They say that God makes problems just to see what you can stand

I love Portland. I really do. I've lived here for over 7 years. It's green and beautiful. We have the best public transportation in the country. The amount of rain we get is vastly overstated. We have this. And this. We're home to The Decembrists and Gus Van Sant and Tonya Harding. Elliott Smith and Everclear have written songs about our town (cf., the title of this post). The first George Bush called us Little Beirut; we take that as a compliment. There's no sales tax. Really, it's a great place to live.And we have the Blazers.And I like the Blazers. Quite a bit. The roster is (finally) filled with very likable players. They have an emerging superstar in Brandon Roy. They have an overabundance of young talent. They have a great, well-respected coach. They have a loving and supportive fan base. Honestly, they're a lot like the Spurs in the way they go about their business, play 'the right way', and play for each other.And until today, I've never h...