LaMarcus Aldridge Returns to Rip City: Why He Shouldn’t Be Booed

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Elle Uecker of GoLocalPDX Partner Site Oregon Sports News

LaMarcus Aldrige

In the first Portland Trail Blazers game I ever had the privilege of attending live, I saw LaMarcus Aldridge score 38 points and snag 13 rebounds. The team had been trailing at the half but sparked by Aldridge’s spectacular performance, went on to win dramatically against the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was the greatest athletic performance I’ve ever witnessed. I own two Blazers jerseys, and they both say Aldridge across the back.

To say I was devastated when he went to the San Antonio Spurs during the offseason would be putting it lightly. It’s difficult for me to remember a Blazers team without Aldridge as I fell in love with basketball during his time with the team, and from the moment I heard the news, I was worried I would somehow feel differently about the Blazers this season. On Wednesday, he will return to the Moda Center, wearing a different jersey, and it took me a while to figure out how I should feel about that.

In a July 20 interview with ESPN radio, Aldridge spoke about how he expected to be treated upon returning to Portland as a member of the Spurs. He said, “I think going back my first time might be boos because I think people are really hurt by my decision because they don’t understand why I left. I think my first time back I probably will be booed.”

I loved LaMarcus Aldridge, but I loved him as part of a Portland team that was finally figuring out how to play together, a Portland team that people wanted to cheer for again. I am first and foremost a Blazers fan, and as such, I am no stranger to booing the Spurs. I was on the front lines of booing in the 2014 playoffs. But when they Spurs take the court Wednesday, you’ll hear no boos from me.

Before Blazers fans boo Aldridge, let’s think about the nine seasons of outstanding basketball he played for us. In that same interview, he talked about the love he has for Rip City saying, “Portland holds a spot in my heart that can’t be changed because the memories will last forever. I think that city embraced me and I embraced them and we grew together.” Can we really forget everything Aldridge gave us because he made the decision to leave?

The Blazers success and playoff berths in recent years have been due in large part to his on-court performance. Aldridge currently ranks first in all-time rebounds for the Blazers, and second only to Clyde Drexler in regular season points scored. Those are the kind of numbers that deserve our respect.

Aldridge has been quoted as saying he ultimately made the decision to go to San Antonio to be closer to his family, for a change of scenery. And while a four-year $80 million contract probably had something to do with the decision as well, I’m going to choose not to split hairs over something I can’t change. And I encourage other fans to do the same.

We aren’t the powerhouse team we were a year ago and the unwelcome term “rebuilding year” was thrown around a lot prior to the season opener, but this isn’t something we can blame on Aldridge or any of the other players that didn’t return after the last offseason. All we will accomplish by booing Aldridge is holding onto bitterness of the past. We’re a new team now, and we must look forward.

So Wednesday evening as Aldridge takes the court, let’s show him our appreciation for the time he spent here and our understanding of the choices he made. Let’s show him the respect he deserves from Rip City.

The Blazers and the Spurs will face off at Moda Center, tipping off at 7:30 PST with television coverage on KGW8.

GoLocalPDX partner Oregon Sports News: Since 2011, Oregon Sports News has provided entertaining, hard-hitting local sports news & commentary every weekday. To read more from this author, check out Oregon Sports News by clicking here.

Related Slideshow: 12 of the Greatest Sports Movies of All Time

Hank Stern ranks his top twelve favorite sports films.

Prev Next

#12 Rollerball

Some of the non-athletic scenes in this dystopian classic show their age, but Rollerball is a strangely prescient film that anticipated both the corporatization of sport and fans’ limitless taste for violence. Bonus points for the ominous intro music.

Prev Next

#11 A League of Their Own

A comedy that looks back to the antithesis of corporate sport – a women’s baseball league during World War II with many memorable lines to choose from (e.g.,”There’s no crying in baseball.”)

Prev Next

#10 Remember The Titans

Yes, filmmakers took liberties with some of the facts dealing with the integration of a high school football team in Virginia. But there’s a reason football teams often screen this film on the eve of big games. It’s a damn inspirational tale.

Prev Next

#9 The Natural

This film has grown on me over time. Originally, it seemed slow and schmaltzy. Now, it seems well-paced and charming. Then and now, the re-created scenes of pre-World War II ballparks arrive like perfectly preserved postcards from the past.

Prev Next

#8 The Longest Yard

Not the remake with Adam Sandler and Chris Rock. But the hilarious original with Burt Reynolds and Eddie Albert as a wonderfully villainous warden who pits the guards against the inmates in a grudge football game that includes former Green Bay linebacker Ray Nitschke and other ex-football players like Sonny Sixkiller and Joe Kapp, both stalwart Pac-8 quarterbacks long, long ago.

Prev Next

#7 Slap Shot

The Hanson brothers. Enough said.

Prev Next

#6 Rocky

Often imitated, but never replicated. The definitive underdog boxing story featuring Sylvester Stallone before he became a self-caricature in multiple sequels. Impossible to hear the theme song without being motivated to get off the couch.

Prev Next

#5 Seabiscuit

A fantastic book as well as a great movie. Like “The Natural,” Seabiscuit captures its Depression-era setting for modern-day viewers taken back to an era when horse racing actually meant something in America.

Prev Next

#4 Requiem for a Heavywei

A too often-forgotten film these days but a wonderful boxing drama that shows the sport’s underside with memorable performances by Mickey Rooney, Jackie Gleason and Anthony Quinn.

Prev Next

#3 Hoosiers

Want to know something about small-town America in the 1950s and about Indiana basketball? This hoops movie does all of that with a healthy dose of redemption throughout.

Prev Next

#2 Bull Durham

There’s a pretty good case to be made this movie played a huge part in the rebirth and re-marketing of minor league baseball. As written by former minor leaguer Ron Shelton, there are many great scenes to choose from but this one is a favorite.

Prev Next

#1 Raging Bull

A rags-to-riches-to-rags story of boxer Jake LaMotta meets the actor born to play him, Robert De Niro. Not a false moment in this black-and-white powerhouse.