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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 1992)
W M » < -'< > « <r * r < * ♦ • * • ♦ * * *-< «•« ' * • ♦ ’’» ’♦ <T *-< January 29, 1992...The Portland Observer...Page 5 A- The Trail Blazers Are Half Way Home Clyde Drexler BY BILL BARBER Congratulations to Clyde Drexler on being named the starting guard of the NBA Ail-Star game. W ith the NBA season at the half way point, it looks as if some o f the problem s experienced by the Portland Trail Blazers are starting to fade like the morning fog. The average Blazer fan would probably key in on the same tw o prob lems when looking back at the early part o f the season. First, the shooting percentages we uncharacteristically low for the same team that set its own winning franchise record a year earlier. It made a lot o f us think that the oppos ing teams were sneaking into the C oli seum early, so that they could siring chicken wire over our baskets before the game. The part we couldn’t figure out was how they were able to wire the basket on the other end o f the court at halftime with over 12,000 o f us w atch ing. The second problem that the Trail Blazers have addressed in recent times is that when they lake a leading score into the last few minutes o f the game they have been able to leave the build ing with a new notch in the win column. That was not the case earlier in the season. Several limes they lost games that seemed to be in the bag. The fact o f losing all five o f those gam es in the last few minutes has not escaped most Portland fans. A lter all, if those games had gone the other way, the Portland Trail Blazers would be right where they were last year at this time. It is a good thing the home town team has played such good defense this year. Many fans think that the defense has improved over last years team. Admittedly the defensive game has to pick up the slack when the ball is not falling through the hoop. The encour aging thing to note about the defense going into the second half of the sea son, is that it seem s to be holding up. At this point in the season we are second in the NBA in field goal defense! From the floor the Blazers have only allowed their opponents to hit on .445 o f their shots. W hen you couple that with the Blazers ability to control the boards by having the highest rebounding percent age in the league, you have to think they arc in pretty good shape going into the second half o f the season. The team seems to be returning to its true form. Coach Rick A delman hit the nail on the head when he said “ We have a lot o f the guys who are back in the groove again, and we are pretty m uch healthy. ’ ’ Decem ber was a rough month with so many o f the players hurling. Terry Porter continued to play through a sprained left ankle, as did Jerom e Kersey with daily treatments on his sprained right ankle. Danny Ainge was not 100 percent with his strained right knee. Then Kevin Duckworth no more than got healthy from a painful groin pull when he injured his left achillcs. They are all Professionals and part of the job involves playing with pain. For the most part, everyone seems to be in good health as they pursue the brass ring. If things keep improving with the Portland Trail Blazers, it is certainly going to be a lot o f fun to be a basket ball fan this spring. Youth Basketball Signups On Februay 1, the NE Portland Salvation Army will hold basketball tryouts for its annual youth basketball league. This program is open to boys and girls 9-14 years of age and league play begins February 8th. Any players interested in playing, please contact the NE Portland Salva tion Army by phone at 282-2571, or stop in and sign up. If you have any questions, contact Nate O wens or Derrick W illiams at the Salvation Army, Monday-Friday after 5:00pm. The Salem A rt Association is now seeking applications from artists w ish ing to participate in the 1992-1994 Arts In Education Program (AIE). A IE is a program o f the Oregon Arts Com m ission providing arts educa tion servies to schools, institutions and community centers throughout the state. The Salem A rt A ssociation regional program serves M arion, Polk and Yamhill counties. Residencies are generally from one to three weeks at an individual site and are funded equally by the site and the Salem Art A ssocia tion. Participating artists must be pro fessionally accomplished. Some expe $ it, -, 4 »6. te ? ' AY :. f .... Black Cultural Affairs Board Presents an Evening with r • • G te » ••s-;,- Nikki Giovanni Photo by Veronica Green ♦ Saturday, February 15, 1992 Smith Memorial Center Ballroom 7:00pm Artists’ Applications Sought rience in an educational setting is pre ferred. A pproxim ately 20 artists are selected representing the visual, per forming and literary arts. These artists conduct residencies designed to en hance existing school curiculum and promote life-long learning in the arts. Applications will be available in early February at Salem Art Associa tion, 600 Mission Street SE, Salem ,OR 97302, M id-Valley Arts Council, 265 Court Street NE, Salem, OR 97301. A brief resum e, references, docum enta tion o f work, plus a self-addressed, stamped envelope for return of m ateri als must accompany applications. Mail or hand-deliver to the AIE Program, P Despite getting off to a slow start this season, Portland guard Terry Porter is averaging 16.3 points and 6.2 assists per game. Porter also leads the team in steals with 76. Salem Art Association. Deadline for submisssion is March 31, 1992. poet, best-selling author, The Portland Trail Blazers and the Oregonian have initiated a new pro gram to inspire and reward high school sportswriters. The Northwest High School Sportswriters Challenge has been designed to recognize the top sports writers in high schools throughout Oregon and southwest Washington. Students have the opportunity to cover one of their high school’s boys or girls basketball games and, if their story is selected best in their school, have that story judged by members of the sports department staff at the Oregonian. While all participants will have received rec ognition for their efforts, ten finalists will earn special honors. Three stu dents will come to Portland to cover the March 28 game between the Trail Blaz ers and Houston Rockets, earning the privilege of spending valuable learning time with professional sportswriters, as well as with the players and coaches. Students, grade nine through twelve currently working for their school news paper, throughout the state o f Oregon and Clark, Cowlitz, Skamania, Klickitat, and activist. Tickets are available 283-0348 at Portland State’s Ticket office, $7 BB#9291 Financing Available General, $5 Students. A reception and book sign T T ing will follow at 9:00 pm in the Cascade Room. Co-sponsored by Diversity Coordinating Committee and Women’s Union. For more information call Pacific and W ahkiakum counties in W ashington state are eligible to partici pate. Advisors may also solicit entries from interested students not currently on the newspaper staff in addition to staff writers. The program is running from Janu ary 13 through February 17. Partici pants must cover one o f their school’s boys or girls basketball games during that period. Schools will select one winning entry and the journalism advi sor will forward that entry to the Trail Blazers so that it is received no later than February 27. W inners will be noti fied the w eek o f March 16. Many of the top sportswriters in the journalism field began their careers at the high school level writing for school newspapers. The writers, columnists and editors of tomorrow are honing their skills today in our region’s schools. The Oregonian and Trail Blazers recognize that these students sometimes need special incentive to reach their potential. This program is intended to assist by provid ing incentive to these students. BCAB at 725-5660. I Most Donors Ever Give Blood in King’s Honor The fourth annual American Red Cross, A lbina Ministerial Alliance- sponsored King Memorial Blood Drive resulted in the collections of 52 pints of blood, the most ever given in Dr. King’s honor. According to Volunteer Blood Drive Chairm an, Charles Stoudamire, Red Cross Safety and Health Education di rector, the event, which was held on K ing’s birthday rather than on the fed eral holiday, was successful in a num ber o f ways. ‘ ‘O ur goal was not just to collect 50 units o f blood,” explained Stoudanr.re. “ W e hoped to draw new donors, par ticularly African Americans, into the blood system: We achieved this goal. More than half of our donors were people Mr. Lee and Staff Welcome All Free Parking Phone (503) 282-4989 of color.” Additionally, 13 people from multi cultural backgrounds joined the Na tional Marrow Donor Registry. This is critical to patients because a person of a specific ethnic group is more likely to find a tissue match from people of the ethnic background. Pacific Northwest Regional Blood Services’ donor base o f 270,000 is made up o f less than one percent African Americans. Multi-cultural represetation on the National Bone Marrow Registry 3827 N.E. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Hours: Sun 10:00 am • 8:00 pm ■ Mon-Sat 8:30 am - 8:00 pm I I I I F r e e I I I I j S o a p Bring in this AD and you will receive Free Soap for the month of February is also low. “ Red Cross must adequately rep resent the diversity of patients poten- • . • • * > • .* » Bishop Wells, president o f Albina Ministerial Alliance, goes through the health history screening process before donating blood at the AMA-Fted Cross King Memorial Blood Drive. Wells was one o f 52 blood donors. tially needing life-sustaining blood and blood products,” said Stoudamire. “ Different groupsof people have differ ent blood types. About 20 percent o f all black Americans have type B blood compared to about 10 percent o f white Americans. Almost tw ice as many black Americans need type B blood if they have to be transfused.” Blood donors who attended the birth day celebration received refreshments donated from area merchants, which included Starbucks Coffee, Nabisco, Helen Bernhard Bakery, N ature’s Fresh Northwest, Doris Cafe, Ruth Ashbrook Bakery, Portland Botding Com pany, W onder Bread B akery, and Poppers Sup ply. Donors also signed com m em orative scrolls which Stoudam ire sent to Coretta Scott King at the Center for Non-V iolent Social Change in Atlanta, GA. African Americans interested in becoming blood or marrow donors can call Red Cross, 284-4040 to schedule an appointm ent or obtain additional infor mation. Portland Observer encourages our readers to write letters to the editor in response to any articles we publish. Your Community Site For All Washing Needs. ‘ v . i *. * i i ¿K ä ’ : ‘ ••O, Ä te ’ Portland Trail Blazers And The Oregonian To Recognize Young Sportswriters Nikki Giovanni is a black Vinyl Siding Installed on Your Home by Experts Call ABS inc. * •% # ».'•'Pi ■ SK ïW ; o ’ Í ¿pr..-/ fry *? -
