Iron Pyrite, staying the night, 15,000 people and home by Saturday

yes sir yes sir, Wednesday's game against the butt Nuggets was the finale of the regular season and it was a big game. the Blazers only needed to win to guarantee home court advantage in the 1st round. with San Antonio winning and Houston losing, the Blazers were going to have a playoff series against the Rockets, but they were still playing for home court advantage. The game began and it was pretty clear that BOTH teams were ready to play as the score was very close, the Blazers had a 1 point advantage after the 1st quarter, after that however, the Blazers pushed the lead and never looked back. Lamarcus and Brandon took a back seat as it was Trout and Rudy who really filled things up. Rudy hit his 159th 3 pointer of the season, which is a new NBA Rookie record, he surpassed Kerry Kittles record which was about 10 years old. The Blazers ended up winning by 28 points in an emphatic win. the Blazers really made a strong impression on the rest of the league, winning 9 of their last 10 including ending on a 6 game win streak, and in those 10 games, they beat the 3 teams that finished ahead of them in the standings. So the Blazers finished 4th in the Standings will have to face the Rockets in the first round. The first game of the series starts tomorrow, saturday at 7:30.

So after the game, the Mafia and I headed outside, and to our dismay found a huge line extending back from the box office to the Memorial Colosseum,all people waiting to buy Blazers playoff tickets the next day. (we found this to be upsetting as we were told that people werent going to be allowed to line up until 6 Am the next morning). So we quickly got in line and thats where we stayed, from about 10 pm to 12 pm the next day we waited, and landed, tix. The Mafia will be at the game. The 'concrete camp out' was pretty sweet. It was a bunch of Blazers fans just kickin it and talking about the game and the Blazes in general. Brian Wheler (Blazers radio play by play guy and way awesome dude) stopped by to shake hands and take pictures. He also was handing out money from his own pocket to people, so they could go buy food for everyone. he even gave us one of his famous "BOOOOOMSHAKALAKA!!!" calls that he uses during games. it was way cool. after we got tix, we hit the max and headed over to the Blazers playoff rally at pioneer square. It was amazing, an estimated 15,000 people crammed the area to see the players and coaches and show their fandom and support their team. as John Canzano pointed out, a lot of fans from other teams in bigger markets may look at the rally and laugh at Portland fans for celebrating a simple playoff birth. But thats what makes Portland Portland. Its what makes us weird, its what makes us unique in our Fanhood. Its what makes us Blazermaniacs, and we're damn proud of that fact. So now, Rip City is anxiously awaiting Saturday, for our first match up with the Rockets. Portland; Its time to get up, and be loud, and be fierce, and to support your team. Its time for a Rip City Uprise!

Doc