Personal story time I guess.
During the late 80's and early 90's my parents were really into the Blazers (they always talk about older players and knew everyone on the team, etc...) and I was just born around then. My parents are Asian immigrants so it's interesting to think about, but they never really got me into basketball in the mid 90's. I started getting an interest in the NBA in the early 00's. I never played basketball then, but I played other sports. What got me into it (it's crazy) was NBA Street the video game. I always heard talks about the Blazers (I live in Portland, and have throughout my entire life) at the time. So when I learned about the best players on each team and where they were from I really got hooked in. T-Mac and Paul Pierce were really good at the game and they ended up being my favorite players. So I took it from there to find out stuff in the real NBA. I brought up basketball with my dad and he actually knew quite a lot since he watches from time to time. He would always talk about how he disliked Michael Jordan and Kobe cause they would always destroy us or keep us from winning. Unfortunately right at the time where I was getting into the NBA, we had our "Jail Blazers" era. Wallace, Pippen, and Stoudemire were cool I guess, but with all the drama I kind of steered away from being a Blazers fan.
However, I still had my favorite players so I'd love watching T-Mac and Paul Pierce play. T-Mac was destroying in Orlando and Paul Pierce was doing work in Boston. Yao Ming was drafted and that was a big deal because he was a successful Asian player. Of course, I had to root for him so I kind of developed an interest in the Rockets. And what was funny, was in NBA street, there was this dude named Takashi who he was based off of and I didn't get that connection at first and when I found out it was awesome.
Eventually, T-Mac was traded to Houston and that's when my fandom really took off. T-Mac and Yao were amazing together. Houston was my favorite team. Of course, I still paid attention to my hometown Blazers. And coincidentally, my school orchestra had a performance at the Rose Garden around Christmas time. I went to my first Blazer game and we were playing the Heat. It was the 2007-2008 season, Brandon Roy and LaMarcus were just drated the year prior. I got to see Shaq in person, it was awesome. We actually won (I thought we were bad for like the past few years). After that game, the fan in me turned completely around and I began supporting them since this was actually a whole new team since the Jail Blazers era.
This began my real days, right here. Starting in high school. Growing up I wish I played basketball as a kid or for school. I played in YMCA's, the gym and intramural. I still suck, but I love the game. I was still supporting the Rockets at the time as well.
We got the first pick with Greg Oden and Portland was so hyped then. We went to meet him after he got drafted downtown and it was crazy. I was truly a Blazers fan around this time. I was so excited for what this new team could bring to the NBA. I go to a few games here and there since then and then I started to watch every game on TV.
One game locked me in for sure and that I was going to stick with the Blazers forever, and that was the game Brandon Roy made that game winner against Houston. I was watching with my dad and when he made that shot we both jumped up and cheered. I felt the energy at the Rose Garden from my own home.
And then we had all the injuries with the Frail Blazers era, but at this point, I am a Blazermaniac and I will stick through my team through thick and thin. Oden could have been anything, but if he was healthy, I guarantee he would still be a solid center, if not a great one. I might be bias, but if BRoy didn't get injured, he would be one of the best guards in the league, competing with Dwade in his prime (Of course, gotta count Kobe). And what was sad, is that T-Mac and Yao were getting injured a ton too. I was really sad all my favorite players were getting hurt. I am not a bandwagon fan, I struggled with them. This was my era, the what could have been, and now the recovery rebuild that has been going on these past couple of years with Dame. I couldn't be more proud to be a Blazers fan and will never stop being one.