Queen of Rip City Brooke Olzendam and her mom, Alison, took a break from holiday festivities to chat with us. We learned that Crab Louie was invented in Spokane, that Alison was Brooke’s first AAU Coach and how close Brooke came to becoming a pharmaceutical rep (a boon for us, a bummer for the pharmaceutical industry). We also hear the story of Brooke’s 7th grade citizenship award and get a picture of her dancing around with a hairbrush.Then we turn to Blazers talk. What was it like for Alison t...
Dec 05, 2019•30 min
1:30 A week ago the Blazers were coming off of four losses and now they are coming off of three wins and Carmelo Anthony is Western Conference Player of the Week. Is there anything less worth getting mad about than Anthony returning to the league and getting this award? We can’t think of anything. 4:45 Will there be tribute videos this season? Or will Anthony refuse because he’s not retiring yet? 6:30 Is Melo the most famous player who ever played on the Trail Blazers? 9:15 Anthony in Portland m...
Dec 03, 2019•58 min
Preview LA Clipper and Los Angeles Lakers with Sabreena Merchant (@sabreenajm) 1:00 How are the dynamic duos doing in Los Angeles? Clippers: Kawhi Leonard isn’t exactly the player he was in the playoffs. He is being load managed and getting up to speed, and fans are getting used to that. Kawhi and Paul George haven’t had much time together. They are extremely imposing defensively. 4:15 LeBron James has exceeded expectations because he’s playing defense all year and that is contagious. Anthony Da...
Dec 03, 2019•22 min
Former co-host Kendyl Bennett joins the podcast to talk all things Carmelo Anthony--how do we think he is settling in? Will he continue to average 16 shots a night? How will that impact Rodney Hood’s shot opportunities? We wonder why Hassan Whiteside is so up and down and what will it take for him to reach his potential. We talk about being thankful for balance in the league and we share our thoughts about the Golden State Warriors new reality and if the San Antonio Spurs are really, truly, havi...
Nov 28, 2019•1 hr 8 min
On this week's episode of the Blazer's Edge podcast, Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang take a look at where the Blazers are and where they need to be in the coming weeks. Along the way, they discuss the development of the young guys, whether or not Coach Stotts should be on the hot seat, expectations for the team until the New Year, salvaging the season, and more! Intro Opening comments Changing Expectations 2:00 How long can you hold on? 4:00 Can they save this season? 7:30 How has Carmelo Anth...
Nov 25, 2019•1 hr 22 min
Maggie Hendricks of 670 The Score in Chicago joins Tara Bowen-Biggs to preview two Portland vs Chicago matchups coming this week. Highlights: 00:50 Expectations going into the season were set by the front office who said that the Bulls would be aiming for the playoffs. They don’t look like a playoff team and now they are talking about developing players. 2:00 Infighting and strange choices had been plaguing the team lately. Coach Jim Boylen said that Zach Levine made three egregious errors and p...
Nov 24, 2019•15 min
Tara and Cassidy are joined by Nitz from The Daily Ding podcast to discuss the Portland Trail Blazers’ rocky start, how adding Carmelo Anthony to the team can help them out, and what other moves we would try if we were the GMs. Highlights 00:30 Icebreaker: “What’s your ideal time to stay at an event before you leave early without telling anyone” Thanks for the question EvanSowards! 4:00 Busy week! Who is having a worse year, Golden State or the Trail Blazers? 5:45 How Carmelo chose 00. 8:30 On C...
Nov 21, 2019•50 min
On this week's Blazer's Edge podcast, Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang are joined by Steve Dewald to take a look back over the last week and discuss: Carmelo Anthony signing, the ups and downs of momentum, what will the rotations look like, trends in wins and losses, the bright spot that is Nassir Little, how bad are things really, and much more! Intro Opening comments Steve Dewald - first reactions to Carmelo Anthony signing Melo and “ring rust” 3:00 Could/Should Melo start? 7:00 How will Nass...
Nov 18, 2019•1 hr 4 min
Coty Davis of thedreamshake.com joined Tara to preview the Portland Trail Blazers vs Houston Rockets matchup. How has Russell Westbrook’s arrival changed the team? What are the Rockets weaknesses? Who is the leader of the team? Coty is a long-time fan of Carmelo Anthony so he also weighs in on how his arrival might impact the Trail Blazers. 1:00 How the arrival of Westbrook has changed things. The pace has really increased. The offense is now “six seconds or less”. There seems to be a new attitu...
Nov 17, 2019•22 min
On this emergency episode of the Blazer's Edge podcast, Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang react to the news of the Trail Blazers agreeing to sign Carmelo Anthony to a non-guaranteed contract. Why would they do it? Can he actually help them? How good and/or bad can things actually get? What happens between now and the trade deadline? It's a near real time reaction to the agreed upon deal and well, just listen for yourself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn...
Nov 15, 2019•36 min
On this week’s podcast, Tara and Cassidy talk about injuries that have plagued the Trail Blazers and the league. We discuss our own personal sports injuries and what we learned from them and the look at how injuries have increased over the past several years. We ask why they might be occurring and what could possibly be done to curtail the rising rates. Then we take a trip around the league and make up headlines to capture all the weirdness and excitement of the first three weeks of the season. ...
Nov 14, 2019•57 min
On this week’s episode of the Blazer’s Edge podcast, Tara Bowen-Biggs makes a call to the bench for the super sub and is joined by Managing Editor of Blazer’s Edge- Dave Deckard. Together they look at the first 10 games of the season, Lillard's 60-point game, evaluating role players, McCollum's shooting slump, expectations by the new calendar year and more! Intro Opening Comments Initial Thoughts 2:00 Compared to your expectations, where is Hassan Whiteside at? 4:30 What do you think of the idea...
Nov 12, 2019•58 min
Tara talks to Jeff Siegel of peachtreehoops.com and earlybirdrights.com (and formerly on blazersedge.com) to preview the Portland Trail Blazers upcoming game against the Atlanta Hawks. Follow him on twitter @jgsiegel, @earlybirdrights. 00:30 The Atlanta Hawks have had an up-and-down season so far. For most of the season they have had pretty good luck in opponents three point shooting but opponents are starting to shoot well from beyond the arc now. Trae Young has looked good and John Collins did...
Nov 09, 2019•26 min
Jamie Goldberg of the Oregonian makes her first appearance on the Women’s Hoops And Talks Podcast. Fresh off of six years covering the Thorns and the Timbers, Goldberg is the newest NBA and Trail Blazers reporter for the Oregonian. We talk to her about what it has been like making the transition from soccer to basketball, her first impressions of the team and the players and what she is looking forward to covering on her new beat. Highlights 00:30 Have she and Jamie Hudson worked out what we are...
Nov 07, 2019•36 min
On this week's episode of the Blazer's Edge podcast- Varoon Bose of Bleacher Report and carrier of the Blazer's flag in New York city hops on with Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang to talk; Damian Lillard's MVP start to the season, the positive and the negatives of the Blazer's start to the season, will the Blazers sign a big man, should Skal Labissiere get more minutes, breaking down the last play vs the Philadelphia 76ers and more! Intro Opening comments Varoon Bose of Bleacher Report 3:00 How...
Nov 04, 2019•1 hr 25 min
Tara and Cassidy discuss the Trail Blazers’ first four games--how much can we learn from this start? We discuss how high our expectations were going into the season and whether or not they have been met by this small sample size. Then we talk to Jannelle Moore from Golden State of Mind about the surprising start for the Golden State Warriors. Why does she think they are struggling? How much is the coach to blame? How will they look when the Trail Blazers play them in San Francisco next week? Hig...
Oct 31, 2019•1 hr 2 min
On this week's episode of the Blazer's Edge podcast, Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang take a look a the first 3 games of the Blazers season to find themes- both good and bad, points of emphasis, discuss the defensive woes from the 3-point line, how the new players are fitting in, Rodney Hood's possible emergence as that oft-discussed "3rd option," Zach Collins' shoulder injury and what Coach Stotts may do with the lineups, the next 3 upcoming games and more! Intro Opening Comments Early trends ...
Oct 28, 2019•1 hr 16 min
Join Tara, Cassidy and Blazers Edge editor Lindsay as they predict which Portland Trail Blazers will stand out amongst their teammates? Who will be the sixth man of the year for the Blazers? Will it be someone who brings energy off the bench, or someone whose technical proficiency means he’s reliable? Who will be most improved? A young player who finally gets the opportunity or an older vet whose improvement impacts winning the most? We wonder who is going to contribute big time in the community...
Oct 24, 2019•44 min
On this week's episode of the Blazer's Edge podcast- Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang are joined by Isaiah De Los Santos and Nate Mann to discuss who the breakout player could be for the Trail Blazers, injury worries in the frontcourt, previewing the first three games of the season and more! Intro 1:30 Getting regular season ready 3:50 How worried should people be about the ankles of Portland big men? 5:00 Skal? SKAL! 10:00 Jusuf Nurkic signs with Klutch Sports 13:00 Impact on CBA with issues i...
Oct 21, 2019•1 hr 6 min
As Rip City prepares for the start of the new season, we welcome Trail Blazers’ sideline reporter Brooke Olzendam to the WHAT podcast to get us all caught up on what is happening with the team. She’s been getting to know the new players over the past few weeks and gives us her impressions so far: Whiteside’s humor, Tolliver’s smarts, Hezonja’s intensity, and Bazemore’s joy. Along the way we get a story about the Goonies house in Astoria, and update on Jusuf Nurkic, and two new songs to add to th...
Oct 20, 2019•27 min
The pre-season is winding down, so we asked, what have we learned about the Portland Trail Blazers? Tara and Cassidy of Women’s Hoops and Talks discuss Marion Hezonja passing, Kent Bazemore bouncing, Skal Labissiere playing, and CJ McCollum missing free throws. While we are starting to get more familiar with the new-look team, some questions still remain: when will Pau Gasol play? Is Zach Collins locked into the starting lineup? Who is setting screens for Damian Lillard and McCollum? Along the w...
Oct 17, 2019•48 min
Amanda Smith wears many hats. She is broadcast assistant for the Utah Jazz, radio analyst for Utah Utes Women’s Basketball team and host of How She Did It a web series and podcast highlighting women in sports media. We asked Amanda what it is like to keep stats during a game, how she got started doing analysis, and what is her favorite part of covering a game. Then we talk about the Utah Jazz and their upcoming season. Who is their team leader? Do they consider themselves rivals with the Portlan...
Oct 11, 2019•47 min
Trail Blazers' beat reporter Casey Holdahl joined the weekly podcast to talk about Kent Bazemore’s shorts, Anthony Tolliver’s opportunities and Mario Hezonja’s nasty streak. We react to the fast and furious pace of Fan Fest, wonder when we will learn how tall everyone is and speculate about what Skal Labissiere could do if he just gets a shot? Also, public radio pledge drives, hipster beanies, and who will be the biggest trash talker on the team this year? All this and more on the latest podcast...
Oct 08, 2019•1 hr 8 min
Media day is here and we’re certifying our heights with the league office and getting down to business. Blazers Outsider Joe Simons and Blazers Edge editor Steve Dewald joined the podcast to do a round table about what we are optimistic about and what we are worried about in the upcoming season. A lot of new players means a lot of opportunities for guys to take a big leap, or struggle to find their place. Will Damian Lillard be an MVP finalist? Will Hassan Whiteside fit right in? How much will L...
Sep 30, 2019•53 min
Our friend Brit Robotista joined the WHAT Podcast to answer some CBA questions and give us a preview of the Houston Rockets. First we walk through the intrigue behind the Nene contract and find out why it is making Houston fans mad. Then we dive into what it will be like when Russell Westbrook reunites with his old friend James Harden (and Thabo Sefolosha too!) What does the basketball look like? Who is the leader? Do the Rockets have any fun? We have questions and she has answers. 1:00 Damian L...
Sep 26, 2019•53 min
On the latest Blazers’ Edge Podcast we take a deeper look at the 2020 schedule. We ask if it is a good thing that they are on the road so much to start the season, discuss when Nurkic might be worked back into the lineup and give our projected win totals for the season. Then we talk about what was a busy week for the league, voting on tougher punishment for tampering and clarifying the rules of “gathering”. Finally Dan says which song he would add to the 2020 Trail Blazers Playlist. 3:30 Jusuf N...
Sep 23, 2019•54 min
On their own this week for the WHAT Podcast, Tara and Cassidy discuss the Trail Blazers’ upcoming season. With lots of roster turnover there are plenty of questions about what the team will look like. How will rebounds be distributed among the team? How about assists? How will CJ McCollum’s game evolve? How much will he drive to the basket? Will he get to the line? They we introduce the 2020 Season Trail Blazers’ playlist. These are our picks for songs that capture our feelings about the upcomin...
Sep 20, 2019•46 min
Travis Demers, the Portland Trail Blazers’ new radio play-by-play announcer, joined the podcast to talk about securing his dream job. How did he do it? Where did he learn his craft? He explains why he loves radio and how he plans to keep getting better. He shares highlights from some of the games he called last season and reveals if he his working on any catch phrases. Then Tara and Dan discuss which Blazers (and former Blazers) showed up on the Sports Illustrated Top 100 players. Where does Nur...
Sep 16, 2019•1 hr 9 min
NBC Sports Northwest Trail Blazers’ reporter Jamie Hudson jumped on the Hoops and Talks podcast to play “Would You Rather”, the debating game that no one needs but everyone loves. We talk about taking away the three-point line, CJ McCollum’s assist numbers next season and Zach Collins in a headband (fingers crossed!). We try to decide if we would rather watch the best offense in the league or the best defense. Hudson tells a heartwarming story about Wesley Matthews and we tell her about Will Bar...
Sep 12, 2019•48 min
On this week’s Blazer’s Edge podcast Tara and Dan answer listener questions about the upcoming season: will Kevin Love be a Trail Blazer before the season is over? How will he fit in and who would the Blazers trade to bring him in? How might the perimeter defense change with the new players on the team? What do we think the big man rotation will look like? Then Tara talks to Ben Taylor (@ElGee35) of Thinking Basketball about how our brains process the massive amount of data that a basketball gam...
Sep 09, 2019•1 hr 22 min
