The Portland Trail Blazers went into Tuesday night’s game hoping to win, but expecting a loss.  Despite playing on their home court, they were facing the defending National Champion Boston Celtics.  A team they’ve already lost to once this season by 15.  A team that has only lost four games all year.

Not to mention, the Blazers would be without All Star Brandon Roy (nursing an injury).

But in front of a sellout crowd at the Rose Garden, The Blazers got the upset.

91-86.

One knock against the younger Blazers was their timidity to attack established stars.  To get aggressive.  Not on this night.  First, Greg Oden accidentally sent Ray Allen into the stands driving to the basket.  A couple quarters later, Kevin Garnett threw a couple cheap elbows at Lamarcus Aldridge who gave Garnett’s bald head a slap in retaliation.  Both got technical fouls and Garnett was warned, you cannot push the Blazer’s around anymore. 

The Blazers now believe they can hang with anyone in the league and rightly so.  Playoffs anyone?

Olivia Bucks / The Oregonian

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Within a month, the Ducks beat TWO schools who have team colors of Orange and Black and the initials OSU.

Fresh off the Civil War shellacking of Oregon State, the Ducks rallied from a ten point, first quarter deficit to spank the Cowboys of Oklahoma State 41-31.  Things started slowly for the Flock, only netting one scoring drive in the first half.  But the Spread came alive in the second half as the Ducks used a balanced ground / passing game to rattle off 35 points.

Anticipation for this game was high as both teams posses high-octane offenses.  With only 24 combine points in the first half, some began to speculate that this would be more of a defensive struggle.  However, with half-time adjustments in place, the heavyweight slugfest was on.  OSU QB  Zac Robinson and UO Qb Jeremiah Masoli drew their squads within one score of each other, only to match, blow-for-blow, throughout the third and most of the fourth quarter.  

The Ducks, picked in the preseason to finish second in the pac ten and opened the season ranked in the top-25, finish the season 10-3 and likely ranked in the top-15 in the final polls.

Thomas Boyd / The Oregonian

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PacifiCare Life Assurance Company’s wallet is a bit lighter this week.  It seems the insurance company did not look into claims properly before slapping that big red DENIED stamp on the file.  Not only did PacificCare have to pay a fine of $46,000 . . . they had to go back over 10,000 claims.

4,928 of the denied claims were actually legit and will be paid.

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You’ve heard the slogan: “Get it and get it back.”  While the GoodNewsPDX staff lacks any significant mechanical or engineering background, our understanding is that when LoJack is installed on a vehicle or pricey electronic like a laptop, if that item goes missing, a satelite / GPS / super cool tracking system kicks in and pinpoints the boosted goods.

True to form, LoJack helped locate a disgruntled teen in Kelso Wa.  Deputies were alerted to a LoJack signal in their area and eventually pulled over Alexander Zweber.  The car which the 19-year-old Zweber was driving belonged to his FATHER.  Apparently Zweber got into a fight with his parents and was trying to drive from Kelso to Arizona to see his girlfriend.

He’s facing charges and will likely ring in 2009 behind bars.  At this point GoodNewsPDX has not been able to confirm whether or not Zweber at least filled up the tank during his runaway attempt.  Speculation is that, like most ungrateful teens, the car was on “E” when it got back to dad.

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The US Postal Service is unveiling the new stamps for 2009.  One of the series commemorates Oregon’s 150th anniversary.  You can view the stamp here.

Among the other sets this year is a celebration of TV’s golden age including icons like Lucy and Groucho.

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Neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor ice . . . No matter the elements, the dancers at Oregon Ballet Theater would not be deterred.  They did not cancel a single show during the Arctic Blast and happily exchanged tickets if attendees were unable to make their planned night.

THAT’S dedication!

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After, in some cases, WEEKS of no trash pickup thanks to snow and ice, it looks like almost everyone will finally be able to get rid of their waste this week as trash collection resumes around the city.

The standard seems to be that collection agencies are not offering refunds for missed pick ups but they ARE grabbing extra bags this week if your can is overflowing.  Of course you should check with your individual service provider and not take GoodNewsPDX word as gospel in this case.

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A great piece today in The Columbian about a local historic church that recently got renovated.  The owners managed to maintain the historic look while integrating new technology.

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The entire GoodNewsPDX staff would like to apologize for the lack of posting on Christmas Day.  

On a completely unrelated note . . . the nursing staff in the ICU at Providence St Vincent Hospital are truly wonderful human beings.

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Thanks to news that GMAC is getting a piece of the $700 Billion rescue fund, Wall Street saw a bit of a post-Christmas bump.  The Dow Jones industrial average popped up more than half a percent as did the S and P.

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