They may be Jailblazers, but at least they’re OUR Jailblazers
Over at the Oregonlive Blazer Blog, Eric Marentette is following the on-going comparison of the Cincinatti Bengals to the JailBlazers of old.
And fans are getting pretty worked up about it.
Me? I don’t care. Why?
Well, sure, I’ve come down on our JailBlazers in the past. I’ve lamented the character deficiencies of our team, talked about our image, and begged on ownership to put a team on the floor that I could be proud of.
And now we have it.
Let’s be clear, folks. We are not the JailBlazers any more. Well, we still have Zach and Darius, but two out of 15 ain’t that bad, and with luck we can dump Darius in a trade, and then we’ll be at one-half out of 14 or 15. Because, as I’ve said in the past, Zach will follow whoever you put around him. But, aside from those two, we have an upstanding, decent, exciting group of players that most of us would happily invite over for dinner. Quite a change from just two seasons ago.
The JailBlazers moniker? Our team earned it, but it references a time in our history that has passed. But, like the Bill Buckner play that has never been lived down, the JailBlazer reference simply identifies a concept that is useful for application to any team that now (or in the future) decides to sell out character for performance.
In the end, my question is this: do you think we still have a team of JailBlazers? If not, what does it matter what anyone else thinks? The weak-willed will let the media make their mind up for them. As for us, we know what we have.
And for the first time in a while, we can be proud of it.
It’s going to be a loooong season. We are going to make another run at the lottery, in all likelihood. But I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And that light is the glow of Rip City, just a few miles ahead…
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It seems like this is a case of the older/younger sibling relationship…you can tease your little brother/sister all you want to, but the minute someone else does it, you gots to beat ‘em down.
Agree with Banana– let the wimpy John Clayton come to Portland with his tired analogies. Its not as if the loser has ever had one original thought, except that he was quick to notice his own lack of athleticism. One thing we learned to do in jail is lift weights and kick ass. If little Johnny boy wants to come and talk directly, lets knock the little punks teeth out and stomp on his little wire framed glasses. We should not be rolling over to this kind of abuse from a little pissant like clayton. As long as we still have the nickname, lets earn it by knocking his lame ass out.