nice weather, there were exactly 0.
And our fearless leadership expects the city to get behind MLS? Ha.
or
I drink your lack of sports enthusiasm. I drink it up!
Point of clarification: that was a good non-call when Roy got thumped in the back of the head.
Maybe it wasn’t clear at the game, but from the comfort of the living room and with the benefit of multiple camera angles with slo-mo replays, it was just incidental contact. Several people in both uniforms were all over the floor, diving for a loose ball. Someone (I believe Artest) seemed to knee Roy in the back of the melon as Roy was falling backward and Artest was lunging for the ball.
This is just another way hockey has it all over hoops. If you leave before the final buzzer in a blowout game, you might miss a good fight.
I’ve tried to watch basketball, honest. But they call fouls when they brush their skirts together and suspend them for a little bitch slap.
When you lose a game by 3 points, yeah, a bad call by a ref might have made a difference. But that game? I don’t think that was the fault of the stripes…
I would have *killed* for tickets — any tickets. And as painful as the game was, I would have stayed to the bitter end.
It’d be one thing if I’d coughed up good money to watch the Detroit Lions play yet another Thanksgiving game that they were destined to lose yet again and the turkey dinner was getting cold (and even then, my dad wouldn’t let me leave, ugh.)
It’s another thing to leave in the middle of the first playoff game in six years, just because the Blazers were losing one single game — even in a crappy way.
I’m with Gretchen – fans don’t leave.
All of a sudden I feel guilty for going to the bathroom with 1:30 left. And I wasn’t even at the game…
When I was a kid, watching the dismal Kansas City Royals, my stepfather was notorious for shouting “No Support” at spectators trying to sneak toward the exits prematurely. I’m starting to think that we need to do that at these Blazers games, too.
wow, meghan, you must be a lot younger than me (in my 50s); the Royals were in their glory days in the 70s and early 80s and nobody left early.
No matter where I’ve moved, I’ve never had as fun an experience as a fan as I did in KC growing up. (Chiefs games were fun, too, back then.)
Those years up until right AFTER they won the World Series were pretty good (although I remember the cotton candy and chocolate malted ice cream you ate with that little wooden paddle better than the actual games.)
After ‘85, I seem to remember the team descending into mediocrity. But we still went to the games. And always had Gates BBQ before every game…what I would not give for a Beef and a Half right now. See, with me, it was never about the sports, but the FOOD.
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