There's no Crying in Basketball

GREAT basketball game last night! The Blazers were playing our rivals of years, The Lakers. There's been a lot of tension between The Lakers and The Blazers since, we played in the play-offs YEARS ago.

We had a general manager who was a complete idiot. All of his choices were HORRIBLE. Because of the choices and trades he made, our team was coined "the Jailblazers". It was, sadly, well deserved. Our team went from a group of guys you would see in the grocery store and be able to have a conversation with, to pot smoking, drunk driving young kids. The men who were on the team then, made horrible decisions and did nothing for our community. They were a bunch of overpaid kids. Their game suffered, they were disrespectful AND disrespected. It was a real shame.

Once the general manger was replaced, things started to turn around. We have an awesome coach and more importantly, we have a team our community can be proud of. They're the youngest team in the NBA, but handle themselves well. The team is always doing something for our community, just like it use to be. There hasn't been any news stories about one of our Blazers getting "busted" for drunk driving or anything of the sort. It's a team, the children can actually look up too. It's a team, that I would and am proud of claim.

The game last night was full of emotion. There were people in the stands, talking "trash" to the sports announcers, and the announcers giving it right back, The crowd was chanting "beat L.A.", there were fans wearing "beat L.A." t-shirts and holding up signs, but ALL in FUN! Until, the 3rd quarter when one of our guys was on the floor being put onto a stretcher.

We were ahead by A LOT! We were totally kicking ass. Rudy Fernandez went up for a dunk and Trevor Ariza went to block the shot, got Rudy's head with his elbow and Rudy was SLAMMED to the floor. It was horrible to watch the first time, even more so to watch the eleventy billionth time in slow motion replays. As we watched Rudy hit the floor, my husband and I both jump up and start yelling at the T.V. Of course, in the heat of the moment, it was all on purpose. Ariza was mad about being down by about 30 points (oh yeah, we were kicking ASS!) and was showing his displeasure by knocking Rudy to the floor. After seeing the replays for the next 15 minutes, it wasn't on purpose. Ariza was really trying to get the ball, but Rudy's head was just in the way.

As if watching one of our guys getting slammed to the floor wasn't bad enough, a fight broke out! Our team leader, went up to Ariza and they started pushing each other! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Our quiet, shy almost, Brandon Roy was "chesting" a Laker. Teammates were trying to stop the two from fighting, Odem *Laker* got off the bench to help out, but was quickly pushed down by a coach, Kobe didn't do anything, our boys were pushing Roy away from Ariza who was trying to be held back by his teammates, it was insane!

After the fight was broken up and every one's attention was turned back to Rudy, it hit me. This guy is really hurt! They were tapping his face, arms and feet to see if he could feel them and he wasn't paralyzed. I was sitting there on the couch stunned. I felt like it was one of my friends laying on that floor hurt and in pain. I started to tear up a little. If it was bad, this could be the end of his career. He wouldn't be able to play the game he loves so much. All these thoughts kept running through my head and all I could think and chant was "get up! Come on, Rudy, just get up!" He didn't get up. They put a neck brace on him, put him on a back board, then a stretcher and wheeled him off the floor. Thankfully, he was moving his arms and legs and was conscious as they were wheeling him out. He didn't break anything, but stayed in the hospital overnight for observation and "soft tissue damage on his chest".

We ended up winning the game *HA! SUCK IT L.A.* and Rudy will most likely be OK. I'm just hoping that this was a one time occurrence and our guys don't think that throwing down an opponent or starting a fight is the way to win a game. I doubt they will, because our coach will NOT put up with it, neither will the community. We dealt with that for years, we sure as hell won't put up with it again.

In the meantime, we're ALL hoping Rudy recovers fully and will be in the game tomorrow. We can't play with only half of The Spanish Armada! Plus, we're tied for FIRST place in our division and might just make the play-offs...*WEEEEEEE*