Being a Blazer fan outside the region: Not such a bad thing

When I learned I would be leaving for one of my first concerns (right after the separation from my beloved Baan-Thai) was regarding your Portland Trail Blazers. I was worried that I would not be able to maintain my fanatical following of the team. Sure, I knew that I could probably still watch the games by enduring just a little more inconvenience. (Actually I shouldn’t complain about this being that so many in and still can’t watch the games. Sorry.) Still, the geographic disconnect had me anxious.

Quickly upon my relocation however, I learned there are some benefits to being a Blazer fan in non-Blazerland. In no particular order:

I don’t have to listen to local sports radio anymore

Eckhart Tolle said that there is only one true liberation; that is the enlightenment of consciousness. After leaving the area I think we might consider adding no longer having to listen to local sports radio to the list. Nothing personal against sports talk radio. I think that trying to fill 24 hours of air time with sports, especially in a city with only one major professional team, is inevitably going to end up bludgeoning a lot of dead horses and having to produce a lot of filler.

You could argue that nobody actually has to listen to sports radio. You are wrong. If you have a high (unhealthy) level of interest in your local team, you will be compelled to endure the local sports radio just in case some news breaks. So I’m driving in my car. I may not have access to a computer for like twenty whole minutes. I don’t want to wait that long to find out about Greg Oden’s latest injury.

Yes, I realize that they have sports radio here in the Twin Cities. The thing is I don’t really care about any of these teams. (OK, that is only mostly true.) I don’t feel the need to keep up to the minute on these lame professional teams that make up my new environment. Not having to listen to age thirty-something white guys awkwardly apply the slang they heard in a rap song 10 years ago or age fifty- something white guys talk endlessly about doing things the right way has been beautiful.

My NBA team is better than their NBA team

If you are a fan of the Blazers in a non-Blazer NBA city, the odds are that your team is way more awesome than the local fare. Seriously, nothing promotes the false sense of superiority like talking to Timberwolves fans. I’m convinced that more T’Wolve’s fans remember the Foye-for-Roy fleecing than Blazer fans. It is usually the first thing they bring up after I tell them of my loyalties. Ha! Sucks to be them.

Wearing Blazer stuff outside of is a magnet for people that are really into basketball

I have a much higher rate of basketball conversations with strangers outside of Blazer territory. I noticed this phenomenon before I moved here, but it has been especially true in the Twin Cities. When it comes to the Basketball Universe, Blazer fans are en vogue. The result is that I’m actually talking to humans about basketball way more than back in hoops-head hotbed . Even better, they usually just want to talk about how great the Blazers are.

You get to be the fan of the away team at the game

I have yet to experience this ever in my life, and the unknown has me all sorts of excited. I can’t wait to catch the Blazers when they come to town. I’m going to be that guy! This shirt will likely be pulled out for the occasion.