Jan 30

   

I suppose i always knew i would be going to college outside of Oregon.

When I was about seven years old and a neighbor -- whom I considered a "grown-up" -- was talking about colleges with her mom and mine, i started looking at one of her pamphlets. There was an impressive stoic building on the cover. It was beautiful and it happened to be one of the thicker of the brochures our neighbor brought over that day.  It contained all kinds of information on academics, campus life and other areas. I was very impressed.

The place seemed very, very far away. "How could anyone be that far from their family for four whole years?" I thought. My neighbor would have to be crazy to be that far away from her family, even if it was for her future. When it was my turn to choose a college, I would certainly choose a school closer to home.

As I became older, I understood the significance of universities, choosing the right one -- the best one possible. When it, indeed, came time for me to choose a school, I was to consider many, many things. At the same time, the picture of that building and the bold letters on the front of the brochure always stuck in my head.

I had researched many schools, and low and behold, that one emerged as the clear leader. It was no contest really. I would attend Stanford University. Even the name has always sounded bold and impressive.

It's about 675 miles from my family's home in Milwaukie to my dorm room. I'm very close to my family, especially my parents and five younger siblings and them terribly. I miss my friends from high school and from my neighborhood quite a bit.

And, of course, I miss my Portland Trail Blazers.

It's ironic that this season (my freshman year) I'm several hundred miles from home, but I feel in a lot of ways I'm following the team much closer than I have before. At the start of the 2009-2010 season, I began commenting on Mike Barrett's Blog, and continue to do so. I've also been able to follow the team on this site, blazersedge, the NBA official site and ESPN.

Through the internet, i've been able to keep up on the latest news. I followed the draft live on nba.com. I got an e-mail alert when Jerryd Bayless was traded. I've been bombarded with comment notifications when someone has posted something on this site. This is far more than I had followed the team before.

Shortly after the regular season started, I began to stream the audio of one of the games. My dorm mate asked what the big deal was about the Blazers. In a lengthy description, I told her. She now joins me when we stream Wheels and Tone.

Speaking of Wheels and Tone, I've become accustomed to listening to them, given that I'm outside of the 150-mile video streaming radius. The descriptions of the play by play paint a great picture of game action. I thank them.

Twitter has also been a big help. I initially signed up to keep updated from Jeff Pendergraph regarding his injury. I've since met up with numerous Blazers fans and also "followed" several of the players on the team there; in fact, two are currently following me, as well.

Lest I not forget the in-game chat. I've met a lot of great people through that. Sarah, Teresa, Occassia, Kylie, Meg ... it's a great thing for us girls to interpret these games to each other. We even talk to some of the guys on the site! There are still numerous conversations back home to my dad and brothers regarding the team. believe me, there are no shortage of opinions there!

I suppose what I'm saying is that through technology and the Blazers community, I feel fortunate that going away to school did not distance me from the Blazers. The truth is, it has brought me closer to them ...

... despite my choice of college being 675 miles from home.

~ Kassandra