French lessons

CLICK IMAGE FOR SLIDESHOW
NBA's Portland Trail Blazer forward Nicolas Batum visited The Portland French School here in Portland, Oregon. Batum is a native of Lisieux, France and was acquired via Houston Rockets in the 2008 NBA draft. The Oregonian's Ryan White and Molly Blue were also there to blog and produce a video about the visit.

Blazers vs. 76ers

The Portland Trail Blazers lost a tough one at the Rose Garden tonight.

Gonzaga buzzer beater

The Oregonian's Joel Odom put together this slideshow from the pictures Jamie Francis, Tom Boyd and I took at the Gonzaga basketball game. It was a great finish to the NCAA tournament that was hosted here at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon.

NCAA basketball tournament

March Madness returned to Portland, Oregon for the first time in 26 years.

Because of the NCAA anti-gambling stance, Oregon had been passed over for hosting the basketball tournament. Last year, lawmakers voted to get rid of Oregon's state lottery game for betting on professional football.

See more pictures from the tournament on my sportsshooter.com site and of course oregonlive.com

Red bugs

Last summer Oregonian sports reporter Jason Quick and I made a trip to the home of Portland Trail Blazer forward Travis Outlaw.

When we arrived in Starkville, Miss. and met Travis, one of the first things we noticed was a large band aid on the back of Outlaw's right arm. There were also scrapes on the top of his forearm.

So naturally, we asked Outlaw what happened.

The first take on the accompanying video is his response.

Throughout our stay, it became somewhat of a running joke.

We would ask Outlaw what happened, and he would give a different response, each one more ridiculous and funny than the last.

I even asked his dad, who said he's not sure he's been given the real story. He said Travis told him he fell down in his driveway.

A pretty funny scene unfolded as I made myself comfortable on the lawn in Travis' back yard. I revealed my ignorance of the critters of the South as I sat cross legged while wearing shorts. Guess that is a bad idea, because before my skin actually came in contact with the ground Travis noticed and stopped mid sentence with his conversation with Jason.

"Red bugs. We got red bugs ..." The jumbled video is an indication of how quickly I got on my feet.

The next afternoon, at Travis Outlaw Day, we were walking in the park with Travis when he once again saved me from trouble, quickly telling me to avoid a hard-to-see ant hill. It was nearly too late. I missed stepping directly on the hill, but he got close enough that my right leg was ambushed by little ants, who showed no mercy.

By the end of the trip, my legs were a sight to behold. The bites-per-square inch had to set a Mississippi record.

Here is the outtake video from our trip ... I still think its funny, but maybe its one of those you had to be there moments.