Rip City!

 Portland, OR

Moda Center

Tonight we went to Moda Center for a Portland Trail Blazers Game.  I always look on Stub Hub for cheap tickets and the other day I picked up 2 tickets for $18 all in for Portland vs. NY York Knicks.  It's always fun to see a sporting event in a new place and check out the arena.  As an added bonus, the arena is only a 15 minute walk from our place.

They had some nice merch.

The name Rip City came about in 1971, during The Trail Blazers first season, when Bill Schonely, the announcer for The Trail Blazers, was so overwhelmed by excitement, he yelled, "Rip City!" when Jim Barnett made an improbably shot during a game against The Lakers.

High Five if you have to pee!

The Ultra Club didn't seem very exclusive so we didn't join.

Portland is "Plaid Out"

Donna fills her water bottle at a water bottle filler.  After taking this photo I found out the filler wasn't working so the photo is a lie!

The view from the cheap seats was great.

Portland is the opposite of a dry county.  There is alcohol around every corner.

Donna pointed out these cool condiment logos.

The view from the cheap seats was fine.

Fire!

I made good use of my 4x optical zoom here.

Halftime Entertainment was provided by Ms. Viola Brand, an Artistic Cyclist.  Before researching her and Artistic Cycling,  my only context were these scenes from The 1986 Kevin Bacon Film, Quicksilver.  Here and Here.

This is the soda cup that the guy next to me dropped on the floor full of soda.  It was an expensive mistake.

As I was looking around noticed something odd.  The Trail Blazers retired #30 twice.  In 2008 they retired Bobby Gross' #30 and Terry Porter's #30 well after both players had retired.

In the end, New York prevailed.  Most of the teams we have gone to see have won their games when we were there.  I guess we didn't bring the winning magic tonight.

The walk home was very pretty.

That's it for today.  If you missed, Burger, A Beer, and Pinball, check it out.