Portland, OR

Today was a lovely day for golfing — in November.

One of the many wonderful things about living in Portland, Oregon is that you can golf pretty much year-round. You may not be dry or warm, but technically, you can golf. I went out today and it was very pleasant. I wore a t-shirt, and rolled up the pants I was wearing, so if that tells you anything, it was quite warm. The rain held off for the afternoon, so rain gear was not necessary.

This picture has nothing to do with me or my day, I just thought it was funny.

I played 9 at Eastmoreland. The course is in good condition, not too muddy — actually not that muddy at all on the front nine. The course was wide open, with a single ahead of my twosome, and a single behind us. We played in an hour and a half if that tells you anything.

If I remember correctly, last year I played through the beginning of December, and then started up again in early February. I was in Florida for January, but my boyfriend said it was too cold to play in January.

If you golf, Portland is a dream. The city courses are cheap and kept in really nice condition. The golfers are nice and know their golf etiquette. The non-municipal courses are even better, and not much more expensive for the most part. You can find good deals online (golfnow.com) and a lot of the resort courses offer deals.

On another note, for anyone who plays golf on a gaming console, I have a bit of a bitch about Tiger Woods. Why is it that the last few years of Tiger Woods doesn’t allow for two players to play the PGA season in the game together? I finally got Tiger Woods 08 for the Xbox 360, and it won’t even let two player profiles to save in the system between sessions. It really pisses me off, and I am about the scrap the whole thing. It is so frustrating to have a game in which the only way I can play against someone sitting right next to me is to go out and buy two consoles, two televisions and two games so that we can play against each other online?!? WTF? Tiger Woods is lame. I haven’t liked the game since the 05 version.

That said, if anyone out there knows how to play it with two players, please let me know.

Portland, Oregon, golf, golfing, Eastmoreland, city courses, municipal courses, golfing conditions, Tiger Woods, Xbox 360, game, video games

Before I write anything else, let me say two things.

First, I am a Detroit Pistons fan. Can’t help it, born there, they are a great team to have as your home town team, so not really shopping for a new fav.

Second, I don’t really like basketball all that much. Other than being a Pistons supporter, I don’t watch a lot of basketball. For instance, skipped it during the Olympics. I just don’t dig it. I also don’t like baseball. I find both sports rather boring, in different ways. Baseball is not active enough, and basketball is too active. When I refer to “active,” I really mean how much both sports score. Baseball doesn’t score enough, and basketball the exact opposite.

Ok, so that said, I watched the Blazers’ opener tonight against the Lakers. I went to a sports bar to watch to the game. Figured I would see how this town watches it’s own.

Not that trailblazer…

I brought up the Pistons not only to excuse myself from being a Trailblazers fan, but also to give you an indication as to what I am accustomed when watching a game. The Pistons have been a strong team for quite a while now (since I have been alive anyway, with a few years off during the late 90’s and into 2001, so I am just not used to watching a young team figure themselves out. I was too young during the Thomas-Dumas years, and just busy during the last few “building” seasons.

And watching the Trailblazers tonight, well, it was new to me. They looked really sloppy in the first half, but you could also see that they were trying too hard. Ah, youth and nerves. The Blazers couldn’t sink a basket to save their lives. I moved on to something else at the half, checking in from time to time, but giving up on the ‘blazers.

I did see some hustle out there though, so I am hoping that the Blazers may be a good adopted team for me. I do tend to cheer on the teams of my respective “home towns” at the time in which I live at the time. By the way, have I mentioned that Portland is my favorite “home town,” thus far.

I was heartened that the bar totally filled up for the game. Mostly, dudes, but a girl or too. And everyone was definitely there for the Blazers. I was a little worried upon moving here, as I noticed that Portland has only one major league team. Did that mean that Portland is simply not a “sports town”?

Portland definitely has a sports side. You can see it most obviously during anything Beaver or Duck related. I am not a college football person, so I don’t get it myself, but let me tell you, this state has a huge Oregon State versus Oregon feel about it. Being from Michigan (and graduated from Michigan), I see a lot of similarity between my home state and my adopted state.

So an answer to the question as to whether Portland will support a franchise, so far, I would say yes. This town seems almost desperate to cling to a community-centered team. People here are rather outdoorsy, so they understand and appreciate sports for sure. And true, maybe that person will go out hiking on a Sunday rather than attend a game in an arena, but that same person will be more than happy to come see a game at least a few times a year.

Sure, it’s not a New York or a Chicago when it comes to rabid sports fans, but Portland likes sports, and even more, Portland likes teams and likes to support each other.

Trailblazers, Portland, sports, sportstown, sports town, Detroit, New York, Chicago, Pistons, franchise, major league, basketball, community

Ok, so it may not be as glamorous as the so-called jet set, but then again, would you really want to hang around those people?

I finally got a bike, and riding around Portland is a totally “cool” experience. Other than those people, mostly older men, that insist on wearing those dreadful biking shorts, the people I see out in the bike lanes are, well, cool. I saw quite a few really hot guys, so a tip to all you single ladies, get yourself a bike.

I unfortunately went for the retro 3-speed bike, which is all well and good in certain situations, mainly those that do not involve elevation changes. Guess what, Portland is pretty hilly. Not San Francisco hilly, but hilly all the same, especially for someone like me who has let my bike riding thighs fall out of shape. I need to get a true commuter bike, with a lot of gears, but then again, first I will have to get some strength in my legs to really get around town.

All in all, fellow bicyclists are very friendly in this town, much like the drivers. Yes, it is true that Portland must have some of the nicest drivers in the US. I mean, I stand next to a road, not even remotely by a crosswalk or anything, and more often than not, someone stops for me. That is so nice. In fact, the Ross Island Bridge on-ramp could never happen in most towns. It is not often that motorists will stop without being told to in order to allow those at a cross-street to enter heavy traffic.

But I digress…the Portland bicyclist is polite and courteous. Biking in Portland is equally pleasurable. The city is immensely bike-able (other than for wusses like me). Bike lanes are a-plenty, and the city is going even further in making Portland super-bike-friendly with bike boxes at intersections.

I went to the city’s transportation website and requested a bunch of maps, information on biking, and even bumper stickers for both my bike and my car that state how much I “share the road.” If you too would like to see the online maps or request paper versions, check out this website link. There are maps for the whole city as well as the quadrants. The maps even feature walking tours. How cute is that…

I finally made it up to Heron Lakes this last Sunday. It was a beautiful (rare) sunny day for Portland, so I knew it would be busy and slow-going, but I did not expect top be next to a racetrack all day.

It started out right away. Second hole, and it sounded like an entire ninth grade class of newly pubescent boys were running go-carts on the other side of a stand of trees. I asked one of the twosome I was paired up with (a couple of noisy pseudo-fratboys that ended up irritating me by the end of the nine holes I was forced to play with them) what was causing all the racket. This guy informed me that Heron Lakes is right next door to the Portland International Raceway.

One, what is so international about it? I have never understood why a racetrack would name itself “International.” Being this far north in the United States, and having Canadians so close, I know that international may be technically right, but come on…

Two, I have never quite understood why people find cars going around in a circle so damn entertaining. I grew up with all kinds of toys — dirtbikes, snowmobiles, motorboats, etc — so I understand speed and motorsports, but how is a circular course interesting? You know exactly what’s going to happen, and the only possibility of something out of the ordinary happening is of course when an accident occurs. And if that is what you are looking forward to, then really that is a bit morbid. And don’t get me wrong, I am a hockey fan, so I enjoy random violence, but a car accident is a bit more than a sucker punch during a hotly contested game.

But again, I digress.

Heron Lakes is really quite pretty, and I think for the most part quite peaceful. My advice is to check out the PIR schedule for races, as golfing with a constant high-pitched engine whine in the background can be a bit off-putting. Thankfully, it ended around six pm. So really, I only had to play eleven holes with that noise, but it was bad enough that I would take care to avoid it in the future.

I played the Great Blue course as opposed to the Greenback course. The Great Blue is the harder of the two, and it really requires good placement and excellent putting. The greens were hard and fast, and quite undulated. After I made the turn and began playing with two older (and much cooler) guys, and they were good, but even they were struggling in the putting department. So I didn’t feel so badly about three-putting so much.

The course was in pretty good shape, but I did notice that no one, and I mean NO ONE, replaces divots on this course. At one point, maybe around hole 14 or 15, the fairway looked like a divot graveyard. I really don’t understand how hard it is to replace divots, and it helps the course stay in good shape, but like most inconsiderate Americans, some golfers don’t think too much about those around them or after them.

There were some really lovely views of Mt. Hood by the way, especially on Hole 13. Also, I got a great deal. $26 for 18 on a Sunday at 2:48. My boyfriend found that online, but even the girl checking him in at the pro shop thought that was a great deal.

And yes, I saw two herons.

Heron Lakes, Great Blue, Greenback, golf course, Portland, Portland International Speedway, PIS, Mt Hood

I cannot begin to express how happy I am living in Portland and being a golfer. I grew up in Michigan, and golf courses were abundant. You could play a really nice course, or you could always find cheap greens fees at decent courses. Portland is a lot like that.

12th hole at Eastmoreland Golf Course via its website.

Living in Chicago made me question my devotion to golf, only because good courses were invariably an hour away. Not that they were far, necessarily, but with the horrendous traffic issues, it seemed that golfing 18 holes meant an entire day devoted to driving there, waiting behind people that seemed to have no idea what they were doing or how they ended up with a club in their hand, and then driving another hour to get home, and gee, now it’s dark out and I am so irritated after being stuck in stand-still traffic that all I want to do is start drinking.

Wow, that was a really long sentence.

Sure, there were courses that were closer in the city. I played a city course on the Southside of Chicago, Jackson Park, in August and no joke, I was hitting off bare dirt in the middle of the fairway. That ain’t cool. And it ain’t golf.

But seriously, golfing in Portland is a pleasure. I live about a mile from Eastmoreland. Colwood National, Rose City, and Glendoveer are twenty minutes away. These courses, despite being municipal courses, are in nice shape, they can be challenging, and the most 18 has taken me is 4 and a half hours. And that is on a really nice Saturday.

In Chicago, it seemed that 18 always took at least five hours. I am a fairly fast golfer. I don’t spend a lot of time dickering with myself about my club selection, or take five practice swings. It’s one practice swing, I address the ball, and I hit. Amateurs do not need to act like they are one shot ahead of Tiger at Sawgrass and take ten minutes to hit their shot.

So anyway, if you like to golf, Portland gets a huge plus in that you can pretty much golf all year. Sure, it’s not Tuscon with 80 degree days in January, but really, who would want to live in Arizona anyway? I kid. Arizona has its charms.

There are some really nice courses in the area as well. Mt. Hood provides some stunning holes and backdrops. I have yet to make it out there, nor have I been able to go down the coast or up the coast to that new course near Tacoma, that is hosting the US Open in something like 2015.

golf, Portland, Michigan, Chicago, Eastmoreland, Colwood, Rose City, Glendoveer, Mt Hood, Sawgrass, Arizona, Tuscon

Hey, this is pretty exciting, we’ve got our first winner for the Trivia Tuesdays questions!

Congratulations to Margie for answering all five questions correctly. Although the judges have told me that there is a more correct answer for the fifth question. (Not really, we don’t have any judges, just a box of trivia cards from 1985!)

However, here’s an explanation of the fifth question’s official answer: I’m going to consider that you are correct on the fifth question as well, although history shows that several failed attempts to sustain a professional baseball league in 1887, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1896, and 1891, finally and disastrously ending on June 15th of 1891. The next revival o1f the Pacific Northwest League was in 1901, when the National Association was organized and the league became a Class B member.

So although Margie is correct, there was a league started in Portland in 1887, the league fell apart and failed before the end of the season, making it a “less-than-official” beginning. By 1901, the league was revived, and baseball had officially begun.

On June 28, 2007 - Portland’s own Trail Blazers have won the NBA lottery, and will have first pick during the lottery ceremony at Madison Square Garden in New York.

How will this affect the Blazers future? The will have their choice of future NBA superstars, and it could be the end of some recent debates.

portland, oregon, portland blazers, trail blazers, sports, nba, basketball, news