The Big Man, the day of his death.

The Blazers sent these pics of Kevin Duckworth to Vanguard sports editor Skyler Archibald, who hooked up the Beer Garden. These were taken on Monday, just hours before his death. They are a fascinating glimpse into what Blazers media wiz Bill Evans calls “the essence of the man we knew.”

The Blazers are hosting a memorial service at the Memorial Coliseum Saturday morning starting at 11 a.m.  Parking at the Rose Garden will be free to the public. Come pay your last respects to a local legend. The Beer Garden will have a report from the service.

Doing what he loved best.

Kevin Duckworth. Seeya later on down the road.

Sad news, as most of you have probably heard: Kevin Duckworth is dead, after suffering congestive heart failure. Too bad, because the Duck was one of the true characters from those early ’90s teams. He was also a key component of their success during the Blazers’ two runs to the NBA Finals, one year averaging 18 points and eight boards a game. Duck was a big, sweet-natured man who never wanted to leave Portland and never stopped loving the Trail Blazers.

Not that you couldn’t see Duckworth’s death coming from miles away. I saw Duckworth last November at a Detroit Pistons game. Like many retired pro athletes, Duck didn’t much resemble the man he was during his playing days. He’d gained a lot of weight and was literally wide as a truck, but he’d remained active with the Blazers, supporting them in the community with a smile and stories from the glory days of Rip City. That’s what he was doing on the Oregon Coast when he died.

But that fall night last year he was at the Rose Garden there to be honored alongside former teammates Terry Porter, Clyde Drexler and Jerome Kersey during a halftime ceremony. I was there covering the game for the Vanguard and had a chance to speak with Duckworth.

It had been a particularly cold fall night, and I remember entering the media room with a chill. The Glide sat at a table in the front of the buffet line, TV lights shining on his bald head. He conducted court, smiling, regal. Drexler owns this city, and he owns the Portland media especially. As they fawned over their returning hero, Kevin Duckworth sat on a painfully small chair and dabbed at the beads of glistening sweat collecting on his brow.

“How’s it going, Duck?” I asked, trying to be casual.

“Going good,” he wheezed in a surprisingly soft voice. “Going good.”

I introduced myself and asked him a couple of questions. He was excited to be back. He loved the Blazers and the fans. Standard stuff, but I could tell something was wrong. Duck was really laboring, even a year ago.

I said goodbye and thanked him for his time. He thanked me for speaking with him, which I thought was odd. He seemed genuinely appreciative.

In case you need some proof that I don’t just have a wild imagination, some photographic evidence below. The Glide in all his glory, sitting at the press conference table.

The Glide last November.

UPDATE: Since YouTube took down my original video of Rudy facializing Dwight Howard, I had to find another one. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Let me be the first to say I’m glad Team USA won the gold medal. They played like champs and the closed out a tough game against Spain, which was not going to let itself be embarrassed like it was in pool play. So instead of a blowout we got a thrilling 118-107 nailbiter, a game in which the Redeem Team led by a mere four points with two minutes to go.

Not that it matters. The good guys won and those racist Spaniards (Asian-eyes? Really?) go home as first runners-up. But I’m willing to forgive at least one of them, the Blazers new backup guard Rudy Fernandez. My buddy Swan puts it this way: SORRY, but he’s a fucking steal. Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Fernandez played with mammoth testicular fortitude against a stacked American team, and better yet, he had the highlight of the game—a crushing facial right onto Dwight Howard’s dome after driving down the lane and rising high above the NBA’S premier big man. Check out the video while it’s still up.

If you just watched the vid or saw the game, you know why the dude wears his first name on his jersey. Let me throw some of Rudy’s stats your way: 7-13 shooting, 5-9 on treys, 3-3 at the line, two boards, two dimes, no turns and 22 huge points to lead his team. And this is against the cream of the League. Look, I’m not saying Manu 2.0 is going to come in and supplant Brandon Roy, but I wouldn’t be too sad about James Jones leaving. That second team offense is going to demolish teams, with Jerrod Bayless, Rudy, Travis or Martell, Frye and the Pryz. Hell, the Knicks would kill to have those guys as starters.

Go to hell.

Uh oh. Looks like the World Champs could cost the Blazers some serious coin. The Boston Globe reports that the Celtics have taken their chances and signed Darius Miles and his achy right knee to a non-guaranteed contract and that he’ll have the opportunity to compete for a roster spot during training camp. If he plays more than 10 games this year or next, the remaining $18 million on his six-year, $48-million contract would go back on the Blazers’ books. Shit. There goes Portland’s salary cap space (not that we were going to land Chris Paul anyway).

The good news is that the dude hasn’t played in TWO YEARS and reportedly was 260 pounds. Considering that he entered the league at around 215 back in 2000-01, that’s just fat—and sad. Watching him lumber around the C’s training camp would be hilarious, but be forewarned, some unfortunate memories of the Shawn Kemp era might creep up. Speaking of which, hey Shawn, how’s Italy? What’s worse than being a has-been trying to make it the NBA? Try a has-been trying to make it in the Euroleague…

Welcome to the return of the Beer Garden. This is, seriously, my last attempt at putting out a blog and post with any consistency. But fuck that, I’m excited right now. Preseason football is here, which means that college football is almost here, which means the Blazers are about to open training camp and then begin their campaign of destruction across the Western Conference. I’m sure you’ve all seen Greg Oden’s workout video, but if you haven’t, check it out. He is about three feet thick of nasty, and that last dunk damn near tore the rim down. It’s just insane what this dude is going to do in his career, but right now, I’ll take a 14-10 year and take some of the pressure off of LMA, who got pretty tired down the stretch. As long as Brandon comes back okay, I think we’re set for a run.

In other news, the Oregonian reports that Quizz Rodgers is coming to Corvallis, joining his older brother James. That Beavers backfield is starting to look a bit crowded, and short. Quizz is a listed at a generous 5-foot-6. Paul Buker has all the details from Corvallis.

I don’t need to mention anything about the Olympics, because I’m sure everybody is getting their daily dose of NBC’s non-stop coverage. One thing does bother me, though. UHD is showing nothing but Olympic boxing, women’s basketball and rowing. Boxing is a joke to begin with, and Olympic boxing has found a way to score the sport so that the entertainment value it was still clinging to has finally been clobbered away.

Rowing is just lame. Single person rowing. Doubles. Three, four, six, eight-person boats. There is exactly nothing exciting about people paddling boats in a straight line. It’s worse than NASCAR, and that’s saying something. At least NASCAR has turning. If you’ve even watched more than five minutes of women’s basketball total in the last year, well, we probably wouldn’t get along very well.

Couple of sad sacks have been showing up in the latest news cycle. Carl Pavano—hey, remember me, I won 18 games once—may make a start for the pitching-starved Yankees. Wow, is that team desperate or what? Homey hasn’t pitched in over a year and he’s cashing a fat $11 million paycheck this year. Nice job, Carl. Joining CP45 is former Blazers dud Shawn Kemp. He signed a deal with some Italian team. I’m not even going to bother linking to an article. Kemp needs to hang it up and deal with the fact that he’s fat, unemployed and has about 20 different baby mamas all knocking his door down for some child support. Actually, escaping to Italy doesn’t seem like a bad idea after all. Good luck with that, Shawn!