This week we were joined by one of the busiest people we know, Rip City Radio's Chris Burkhardt. You probably know him as producer and host of Blazer's Game Day, Courtside Mondays, The 5th Quarter and the 19:77 Podcast. He also co-hosts the Trailcasters if - when!- they ever put out a new episode!

We heard his basketball origin story, stories from being on the road with the team, thoughts on signs of improvement and so much more!

2:00 Icebreaker: What are we rooting for in the Playoffs?  Lakers early exit, Blazer cuties making a deep run, rooting for fun teams with players we like

6:00 The basketball origin story of Chris Burkhardt

11:30 Blazers connection

15:00 Traveling to cover the team

27:00 Interacting with players

33:00 How to avoid asking bad questions

36:30 Differences between radio and tv

43:00 What are we watching for and hoping for as the season wraps up?

55:00 Question from listener: keanu_reevesbooks

1:07:00 Why are there so many Keanu Reeves accounts on Bluesky?

1:09:30 Takes: March Madness and College Athletics are fun! (And bring marching bands to NBA games), not ready to let go of the hustle board, can’t wait for Paige Bueckers to join the WNBA

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Kind of like Twitter but it's not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also find us on BlueSky @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

The cutest intro/outro music by Eric Peterson (@shoozumoops)

This week we are recapping a special event we were invited to! With a few other Trail Blazers fans, we got to meet and talk to Assistant GMs Andrae Patterson and Mike Schmitz. Both were a delight of course! We’re not reporting, we’re just vibin’ about what we heard, how we interpreted it, and what stuck with us. Topics include team building, player improvement, and leadership. 

We also ate Ranch Pizza in the club level and we might never go back to our regular seats.  

Plus! We answer listener questions about leadership, surprise s and the coach

1:00 Audra was a courtside kid! 

7:00 Deni Avdija is huge

9:00 Adding "Oops I Did it Again" to the playlist

11:00 “Chalk Talk” event with Andrae Patterson and Mike Schmitz

16:20 Overall impressions of the event

21:00 Team building thoughts

22:00 Players they talked the most about

24:30 Value and opportunity

31:40 Not expecting big changes in the off season

40:00 Young veterans

43:00 Leadership (and question from @BasketballJones)

45:00 What player has surprised us the most (From @Hecubus72)

52:00 Rose spots a ref

56:10 Question from @BrandonMullen regarding coaching

1:05:00 Phoenix is run like its run by an eight year old

1:07:00 Tara’s take: its no fair that Club level are the only ones who get access to Ranch Pizza

1:10:00 Rose’s take is a personal health update. 

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Kind of like Twitter but it's not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also find us on BlueSky @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

NBA Chef Alli (@chefalli in Instagram) joined us to tell us all about what her life is like as an NBA chef! We had so much fun learning about how she got her job, how she works with her clients and what its like being trusted to feel players and their families.

1:00 Ice breaker: What is your jersey number?

5:00 Alli's basketball origin story

11: 00 Alli's chef origin story

13:00 (Game) day in the life of an NBA Chef

16:30 What happens when a player is traded

19:00 Nutrition and cookies

27:00 Learning how to cook family foods

35:00 How much do NBA Players eat? It depends

38:00 Playoffs are intense for people around the team too

48:00 Thoughts on this season's Trail Blazers

55:00 Viewing the team through the lens of the the team and the family vs as fan

1:06:00 Takes: Hotdogs are a sandwich, Real Housewives of Seattle should have an NBA adjacent housewife, Get Diana Taurasi and Evan Turner to comment on basketball

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Kind of like Twitter but it's not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also still find us on Bluesky: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

The cutest intro/outro music by Eric Peterson (@shoozumoops)

We're not saying we're goofing off or slacking for the rest of the season, it just seemed like the right time to draft Former Blazer Cuties.

Who are Blazer cuties? We're glad you asked! Tune in to find out and then tell us what Blazer Cuties would you draft for your Blazer cutie dream team?

3:00 Catching up on the last week, beating bad teams, Suns have big problems and it wasn’t Jusuf Nurkic, is Jusuf Nurkic going to have an acting career? Gooooolden warriors are a zombie team that is eating everyone’s brains. Paul George is taking time off of podcasting so he can concentrate on winning. 

13:00 Why don’t we get much of Shaedon and Scoot playing together? 

22:00 Blazer Cutie draft (starting with loose-definitions)

Rose: Ed Davis, Thomas Robinson, Rodney Hood, Allen Crabbe, Shabazz Napier, Steve Blake

Tara: Greg Oden, Al Farouq Aminu, Derrick Jones Jr., Will Barton, Andre Miller, Jake Layman

1:02:00 Interview with Senator Ron Wyden about Blazer Legend Bill Walton and the WNBA

1:16:00 Takes: Tara: if you are tired of talking in circles about the Blazer, go watch a Bravo show. Rose: The most moves doesn’t mean the best moves.

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Kind of like Twitter but it's not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can also still find us on Bluesky: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

The cutest intro/outro music by Eric Peterson (@shoozumoops)

1:00 Sweatshirt takes, or, what to order online at 4am

10:00 Lakers game: could be worse!

17:00 Charlotte Game: most relaxing viewing in memory

25:00 Sidebar where we wonder who is the best former Charlotte Hornets player?

30:00 What signs of development are we seeing?

35:00 We have a talk about Shaedon and who are the Blazer's guards of the future?

54:00 Who was the last Blazer center who regularly got the block and the ball?

1:05:00 Takes - some requests for media and Matisse Thybulle and post all-star break player haircuts

The cutest intro/outro music by Eric Peterson (@shoozumoops)

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. You can also find us on BlueSky @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

Ever wonder about that guy who jumps into the middle of a Trail Blazers game to give us stats and chop it up with the rest of the broadcasting crew? We did too!

So we reached out and Tara got to talk to Tom Haberstroh (https://bsky.app/profile/tomhaberstroh.bsky.social) - about his basketball journey, how he got into covering sports, what kinds of things he's learned about Rip City since he started covering the Blazers and which Portland restaurant won him over . . .

All this and so much more!!

(This was such a fun talk and we covered so much! Go follow Tom but also please follow Hoops4ALS on Instagram and Bluesky to support the work they do to help people with ALS)

1:00 On the excellence of the Blazers Broadcasting crew

7:00 1977 Championship game tv rating

10:00 Tom's basketball origin story

18:00 Sports coverage origin story

20:00 Covering basketball through an analytics lens

27:00 Favorite player (and moms)

36:30 What he has learned about #RipCity since he started to cover the team

43:00 Time machine Blazer team he would cover

50:00 Question from Rose: What new or revised NBA statistic do you think would add to our understanding of the modern game?

59:00 Al Farouq Aminu talk!!

1:00:30 Crunch Time talkThe cutest intro/outro music by Eric Peterson (@shoozumoops)

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. You can also find us on BlueSky @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

Brandon Goldner Mullen of We Like the Blazers and Blazer's Edge joined us to talk about what we are looking forward to for the rest of the season.

:24 Introduction with Brandon

2:00 Icebreaker: If you could have something named after you, what would it be?

10:00 Brandon's background and relationship to basketball

19:00 How he started writing and talking about the Blazers

28:00 Thoughts on season so far

31:00 Things we're looking forward to: Cling Kong

35:00 Weird lineups

38:00 Looking forward to a world where Portland was the team that did not trade Luka Doncic

43:00 Selling the franchise (some day)

51:00 Seeing young guys fail

1:00:00 WHAT Awards - there are lots of people in contention!

1:02:00 Question from Julio - What rivalries could we see in the future?

1:10:00 Jusuf Nurkic

1:16:00 Takes: Snow is good, Cooper Flagg has the opportunity to do the funniest thing, Donovan Clingan would be a great bobblehead

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. Kind of like Twitter but it's not. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! Or find us on BlueSky: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

The cutest intro/outro music by Eric Peterson (@shoozumoops)

It's Superb Owl Sunday and we’re talking trade memories, Blazer Cuties who were traded at the deadline, Blazers making no moves at the trade deadline and then ask ourselves, WHAT about the Development Express? 

All this and more including:

• Chocolate souffles
• Chandler Parsons Yoga mat
• Working definition of Blazer Cuties
• Deandre Ayton's chemistry with the guards

0:00 Superbowl Sunday plans

3:45 Arena anthems (ops if you are listening to us, drop us a DM)

8:30 Rip City Runs Deep revisited

10:00 Trades from the past that we remember: Batum for Noah Vonleh and Gerald Henderson, Will Barton, Victor Claver and Thomas Robinson for Arron Afflalo and Alonzo Gee, Mason Plumlee for Jusuf Nurkic and a first round pick. 

25:30 Update on Blazer Cuties who were traded and where they ended up

35:45 Trade deadline rumors were very low quality this season

41:45 Welcome Sidy Cissoko

42:30 It's hard to be mad about the trade deadline moves that didn’t happen when we don’t know what the possibilities are.

47:00 Hoping the Blazers don’t make the playoffs, otherwise will enjoy the ride

58:00 The destination is the same, we might just be taking a different route than we expected to Lottery Station.

1:11:00 What if Deandre Ayton is part of the future plans? 

1:15:00 Takes: A case for Gary Payton 2 to be nominated for Blazer Legend. Stop using letter grades on trades. 

We had a great time learning about Mike Richman's history of covering the Blazers. So many good stories from the Playoff series against the Spurs in 2014 to what Shaedon Sharpe said about the dunk contest on Tuesday night.

1:00 Icebreaker: What is your favorite arena food?

8:00 Get know Mike and his basketball story

11:30 Covering the team when there were multiple people on the Blazer beat

24:45 Transition into podcasting

28:30 Favorite tidbit that didn’t make it into the story

35:00 General thoughts on this season 

43:00 Surprise and confusion this season

50:00 WHAT Award ideas from Mike

1:00 Addition to the Playlist: Knight Rider - Original Show

2024-25 Season Playlist

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can find us on Blue Sky at these handles: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding

The cutest intro/outro music by Eric Peterson (@shoozumoops)

Conor Bergin of Blazer’s Edge joined us to talk about his journey to covering the Blazers, how he’s adjusting to media access and the unique challenges of covering the team this season. He also adds two brilliant songs to the 2024-25 play list and gives us his thoughts on some potential WHAT award candidates. All this and more!

2:00 Icebreaker - if you could give the blazers a gift, what would it be?

10:00 Getting to know Conor Bergin of Blazers Edge

19:45 Conor’s earliest piece about the Trail Blazers

23:00 High School and college writing experience

32:00 Challenges of covering the Trail Blazers this season

50:00 Conor’s additions to the 2024-25 play list

1:00:00 Ideas for WHAT awards

1:11:11 Takes: Jerami not the best dressed Blazer? Fan bases who have won in the last 20 years need to shut up, is Scoot Henderson getting Jaden Ivey’d? 

Join us on Discord! It's a place where we can share our love for the Blazers, talk about games, and get to know other Blazer fans. There are different channels with different topics and you can join in where you want, and ignore the stuff you don't want to see. Give it a try! You can find us on Blue Sky at these handles: @wehaveatake, @tcbbiggs @roselharding