Basketball star sighting ... kind of

I almost forgot to mention, coming down the Ritz elevator today we were joined by a fit looking dude. I noticed his luggage tag had a Portland Trailblazers logo on it. Ordinarily, I'd just dismiss this as fandom, but the day before, while waiting for my friend, I'd seen a bunch of really tall jock-looking guys wandering Tower City sporting apparel stores. They also had that weird Trailblazer logo on their matching warm-ups, but I figured it was just some travelling high school team. I mean, what pros would walk around the mall in their official gear?

Well, the wheels started a-turning and, apparently, the Ritz elevator is quite slow, because 2+2 went quicker than usual. I asked the dude if he was with the Trailblazers, he admitted he was, and said they were in town to play the Cavs.

Duh, I thought. I shoulda known that. Then again, although LeBron is admittedly awesome and I hope to one day forge a bond of friendship with him based on mutual respect of one another's professional skills (hey - he might want to know more about politics, right?), I don't really give a shit about basketball.

Call me un-American or un-athletic or whatever, but when you grow up spending your teenage years in Chicagoland watching Jordan dominate and dominate and dominate and ... dominate, the sport gets a little old when there is no #23 to follow. Though LeBron, if anyone, might get me back into the sport.

Anyway, I mentioned seeing the guys in jumpsuits and our fellow elevator rider (who turned out to be some kind of producer with the Trailblazer broadcast team) acknowledged they were probably members of the team.

So, after searching the team's website and doing my best memory stuff, I'm pretty sure the guys I saw were James Jones, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Von Wafer.

I really have no clue if this is something I should, in retrospect, thing is a big deal. Perhaps some of my more basketball-savvy readers could tell me?

Also, perhaps you could tell me if I should be concerned that my friend's main regret after the elevator doors opened and we all went our separate ways was not taking the guy out at the knees. I tried to explain that it wouldn't really hurt the Trailblazers all that much, though she'd probably go to jail. Her response: it would be a symbolic show of Cleveland menace, enough to scare the Portland squad into poor performance.

Who knows - maybe she's right.