Urban Journals Part 1: Trailblazers

I took Edward and Aaron to a Blazer's game tonight. Aaron earned a voucher for a free ticket from his school for reading, so I was more than happy to accompany him. We did the same thing last November, but Edward bailed on us at the last minute. Today, though, he was excited to go with us, even though he knew that Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, and the Vanilla Gorilla were injured and would not be playing.

We walked two blocks to the bus stop and got a ride straight to the Rose Garden. Aaron sat next to me, while Eddie changed seats several times--at one point I thought he was gone, but he had just stealthily changed seats again (outside the bus, he made sure to hold my hand and stay close). Even though our seats were the cheapest in the house, I thought we still had a good view of the game. I like sitting in the upper section, though, because that's where the hard-core fans sit; the lower bowl seems like a place to show off your social status and money. But that won't stop me from accepting your gift of lower bowl tickets some day.

Each of us participated differently:

  • Me: I clapped and cheered and frequently stood and yelled and got kind of rowdy--this might be part of the reason the mistress isn't too eager to go to a game with me (I'm embarrassing to be around).
  • Aaron: He followed the game closely, clapped and cheered at all the right times, danced during timeouts, and looked like he really enjoyed being there.
  • Ed: For most of the game, he sat quietly in his seat watching. On occasion he would stand up and dance or cheer, but for the most part he watched the game closely from his seat. He never once complained or asked about when we could go home and didn't pester me about buying him a snowcone (he was perfectly fine with getting a drink from the water fountain). I was very proud of him and glad he came with us.

I've been to games at Autzen Stadium, Mac Court, the Spectrum in Logan, Utah (where the fans were very passionate about hoops), and the Rose Garden on several occasions, but tonight felt like the loudest place on earth--my head literally hurt to the point I was ready to lose my balance. I was touched at how passionate the crowd was--that they realized the importance of the game with the playoff seeding, and that they could influence the game, and that waiting to cheer loudest for chalupa-time so second-class. The sandman eventually got the best of Edward, and he crawled into my lap with a minute or so left on the game clock. Even though the entire arena was standing at this point, I felt lucky to cuddle with my five-year old for a brief moment. Both boys fell asleep on the bus ride home; Aaron woke up and was pleased that it was but a short walk home (as opposed to a very long car ride to Salem), while I happily carried Eddie the two blocks to our house. Even though my head hurt and my vocal chords were thrashed, I felt on cloud nine.

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