我来自一系列爱国者。我的祖父都是第二次世界大战的士兵。我的父亲在第二次世界大战期间是南太平洋的海洋。

爸爸在我的兄弟和我灌输了昂贵但值得的自由价格。他鼓励我们找到服务我们国家的方法-to find an honorable expression of our gratitude for living in a nation of freedom and safety.

我们很自然地通过在1960年代后期的动荡的日子内通过军事服务回应该电话。尽管有了那些时代的自我服务政治和分裂能源，但我们（仍然是）相信，自由不仅仅是美国理想，而且对于渴望自由的人来说是可达到的......

我于1970年从越南回来。我知道没有游行。我被告知要期待几个侮辱，并鼓励在公共场合下班时穿上民用衣服。

即使用那个警告，也没有任何东西准备我因为我在俄勒冈州的小南部家乡乘坐公共汽车而遇到了什么。我猜这是空洞，千堂凝视，让我成为另一个来自战斗区的新鲜返回物。

My very entrance into a coffee shop or pizza parlor prompted abrupt silence and/or stares of contempt. Patrons would part like the Dead Sea as I made my way to a table. They either hated me for what I had done or feared me for what I might do.

What had become of my homeland?

Only the unconditional acceptance of my family and closest friends got me through those first days of my return.

拒绝和背叛将我的灵魂更加深深地削减，比任何伤口慢慢地愈合得比我的身体任何伤口慢。我开始退出社会。

With an ever-increasing heaviness my countenance became darker and more downcast. I let my hair and beard grow in an attempt to hide the person even I was now beginning to hate.

我回到“世界”举行了更多的惊喜：我发现我们在月亮和波特兰有一个新的职业篮球队着陆。

作为前运动员，我本能地对后者感兴趣地回应。他们是波特兰拓丁树，我开始在收音机上追随他们的比赛。作为俄勒冈州第一个真正的专业运动特许经营权，他们很快就成为了“我的团队”。

In the years that followed, though they were perennial losers, I looked forward to the winter months when I could tune in to hear my Trailblazer games. In a way, we shared a similar path: bottom-feeders, with little respect, seemingly going nowhere.

的n, in 1974 the Blazers acquired through the draft, the three-time college MVP from UCLA, Bill Walton. He was a shy, tall redhead (like me) with an independent counter-culture streak.

With his red ponytail and paisley headdress, he became my hero.

沃尔顿花了几个NBA季节，真正进入自己。随着新秀的增加Lionel Hollins.1975年，该团队开始表现出更美好未来的迹象。这两个基本作品加入了Lloyd Neal，Bobby Gross和Larry Steele的喜欢。我沉浸在拓展器中，并以一种替代的方式，开始与他们一起进入这个光明的未来。

当我为这种积极的力量开发了一个健康的迷恋时，我个人恶魔的爪子开始放松他们的抓地力。

In 1976,莫里斯卢卡斯and "Pinball" Dave Twardzik came to Portland in the ABA dispersal draft. Under the direction of new coach Jack Ramsey, the team improved dramatically. They recorded their first winning season at 49-33 and...and...made the playoffs!

I crept out of the shadows and began to notice other Trailblazer fans around town. The Vietnam War had officially ended in 1975 and though it's echoes had not faded for me, it seemed the town-folk - indeed the nation - was ready to heal.

No one really expected the Blazers to go far in the playoffs. But they quickly dispatched the芝加哥公牛队在短短的三场比赛中。

下一轮以前的ABA丹佛掘金队。令人惊讶的是，波特兰盛行。

A fevered frenzy was developing in the Northwest as the underdog Trailblazers faced the mighty Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and his湖人队in the conference finals.

在我的平行世界中，发烧/狂热就像一个愈合的香脂。

的Laker series was over in four games - and it wasn't the Blazers who whimpered home with their tail between their legs.

All over Oregon (and parts of Washington and California) Trailblazer fans were coming out of the woodwork-而且我从我的贝壳中出来了。现在被称为Blazermania的感染性爆发是我曾经屈服于屈服的最好的疾病。似乎每次升级的成功水平都享受了开拓者，我能够剥掉另一层限制黑暗。

这是一个新的，未明确的领土，为恰当的普通的铅开花。今年之前从未去过季后赛，他们实际上不知道如何在NBA决赛中采取行动。他们面临来自东方的力量，朱利叶斯·埃文Philadelphia 76ers。

J和Crew博士迅速将波特兰放在他们的家庭法院的2-0洞中。那个沉没的感觉击中了我-所有的西装外套粉丝。旧的疑惑和自卑的感觉压迫我。燃烧器已经靠近最终的胜利，这并不重要。旧的声音从海洋的一个地方嘲笑我，“我们不会让你赢得胜利。你是一个失败者”。

An eerie silence fell over Blazer Nation. It was almost as if we'd forgotten Blazermania...

直到玫瑰城的比赛。哦耶...

这是两场比赛，两个井喷。该系列捆绑在一起。

It was crazy madness in the Coliseum-在每个电视和州的每台电视台面前！

历史学家告诉我们粉丝赢得了这两个家庭游戏，但这是团队本身在费城队的五场比赛中赢得了胜利。

我不能告诉你这对我的意思是什么，因为我的Alter-Ego赢得了那场比赛on foreign soil.Not only was it a tremendous symbolic victory for me - it set up the possibility of winning the championship at home.

As every true Trail Blazer fan knows, the rest is history. Portland won the World Championship on that hot, June day in 1977. The bedlam poured out of Memorial Coliseum and into the streets of every city in Oregon.

在我的小镇,我们都成为了那一天。的jagged, tense edges of our differences didn't seem to matter anymore. I decided, in the glow of victory, if I could lay down my pain on this day, then why not tomorrow, and the next day...?

It was a catalytic spark which started the chain reaction to my eventual healing.

A rush of emotion overwhelmed me. It broke through the logjam of poison I had crammed inside all those years. A torrent of release brought tears I thought would never end.

在一个间接的，但非常真实的方式，这是我的回归。

作为一个粉丝，我从来没有为一群肆虐的肆虐的肆虐，曾经为球队赢得的抹布而感到骄傲。

(originally written November, 2008)