I was asking my co-workers this after listening to the game tonight, "How can you feel bad about this game after Greg Oden scores 22 points, and pulls in 10 rebounds?". They were mostly ho hum on the stats, and overall just mad that we lost. I don't blame them, but I soon came to the realization that I was more excited about Greg's individual performance than I was about the team winning a game...

Is this a new problem that others might share? Or am I just that excited about the future and more realistic about the present? I honestly don't even know my own stance, I just feel fine after this loss, and my optimism couldn't be higher.

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Dave layed the blogdown on us all earlier with a big fat warning, and I don't blame him. This is a site built upon the quality of content, and it's that content that made us (arguably) the best NBA blog around for overall quality. I think it's a shame that Dave had to come out and make a post about it but I don't blame him.

What should we do to prevent further indescretions in threads? Thread Police? I vote Timbo...

This is my next venture for most irrelevent Junk ever, wish me luck.

I've seen so much effort recently put in by regular Bedge patrons calling for an Outlaw trade, but I haven't seen one post that makes a really strong case for it to happen, and I don't know that you can make one. I admit, and realize my voice is not going to be given much sway as I have always been an outspoken Outlaw supporter, but to me it doesn't matter. I just want this to be looked at fairly.

One thing people continually neglect to focus on, is the fact that Outlaw is one of the more important team players on this roster, he has earned the trust from his teammates and the coaching staff, he is also the more tenured Blazer on the team and has been able to adapt through regimes. Rumor has it that he is also really liked...

Team chemistry is something we should all be familiar with after dealing with one of the most dysfunctional eras for a team in modern sports history. Travis Outlaw is by no means the most talented player on our team, he isn't the best shooter, he isn't the best rebounder, defender, shot blocker, and he isn't that soft on the eyes. Yet he has the trust of most everyone in the organization to shoot the ball with 1 second left on the clock... How many players in this league have that type of support?

I realize how frustrating his play is, and trust me, I'm not blind to this and I get upset to, and have always wanted him coming off the bench, but is the negative campaign against him merited? He is a hard worker, and does what he is told. Is there any reprieve there?

After reading Sophia's post I realized that Travis Outlaw is this years Jarrett Jack. Last year everyone got on Nate for his mancrush on Jack, and it was such a hindrance to his fan support that I'm sure it had something to do with his departure over someone like Travis, who at the time was receiving so much fan support that KP didn't dare trade him for someone as talented as Mike Miller.

Now I feel we are at a dillema, Most everyone thinks Travis should be traded, yet no one has a really good or practical trade idea to offer. Yet, he HAS to go, cause he is the sole reason we are losing games.. Hardly. We lose games cause we are outcoached, out played, and generally we don't show up. A loss can't ever be put on 1 player's shoulders, especially a player who has earned the coaching staffs trust and has been rewarded with 30+ minutes a game.

Does anyone remember a young player the Trail Blazers use to have by the name of Jermaine O'Neal? I know I'm not the only one who would hate to see that scenario repeated. Throw out the idea of "Ceilings" and understand that a role player will almost always change in some way when presented with different direction. Is it Travis, or is it the coaching staff that loves him? False confidence, or an inflated ego?

If Travis is traded who will you thrust your hate on? If he averages 17+ on another team how will you feel. Is trading Travis really the answer?

Feud on Sophia, Feud on.

Please don't take my title the wrong way, I actually come here with no intentions to reject anyone, It's just a cleverally lame way to introduce myself I guess...

I'm going to be following the Orlando Magic closely this year and keeping correspondence with Blazer's Edge about things that pertain to the Blazer fan's brain trust. That doesn't mean I'm here solely for Blazer related content, I want to be a contributing part of this community, and pass along tidbits from here over to Blazers Edge, and also stuff from Blazers Edge over to here.

I asked to be the correspondent here on Third Quarter Collapse because I knew it was an active SBN blog, and because selfishly I wanted to be involved with my favorite east coast team :). I admit I am not the most knowledgeable Magic fan around, but I definately bought the Shaq Diesel Rap album... I was sad when you guys got the bad, really bad end of Ike Austin's career. I rooted for Grant Hill, I mean.. I really did... But, damn.

I love your team now, and I think that today it is safe to come out and say that I even loved me some lil penny(while he was Orlando's lil penny). I love the Blazers with my heart and soul, but I root for the Magic in the East, and I want to be educated by real Magic fans so I understand the team, I don't want to be an idiot here :).

I'd also like to extend an interview request to Ben Q. Rock for the November 10th, and December 9th game's between the Magic and Blazers, I have no idea what I'd ask, but I know it would get some interest on both sites for the games!

All and all, I am here to support the Magic more than anything else.