Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please click on the title to bring up the post so the narrative isn’t clipped or shortened. (External photo attribution at the end of the post #1 – #2)
Well, it’s time for the NBA Season to “kickoff” and the Portland Trailblazers – rebuilding since their NBA Championship in 1977 – evoke a lot of good memories as well as frustrations.
The zenith was the 1977 victory over the Dr. J (Julius Erving – led Philadelphia ’76ers) where the underdog Blazers, coached by the legendary, Jack Ramsey, lost the first two games and then won four straight to win the series.
The late Bill Walton was named the MVP which led Philadelphia Coach, Gene Shue to comment, “Bill Walton is the best player for a big man who ever played the game of basketball.” (Wikipedia) (#3 – #5)
But there have been bad times as well for our pro hoopers. For example, the Portland Jail Blazer era:
“One of the most infamous periods in Trail Blazers history is the era of the ‘Jail Blazers.’ Though the team had experienced its fair share of controversy and issues in prior seasons, many consider the ‘Jail Blazers’ saga starting during the 2000–2001 season.”
Fortunately, the players with questionable character during that era, were eventually traded and another rebuilding started in 2006 with better citizens running the floor.
A fascinating Willamette Week article in 2018 gave an update on six of the most “notorious” and some of them at least turned the corner. https://www.wweek.com/sports/2018/01/17/a-look-at-where-six-of-the-best-known-jail-blazers-ended-up/
For example, Isaiah (JR) Rider who “….gave us a basketball gift to remember — the most unlikely shot in NBA history.” (Yahoo Sports.com)
“His life fell apart after his forced retirement from the league in 2001, but he seems to be picking up the pieces. He started a kids’ basketball training program in Arizona called Sky Rider. According to his Twitter account, he’s a ‘current family man’ and his 6-year-old son is a spelling bee champion.
But my best memory of the Blazers was from 1979. I had one-third of a season ticket – two tickets to about twelve games that I split with some work colleagues. I asked Janet Dancer, who I met at a night meeting, for a date when she was working for the City of Oregon City and I was the Chair of the Planning Commission and our first date was to a Trailblazer game.
After being married for forty-four years this year, she still kids me about not taking her out to dinner before the game. I have always responded, “Two Blazer tickets cost enough for one date!”
Mug Shots…
These days, I don’t go to many Blazer games; however, I always watch them on TV notwithstanding the fact that they haven’t gone to the playoffs in the last three years and in 2019-20 lost in the first round.
The team still offers some good basketball to watch and having a beer while “spectating” in my Lazy Boy Recliner while watching on a big screen is almost better than being at the game.
Now given my Beerchasing hobby, I have a lot of mugs and beer glasses. Shown below are just a few of my favorites from my exploits over the last thirteen years.
But to enhance the experience for the coming season, I decided to visit the NBA Store which offers a good selection of mugs including this one for the Trailblazers. You can use this link to procure some discounts. https://capitaloneshopping.com/s/store.nba.com/coupon (#6)
Rip City!
A Collaboration
And based on an announcement this week, the first beer in my new Blazer mug will be a Rip City IPA:
“Whether at the game or watching from home, this beer is the perfect game-time drink. ‘We wanted to create an IPA that embodied the taste of Oregon,’ says Rogue Brewmaster Joel Shields. ‘It’s piney, crisp, and perfect for cheering on the Trail Blazers!'” (#7)
Perfect game-time drink
Players in the Other Court
I worked with lawyers for over thirty years during my career – first as the Business Manager at the Oregon State Bar and then retiring after twenty-five years at the Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt law firm – the last twelve as the Chief Operating Officer. I therefore have a keen interest in legal issues and also love the lawyer mentality.
On the whole, the many lawyers with whom I worked, were dedicated and collegial professionals who worked diligently for their clients and to uphold the Rule of Law.
My employment at the Bar and the firm as well as knowing so many lawyers, however, meant my service as a juror was, in all likelihood, not going to happen. And jury duty was something I always wanted to experience.
One time in a criminal trial, I didn’t survive voir-dire because I answered the prosecutor’s question with another question. I was the victim of her first preemptory challenge. The other times when I was a member of a jury pool, I knew either one or both of the trial lawyers and was excused.
As a result of my long-term friendship with outstanding Portland lawyer and mediator, the late Susan Hammer, who was also a colleague on the City Club of Portland Board of Governers, I met and had lunch with Multnomah County Judge Jerome Labarre in 2013. (#8)
We became friends and after I related my tale of woe of never serving on a jury, he said:
“Well Don, it’s not serving on a jury, but I have some interesting trials on my docket, and you are welcome to sit in my courtroom and observe.”
Jerry, a Georgetown Law grad, was appointed to the bench in 1999, after serving for a number of years as an assistant district attorney and then in private practice specializing in complex litigation.
He is a Past President of the Multnomah Bar Association and an adjunct professor at Lewis and Clark Law School. He retired in 2017 and now has a mediation practice.
And in 2013 I subsequently observed a one-week murder trial (interestingly enough the victim was shot in an east Portland dive bar) and then a fascinating month-long trial which resulted in the largest verdict for a plaintiff in Oregon history – a class action suit against British Petroleum – described as “Oregon’s Landmark Class-Action Suit.”
But alas, Beerchaser.com followers, you will have to await the story of that experience and some other court-related tales in Part II of this post – stay tuned…. (#9)
And Vote on November 5th!
External File Attribution
#1. Wikimedia Commons (File:Rose Garden Arena Interior.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Subject to disclaimers. Author: Tv145033 at English Wikipedia – 22 March 2006.
#2. Wikimedia Commons (File:Clackamas County Courthouse, Oregon City – DPLA – 13cd2d986b77594222b11d38c0491c08.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Author: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives – 6 August 2013.
#3. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Portland-Trail-Blazers-Logo-1990.png – Wikimedia Commons) This logo image consists only of simple geometric shapes or text. It does not meet the threshold of originality needed for copyright protection, and is therefore in the public domain. Author: Portland Trailblazers – 1 January 1990.
#4. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Bill walton blazers photo.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1929 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice. Author: Portland Trailblazers – 1977-78.
#5. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (Bill Walton and Jack Ramsay – Portland Trail Blazers – Wikipedia) By Unknown author – Sporting News, Public Domain, (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31110876) – 1977.
#6. NBA Store Website (Portland Trail Blazers 32oz. Macho Mug with Handle (nba.com))
#7. Rogue Ale Website (Oregon rocks at GABF; Oregon City Brewing gets bookish – dwilliams2951@gmail.com – Gmail (google.com)). Andre’ Meunier column The Oregonian 10/17/2024.
#8. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Jury box in the courtroom of the Van Buren County Courthouse in Clinton, Arkansas.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law. Author : Brandonrush -19 August 2020.
#9. Wikimedia Commons (File:Balanced scale of Justice (blue).svg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law. Author: User:Perhelion, color edited by User:Deu – 12 March 2015.
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