Who?
Today is Saturday, and it is also the second day that Liv and I have had two brand new kittens. We got the first one yesterday afternoon at the Humane Society after Liv saw some photos online. We had put one of the two kittens that Liv saw on a four hour hold, but someone had beaten us to the other kitten. We adopted the one kitten and met the other one, but we couldn't take her home because of the outstanding hold. Liv did, however, put a back-up hold on the cat just in case whoever had the hold didn't show up or when they did show up didn't adopt the kitty. We took the first cat home, who we have chosen to call Phoebe and I hung out with her for awhile and then went to the Blazer's game. When I got home from the Blazer's game Olivia had gotten the second cat. Whoever had put her, who we have decided to call Iris, on hold, hadn't wanted to adopt her. The Humane Society called Liv, and she raced out to pick her up. At first the kittens, who are sisters and look very similar, were not getting along. Phoebe, who had arrived a good eight hours before her sister, had grow a little bit accustomed to the house being her terrain. Iris came in, and Phoebe was threatened and hiss and batted at her sister. However, a day later they are getting along fine, and sleeping a lot. Iris likes to hide, so when you come over you won't really be able to see her unless you look for her. Phoebe is much more out going, but when Martin and Allison came over a few hours ago she kind of flipped out initially. Overall they are wonderful pets, and very cute.
On to the aforementioned Trail Blazers game last night. There is something amazing about the NBA. Maybe not amazing, but at least very interesting. The NBA is full of history, and it keeps its history very close. A great example was during the All-Star game the NBA presented Bill Russell with a 75th birthday cake. Bill Russell is one of the greatest basketball players of all time, but he hasn't played in the NBA in 30 years. I would bet that most kids that watch basketball couldn't tell you who Bill Russell was. I would go further and say that probably 90 percent of the guys currently playing in the NBA weren't alive when Bill Russell played for the Celtics. Pretty soon there will be guys in the NBA that weren't alive when Micheal Jordan was in the league. However, Bill Russell is a HUGE piece of the NBA marketing puzzle, and MJ remains the most marketable athlete in the world. I say that to say this. There are a lot of old time NBA guys around the Blazers. Dominique Wilkins broadcasts for the Atlanta Hawks, he was in Portland last night. Clyde Frazier broadcasts for the Knicks, he was in town when we played New York a few weeks ago. Not to mention the TONS of dudes that now coach in the NBA that are always around, including former OSU Beaver John Blair Bickerstaff. Last night Lenny Wilkens was in the Rose Garden. He is the winningest coach in NBA history. He coached and played for both Seattle and Portland. Why was he at the game last night? To see Brandon Roy. Why did he want to see Bradon Roy? Because B Roy asked him to come. How do I know that? Because he walked up to Roy's locker after the game, and I over heard part of their conversation. I also overheard the beat writer from Vancouver ask Brandon if he knew Lenny Wilkens. Brandon said that he had met Wilkens at the All-Star game, I'm not sure if he meant this most recent All-Star game or the one from last year, and Brandon had asked Wilkens to come out to Portland to watch a game. Wilkens did, and Brandon said it was because he is a basketball junkie. I thought it was a pretty good example of part of the NBA's past interacting with its present. The NBA is a super duper "in" crowd. Once your established as being "in" there is no reason to ever want to get out. Its the getting "in" that's the hard part. I believe that there are very few writers, if any, that can be included as "in." I also believe that lots of the writers I see every day I go to the Rose Garden would disagree with me.
