Trailblazers: downfall of a model franchise

Flashback to May 31, 1988, the Blazers original founder Larry Weinberg sells the Blazers, after 18-seasons as owner, to Seattle billionaire Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, for a bargain price of $70 million. The Blazers were coming off a good season finishing 53-29, but lost in the first round of the playoffs for the third straight season. Mr. Weinberg wanted to strike while the iron was hot. The team was starting to become stagnant under Mr. Weinberg leadership as he wasn't willing to spend that much on expensive free agents any more, they relied mostly on their draft picks. Blazer fans were still loyal to their team and could still take pride in their good character players that wouldn't embarrass the city. The 1988 roster included: centers Kevin Duckworth, Caldwell Jones, Steve Johnson, and Sam Bowie; guards Clyde Drexler, Jim Paxson, Terry Porter, Michael Holton and Jerry Sichting; and forwards Kiki Vandeweghe, Maurice Lucas, Jerome Kersey, Charles Jones, Steve Johnson, Kevin Gamble, Richard Anderson, Mikita Wilson and Ronnie Murphy.

Even Paul Allen said the Blazers were a model franchise, which made them more attractive to buy. He had always been a basketball fan and wanted to become an owner. As a Blazer fan I was excited to see our small market team have a billionaire owner now, willing to spend money on free agents to keep the team competitive. The players may have been a little leary of the ownership change, or they saw this as an opportunity to get rid of coach Mike Schuler as he was let go after a 25-22 start. One of the first moves Paul Allen made was to promote long-time assistant coach, and former Blazer player, Rick Adelman to head coach. The team finished the season in transition and had a losing record at 39-43, but still made the playoffs, but lost in the first round again.

Rick Adelman proved his talent as a head coach as in 1990 the team gelled and saw a quick turnaround with a 59-23 season. Mr. Allen saw some early dividends as the Blazers made it to the NBA Finals for the first time in 14 seasons. Portland had become "Rip City" again, but Blazer fans were disappointed again losing to the "bad boy" Detroit Pistons 4-games-to-1, and not winning one home game in the finals.

It was nice to see the Blazers becoming one of the elite teams of the 1990s, the 1990-91 season was even better as the Blazers core players were hitting their prime, Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Kevin Duckworth, Buck Williams, Jerome Kersey were becoming a formitable and confident starting lineup the team finished with a franchise best 63 wins and only 19 losses. They played with confidence and were determined to get back to the NBA Finals. They won their first 11 games, and were 19-1 after 20 games. They were only out of first place in the Pacific Division for one day March 19th, and after that went on a team record 16-game win streak from March 20-April 19. The Blazers ended the Los Angeles Lakers nine-year stranglehold on the Division Title by winning the Pacific Division. But once again Blazer fans were heart-broken as the Lakers had the last laugh eliminating them in the Western Conference Finals in dix games.

These core Blazer players were so hungry for a title and knew their championship window of opportunity was still open. They returned in 1992 to the NBA Finals after a 57-25 season, but the curse of Michael Jordan came back to haunt them as his Chicago Bulls beat the Blazers in six games. It was a great NBA Finals rivalry between Drexler & Jordan, who could've been teammates. The Blazers had the opportunity to draft Jordan in the 1984 draft, but passed him up with the number two pick for Sam Bowie as the team was desperate for a center after losing the coin toss for Akeem Olojuwon, little did they know how dominate a player Michael Jordan would become, and the six titles he won in Chicago could've been as a Blazer.

Blazermania was back in Portland, and Mr. Allen was pleased with their success and kept a hands off approach. He wanted to capitalize on the team's success and reward the city with a new state-of-the-art arena. Groundbreaking on the $252 million arena in the spacious parking lot of Memorial Colesium took place on July 11, 1993. The Blazers hat outgrown Memorial Colesium that only held 12,666, but due to this the Blazers set an NBA record with 814 consecutive sellouts, including the first 14 games at the Rose Garden, which holds 21,401 Blazermaniacs. Before the 2000 season, seating compacity at the Rose Garden was reduced to 20,403 as some seats were taken out to accomodate for wheelchair access. All 41-home games sold out. But before the Blazers even played in their new arena the wheels started coming off the success wagon.

Clyde Drexler had been the heart of the Blazers, and a fan favorite for more than 11 and a half seasons, but he didn't get a chance to play in the Rose Garden in a Blazer uniform as he was traded on Valentine's Day, 1994 by Geoff Petrie to Houston for Otis Thorpe and a draft pick. Drexler was starting to become disgruntled with management and demanded to be traded to his home town team. It was one of the last moves Petrie made before resigning as Senior Vice-President of basketball operations. He was more likely forces out as Allen began to clean house and wanted to start putting his print on the team. Paul Allen also fired the second most successful Blazer coach in their history Rick Adelman on May 19, 1994 after a successful 47-35 season. He had an impressive coaching record of 291-154, leading the Blazers to wins 65.4 percent of the time in the regular season, but unfortunately success is measured with championships, and he was unable to bring another trophy to Portland. The team made a big mistake by bringing in P.J. Carlesimo, with no NBA coaching experience, straight out of college basketball to the NBA level.

The downfall of the Blazers can be traced back to July 12, 1994 when Mr. Allen hired Bob Whitsitt as team President and General Manager. Whitsitt was one of his friends from Seattle, and it looked like a good choice at first as he was just coming off winning NBA Executive of the Year with the Seattle Supersonics for the 1993-94 season. It's easy to judge someone after the fact, but I see Bob Whitsitt made only three good moves, and the rest poor decision during his nine year tenure with the Blazers. He can be credited for turning the Blazers into the "Jailblazers." The best move Whitsitt made for Portland was finally signing 7'-3" Russian center Arvydas Sabonis. The Blazers drafted him clear back in 1985, but Russia blocked him from playing in the United States until now. The Blazers finally had the big center they needed. Second, he worked with the salary cap and on October 2, 1999 was able to bring veteran forward Scottie Pippen to Portland, by trading six Blazer bench players: forwards Walt Williams, Stacey Augmon, Carlos Rogers, center Kelvin Cato, and guards Ed Gray and Brian Shaw to the Houston Rockets. Finally, on August 23, 1997 when he signed free agent forward Brian Grant, who Blazer fans grew to love for his hard-working play.

The Blazers played their first game in the sparkling new Rose Garden arena on November 3, 1995, ironically losing to the lowly Vancouver Grizzlies, 92-80. It was a sign of things to come.

Allen made the mistake of putting too much faith in GM Whitsitt. He basically opened up his bank account and told him to sign players to keep the Blazers competitive. The Blazers are still paying for Whitsitt's bad decisions. He didn't understand the concept of "team chemistry." Maybe he wanted to mold the team after the success of the"Bad Boy" Detroit Pistons, who knows?

Whitsitt drafted and traded for young talent and didn't care about the players reputation or impact on the community. It started with his first draft in 1995 when he traded the rights to good citizen Shawn Respert to the Milwaukee Bucks for forward Gary Trent, who during his years with the Blazers was charged for assaulting his girlfriend 01/07/97, allegedly assaulted a person with a pool cue 03/15/97 and allegedly punched and choked a person 07/24/97 (Out of court settlement). He was the initial member of Whitsitt's "jailblazers". Before the 1996 season he traded for controversial players Rasheed Wallace and Isaiah "J.R." Rider. Riders off the court antics included: being cited for Possession of Marijuana 10/30/96, allegedly spit into faces of Flightcraft employees and smashed company cellular phone. (Settled out of court) 03/04/97; Illegal possession of Cellular Phones and marijuana possession conviction 10/03/97; Police responded after he was causing problems on an Alaska Airlines flight. 10/21/97; spit on a fan 11/01/97; threw a fit against fans, media and others 02/10/98. Altercation with another player 02/26/99; Problems in the stands after a game 03/30/99; Kneed and shoved another player 03/18/99, and cited for driving without license or insurance 03/19/99. Rasheed Wallace has not exactly been a model citizen either: Assaulted his girlfriend, and was charged with misdemeanor assault. 04/06/1996; Threw towel at referee and made several threats toward him. Ejected for inappropriate conduct 04/01/01. Threw towel at another player 04/15/01; Cited for possessing marijuana during a traffic stop in Washington 11/22/02. Wallace agreed to drug counceling and paid a $650 fine and needs to stay out of trouble for 6 months.; Ticketed For driving with suspended licsense and NO insurance. 09/03. Having fits and throwing a towel at Sabonis. In the 1996 draft, the Blazers started their trend of signing high school stars by selecting 18-year old forward sensation Jermaine O'Neal. At the time, this move looked controversial, he didn't get enough playing time to develop in Portland, but just when he was starting to reach his prime Whitsitt made a controversial move by trading the future All-Star to the Indiana Pacers on August 31, 2000 for veteran center Dale Davis.

For the stretch run of the 1998 season, "Trader Bob" brought home Portland native, guard Damon Stoudamire in a trade with the Toronto Raptors on February 13, 1998. Stoudamire was last year's Rookie of the Year. This move was seen as a positive move at first, as he solidified the point-guard position for Portland, but he developed off court distractions too including:
Police discover a lot of marijuana in his house during response to a burglar alarm where his door was open 02/23/02.; Cited for possessing marijuana during a traffic stop in Washington 11/22/02. On 03/21/03 charges are dropped as long as he stays out of trouble for 12 months. July 3, 2003 Stoudamire gets caught at Tucson Airport with Illegal Drugs. He had it in foil which kept setting off the metal detector. In the 1998 NBA Draft, Whitsitt traded a 1999 first round pick for the rights to Bonzi Wells another player you wouldn't want your kids to follow as a role model. As a member of the "jailblazers" he: Allegedly shoved a person 05/12/99; Altercation with a referee 11/28/00. Cited for trespassing 09/06/01. Spit on another player San Antonio's Danny Ferry 11/09/02, and he could be seen "flipping the bird" at a fan and cussing out his head coach. On August 2, 1999 "Trader Bob" made ammends for trading for Isaiah Rider, and shipped J.R. off to Atlanta for sharpshooter Steve Smith in what was a good move.

Whitsitt's moves initially were successful, as the Blazers kept their string of NBA Playoff appearances alive and the team returned to the Western Conference Finals in the strike shortened 1999 season, winning the Pacific Division with a 35-15 record, and in my opinion should've won the NBA Championship in 2000, but were stopped short in the Western Conference Finals once again by the Los Angeles Lakers in a Game 7, which the Blazers blew a 14-point lead late in the game. The Lakers easily beat the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals, and the Blazers would have too.

In the off season following the 2000 season, "Trader Bob" couldn't stop tinkering with the team. Feeling the Blazers were only a player or two away from the Championship, he made his biggest and most costly move of all on August 30, 2000, bringing in washed up and overweight forward Shawn Kemp in a 3-way-trade that sent away good citizen and fan favorite Brian Grant to Miami. Whitsitt could only see Kemp as the young player he drafted for the Sonics in 1989 and who led the Sonics to the 1996 NBA Finals, not the overweight and injury prone player he became. He never contributed much to the Blazers, but they got stuck with his huge contract. Kemp entered drug rehabilitation in April 2001, near the end of his first season as a Blazer. He returned for the 2001-02 season but was suspended for five games in February for failing to comply with his aftercare. Whitsitt finally faced the fact he had made another bonehead move and cost Paul Allen money and waived Shawn Kemp on August 20, 2002 (my 26th birthday). Thanks Bob for the great birthday present.

As fans continued to complain about their "jailblazer" image and how character does matter to them, Whitsitt didn't listen as on July 30, 2001 he signed free agent forward Ruben Patterson, a registered sex offender and whp was sentenced for forcing 24-year old nanny to perform sex act. (Rape in my book) Only received 15 day home detention. 05/15/01. Arrested for Domestic Assault 11/25/02; felony domestic assault charge 11/27/03; Patterson also was convicted of misdemeanor assault in February 2001 for attacking a man who had scratched his car outside a Cleveland nightclub in June 2000.

It continued into the 2002 draft when Whitsitt drafted another high school player Qyntel Woods, who couldn't avoid trouble: NBA suspended Woods for five games for violating terms of the league's anti-drug program. 10/12/04;
Woods gets suspension for suspected dog fighting. Aparently he dumped one of his badly hurt dogs in an alley because the dog wouldn't win any fights for him. 10/12/04; Qyntel cited for driving with suspended license and NO insurance AGAIN. This time he had a real ID on him. His vehicle was towed and impounded. 09/30/03; Drug Possession, doing 83 mph in a 55, no license and no insurance. He showed a trading card with his picture as a form of ID. Or was it to impress the cop into letting him go? 03/31/03; Suspended license for failure to appear for a court hearing. 07/28/03.

Blazer fans showed their discontent for Bob Whitsitt's roster moves by not showing up as attendence fell. The Blazers sellout streak was long over and in Bob Whitsitt's last season as Blazer GM (2002-03) the Blazers average home attendance was just 19,420 despite the team having a decent season at 50-32, but lost in the first round of the playoffs again. At the end of the season Whitsitt resigned as Team President and General Manager effective June 30, 2003 following the draft that season in which, ironically he selected an outlaw, Travis Outlaw.

In the 2003 season the Blazers finished at .500 at 41-41, but what was most significant about that was their string of 21-straight seasons of making the playoffs ended. They hadn't missed the playoffs since the 1981-82 season. This would be the first season the Blazers would be involved in the NBA Draft Lottery. It also marked the beginning of a rebuilding period for the Blazers and a youth movement. With the departure of GM Bob Whitsitt, Owner Paul Allen decided to split up the Blazers jobs by hiring Steve Patterson as the new Team President on June 18, 2003 followed by John Nash as the new General Manager on July 19, 2003. The first thing Mr. Patterson wanted to focus on was a renewed trust with the Portland community to bring quality players back to Portland, and he would research backgrounds of players to make sure they would not be an embarrassment to the community. The "jailblazer" era was over, but with the influx of young team players the Blazers would be going through a growing process like an expansion team. The team's record suffered on the court as the team finished the 2004-05 season at 27-55, and hit rock bottom in the 2005-06 season, with their worst season ever at 21-61, but to keep the players out of court off the court it is all worth it.

In my next Blazer post I will explain my take on how the Blazers are rebuilding. I like the current young core of players, and they have good chemistry. I actually said before the beginning of the season that if they win 20 games I'll be happy, and they did one better. The Blazers will only get better and it will be fun to watch this young group of players grow up together. I hope Management gives them a chance and doesn't interfere too much. I'm sure they will try to find some veteran leadership. I think it would be a good move for Paul Allen to sell the team and cut his losses. He had a good 18-year run as owner, ironically the same length as the first owner, and Mr. Allen almost bought us a championship, but came up just short. He has already filed bankruptcy on the Rose Garden. I think it would be a good move for him to file bankruptcy on the team too, so the new owner can get a fresh start and not be burdened with Bob Whitsitt's poor money management decisions. I'm sure Owner Paul Allen has learned from his mistake and will chalk it up to experience. In the back of my mind, and probably many Portland fans, we have to wonder if it was the goal of two Seattlites to run a Portland team into the ground to further escalate the Portland/Seattle rivalry between the two cities. Can we really trust an outside owner, or general manager, who wasn't committed to the Portland community or listen to its fans?

Favorite sports teams

I will list all my favorite sports team up front and how long I've been a fan, then comment on them:
Major League Baseball:Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (1978) in American League and Los Angeles Dodgers (1978) in National League
Other teams I like- Houston Astros (1980), Florida Marlins (1993)

National Football League: Seattle Seahawks (1984);Pittsburgh Steelers (1978-1983) Other teams I like- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1979), Miami Dolphins (1978), Carolina Panthers (1995), Indianapolis Colts (1984), Jacksonville Jaguars (1995), Philadelphia Eagles (1980), Dallas Cowboys (1978)

National Basketball Association: Portland Trailblazers (1978)
Other teams I like- Orlando Magic (1989), Charlotte Hornets (1998-2002), Indiana Pacers (1978), San Antonio Spurs (1980)

National Hockey League: San Jose Sharks (1991). Los Angeles Kings (1980-1991) Other teams I like- Pittsburgh Penguins (1980), Tampa Bay Lightning (1992), Carolina Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers (1980), Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1993)

Arena Football League: San Jose Sabercats (1995); Tampa Bay Storm (1991-95)/Pittsburgh Gladiators (1987-90); Portland Forest Dragons (1997-99)
Other teams I like- Los Angeles Avengers (2000), Las Vegas Gladiators (2003), Dallas Desperados (2002), Philadelphia Soul (2004)

National Lacrosse League: Portland Lumberjax (2006)

Women's National Basketball Association: Seattle Storm (2003); Portland Fire (2000-2002)
Other teams I like- Los Angeles Sparks (1997), Charlotte Sting (1997), San Antonio Silver Stars (1997), Phoenix Mercury (1997), Indiana Fever (2000)

Major League Soccer: Los Angeles Galaxy (1995); San Jose Earthquakes/Clash (1995-2005)
Other teams I like- Tampa Bay Mutiny (1995)

My favorite college sports teams: University of Oregon Fighting Ducks (1978)
Other teams I like- University of North Carolina TarHeels (1978); University of Southern California (USC) Trojans (1976)

Oregon State University Beavers for college baseball. You may wonder how I can be a Beavers fan when I am a Duck, they are vicious rivals, but not when the Ducks don't have a baseball program. Until the Ducks restore baseball it's ok for Duck fans to root for Beaver baseball, or any in-state program for that matter. I like the Portland State University Vikings too.

When I lived in Southern California, the Trojans were my favorite team, I hated the rival UCLA Bruins. If I stayed in California, I probably would've gone to Cal State-Northridge (UCSN), but we moved to Springfield, Oregon and the University of Oregon was just across town in Eugene, one of the top ten Journalism schools in the nation, so it was meant to be. I remained loyal to the Ducks even through their many bad season in football and basketball. Both sports have since turned their programs around thanks to Mike Belotti and Ernie Kent. As a Duck alumn now I was proud to see the Ducks finish #2 in the nation in football in 2002 with a school record 11-1 season. Oregon was good enough to play for the national championship that year in the 2002 Rose Bowl, but was robbed by the BCS scoring system and Nebraska was selected despite Oregon being ranked second in both human polls. As a result the Cornhuskers got slaughtered by the Miami Hurricanes, 37-14. The Ducks would've given Miami a better game. The Ducks proved their case in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl easily handling the Colorado Buffalos 38-16, and had a shot at at least a share of the National Title had Miami lost. The Ducks would've made it to Pasadena for sure had they stayed undefeated, but they were upset by Stanford at home 49-42 in a wild come from behind by Stanford. Stanford was no slouch that year either as they finished the regular season 9-2, ranked 11th, but were upset in the Seattle Bowl by George Tech 24-14, and finished 17th in the final rankings.

So if you are a fan of any of the above mentioned teams, feel free to post comments to my blog. You may think I am a bandwagon fan since I have switched loyalties a few times and like more than one team in each sport.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were my first favorite NFL team and yes I was glad to see them win the Super Bowl under Terry Bradshaw in 1979 & 1980. I greatly admired Terry Bradshaw as a role model and read his book "Man of Steel", which I highly recommend. He is a great Christian leader. I stayed a fan of the Steelers until many of the great Steelers retired by 1984. Lynn Swann and John Stallworth were my favorite receivers, Swann played at USC, which was a plus. I loved Franco Harris, Jack Ham, "Mean" Joe Greene, Rocky Bleier, and the list goes on. They were all great players and Chuck Noll was a great coach.

When Franco Harris left the Steelers in 1984 and signed with the Seattle Seahawks, it was a natural transition for me to root for the local team now. The team was still pretty new, only being around since 1976, so I could grow up with them. So it was ironic that in their 30th Anniversary season they finally make it to the Super Bowl, celebrating 40 years, and play my former favorite team the Steelers, so it was a win-win situation for me, althought I would've liked to see the Seahawks win their first and cap off their Anniverary season with a Championship. The Seahawks did outplay the Steelers, and I do agree with many that the referees "stole" the game away from Seattle with so many penalties called, and robbed the team of a touchdown with a minor pushoff in the endzone. Even Ben Roethlisberger admitted that he was surprised they gave him a TD on his dive into the endzone that came up short. Since it was Jerome Bettis' last game and he was playing for his first championship in his home town of Detroit, it was a better story if Pittsburgh won, so Jerome went out as a champion. The Seahawks have a strong nucleus and now that they have got their experience, will be back next season and will take home the trophy.

Some may say that you can't like both the Angels and Dodgers they are rivals. I see it as they play in different leagues, so I can have a favorite team in both the American and National League. My dream is that they play the Freeway Series sometime in the World Series. They Bay Area had their World Series between the Giants & A's, and the A's and Dodgers have met in the North vs. South. Even when the Angels finally made it to the World Series in 2002, it was nice to see them match up against the San Francisco Giants in the other version of North vs. South, and in both series' Southern California won. The Dodgers have been in a World Series slump since then, not having won a championship since 1988, and when they have made the playoffs since, haven't gotten out of the first round.

Growing up in the suburbs of Los Angeles there were plenty of pro sports teams to root for, but I didn't really become a sports fan until we moved to Oregon. I used to occasionally listen to Los Angeles Lakers game on the radio, KLAC with Chick Hearn. He was a great play-by-play announcer and helped my love for pro basketball grow. So when we moved to Oregon in the Spring of 1978, it was easy to become a fan of the local Portland Trailblazers team, Oregon's only pro sports franchise at the time. Blazermania was still in its heyday as the team was only two years removed from their 1st NBA Championship. The Blazers had a legendary annoucer too in Bill Schonely, with great catch phrases and called the Blazers "Rip City." I will devote my next post to the demise of the proud Blazers franchise as they haven't won a championship since, although they did come close in the early 1990s.

racing fan before team sports

Along with sports teams, I have been a NASCAR fan since 1974. My parents took me to my first NASCAR race the Los Angeles Times 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway on November 24, 1974. I was only eight years old and it was one of the happiest days of my life to that point. It ranked right up there with going to Disneyland. I was a big Richard Petty fan and he was starting on the pole for the race, this was the last race of the season and he had clinched the Winston Cup Championship. Unfortunately during the race he blew his engine and didn't finish. Bobby Allison ended up winning the race in an AMC Matador, the red, white & blue #16. From that point I was hooked. I was a NASCAR fan before it even became popular. Back then they didn't even show live races on TV, I had to catch highlighted coverage of the major races such as Daytona, Michigan, Talladega, Darlington on the Wide World of Sports. I also liked Darrell Waltrip. The only race they showed completely was the Indianapolis 500, but even that was tape delayed. I would have to go all day without finding out the results and then watch it on ABC from 9 pm to almost midnight. My parents let me stay up because it is always run on Memorial Day weekend and I didn't have school the next day. Along with NASCAR, I liked Indy car racing too as long as Johnny Rutherford was in the field. The big Texan with squinty eyes, he looked like my stepdad. In the spring of 1978 we took a family cross country vacation and I got to visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and took a tour of the track and the infield museum. It was nice to see one of Johnny Rutherford's winning cars up close. He was a three-time winner of the Indy 500, the last one in 1980. Before moving to Oregon, we went to some local short track Saturday night races at Saugus Speedway in Southern California, a 1/3 mile paved oval. I rooted for a black Camaro with yellow number #38 of Jimmy Insolo. He ran with the big boys occasionally at Ontario and Riverside when the NASCAR races came west, but never made it big in NASCAR. I also saw Ron Hornaday get his start running at Saugus. He has gone on to win two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championships. I didn't go my second NASCAR race until my 29th birthday, while on a cross country driving trip, while on leave from the Air Force, the race at Michigan International Speedway was scheduled on my birthday August 20th, so I had to be there! I have an aunt and uncle that live in Michigan near the track in Brooklyn, Michigan, so I stayed with them. By this time Richard Petty had retired from racing, but still ran the 43 team. I had become a fan of his son Kyle Petty, who was carrying on the racing Petty tradition. He isn't as successful as his dad, winning only eight races in his NASCAR career, but he is a good role model. I had my Kyle Petty shirt and hat on, but he dropped out early. I also am a Jeff Gordon fan, but on this day ironically another Bobby won, Bobby LaBonte in the Interstate Batteries #18. I had a seat along pit row near the LaBonte pits and one of the lugbolts flew off under the fence during a pit stop, and I went down and got it, so I have a piece of the winning car. It was a fun way to kick off my last year in my 20s. I had another opportunity to go to a NASCAR race at Talladega, when I was in Alabama for Air Force training in the Spring of 1997, but the Spring race got rained out that Sunday, so I spent the day touring the International Motorsports Hall of Fame next to the track. The race was rescheduled for Monday, but I couldn't go because I had mandatory class.