Adam Morrison Plays the Rose Garden

The Charlotte Bobcats are in town and I'm going to go. I realize this is a little forced - my becoming a Bobcats fan - but it is up to each of us to get through the last years of the Bush administration anyway we can.

This started for me innocently enough just like those few years when I followed Duke basketball. Incidentally, that was also the Blazers fault. See, Coach Dunleavey's son was always in the sports pages during his high school years here so I wanted to see how he did at Duke. He did very well there, winning an NCAA championship. They even played here against Portland State - if you can believe that - and I went to that game as well. There's always a few players you start liking and they hold over so for a while I was a Duke fan. I admit it. I'm also happy to report that I'm over it now, and Coach K is once more a ferret-faced egomaniac who gets all the calls from the refs. Not really. Watching Coach K run his team at the Rose Garden was quite spectacular.

Look, I'm at the point in life where cynicism has set in. I no longer have all those glorious moments from sports like when I was young. Every now and then something happens - Boise State - that rekindles the joy of youth if only for a moment. It used to be different. Back in the Drexler era, my waiter buddies and I would sneak up to this International Club restaurant where we worked and turn on the big-screen TV. Man, when Clyde and the team scored we would run around the room like idiots. Those days are over.

So I'm working to keep the magic of sports and it is a little tougher now. And there are other reasons for tonight: One of bands I was in years ago, had a sax player who remains a great friend. To this day he plays the National Anthem at games around Spokane including down at Washington State where the Cougs are doing great this year in hoops. I was already following the shooting rivalry between JJ Redick and Adam Morrison and having my friend play at the Zags games sealed it.

We discussed how cool it would be if Morrison got drafted by the Blazers. My friend could come to Portland for a Blazers game - maybe even play the National Anthem here. None of this happened.

And it doesn't really matter. The Blazers picked someone else and that's fine. I just thought I'd turn it into a hobby to follow the Bobcats so I bought the cable sports package and it's been a lot of fun. I need more hobbies. I'm one of those people who lives a low-key, mellow life and I have to remind myself to have outings. The idea of watching the game here in my basement sounds really good right now, but instead, I will go to the Rose Garden and be one of those socially outgoing people I read about.

No matter what happens, I appreciate the Bobcats. Anything to endure the last few years of the Bush administration.