Random Portland Mention...

... on the GU board. I'm posting this mainly for Rochin54, DaTruRochin and myself, just so we can enjoy the memory. Anyway, this thread involves some GU fans complaining about there being a bunch of Washington State fans in the Kennel last night, which I find slightly ironic considering every GU game in Portland since about 1996. Anyway, someone posted this:

As a matter of fact the biggest problem we have had with opposing fans was about two years ago when we surrounded by a bunch of drunken louts from Portland. That espisode was so serious I wrote a letter to Mike Roth, which sadly, was never replied to.

http://guboards.spokesmanreview.com/showthread.php?t=7639

I'm assuming he is referring to the epic Purple Pride trip up to Gonzaga in 2005, when a caravan of Pilot students cruised up to Spokane and made about as much noise as possible from a group of 50 kids (or however many tickets they were willing to give us). Pilot Nut was there too... he even came the pre-party and experienced the joy of the golf ball! Of course it helped that the game was close all the way to the last few minutes, but the memories of all of us parading around the gym singing the fight song, banging our fists against the aluminum wall behind us (of course we were smashed together in the furthest corner from the floor), distracting the entire Kennel Club the whole game (they spent more time flipping us off than watching the game)... our players after the game said that they could definitely hear us all night long, except (of course) when the KC had a chant going.

And of course... the singing in the parking lot after the game... so many honks... classic. One poor Purple Prider was even hit by a car - thankfully he was not injured at all.

Anyway, I feel a certain amount of pride in knowing that our trip up there that year is seen by at least someone as the most memorable opposing fan invasion ever at the Kennel!

Ah yes, that trip was a hoot! I had great seats behind our bench, and I could definitely hear you guys... (We could hear you more than we could see you...)

Pooh was tossing in amazing 3's that game--he couldn't miss! I really miss watching him play when he was "on"...

I dont think GU is used to having any significant volume of opposing fans, due to the lack of available tickets and just the relatively remote location... and we were probably the first such group in their new gym, too...

The golf ball. What a great concept.

Wow, we had a letter written about us. That is great. What's funny is that I think the zag fans were that were so upset with us is because we were still having a good time after the game, showing pride in the way we played, and not pissed at the world because we had just lost to them.

I still remember getting punched in the chest before leaving the stadium by a Kennel Club guy, who, it turned out, was friends with a classmate at UP...hilarious. Who punches someone in the chest anyways??

That was a great road trip. I actually think I had more fun on that road trip than going to Santa Clara for the WCC tourney. Although turning two adjoining hotel rooms into the party hotspot for all the wcc fans at the tourney was pretty fun. Honestly, the WCC tourney could be a great great place to go as a student, especially because there are a lot of connections between people at the various schools.

Yeah - that was one of the best road trips I ever took in college. Imagine that... a road trip to Spokane was a highlight. We definitely utlilized our LaSalle connections on that one!

But really what made that trip was how great Purple Pride was that year - so much fun to go together with a big group of kids that were totally committed to the Pilots. I forgot about you getting punched... I do remember that, and that guy came to the after party too, didn't he? Ha ha... whatever. The more the merrier.

Oh, and Pooh was indeed ridiculous that night. So was Donald... I think Donald hit about three or four threes too.

Ok... just looked it up. Here's the release and box score for that game:

http://www.portlandpilots.com/sports/mbball/schedules/displayResult.asp?GAME_ID=1172

Pooh had six threes and 22 points. Donald had three threes and 17 points.

And reading the recap made me remember so much... Dominguez nailing the buzzer beater at the half. Sullivan hitting a three as the clock expired to cut the lead to three points with five to go. Pooh hitting back-to-back bombs with guys all over him to cut it to three with less than three minutes to go. (I remember going absolutely BANANAS when he hit that second three!) Gonzaga getting 39 free throws to our 12.

Definitely a fun time, even if that guy thought we were being "louts". Actually, I'm kind of proud to be called a lout... I think that's a first for me!

Ah yes... Those were good times although sadly I wasn't there... had to settle for watching it on TV (stupid strep throat) and listening to the pilot faithful shoved in the back row shout out their message far and wide....

Haha, that was probably one of the few games I didn't get to pre-funk with my customary 3 augustiner liter mugs full of natty ice/light/PBR.... Good times in my turquoise headband (why it was turquoise I have no clue), striped waldo socks, pilot shorts, authentic game work Coky jersey and the mirror tint aviators... Oh how I miss those days....

And to back that up again... louts??? wow, surprisingly he didn't go with the popular brigand, mountebank or maybe even rapscallion... I love self righteous Zags, they warm my heart

DaTruRochin wrote:Haha, that was probably one of the few games I didn't get to pre-funk with my customary 3 augustiner liter mugs full of natty ice/light/PBR....

And to back that up again... louts??? wow, surprisingly he didn't go with the popular brigand, mountebank or maybe even rapscallion... I love self righteous Zags, they warm my heart

Um... excuse me, did you forget about my genius purchase of the $25 Tecate kegs? Forgot you weren't there... thought you were. No one sported a game-worn Coky jersey quite like you!

Anyway, I don't know if we were louts, but rapscallions? I'll buy that one. Heck, even scofflaws at times.

I read the entire thread on the GU board and I couldn't stop chuckling. So the dumb old season ticket holders sold/gave their tickets to the mean WSU fans. And some season ticket holders are (gasp) secretly Cougar fans--Yes, that does sound "distasteful." Nothing like that happens in Portland!

When I went to the NCAAs in Seattle in 2004 and Nevada upset them in the 2nd round, the entire arena was cheering--except for the GU section. That really made my weekend .

The posts making fun of WSU and Pullman are also entertaining, since, as we chanted one year, "You live in Spo-kane!"

As I recall, the Bulldog fans in the building didn't/couldn't respond to that one .

And then we have this gem from another thread:

"I have two good season tickets to UP Men's Basketball. I buy them
primarily so I can get good seats to the Zag game every year, plus I
like to see Oregon and maybe a couple more WCC games.

"If you live in Metro Portland and would like to take advantage of my
unused tickets - sometimes on a last minute basis - send me a PM."



Well, hmmm...at least they don't go to distasteful UP-supporting louts .

Had an amusing experience last night after the women's game - I was on my way out (always use the back door by the loading dock when I'm there for a game). Still in my pep band shirt and carrying my sticks...there was a bunch of the Montana team in the halway. They stopped talking and looked at me as I walked by, as if to say "was that the guy heckling in the band?"

Usually that's Trumpet's job.

Hahahaha I totally forgot about the $25 Tecate genius that helped get the whole thing off the ground... I also remember how for some reason we had an extra "Aux" keg we were keeping for the freshmen in case the other ones ran out, but ended up drinking it ourselves because we were THAT special... On man those were some glorious times... It makes me want to dance to some zombie nation and fight song on a continuous loop....

NOOO! Did my brother really kick you out of the Brick Oven? That's just terrible.

Mattywizz and I got kicked out of the Brick Oven one year too... we got totally chewed out by Sugar big time, like nose-to-nose cuss out. I think we were playing Stayton or something like that... great game, went to OT. We had to watch the end of the game through a small window in one of the doors. Ah, the memories.

But but but... did you guys hear that there are plans to build a new gym over on the Fuller Road side of the football field, where the Emmert Field sign is? Apparantly once the football field construction is done, they are going to start a fundraising drive for a new basketball gym. I guess that's a good thing, but still... not playing in the Brick Oven? That just doesn't seem right.

Man, that really just don't seem right. The brick oven is amazing. Although, I will say that it will be nice to have two gyms, I assume they won't have to use OIT's crappy gym now.

This is off-topic, but do they still call it Cleghorn Court?

They BETTER still call it Cleghorn Court.

One of my favorite Cleghorn memories was having him for gym freshman year, and how we would spend the first 15 minutes of class just walking around the gym as he had coffee or talked on the phone or whatever. Then we would circle up when he came in and blew the whistle. Such an old-school gym teacher.

Anyway, I loved how whenever someone was screwing off he would say, "Hey! This is MY floor. OK? It belongs to me. My name on the door." Or something like that. Always made me laugh.

Dionnfan, is that all Gonzaga fans, "true" there-from-the-beginning Gonzaga fans, or just newbie bandwagon-jumping Gonzaga fans who just go to the Kennel to be seen ?

And Drummer, though I was not at Wednesday's game, I think I know which trumpet you refer to. He didn't ask to play "Jesus Christ Superstar," did he?

No, surprisingly, he wasn't there Wednesday. Not like he had class to go to or anything.

Maybe he was at BC Aud, waiting for rehearsal to start and wondering where everyone was .

Played at the UO doubleheader today, and to make this brief, I'll say their band is AWESOME! Their charts are amazing.