When Blazers Matter This Much, I explode

Back in early July I wrote about the warm fuzzy feelings I was getting from the Blazers return to relevance in the basketball world. I was eagerly awaiting the release of the schedule, because that is the barometer for how biggadeal the League thinks you can be.

As you know, it came out. And Portland is more biggadeal than even I dared to dream. I stole these dates from Yamhill County blogger product Casey Holdhal at the OLive Blazers Blog:

Oct. 30: Portland at San Antonio, 5 PM on TNT
Yeeeeees! The League really wants to manufacter a rivalry between Oden and an established post star, so we get the champs opening night. Even though LaMarcus is better than Oden right now, the fact that the NBA wants this to develop means we can count on big games in prime-time spots.
Once the schedule-makers get an idea in their head, it lasts no matter what (see Kobe vs Shaq "rivalry"), so this is very good that the Blazers are wedged in there.

Dec. 25: Portland vs Sonics on ESPN
Wow. It isn't the morning Christmas Day showcase on ABC, but getting a national game on Christmas is still impressive.

All in all, Portland is currently scheduled to be on 11 national broadcasts. God its been so long. Its going to be amazing to hear Chuck, Jet, Ernie and guest (hopefully not Reggie, cause he kinda sucks) dissect the Blazers. This is going to be good times, people.

As if all this attention wasn't enough, there's been more. When Roy was named to scrimmage with Team USA (although he ultimately backed out due to scheduling conflicts), I posted about literally exploding with pride at the possibility of someday seeing two Blazers (Oden has a Team USA future) on Team USA at once. I have been on a crazy dream that involves Roy, Oden, and LaMarcus all on that team. Fanciful you say? Indeed, sir. Cheerio!

The crazy thing is, I wasn't that crazy. In fact, maybe I wasn't crazy enough. Because the Behind the Beat Blazers Blog reported that LaMarcus has indeed been invited to join the scrimmage team. And Channing Frye. Not only that, Oden hasn't totally ruled out going to Team USA Training Camp, which is required to play in the upcoming Olympics.

Thats 4 Blazers that have the interest of the national team. Insane. Noway is this really happening. It will be great to see Blazers for Team USA, and lets try not to complain too much when we think our guys are getting too worn down and fatigued to bring it during the NBA Season. There was a time when we were totally irrelevant, so remember and enjoy.

All this validation is bananas, Portland couldn't get any valider at this point. All thats left to do is prove on the court that all of this is somewhat deserved.

Go Blazers! I'm going to go explode now.