Some things in life are constant. April 15th is tax day (barring a weekend or holiday). In winter, Portland looks like it's just rained, or it's just about to rain, or it's raining. Sometimes all three. Traffic on (insert the Sunset, the Banfield, or just about any other freeway in or around town) is gonna suck if I'm on it. The MAX train is going to be pulling out of the station when I get there. The Blazers aren't going to do anything for their fans unless there's profit in it...Oops, that last one just went out of kilter.

My wife and I were taking our 14 year old niece Mackenzie (and her dad) to the Utah game for her birthday. We bought the tickets back in January hoping it would be a meaningful game playoff-wise. It was either that one or the March 2nd Minnesota game, where we were hoping to seeBrandon RoyandKevin Love. In the end, we decided on the Utah game (or so we thought) Mackenzie was quite excited.

The morning of the game, we were pulling paperwork together to present at will-call, when I noticed the confirmation said Blazers/T-Wolves. We (that of course is the royal we) blew it. The tix were for the March 2 game and there must have been 4 empty seats (costing about $200) against Minny. The game had already passed and I knew there was nothing the Blazers had to do to make us feel better, but I called the team and, after much buck-passing, was given to Blake (I thoughtSteve Blakehad fallen a long way, but it turned out Blake was his first name). I asked him if there was anything at all he could do for us. I expected him to offer us a small meaningless discount or something for our troubles. You know, the stupidity discount. Steve, oops, I mean Blake made no promises, but within an hour he had spoken to his boss, and said there would be 4 comparable tickets waiting for us at will-call. No charge. I was flabbergasted.

Too bad the Blazers lost. That would have capped it. Blake, the least you could do was give us tix to a game they end up winning. Seriously though, I don't know if the Blazers had an agenda (filling in the seats, getting food and beverage revenue, etc), and I don't care. Blake handled it very well for the Blazers and bought plenty of good will for their troubles. And made a little girl happy (let alone the $200 that it appeared we had thrown away). Blake, if you're reading, thanks.