All is not lost!!!!!!

All I've been hearing lately from many of my fellow Blazer maniacs is doom and gloom over the state of the team.  Now, obviously I am no expert (just a fat guy with a computer) but I see no reason to panic, with all the crap that's happened in the past two seasons,  in fact I see reason for hope and excitement!  The Blazers have won 6 of their past 8 games against a few pretty decent teams.  They have players stepping up and the team is playing good basketball and they're only going to get better.


Now Oden being out for the season sucks but to be honest it wasn't a huge shocker.  I think many of us knew in our heart of hearts that it was going to happen again.  We didn't want it to, but it did,  and at this point Blazer maniacs are almost used to the pain of seeing our once heralded "center of the future" going down with a ridiculously unlucky injury.  It sucks because a big man with his kind of build and his level of athleticism comes once in a life time.  When he was drafted Blazer fans were practically promised 15 championships and believe me I was one of those fans who thought it was only a matter of a couple seasons before we hung that coveted banner in the Rose Garden.  I still hold out hope for that banner.  But Oden doesn't seem to be the road that will get us there.  At least not now anyways.

But the Oden disappointment isn't the main cause of our doom and gloom for this season. What really hurts us is seeing Brandon Roy being shut down because of those damn knee injuries.  As it stands today he's out indefinitely (whatever that means) and it sucks worse than John Cusack's acting.  Roy was our team's savior.  We all know the darkness that consumed this team before Brandon Roy showed us the light.  The darkness of all the arrests, tantrums, losses and disappointments. But his mastery of the ancient art of kicking ass gave us all something to believe in.  His rookie of the year award, his 52 point outing against phoenix suns, his being a 3 time all-star gave us something to brag about to all our buddies in Boston and L.A. Below the Rose Garden marquee it should read "The house that Roy rebuilt".    That's how much he means to this team and to us the fans.  So its understandable that so many fans are traumatized this season.  Our great leader is out and we don't know when he'll be back.

But fear not Blazers fans!  Just when all seemed lost and our future dimming once again, LaMarcus Aldridge emerges as the force of nature we all hoped he would be! The dude has been BAWLS TO THE WALLS  AWESOME!  He's averaging over 25 points over the past 9 games and he's bringing down an average of 8.5 rebounds per game for the season.  Now I know what you're thinking to yourself "this idiot is way too excited way too early about the L Train". and you may be right but the dude has a swagger that he hasn't had before.  He's throwing down post moves that up until this point no one knew he had.  He's taking that reputation of "being soft" and shoving it down the opponents throats!  Just look at the dude's face after a monster jam.  You wanna push that guy around now? Be my guest son.  I'll be sitting on my couch watching and laughing as your ass get rolled over on TV.  The L Train has finally arrived! All aboard!

Now with all the attention that the L Train has been getting (and deservedly so) we kind of neglect the surprise of the year. Wesley freaking Matthews.  Holy dang where did this dude come from? An undrafted 2nd year player stepping into the shoes of one of the league's best guards and kicking all kinds of butt while doing it?  And people call the Blazers unlucky.  Come on!  If you haven't jumped onto the "Wes Money" band wagon yet you have a heart of stone and probably live on top of a mountain plotting ways to ruin people's Christmas mornings.  He was never even supposed to be in the role that he is now, he was meant to be our sixth man.   He was meant to be a defensive stopper we could throw at the opposing team's best player when Batum is in foul trouble. But with his goggles and can do attitude he's become not only a fan favorite but a true team leader. Averaging over 15 points a game and playing defense better than the great wall of China. And people thought the Blazers were unlucky.

As I said all is not lost.  There is plenty of hope to be had.  Plenty of things to be excited about. I invite both you who are reading this (hi mom) to close your eyes and imagine the L Train dishing a pass out of a double team to Wes Money who drives to the hoop but at the last second passes out to a healthy and rejuvenated Brandon Roy who launches a monster 3 for the NBA title.  That's a future worth hoping for.  That's a future worth being excited for. That's a future that this fat red head believes is just around the corner.  RIP CITY!!!!!

-Kane