chris_in_pdx

First of all, I think all Blazer fans need to tip their hat to the north today in honor of the Sonic Fans whom we've warred with and argued with over the years. The Portland/Seattle rivalry was just that, a rivalry with bad blood and mutual begrudging respect. There were many chapters in the Blazer/Sonic history book, including:

- 1978, Seattle knocking the defending World Champion Blazers out from the quarterfinals when Bill Walton and half the Portland Squad was injured. Seattle would go on to lose in the finals to the Bullets.

- 1979, Portland fans having to grit their teeth and watch our fellow NW'ers celebrate their first and only World Title.

- 1980, Portland unceremoniously bounced from the first round by a defending champion Sonic team, which witnessed the birth of a potential superstar in Billy Ray Bates.

- 1983, Portland upsets favored Seattle in the first round handily to earn a date to be mauled by the Showtime Lakers in the quarterfinals.

- 1991, Part 1: The famous "Tacoma Dome" game. Blazer fans immersed in the glory of the team's successes buys tickets by the thousands at the Tacoma arena, angering Sonic fans and inflaming tensions between the two groups for years to come. The game itself was for the ages, with the Blazers coming back from 24 points down to win in the final seconds. I can still hear the competing cheers of Blazers and Sonics fans drowing each other out with each made basket. Truly a lifetime memorable experience.

- 1991, Part 2: The Sonics, still embittered and passionate about the above incident, scared the #1 seed Blazers to death by pushing their first round matchup to an unexpected 5th game, sewing the seeds of doubt that eventually doomed the Blazers that year.

- 1993, in response (and some say revenge) for the Tacoma Dome game of 1991, a similarly scheduled game in Tacoma during the '93 season caused controversy and further bad feelings when the Sonics refused to sell tickets to anyone outside of the Seattle area other than high level, poor view seats. Blazer fans were relegated to small disjointed areas. Portland, however, won the game.

The rivalry has cooled somewhat in recent years with the paths of the teams not crossing during the playoffs, and the ups and downs of each team not coinciding with the other. However, a game vs. the Sonics was always one to mark down on the calander as one that would be a knock-down, drag-out affair that regardless of the records, could go either way. The Blazers did their share of damage to the Sonics during their title runs in the mid-90s, and the Sonics surely took their shots at the Blazers in the late-90s, early-00s.

There are many names of Sonic greats who will be fondly and not-so-fondly remembered to Blazer fans: Gus Williams, Downtown Freddy Brown, Jack Sikma, Tom Chambers, Xavier Mcdaniel, Dale Ellis, Nate McMillan (naturally), Gary Payton, Ricky Pierce, Vin Baker, Ray Allen.

And lets not forget players who donned both jerseys at points in their career: Lenny Wilkins, Herm Gilliam, Wally Walker, Danny Young, Maurice Lucas, Shawn Kemp, Antonio Harvey, Jerome Kersey, John Crotty, Detlef Schrempf, Ruben Patterson, Richie Frahm, and Eddie Gill.

And of course, there's Mr. Sonic Nate McMillan himself, who is a vital part of the current Blazer leadership.

Two franchises with a long, storied history between them that is ended and ripped apart by the cold realities of today's corporate climate. To the displaced Seattle NBA fan, I say to them, welcome aboard, it's good to have you.

World B. Free

Great post.

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Rip City Road Blocker

Yeah really nice.

I really hope the Sonics fans on the forums don't go away. Come hang out here.

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GO DUCKS

HispanicCausinPanic

They will be missed. They can jump on our wagon, there is room!

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Mike Rice is an Ol' School Pimp!

Mike Barrett is one cool white-boy!

Wheelz is cooler then the other side of the pillow!

'Tone is the only ex-NBA player I can beat 1 on 1!

I took Rebecca Haarlow to prom!

andalusian

I can really feel for them. After about 20 years of champ car races at PIR - we lost the race this year and I miss it. I can only imagine how bad it is to have your basketball team taken and renamed the OKC Gravediggers.

RipCity9

I've been listening to their sports radio station, KJR, all morning and I honestly cannot imagine how they feel. The current host is the biggest Seattle sports homer ever, and he is furious.

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"The Blazers will bounce on up to the top again, just like they have before. And when they do I'll be cheering for 'em as loud as anybody."

- Bill Walton

mobes23

Yeah, it'd be great to have 'em, but if I were in their shoes I'd (a) have a really hard time rooting for a long time rival and (b) be so po'd at the NBA in general that I'd just stay for awhile.

Give it some time and the Nate/Martell/Roy aspect might bring some Sonics fans around . . . that and the fact the Blazers will be a blast to watch over the next couple of years.

mobes23

I've been listening to KJR too -- a lot of crazy angry (but at the same time completely reasonable) words out of the KJR guys and the fans.

Couple those vibes with the thunder, lightening and midwest-style rain in Seattle and it feels like the basketball gods are po'd today.

Webster's Dictionary

I think it was their lack of a rivalry, or really any sense that the team would soon compete for a championship that led to their demise. The last 10 years have been pretty bleak up there, and they were going through a similar spell as us a few years ago when there was all that talk that PA would sell the Blazers, except it actually happened. Not enough people in the community really cared. I really hope Seattle gets a new Sonics team up there soon and fans can be reinvigorated after realizing what they are missing.

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HispanicCausinPanic

It just sucks that a team like the Bucks, who have horrible teams and attendance year in and year out can stick and a team that has great fan support like SEA has to go!

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Mike Rice is an Ol' School Pimp!

Mike Barrett is one cool white-boy!

Wheelz is cooler then the other side of the pillow!

'Tone is the only ex-NBA player I can beat 1 on 1!

I took Rebecca Haarlow to prom!

TLo

Didn't they make the Conference semis and give the Spurs a scare just 3 years ago? Of course they dismantled the team, but they were good more recently than us.

wizmentor

One theory I had heard was that the Seattle Fans supported a public arena for
Football and another one for baseball. They just felt that using tax $
on a third arena was too much to ask.

Regardless, I will be rooting against their new owner - in whatever he does,
including basketball... which is too bad since I like Westbrook and have
respect for Durant and Green.

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"Bayless is going to be that guy where, you know, Nate goes 'Oh you put in your second unit to give your starters a rest? Well, watch this.' And he's going to throw in Bayless and he's going to point to that second unit point guard and he's going to say 'Eat Him Alive', and Jarryd probably will."

---Dave Deckard of BlazersEdge

Shaq: Hey Thorpe, I'm getting sized for a thumb ring
SportsNation David Thorpe: I guess your wife is back in your life. Congrats.

Hector

This is an historical record that needs to be saved. Thank you!

mrkorb

I was looking at the head-to-head records for the Blazers over at basketball-reference.com the other day and I noticed that one team was alone at the top when you sort it by number of games played against the Blazers. Considering the title of this thread, I don't think I have to tell you who that team was.