Thursday, November 6, 2008

New Day #315

Together with my friend Whitey, sports columnist for the Oregonian, I participated in a Writer Exchange Program in which I took him to his first opera, Portland Opera's idyllic and inspiring production of FIDELIO, and he took me to my first basketball game, played by the Portland Trailblazers.

I'm not going to report much now, as I can't scoop myself. I'll post the link next week when our side-by-side accounts appear in the Oregonian.

In the meantime, here are the writers hard at work:

And moments after a truly stunning turnaround when Brandon Roy won the game by scoring a three-point shot from thirty feet away with just 8/10 of a second left to go in overtime.

And, yes, I'm proud to say I now know exactly what that means.

PS Note the orb over my left shoulder. Is it possible it's the Ghost of the Masonic Temple?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an amazing game to see for your first!! I look forward to the side-by-side stories...

Debbi said...

Orbs are awesome. My daughter never takes pictures without orbs showing up.

Glad you had a good time at the game.

Anonymous said...

oh man, that would be an amazing first game to go to! i've been a blazer fan for twenty years but didn't see my first game til last christmas, so much fun.

David said...

I saw that game on TV last night, and wow! what a finish. The two plays before it (all within the last 2 seconds) were incredible too. I was hooting and hollering and trying not to wake the kids.

Lisa said, "I thought you didn't care about the Blazers anymore?"

So I remembered, when I was a kid, about 12 years old, the Milwaukee Bucks were playing the Blazers and it went down to the wire. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar hit a hook shot at the buzzer to win the game, just like the one Yao Ming hit last night, with 1 second left. I cried then, the stadium went silent, and the Blazers lost. So, 35 years later, thanks to Brandon Roy, redemption at last!

That was an incredible shot, right through the middle, no doubt about it.

therese patrick, author said...

Was this really your first basketball game? Or just your first time attending a Portland Trailbrazer game.

I personally prefer college basketball games and pro football games. The image on the big screen behind you actually looked like a view of someone's back-side in shiny pants. But then I adjusted my monitor and the head on top of the shoulders appeared. Take a good look at the picture, block out the head and it looks like a favored view of football players from behind the line of scrimmage.

Anonymous said...

What no time to slam the Blazer Dancers on your blog? Or just saving that particular brand of sexism for the Oregonian? I am still seething at your characterization (or more aptly, character assassination) of the dancers as talentless, brainless and of ill-repute. Don't make assumptions about other's based on your ill informed and biased views of women. I am busy urging my husband and my daughter's husband to seek you out and defend her honor. Better yet I should do it.

Outraged Mom