vbaxendallesmom

[vbaxendallesmom]

Words I am not saying this NBA Season

I believe in self-improvement. I also believe words are some of the most powerful tools/weapons we have, depending on how you use them.

With that in mind, I’ve made a list of the words I’m not going to say when I’m talking about the NBA this season. My goal is to lend power only where it is needed, and to be more specific in my writing.

1. The name of the basketball team from the Bay Area.

I sincerely believe that saying someone’s name gives them more power. Remember "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlej . . . "?

The basketball team from the Bay Area has plenty of power without me adding to it. I won’t use their nickname (the word that starts with a “W”). I won’t use their “we’re regional” moniker (the words that start with “G” and “S”). I won’t use the hashtag that contains all three of these letters.  

It doesn’t mean I won’t talk about them if the need arises. Nor will I stop making poor jokes about blowing a three-one lead.  I just won’t say their name.

If I slip up on this one, I’ll donate $5 to Girls Inc. Pacific Northwest for every lapse. Not to brag or anything, but I’m already getting pretty good at avoiding their name, so I’ll pledge a minimum $50, payable at the end of the season.

2. Incredible

Incredible is too subjective. Something that is incredible to me--running a sub-4 marathon, having a 37 inch vertical leap, having a billion dollars--is only incredible in my small world. Instead of saying “Pat Connaughton has an incredible vertical leap”, I’ll say “Pat Connaughton recorded a 44 inch vertical leap which is, unofficially, tied for the second highest ever at the combine.”

3. Amazing

Amazing isn’t specific enough. If I think something is amazing, I’m going to try to be specific about what has me so impressed. To me, running a sub-4 marathon is really great but what I’m so intrigued about is all of the work and preparation that went into running that marathon. Not that I could either prepare for or run a marathon.

4. Remarkable

Of course it is remarkable. I just remarked on it. So why not just say it? I think a lot of the time “remarkable” is the easy way out when you think people should be talking about something but you can’t quite articulate why.

I’ll eliminate remarkable to make myself be specific about why something should be of interest. Instead of “the Minnesota Timberwolves have remarkable young talent”,  I’ll say “the Minnesota Timberwolves have the last two Rookies of the Year.”

Just keeping those four words out of my vocabulary will be a full time job. Please call me out on them if you hear me using them--especially the first one because I want to make sure that Girls Inc Pacific Northwest gets paid when this is all over!

[vbaxendallesmom]

Structure your content using headings

It is a best practice to use headings to organize the structure of your content and use bold and italic to emphasize text.

Here are some tips to help you use headings effectively.

Use headings to separate sections of your content

Headings (sometimes called headers) are text that introduce or summarize a section of content. Above, Use headings to separate sections of your content, is a heading. 

Headings are important because they give the reader clues about how your content is structured. They allow the reader to know what is coming up. Headings help readers decide if they want to read the text that follows. 

Headings make it easier to read webpages

It is harder on your brain to read text on a screen than it is to read words on paper. As a result, when you are looking at a computer, your brain naturally wants to read as few words as possible. So you scan.  

You read the headings first and then your brain weighs in on if you should read all those other words or if you should skip to the next section.

Headings are good for accessibility

Additionally, many people use screen readers to access the web. Screen readers generally read the headings first and then allow the users to decide if they want to hear the upcoming text.

Some people use only a keyboard to navigate websites.They can easily tab through headings to move down the page.

Time out for a door analogy

Imagine you are looking at a row of doors. They all look basically the same and they don’t have any labels. How you decide which one to open?

Now imagine there are labels on the doors: Laboratory, Cafe, Administration. Makes it easier to decide which door you want to open, doesn’t it?

Your brain processes a page full of paragraphs is a similar way. On initial glance, all the paragraphs look the same. The headings indicate what lies beneath.

DO NOT USE ALL CAPS FOR YOUR HEADINGS

When you use all caps for your headings a number of things happen.

ALL CAPS is considered “yelling”

Words written in ALL CAPS are harder to read than words written using mixed case

Using ALL CAPS instead of heading format is not the proper way to indicate to a web browser or a screen reader that you are introducing a new section of your content.

Some screen readers treat words written in all caps as acronyms and read them aloud, one letter AT A TIME (aye tee aye tee eye em ee). 

Do not use headings to emphasize text

Some people use the Heading format option to make text larger and help it stand out. Headings should not be used to emphasize text. Headings should be used to help people navigate the structure of the page.

When you use Heading to make text stand out, your browser (and assistive technology if it is being used) interprets that text as part of the structure of the page.

How do I emphasize important information?

If you want to emphasize words, use the bold or italic options offered with the text editor. Bold is best because italic text can be harder to read.

Links on webpages are already styled to look different from other text. You do not need to make them bold to help them stand out.

Be sparing in your use of bold: If everything is bold, nothing is bold.

How do I make text bold or italic?

To make text bold or italic, use the Bold and Italic buttons in the text editor, marked by B and I on the toolbar.

Highlight the text you want to emphasize

Select appropriate button to emphasize text.

[vbaxendallesmom]

Dear Robin Lopez, enough already

Getty Image from Bleacher Report: Robin Lopez Can’t Stop Terrorizing NBA Mascots

Dear Robin Lopez,

I was so excited when you came to Portland. Your off-beat interests, your quirky personality, and the protection and relief you brought to the paint were all welcomed with open arms.

We got used to the fact that you were uncomfortable talking about basketball. We embraced your Sideshow Bob hair. You loved the things we love: comic books, cats, the Simpsons. I really think you helped expand the Trail Blazer’s fan base at least a little bit by showing that geeky interests and love of sports are not mutually exclusive. I thank you for all of that.

However, I just can’t get over the mascot thing.

I tried to enjoy it for what it was meant to be: a fun distraction from the game, a harmless joke that became your “thing” as you traveled from city to city.

Probably a majority of the fans don’t even care about the mascots at all. But the mascots are not there to entertain the adults, they are there to entertain the kids. When you make fun of and attack the mascots, kids are watching. They are watching how you single out someone who is different. How you jump on someone who is smaller than you. And they are watching how everyone thinks it is funny.

When this happens within the context of the game--a player takes advantage of the opponent's weakness--it’s what we all cheer for. But when it takes place outside of the game, it's a sideshow.

Maybe this started as a lark. Maybe someone encouraged you to keep going and so it took on a life of its own. Maybe the mascots wanted to be involved because it brought them more attention. Probably everyone but me enjoys the show.

But I just keep thinking about the little kids who feel different from their peers. Who are already afraid of the other kids. The ones who get picked on because they stand out. I also think about the kids who might push and shove the other kids around. Who think that is ok because it’s what they see.

Any way I look at it, I feel bad for everyone involved. I wish you would just stop with this silliness and use your position for something good, like you did with the Reading Superhero campaign. To be kind to the people who are different. To embrace them for their quirkiness like we all embraced you.

Tonight you’re coming back to the Moda Center in a different uniform. You’re going to see Blaze, the one mascot you have never picked on. How are you going to handle it? It seems like this would be a good time to make peace.

If you’re really a Simpsons fan (like I am) you might say making up with the mascots would be like the time Marge wrote an Itchy & Scratchy episode. Instead of fighting, Itchy and Scratchy became friends who drank lemonade on the porch together. All the kids in Springfield turned off their tvs and went outside to play in the fresh air. “They love and share, and love and share. Love, love, love. Share, share, share. The Itchy and Scratchy showwwwwww . . .” It killed Krusty’s show.

But Itchy & Scratchy’s whole identity was based on Itchy picking on Scratchy. Don’t let your identity become someone who picks on mascots.

You are a professional basketball player, not a cartoon character. You have control over your own destiny and over your actions. Choose to end this nonsense now so kids don’t see any more examples of the little guy getting picked on by someone with more power. Stop fighting with the mascots so we can all get back to the important thing, which is the game of basketball.

And we can all focus on the game, not the sideshow.

[vbaxendallesmom]

Every Day Defense

As unofficial team mom, my focus is always how can I help the Trail Blazers get better? Today I am focusing on one growth area that has been called out quite often this season, that is, the Trail Blazers’ defense.

I could yell and complain (some people are happy to do this) but these are not the best tactics for instilling good habits. Yelling and complaining might get immediate results, but they will not necessarily be lasting results. 

As fans, we must not be reactionary when we find their defense lacking. We must be patient, take corrective action and model the good behavior that we want to see. 

With that in mind, I would be glad to spend the day with anyone who wants to see good defense in action. 

Here is just a taste of Team Mom’s #everydaydefense. (Thanks to Vladmere Baxendalle for his help)

Get there first

As you can see, beating your guy to the position and then keeping those arms straight up can prevent someone from eating snacks right before dinner. 

Here you can see what happens when you keep your eyes out for the opportunity to make a steal. Its even better when you have a team mate in position to give and go.

Be ready to make a steal

And finally, just like planks are a core exercise we should all do everyday, the remote control drill is a great way to get your heart rate up and practice tracking the ball using your hands.

Don’t let anyone get a clear look at the tv er . . . basket

(This video also demonstrates why you should leave the Vine editing to the kids).

There will be plenty of time for the Trail Blazer’s defense to get better. It is more important that they build good habits to make lasting improvements, not just find quick fixes to get them through one game at a time. A defense to depend on is built on good habits learned over time.

Don’t forget to use the hashtag #everydaydefense to inspire all the young ballers in your house!

[vbaxendallesmom]

Taking a new approach to the "Jail Blazer" era

Putting it out there that I am reevaluating my opinion/judgements on the “Jail Blazers” through the lens of race.

First things first, I think I’m not going to call it that any more.

Next, in going to learn more about what happened and try and separate out how much of what transpired was because the players were guilty and how much was because of racism and racial profiling. I don’t know what the answers are but I suspect that at least some–if not most–of the bad reputation was due to instuitional racism in our community.

I don't have any answers yet, I'm am just getting started. I am taking a deeper look to understand how influential our perceptions are and how deep rooted racism may effect how we remember that era.

[vbaxendallesmom]

Brothers of the NBA

Earlier tonight Mr. Team Mom was trying to recall “who was that guy . . . who was the brother of that guy . . . he played for the Blazers . . . his brother was the better one”.

I love a challenge, so with that, I was off and searching.

Turns out the guy he was looking for was Harvey Grant, identical twin brother of Horace Grant. Harvey played for the Trail Blazers from 1993-1996 . Horace won 4 NBA Championships with the Chicago Bulls.

Image from ESPN.go.com

But the key point here is that I found this awesome List of Brothers who have Played in the NBA.

According to this list, there have been 61 sets of brothers in the NBA, some with 3 or more players like

The Barrys: Jon, Brent and Drew

The Joneses: Caldwell, Charles, Major and Wil

The Russells: Campy, Frank and Walker

I haven’t looked up every one of the players, but here are some highlights. I start with brothers who have Blazer connections, then active NBA players who are brothers. I wrap it up with some of the historical families.

Brothers with Trail Blazer Connections (starting with twinsies!)

From Brooklyn Eagles Sports Photo via @USEmbRu on Twitter.

Robin and Brook Lopez (twins) Much has been written about the Lopez brothers (for example, from the NYT: Wonderful World of Lopez Twins) whose April 1 birthday seems to fit them well. (Full disclosure, that’s my birthday too.) Before entering the NBA they played together for two years at Stanford. Brook has played his entire career with the Brooklyn Nets, while Robin is more well traveled, playing for the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Hornets before landing with the Trail Blazers in 2013.

Jarron and Jason Collins (twins) Before the Lopez twins took Stanford by storm, the Collins brothers were there first. Fun fact, their high school teammate was actor Jason Segel who once won the team slam dunk contest. Jarron Collins played with the Blazers in the 2009 summer league. He was a Trail Blazer again in 2014, completing 2 10-day contracts with us before retiring in 2014. His brother Jason was a trailblazer of a different kind, well known as the first openly gay player in the NBA.

Stephen and Joey Graham (twins) Stephan Graham’s basketball career included stints in the NBA, NBA Summer League, the D-League and Europe. He played 2 months with the Trail Blazers in 2006-2007. Twin brother Joey’s professional career lasted from 2005-2011.

Nick and Steve Jones Steve “Snapper” Jones, the older of the two NBA Jones brothers, is a Portland and Oregon favorite. He grew up in Portland and was a star at local public high school, Franklin. He attended the University of Oregon, and ended his NBA career as a Portland Trail Blazer in 1976. He spent another 20 years or so covering the NBA. He was the first analyst I remember listening to and is known as one of the only people to actually cut Bill Walton off. Nick also attended a local high school (Marshall) and the U of O. His NBA/ABA career ran from 1967-1972.

(Image of Calvin Natt: http://hoopshabit.com/2014/12/19/50-greatest-nba-players-1980s/7/)

Calvin and Kenny Natt Calvin played 11 seasons in the NBA and younger brother Kenny played for the NBA, CBA and WBL. Calvin was with the Trail Blazers 1980-1984. Kenny went on to have a successful career as an assistant coach. Calvin went on to become a minister, and followed up on a lifetime fascination with mortuaries.

When Calvin Natt was on the road with the Trail Blazers, the small forward wouldn't visit bars, clubs or museums in his free time.

He would find the local mortuary and interview the mortician.

From Oregonian’s series: Blazer’s Top 40, by Jason Quick.

He eventually opened a funeral home in the Denver area and for a while ran a non-profit to raise funds for parents to pay for funerals for their children.  

Audie and Sylvester Norris  Audie played for the Trail Blazers 1982-1985 where he earned the nickname “Atomic Dog” from teammate Mychel Thompson. Sylvester played with the Spurs 1979-80.

Jim and John Paxson Jim was the number 12 draft pick by Trail Blazers in 1979 and went on to play 9 seasons with them. He was a two time All-Star selection. Younger brother John played in Chicago and San Antonio, eanring 3 championships with the Bulls.

Steve and Tom Scheffler Tom played mostly in Europe, but spent a season with the 1984-85 Trail Blazers. Steve was younger by 13 years and played with the Hornets and the Sonics, where he was a fan favorite off the bench.

Chuck and Wesley Person Younger brother Wesley Person played with the Blazers for 33 games in a forgettable 2003-2004 season. Chuck was named NBA rookie of the year in 1987 while playing with the Pacers. He retired a Seattle Sonic, after a productive 14 year career.

Other brother duos in the current NBA

Mychel and Klay Thompson When I initially saw this, I thought there was a misprint. A  life-long resident of Rip City I know that Mychal is Klay Thompson’s dad. Turns out Thomspon Jr spells his name with “el” while dad uses “al”. Klay’s older Brother Mychel plays mostly for the D-League and Summer League with occasional call-ups.

But check this out (from Wikipedia):

On November 4, 2013, the Sioux Falls Skyforce traded Thompson's rights to the Santa Cruz Warriors.[10] On November 19, 2013, he was acquired by the Warriors.[11]

During this season at Santa Cruz, Thompson played in the back court with Seth Curry. At the same time, their respective brothers Klay and Steph were playing together in the Golden State back court, in a tandem nicknamed the "Splash Brothers." Correspondingly, Mychel and Seth were dubbed the Splash Brothers of the D-League.[12]

(Image: http://www.soonersports.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31000&PALBID=934415)

Blake and Taylor Griffin NBA brothers fun fact, Blake Griffin’s older brother Taylor Griffin also played for the Santa Cruz Warriors in 2013. (Santa Cruz Warriors Media Guide). Taylor was drafted by Phoenix Suns in 2009 but has played most of his career in the D-League.

Other brothers who are active in the NBA

Pau and Marc Gasol

Goran and Zoran Dragic

Marcus and Markieff Morris (twins!)

Cody and Tyler Zeller (Brother Luke played in the D-League and briefly with the Suns)

Mason and Miles Plumlee

Paul and Elijah Millsap

Jrue and Justin Holiday

Retired NBA brothers

Jon, Brent and Drew Barry (90s-2000s) Father Rick Berry saw 4 of his 5 sons play pro ball: Jon (14 years), Brent (14 years) and Drew (6 years). Eldest brother Scooter had a 17 year career in the CBA, WBA and in Europe.  Brent probably had the most productive NBA career, with two NBA Championships (with the Spurs) and a Slam Dunk Contest win in 1996.

Tom and Dick Van Arsdale (70s and 80s) Another set of twins, Tom and Dick Van Arsdale are featured in the Phoenix Sun’s 25th anniversary book in a story called “The Original Twins”.  They only played one season together (1976-77) and both retired at the end of it at age 35.

An entertaining  2014 interview with the twins for a Sun’s Throwback Thursday feature touches on Bill Russell, Oscar Robinson and the steak in Wilt Chamberlain’s suitcase.

Caldwell, Charles, Major and Wil Jones (70s and 80s) The Joneses were an extraordinarily tall family. Of 8 kids, the shortest was 6’ 3”. Six Jones brothers attended Albany State University in Albany, Georgia. Four Jones brothers played in the NBA.  Two other brothers played minor league basketball.  

For fun, see also: Brack-it: Best NBA Siblings

[vbaxendallesmom]

5 Favorite Basketball Podcasts (Blazer-centric)

Over the years I've enjoyed plenty of sports radio. I started listening about 5 years ago when I just couldn't take one more pledge drive.  

Locally, I’ll listen to John Canzano. He is sometimes polarizing but I think he's generally a good guy who isn't afraid to say unpopular things, play devil's advocate, or stir things up. I also enjoyed Chad Doing before he left for sunnier skies (sorta) in California because he was brutally honest about who he was and he loves his grandma. And when they finally get around to talking about sports, I generally like Isaac and Suke. I haven’t really gotten into the new show, Rip City Mornings, because I don’t think the guys know their audience yet. Don’t talk about Kevin Love. Just don’t.

I do like podcasts though because 1) they are shorter than a whole 3 hour program and 2) the good ones cut out the extra stuff.

I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts lately and here are the ones that I enjoy the most.

1. Blazersedge Podcast with Dave Deckard and Phil Nassons (Tuesday Edition)

Find them on Feedburner, Stitcher, or iTunes.

My favorite podcast. The format is Blazers-focused conversation between Blazersedge Managing Editor Dave Deckard and radio host Phil Naessens. My husband once found me in the kitchen listening to this and made fun of their somewhat monotonous voices and their low-key delivery (“Is this Travel with Rick Steves?” is what he said). That gave me a chance to explain that what I like about these guys is just how totally reasonable they are.

With some sports shows its either “we’re on our way to winning a championship!” or “the sky is falling!” With these guys, there is always something positive to take from the week that’s been and something to watch for in the week that’s coming. They are not complete homers but they also aren’t “we’re media which means we’re not fans” kinda guys. Again, the key here is balance.

In addition to their thoughtful commentary, they do not suffer from the affliction that many current reporters/analysts suffer from, that is thinking that Rasheed Wallace was the greatest Blazer ever. Even though they are guys who have been around a number of years, they don’t get mired in the past, always focusing on and appreciating our current roster. (Though as far as I’m concerned, Dave Deckard has top-shelf cred as far as historical knowledge of the Blazers goes. Check out this series on Blazers History.)

They are also really responsive on twitter answering questions. Last week they very kindly answered my request for a simple explanation of “TV money”. Thanks guys! Find them at @DaveDeckard/@blazersedge and @flashtennis31

2. Blazersedge Podcast with Chris Lucia (Saturday Edition)

Find on Feedburner,  Stitcher, or follow via iTunes.

Lucky us, there are TWO Blazersedge podcasts! Saturday editions feature Chris Lucia interviewing a different guest each week. I love these interviews, especially the ones with other media that give us a glimpse into behind-the-scenes coverage of the NBA.

Lucia is also very mellow in his delivery, never too hyped, never stone-cold. He does a good job bringing out good stories and providing background about athletes and other teams that make the competition even more interesting to me.

Find Chris Lucia on Twitter: @ChrisLucia_BE

3. The Baseline with Cal Lee and Warren Shaw

Find the Baseline on itunes, Stitcher

I look forward to every one of these guys’ podcasts. I started listening to them because I really love the Trail Blazers. I mean, I really love the Blazers. I was afraid my view of the boys was too myopic, leaving me without an accurate picture of who they were compared to the rest of the league. I worried that only following local coverage was robbing me of important league-wide perspective.

I started off listening to more main stream podcasts from ESPN and the NBA but they were pretty focused on the obvious stories--big markets, big names etc.  I like how The Baseline balances coverage between east and west, between big markets and small markets. They won’t discuss all 30 teams every episode but they aren’t going to be all Lakers/Knicks/Heat/Cavs all the time either.

Cal Lee has the best voice in podcasts and he is so fun to listen to. He has a super unique style that makes him stand out among all of the other sports radio personalities I hear. You can tell he gets really excited about things and the words just start pouring out faster than he can even contain them. He reports and comments with such joy, it is really refreshing. He doesn’t do those annoying Jim Rome or Dan Patrick . . . pauses. For . . . dramatic . . .  effect.

And of course it goes without saying, that I wouldn’t listen to them if they didn’t speak well of our boys. Favorite quote from Cal Lee: “We’ve seen the Trail Blazers pull a diamond out of the fire before.”

Lee’s broadcast partner Warren Shaw is level-headed, knowledgeable and sticks to the facts at hand. I enjoy his Shawsports.net and respect the heck out of a guy who is creating his own media channel. He’s a good, down-to-earth foil for Cal Lee’s mercurial style.

Follow on Twitter: Cal Lee @gamefacelee, Warren Shaw @ShawSportsNBA , The Baseline @NBA_baseline. They will 

4. Trail Blazers Courtside

Trail Blazers Podcast on Stitcher

This is just the audio of the TV broadcast, but always serves up something fun. I enjoy the rotating cast of hosts and guests: analysts, reporters and Trail Blazers. Some of my favorite guys who like to stir things us are Antonio Harvey, Dwight Jaynes, Orlando Williams, Coach Terry Stotts and of course any Trail Blazer who stops by. Hey guys, you might want to have a woman on the show some day. Just sayin . . . 

5. Rip City Report

Rip City Report on nba.com

I would probably not hang out with Casey Holdahl (@chold) and Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman). I’m sure they are very nice people but I’m pretty sure we don’t have much in common.  They seem to remember the Jail Blazers era with more fondness than I do. They tend to go on tangents about things like local bars and brunch or movie’s they have seen. 

What I do like about The Rip City Report is that they have met the Blazers and I have not. 

I like that they have access to the practices, to the facility, to the players and staff. I like that they break the news about who is playing, trade rumors, and other team-related stories.  I do like their insider access and listen for the little nuggets of fun facts they deliver.

I think I would like it better if they talked more about what it is like to report on an NBA team. After all, I could turn to the guy in the cubicle next to me or the woman on the bus and ask “how do you think Chris Kaman panned out this year?” I’d be more interested in learning about what the locker room looks like, what are the tactics you use to engage various players, or what a typical day on the road with the team is like.

I like their reporting, but I’m not wild about when they veer off into analysis. I find that they do a lot of repeating the prevailing opinions without adding much value to the discussion. Its kind of like listening to two people agree with each other about whatever was on sports radio earlier in the week.

The best measure of this is how do they talk about Meyers Leonard? Well three months ago they were just not sure about him and two weeks ago they were like “ whadda you know?”. They never really stuck their necks out there to support him, and now they are giving him some reluctant kudos. None of this is terribly insightful. But I just know they must have plenty of insightful things to say about the guys as a team.

What other sports podcasts should I check out? What are your favorites? I’m especially interested in shows hosted by or featuring women, and shows that go into the stories that take place off the court as well.

[vbaxendallesmom]

These photos were taken by my father. They (4 in this series) were dated 4/13/1980. They appear to capture an eruption as he was flying over. 1 of 4 by R.G. Bowen 

These were next to each other in the notebook where he kept his Mt St Helens slides. 

They may be somewhat out of order from all the years of us taking the slides out of the notebook and replacing them without paying too much attention to the order.

[vbaxendallesmom]

April 16 & 23, 1980 Pictures of Mt St Helens

Here is a picture of my dad’s flight log. I somehow lost the original photo and only have the instagram version that cut off the dates, but I can take another photo the next time I go to my mom’s. The reason why I want to show it is because I have photos from a couple of those flights, April 16 and April 23 which are beautiful. Today is April 18, 35 years later.

Dad’s flight log, Spring 1980.

The following photos were labeled 4/16/1980

And these ones are labeled 4/23/1980

There was a note for this slide which read “Distant view on a quite clear day showing intense fracturing.”

[vbaxendallesmom]

Highlights from the Trail Blazers Media Guide

Highlights from the Trail Blazers 2014-15 Playoff Media Guide (I'm reading all 144 pages so you don't have to). Heavy on the L-Train because well. . . 

(Photo by Rick Bowmer AP)

LAMARCUS LIGHTING IT UP: With 659 field goals made in 2014-15, LaMarcus Aldridge finished the season atop the NBA in field goals made. He becomes the only Trail Blazer in franchise history to lead the NBA in field goals for a season.

CHANGE OF PACE: The Trail Blazers utilized 20 different starting lineups in 2014-15. 14 different players started a game for the Trail Blazers this season, after Portland needed just two different starting lineups to get through the entirety of the 2013-14 campaign.

LILLARD TIME: Damian Lillard led the NBA with 447 points scored in the fourth quarter this season.

DAME FROM DEEP: With his lone three-pointer against Houston on March 11, Damian Lillard (599 3-PT FG) became the first player in NBA history to make at least 150 three-pointers in each of his first three NBA seasons. Lillard surpassed Klay Thompson (545 3-PT FG) earlier this year for the most three-pointers in a players first three seasons in NBA history.

FILLING THE BOX SCORE: LaMarcus Aldridge recorded at least 35 points and 10 rebounds in four games this season (NBA-rank). Aldridge had 31 games of 20+ points and 10+ rebounds in 2014-15 (third in NBA).

FREE FOR A REASON: Portland shot 80.1% from the free throw line in 2014-15, finishing first in the league for highest free throw percentage for the second consecutive season (81.5% in 2013-14). *Team mom note: some nights it sure didn’t feel like it!

ALDRIDGE’S HISTORIC SEASON: In 71 games this season, LaMarcus Aldridge bolted his way to the top of numerous franchise marks. He concludes the season ranked first in franchise history for total rebounds (5,434) after surpassing Mychal Thompson (4,878), Jerome Kersey (5,078) and Clyde Drexler (5,339). He also surpassed Sidney Wicks (219) for most double-doubles in franchise history (234), and ranks second all-time on Portland’s charts in scoring (12,562) and third in free throws made (2,259). Having finished seventh in the league in scoring (23.4 ppg), Aldridge is the first Trail Blazer to finish top-10 in the NBA in scoring in four consecutive seasons. Aldridge joins LeBron James as the only other player to rank in the Top 10 in scoring each of the last four seasons.

[vbaxendallesmom]

Update on Teams with Guys Named Green

As the regular season winds down, I thought I would check in with how our team is doing against Teams With Guys Named Green (TWGNG). You will remember from last month’s post Blazers Struggle Against Teams With Guys Named Green , that our record is significantly worse against teams who have players named Green (Green currently happens to be tied with Johnson as the second most frequent last name in the NBA).

The Bad News

Back in March when I wrote the first post, Blazers were .657 against all teams in the NBA but couldn’t even boast about their .444 percentage against TWGNG.

Image: lists 7 NBA players named Green, their teams and the records their teams hold during the 2014-15 season vs. the Portland Trail Blazers and vs the NBA as of March 21, 2015

Memphis really kills us with TWO guys named Green. But even without counting the Grizzlies twice, we still barely break even at .533, still considerably below our record against the NBA at large.

The Still Bad News

How much has happened since March 21? We lost another painful game against the Grizzlies and another against Golden State while racking up two more wins against the Suns and one more against the Nuggets. So it was pretty much a zero-sum couple of weeks for us.

Image: lists 7 NBA players named Green, their teams and the records their teams hold during the 2014-15 season vs. the Portland Trail Blazers and vs the NBA as of April 5, 2015

I also calculated the winning percentage for non-duplicated Memphis results and we still struggle at .544.

Finally, I looked at the TWGNG results to determine if they play especially well against us, or if it is us who don’t meet the challenge against them. It appears that their records against us are not out of line with their average against the NBA at large, its us who have a significantly worse record against them.

Image: GS Warriors Draymond Green vs Blazers’ Chris Kaman, photo by Craig Mitchelldyer USA today. From Fansided.com

It Could Get Worse

Long story short, we’d better hope for the Green-less Clippers, Dallas or Houston in the playoffs. Considering the trend this year, we’d struggle pretty mightily against Memphis, Spurs, or Golden State, all of whom are headed to the Western Conference Playoffs too.

My hope is that being aware of this trend, the Blazers will take note and be even more vigilant against opponents with players named Green. Neil Olshey may even think about picking up one for next year.

[vbaxendallesmom]

Mt St Helens Memories

This is a long story but here is the short version. We are 35 years out from the big activity the mountain saw back in 1980. It was pretty much the biggest thing that ever happened to me and you’ll see why. Someone else wrote a much better story, someone else cataloged and digitized the photos. I just sat in a plane one day and ended up with a great story to tell. 

My dad was a geologist for the State of Oregon for most of his career and was an amateur pilot all of his life.  When Mt. St. Helens began erupting the spring of 1980, we had a great view from our West Hills home in Portland.

Dad flew around the mountain several times that spring and he took lots of pictures.  On May 18, I was just sitting down on the deck in the sunshine to listen to Casey Kasem's American top 40 when the radio announcers interrupted the broadcast to announce that the mountain had erupted.  I looked up and sure enough the eruption could be seen, the cloud already beginning to fill the horizon, reaching high into the sky.  

I ran up the stairs of the deck into his office, which also had a view of the mountain and said "Dad, look".  He looked. Then he picked up the phone, said "I need a plane", hung up and said "Do you want to go flying?".  I was 11 and I don't think I thought for even one second, I just said "sure".  

So we ran right out to the car and headed east.  I'm sure at some point Dad told my mom what we were doing.  I asked her recently "What were you THINKING?". She said that she knew everything would be okay.

One of the things that I remember about the drive to the airport was that ALL the traffic was going in the other direction. We were headed east out I-84 towards Troutdale, and the freeway heading west was packed and moving at only a crawl. I remember thinking for a sec "Ha! Ha!" then realizing that maybe there was a reason everyone was headed the other way and the only other vehicles going in our direction were the police cars, fire trucks and ambulances.

I think it this photo you can kind of see you the mud and ash was flowing off the mountain, just like a school science experiment! Down on the bottom right the mud is just burying the trees. About 10 more minutes and that forest was gone!

During this flight, the thing that scared me the most was the constant lightning. You can see how much debris was in the air, it created tons of static electricity. There was red, blue, pink, green, yellow, every color of lightning going off everywhere. That scared me as much as anything.

While there are many spectacular photos from May 18, the photos that dad took throughout the spring chronicled the weeks leading up to the huge eruption and also the immediate aftermath, including all of the dramatic devastation to the landscape.  

The image below was taken 7/23/1980

This image was from August 1980, it shows inside the crater that was created by the May 1980 explosion. This is where the lava dome would grow that would be destroyed by subsequent eruptions but continues to grow even now.. 

One of my favorites, of the landscape now known as the National Volcanic Monument, including the new shoreline of Spirit Lake. 

This is Spirit lake. Half of the lake is full of logs. When the mountian blew, the shock sloshed the water up out of the lake, where it knocked down and swept up nearby trees and carried them into the lake as it settled back down. At least I think thats how it was explained to me. If I got that wrong, please feel free to correct below.

Dad died December 2011 and my siblings and I spent a week combing through dad's amazing collection of slides that spanned about 65 years. Our favorites were always the Christmas Family Portraits and the Mt. St. Helens slides. I put this one together thinking it would probably be of more general interest than 18 years of our family dressed in plaid in front of a Christmas tree.

There are more notes in the captions of my album, Mt. St. Helens.http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1775938202110.100440.1348991522

Thanks for all of your interest in the story and in my Dad's always interesting life.  

[vbaxendallesmom]

We Are Lazy

I read Kronda Adair’s post Why I Don’t Want to Talk About ‘Women in Tech’ yesterday and I can't stop thinking about it. Today on Facebook Everyday Feminism asked “What are you grateful for this week?”. This. I’m grateful that this busy woman with a business and a family took the time to explain her feelings about being asked to share her opinions on inclusion or lack there of for free. 

The big take away: we are lazy. 

White people who want to make a difference need to do their own research and work out what we know and what we don't know. We must stop condescending. We must stop assuming that people of color will drop whatever they are doing the minute we have a question. 

We need to be respectful of the fact that people of color have lives they need to live and not get interrupted all the time by people who want to do good but won't take the time to just look shit up. 

She also provided a good set of resources which I’m reading now too. I suggest you take a look at it too. 

And she does a brilliant thing. She says “if you like this, let me know by paying me for my time.” I have a crappy bank balance right now, so I didn't have much to give. But I’ll give more when I have more coming in. 

http://kronda.com/why-i-dont-want-to-talk-about-women-in-tech

[vbaxendallesmom]

Broad City S02E10

[vbaxendallesmom]

Blazers’ struggle against Teams With Guys Named Green (TWGNG)

Ya’ll I've updated the numbers and this shit is real.

I thought we might catch a break last night because Orlando’s Willie Green was injured. Unfortunately, the guys couldn't get it done against the woeful 21-49 Magic (although that Peyton kid--wow, I like to watch him). Our struggles against TWGNG continues, even if the GNG doesn't play! 

As you can see from the unscientific chart above, Blazers record against TWGNG is significantly lower than against the NBA at large. 

Tonight it could get even worse as we face our toughest challengers, Memphis. Memphis is not only a team that is scary good, but they have TWO GNG! 

Say a prayer Blazermaniacs and bring your A game because the boys are going to need all the help they can get!

xoxo Team Mom

[vbaxendallesmom]

Why I didn’t give up on Meyers Leonard

(Not sure about the original source for this image. I found it on alex-cool.com but I’m pretty sure it didn't originate there.)

I”ll admit I was close -- >>this close<<--  to giving up on Meyers Leonard.

I mean, of course I think of the Blazers like they’re my own kids so I never would have written him off entirely but I was really ready to have that talk where you go “Honey, I love you but maybe we need to start thinking about a back-up plan for you. You know you can make a really good living as an assistant coach or a body guard.”

In my mind I was preparing to let him go if he got traded to another team. “He needs to go where he is utilized”, “I just want him to go where he can play”, “there’s a place for him somewhere”.

And just when the door was closing--my hand was on the knob and the lock was about ready to click into place--Damian Lillard stuck his foot in the door.

In an interview, a reporter asked Dame, who is the player that the fan’s don’t really understand how good he is? Without hesitation he said “Meyers Leonard”. He went on to say that all of the guys know how good Meyers is in practice, that he goes hard against the starters and plays hard, sinks all kinds of shots, plays defense . . . but when he gets in the game he just kinda can’t do what he does in practice. Its like he freezes up.

Who am I to claim that I know more than Damian Lillard?

I’ve also heard other team members speak highly of Meyers. And the there is this: when asked those “get-to-know” you questions on the Jumbo-tron like “Who would you choose to be your WWE partner?” Again, without hesitation, the players chose Meyers.

So I started watching Meyers closely. I used to call him Big Puppy. He reminded me of a big puppy who gets so excited to see you when you open the door that he wags his tail and jumps on you so hard that he knocks you right over. Thats how he played those first two years every time he got put in the game. 2 minutes, 2 fouls, lots of confusion and poor Meyers would head back to the bench.

I felt like he just didn’t get the game (as if I understand it myself) and was too confused during the action to apply any of what he’d worked on at practice. I despaired that he ever would.

(Photo by Randy Rasmussen, Oregonian. This is from 2012-13, they couldn’t even hit the high-5)

But then something changed.

At the beginning of this year, I noticed that when he went in, he was watching the veterans around him. He would watch Kaman if they were in there together and stay keyed in on him throughout his whole shift. Same with LA, eyes glued to the All Star. Meyers concentrates so hard on playing with him, being in the play with him, setting his body in relation to where Aldridge is in space.

(Image by Randy Rasmussen from OregonLive)

Meyers Leonard is playing like he finally got enough reps in practice. When he was brand new to the league, he had too much to think about. He would get in the game and have a million things to remember as well as get his positioning right and be ready for the unexpected. He’s playing like he’s go 500,000 of those things under control and he has his teammates to study in-game.

Along the way he has put in a few truly magnificent performances (lets face it he saved the day vs. Houston) and even though he’s not playing big minutes, he’s actually shooting a rare 50/40/90 this year. 

I still called him Big Puppy because, lets face it, he’s always going to have a baby face and that tail-wagging enthusiasm. But now he’s more like a puppy who has been to puppy school. He’s learning how to play with the big dogs.

[vbaxendallesmom]

We are all so excited Chris Kaman is in a @trailblazers uniform! #ripcity #nevergiveup #blazerstalk