R.I.P. Kevin Duckworth

Friend of the family and of the Blazer community, the late great Kevin Duckworth has passed on August 25, 2008. I will always remember meeting you at my father's shop and treasure the picture I got to take with you back when I was seven or eight years old. Thanks for being the standup, gentle giant that you were to not only us, but the whole Oregon community. You will be missed.

Gold Medal Match US vs. Spain - RUUUUUUDDYY!!

The US Men's basketball tem received a scare and me almost an ulcer in their champion match with Pau Gasol and RUUUUUUDDYY Fernandez's Spain team. Rudy almost single-handedly brought Spain back but, foul trouble plagued him throughout the game and when he fouled out on a questionable foul call on a three point shot by Kobe that turned into a 4-point play and the dagger, I knew Spain had no chance (22 points in 17 minutes... still don't know why he didn't start the game). Not only did Rudy demonstrate his great touch from the floor whether it be the long ball or slashing, he was "Team Spain". Imagine if he wasn't in foul trouble... Does Spain go on to win the Gold?! The highlight of the whole Olympic FIBA had to be his facial dunk on normally potent defender Dwight "D" Howard (just wanted to type "Dwight D" for Dwight D Eisenhower for Al Bundy repeating his name constantly on the Name the President game on Married with Children)

If Blazer coach and assistant coach of the Redeem Team Nate McMillan had his doubts before of Rudy Fernandez (remember Rudy's interview about questioning to play for the Blazers becasue of Nate), he better think hard (oh wait, not a hard decision) of not only playing RUUUUUUDDYY, but putting him at the starting lineup as the SF or SG (moving Roy to PG if that's the case). One thing is for sure (or should be if Coach Muffin can figure this easy thing out...) Step aside Martell Webster!! Look out NBA for another "Spanish Chocalate" name Rudy Fernandez!!

This Week in Rage aka Gold Medal Madness: Olympics Addition

Don't get me wrong from the title. I love the Summer Olympics and the 29th Olympia from Beijing didn't disappoint. A plethora of standouts from Michael Phelps' 8 gold medals, to the insane speed of Usain "Lightning" Bolt, to men's volleyball success (3gold and 1 silver), to the "redemption" of the US Men's b-ball team (Oh, BTW, future Blazer Rudy Fernandez definitely proved that he is no fluke and should be the future starting SF or SG for the Blazers), to Nastia Luiken's all around gold in gymnastics and Shawn Johnson's gold on the beam, and of course, Bela Karolyi going on a rant about the Chinese gymnist being underage and being overscored to the US, I could go on and on...

However, there are still some things that I am perplexed by at the Olmpics and thought I'd give my Adam Carolla attempt to (try to) complain about some of the things that you probably wouldn't ever think about complaining.



* Men receiving flowers to go along with their medal (from another man)

If competing in diving or gymnastics is considered "feminine" (Although I don't think that), then what do you call the gentlemen that present flowers to the men that win a medal? I mean seriously, all you really need is the medal. Right after the medal presentations and photos from the swimming events that I saw Michael Phelps dominate, he would either throw his flowers into the stands or give them to his mom or one of his sisters. Also, post medal ceremonies... I don't ever recall seeing anybody keeping the Goddam flowers to showcase! You know how some athletes like to bite on their medals... Well, instead of giving out the flowers, how about them something else to bite on like food, especially after a marathon or decatholon event!!



* Removal of Perfect 10 score in Gymnastics along with no gold medal ties (and questionable judging favoring China's underaged athletes)



The removal of the Perfect 10 score was chaotic and perplexing enough adding more conflict to the Gymnastics portion of the Olympics to go along with the unfair scoring toward the US and favoritism toward China. All around women's gymnist Gold medalist Nastia Liuken probably was screwed out of 2 other gold medals (Yes, her beam performance was better than Shawn Johnson), most noticable, the uneven bar (her best event). Not only was she unfairly underscored, but fellow 12-year-old Chinawoman named "He" of all things, was overscored after a so-so landing in which it was equivalent to Luiken's socre but becasue of this bull shit tie breaker, Luiken would receive the silver lining and "He" the tainted gold.



What wrong is there in not awarding two gold medals here or going into a Goddam sudden death?! In a sport where there are no ties like basketball, tennis, or soccer, there are overtime periods until there is a winner. But in swimming or running, there are medal ties for the unoccassionl ties. What the F is up with this idea of no tie or no tie breaker?! The committee that came up with this preposterous theory can eat my shorts and kiss my ass!!

On a sidenote, a great thing coming out of this was more "Belavision" with Bela Karoyli and his classic rants on the "underaged" Chinese gymnist and the "generous" scoring for the Chinese and unfavorable scores toward the US.



Sidenote: his cheerleading from watching Nastia Liuken was classic and so was Bob Costas' face of fear of a crazy gymnist coach. More Bela Karolyi, less Tim Dagget...

* Athletes eating at McDonalds everyday or eating like Sumos and having 8-pack-stomachs

I know Michael Phelps and other swimmers along with the US Men's b-ball team didn't want to touch the Chinese delacacies for the two weeks they were there... Well, first off, when I go out of state/vacation, the last thing I want to do is eat at a local fast food place let alone Mickey-Ds. I am also not a big fan of eating the same thing over for numerous days, although you can't go wrong with the Egg-McMuffin for breakfast! But listen, how is the Olympian experience a real experience eating at McDonalds everyday? That could be a person's experience here in the states that will have his or her arteries clogged by age 40. Grab a squid, chicken feat, scorpion, something that you'll remember goddammit - thank you

Feel free to leave your comments and vote for the gold medal rant of the three!!

Back Posting: 2008-2009 Schedule Out Today: Brutality

Well, not to put a downer on the hype that the Blazers are receiving, but the first five games (Let alone the first 2 months) of the 2008-2009 schedule are what you could call "murder's row". Here are those five games:

* @ Lakers
* vs. Spurs
* @ Suns
* @ Jazz
* vs. Rockets

I wouldn't be surprised if the Blazers went 0 - 5 during this stretch. The Lakers and Jazz are almost unbeatable at home, although the Blazers did manage to steal one from Utah last season (one of only 3 teams to do so). The Spurs and Rockets seem to always dominate the Blazers as the we seem to never match up good against teams with superb defenses.

Well, the only good I can see from this is if that the Blazers where to somehow start 5 - 12 like last season or numerous games under .500 like the underachieving Bulls did this last season, and with Coach Nate McMillan rejecting an extension from last month, I wonder if we just let the OVERRATED coach go (prays to the basketball gods of Nate's departure)... I'm a big fan of Jeff Van Gundy and his commentary, but I would love it even more if he were the next Portland Trail Blazer coach.