As "The O'Jays" return to rock the Rose Garden, I'll do a little bit of break down on what we've just seen.

For the most part, Portland had to turn to a small lineup because forward LaMarcus Aldridge picked up three really quick fouls. It may, however, have been a blessing in disguise...

The small lineup gave the Trail Blazers enough speed to stick with point guard Chris Paul and cover the range of Peja Stojakovic. Instead, it was David West who had to shoulder most of the offensive load for the Hornets, but as we pointed out at the outset, it's much better to have David West or Tyson Chandler putting in baskets than it is to have Peja knocking down 10 three-pointers.

For the Trail Blazers, it's been a balanced night. Roy has been the most aggressive and has 11 attempts to show for it, but Jack leads all Trail Blazers with 9 points.

Joel Przybilla has also been a force to be reckoned with. He has 8 points and 6 rebounds off the bench.

Maybe, Jack and Joel are better suited to provide a spark off the bench. Tonight, they've combined for 17 points, 8 rebounds and 11 free-throw attempts in the first half.

Tonight is also a special occasion for the Game-Time Blog as we have an extremely reputable fan as our guest on "15 Minutes of Fandom."

Dave Deckard runs the internationally reknown Blazers Blog called BlazersEdge, which you can check out at http://www.blazersedge.com/, and he has volunteered his time for the first interview of the regular season.

Honestly, I have a few things to admit before I get into our interview. With the Game-Time Blog being so new, we had very little idea what was "right" and what was "wrong" when it came to Blog etiquette. Dave has been instrumental in providing some direction and he's been super cooperative in terms of putting up with my epic posts over at BlazersEdge. You may not have noticed, but I like talking, and I like talking at length about the Trail Blazers, and really, there's no better time to talk then when you're stuck in a cubicle all day...

So, without further ado, I introduce to you... BlazersEdge Blogger Dave Deckard!

Me: When did you become a Blazers fan? A lot of people have one defining moment when they decide “This is my team.” Did you have this same sort of ‘magic moment’ and, if so, when was it?

Dave: For almost everyone in my generation (thirty-somethings) I think the defining moment has to be winning the World Championship. I was just a kid when I walked into the family room and my dad had a basketball game on TV. I asked what it was. He said, “Basketball. See that team in the white uniforms? That’s our team.”

“Our team?” I asked.

“Yes, the team for all the people around here.”

So I sat down, watched, and promptly fell in love. That was the year they won it all and what a feeling that was! The whole town was talking about it! Overnight basketball hoops went up in every backyard (including ours). Every kid I knew was out there learning to shoot and dribble. I wanted nothing as much as to grow up to be seven feet tall, have red hair, and be the starting center for the Portland Trailblazers. A few years later when I was out practicing my mom got a call from my teacher saying I was twenty-odd math assignments behind. She called across the street and made me come in and do my homework before I could play any more basketball. Those two lost days may have cost me a multi-million dollar contract. Thanks mom.

Of course the Blazers didn’t win the trophy every year, but those memories made it easier to get excited about a Ron Brewer jump shot, a Steve Colter pass, or a Wayne Cooper rebound in the intervening seasons. The fire lit anew with the trade for Buck Williams completing the last piece of the puzzle during the Drexler-Porter years. That brought in a new generation of fans. Then it happened again the summer we got Scottie Pippen and Steve Smith. Blazer fans are lucky right now because the Roy-Aldridge-Oden trio is going to define yet another generation. The deep-seeded passion for the Blazers in this town still stems originally from that ’77 team though. They started it, preparing the way for the teams and fans who have come since.

Me: So, it was the “Spirit of ‘76” that got you hooked forever, huh? Since this was basically your “introduction” to the Blazers, how has that shaped your perspective of the team? Do you look at the roster with more hope than say- someone who started watching in 2000?

Dave: It’s hard to compare between eras because the game has changed so much. Although I would say this year’s style of play appears to be as close to the ’77 style as we’ve been in a while.
I think the biggest contribution of the championship team is that it taught Portland fans to expect excellence. I’m not sure we knew what great basketball was before we saw that team play but it didn’t take long to figure it out. Even though players and schemes have evolved over the years we’ve never lost that taste for good ball. When Zach Randolph was still here the greatest applause wasn’t for his post moves. It came when he worked hard on the offensive glass and stuck with a play until he put it home. You see standing ovations for guys going to the floor and strong appreciation for guys making smart passes and moving feet on defense. If anything Portland fans tend to disparage guys who can score but don’t work on the other aspects of their game.

The biggest thing I see from this year’s team is that they appear to want to play hard and unselfishly. It’s unlikely that they’ll win big this season but their effort and heart will give fans reason to cheer.

Me: Also, fans who describe the 1976 season almost always mention an “aura” that these Trail Blazers had. They were Portland’s team. Do you feel that this sentiment has changed? Has this same fan-team dynamic changed around the league?

Dave: Again this is difficult, as I’m comparing a child’s perspective back in the day to my adult perspective now. However from what I remember the championship Blazers were everything in this town. You didn’t even have to ask--they were a common bond to all of us. It’s harder to duplicate that now because the world has changed so much. For one thing you have so many entertainment options in sports and otherwise. Thanks to satellite TV it’s perfectly possible to live in Portland and be a passionate fan of the New York Jets instead of the Blazers. You also have every movie and piece of music ever published at your fingertips every second of the day. You’re much less likely to have those things in common with your neighbor than back in the day when everybody listened to 62 KGW on the radio and could only see the Blazers on TV. In fact you’re not nearly as likely to know or talk to your neighbors now, since you can be connected to anyone you wish at any distance 24 hours a day. If anything we’re trying to filter people out of our lives more than bring them in (flip channel, hang up on telemarketer, screen calls with answering machine). I doubt any team will have that same aura and bonding effect that the 70’s Blazers did. However I think Portland will get as close as you can still come.

Me: Finally, Portland notoriously overachieved in 1976 by playing one of the youngest lineups in the league. Now, fast forward to 2007 and we’re playing with 10 guys (by my last count) who have yet to celebrate their 25th birthday. Are there any other similarities that you notice? Any glaring differences?

Dave: Let me differ a bit. That team didn’t overachieve. They were just that good. You don’t go 40-8 the year after you win a championship, destroying everybody in your path and marching to a repeat, if you’re playing above your heads. One year, maybe. But after that the target is on you. If it weren’t for Walton’s foot I guarantee you would have seen at least two banners in the rafters, maybe more. It’s fashionable nowadays to downplay the achievement but believe me, they were everything they were cracked up to be.

It’s far too soon to tell how many comparisons there are between this year’s squad and the old one. I tend to think few. Superficially they both have strong forward-center tandems (Lucas and Walton, Aldridge and Oden) plus a great, multi-purpose scoring guard (Hollins and Roy). I suppose you could also draw parallels between Twardzik and Davis at point versus Blake and Sergio if you really wanted to stretch it. But in reality the players and the game today are so far different as to make true comparison impossible. Oden isn’t Walton, he’s Oden. Aldridge and Lucas are completely different. Nate McMillan’s sets look different than Jack Ramsay’s. The championship Blazers ran far more than this team will. And of course the shorts are six times as long now.

I think you can take some general lessons from the old team though. Great talent playing hard and unselfishly beats just plain great talent. When you’re young you need a couple years to put yourself together before you can win consistently. (Many forget that Walton and Hollins came before the championship season and Walton was injured his first year.) Once you have most of your pieces together you can make the final leap by adding the right player. Maurice Lucas taught us that in ’76-’77, Buck Williams in ’89-’90, Pippen and Smith in ’99-’00. I wonder if we’ll see it again in 2009-10?

Me: First and foremost, I have to admit that I’m incredibly jealous. For me, it’s been heartbreak after heartbreak, with 1992 being the first year I passionately followed the Blazers, and then with the ensuing seasons (first round exits, Western Conference finals in 2000, Sean Elliot, Robert Horry, Shaq and Kobe, etc, etc, etc…), it’s almost gotten to the point where I’ve become so generally bitter towards larger markets that I yell “East Coast bias” when there’s a questionable foul call. I just need one championship. I wouldn’t mind 10, but just one championship during my lifetime would appease my largely Sports-Driven Depression…

Dave: There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, like a championship. No award or honor or record comes close. If you haven’t experienced one it’s hard to understand. It transforms everything. In sports terms it’s the best and highest validation there is. I was very young when we won it all and I have never forgotten that feeling. Somewhere inside me I am still that little kid, smiling from ear to ear at that moment. It never leaves you. Other moments are beautiful too and worthwhile. It can be great to follow a team that only wins 35 but makes progress towards playing well. But the championship is the finish line of the marathon that makes all those previous steps worthwhile and gives them their fullest meaning. I am fairly realistic in my outlook on the team. Having learned lessons from the 1990-92 and 1998-2000 seasons I understand how difficult it is to win it all. I am confident that this team is going to challenge and my gut tells me they’re going to win one. Then you won’t have to be jealous anymore and someday you, too, can say, “Let me tell you about the time when…”

Me: I think the general consensus of Portland basketball fans everywhere is that this team (or this core rather) will someday compete for an NBA championship. Getting over the top, however, seems to have just as much to do with luck as it does anything else…

Dave: I think teams make 95% of their own luck. You have to be very talented, very consistent, and very committed to make a serious run at a championship. Teams that win it all generally don’t have off and on nights. Rather they play very good basketball on their off nights and are unbeatable when they’re on. That takes a lot of work and professionalism on top of your natural talent. After that you and everybody else are subject to the whims of fate. But if you never get good and consistent enough fate doesn’t matter. You lose.

Me: Assuming we are a perennial contender in 3 years, which seems to be a fairly realistic timeline, how many familiar faces- that is faces from the current roster- do you see on the team?

Dave: Three years might be a little short to seriously contend, especially with the Oden injury. I believe we’ll make a run at the playoffs next year but there’s a large gap between making the playoffs and emerging from them victorious. Give Oden two seasons to get acclimated, keep everybody else healthy and happy in the meantime, then we’ll have a shot.

The point is well-taken that the roster may look different by the time we actually approach the pinnacle. The most fluid position right now is point guard. It looks like we have four good ones with different strengths but in reality we don’t know if any of them will pan out. Another way of saying “different strengths” is “none of them is yet the complete player we need”. Fortunately they are all young and have time to develop. It’s a sure bet we won’t see all four of them here three years from now. It could be anything from three (unlikely) to zero (also unlikely). You also have a mash-up between Martell Webster, Travis Outlaw, and Channing Frye. Nobody’s entirely sure what position each plays yet and that will go a long way towards determining who there’s room for. I don’t think anybody knows how that will shake out. If Martell and Travis play different positions you could keep them both. If they’re both primarily small forwards it might be an either-or choice. Channing Frye has talent but the question is whether his skill set, desire for playing time, and salary expectations will fit with this team in the future. At this point only Roy, Oden, and Aldridge look like locks to remain. We could see as few as 3-4 guys from the remainder of the roster sticking around or it could be most everyone. Those questions will be answered by how the guys play in the next two seasons.

Me: As much as I would like to talk about all the undefeated seasons and NBA championships that are in the Blazers future, I’m also interested to know more about BlazersEdge. Is it true that the idea was passed on to you by a wise Ninja rat whom you met in the illustrious sewers of Idaho? Was there any ooze involved? And in a slightly more serious side-note, how do you see your blog (or blogs in general for that matter) fitting in with the mega media moguls and 4 letter networks? Is “the Blog” a digitalized version of a Sports Bar Chat or is it a legitimate medium for news, music, entertainment and sports?

Dave: Actually I won Blazersedge in a card tournament. The guy I won it from now administrates a gas mine on the Cloud City of Bespin.

Blogs contain elements of both the sports bar/water cooler chat and legitimate news. I don’t think the world needs more straight-out reporters. Beat writers and national journalists already do their jobs very well. Not much is gained by sticking eight microphones in a player’s face instead of seven, all to get the same locker-room quote.

However journalists, though unquestionably the best source of information, have their limitations. National sources cover the entire league and don’t have time or will to dig in-depth consistently. They’re good at conveying the big picture and how a team stacks up against the rest of the league (and of course the latest hot trade rumor) but they’re not adequate in and of themselves. Beat writers dig more in-depth but even they have constraints. They are supposed to be primarily observers, not interpreters. They can tell you what they see but must refrain from guessing at what it means. Also they have space limitations while publishing. You can’t get a three-page analysis of what the latest innuendo from the general manager might really mean. Nor do you get the benefit of back-and-forth discussion to hone your thoughts and opinions. The communication is one way.

This is where blogs step in. They’re usually team-dedicated, deeply involved, and free to explore those between-the-lines areas that journalists leave out (but that are often critical). They are led by a small group of people but they harness the brainpower, experience, and interpretive skill of thousands. Amazing insights and great conversation evolve from that process. It’s not meaningful every single day but it’s fun more often than not.

Also, truth be told, we don’t need more information. Between Mike Barrett, Jason Quick, Kerry Eggers, Brian Hendrickson, OregonLive, local and national TV networks, and coverage from ESPN, TrueHoop, AOL, HoopsHype, RealGM, and other newspapers there’s not a single piece of good information that doesn’t come out in the wash. There’s really no more to be had. We’re kind of on information overload. What we need is a place that lets us access all that information, helps us synthesize and make sense of it, and lets us reflect on its implications. This is where blogs fit in. In today’s world with so much information pouring over such a diverse and scattered fan base they’re essential.


As always, tune in to home games and catch the next edition to "15 Minutes of Fandom" and if you'd like to participate email us at chelgeso@gmail.com!

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