Pros vs. Joes No. 13: Despite the Blazers’ rocky road, Brooke Olzendam’s having a ball

Brooke and her son Theo before a Blazer game at Moda Center

If there is a poster person of popularity among fans in the Trail Blazers organization these days, it’s probably not a player or coach. Damian Lillard is shelved by injury. Chauncey Billups is on the IE (insufficient evidence) list. It’s not TV broadcasters Kevin Calabro or Lamar Hurd, though they are respected.

It’s Brooke Olzendam, a beaming ray of sunshine in her sixth season as part of the Blazer Broadcasting team.

“Oh my gosh, I’m having so much fun,” says Olzendam, who serves as sideline reporter for all Blazer games and also handles pre-game, post-game and halftime duties for games at Moda Center.

Olzendam says this with all sincerity despite it being a season of misery for the Blazers and their fans. It started with Terry Stotts’ dismissal after nine years, replaced by rookie head coach Billups. Chauncey has been dealt a bad hand with Lillard’s injury, the trade of CJ McCollum and, of late, the sit-down orders for Jusuf Nurkic, Anfernee Simons and even Josh Hart to protect Portland’s rights to its No. 1 draft pick this June.

“It’s been an interesting year,” Olzendam says diplomatically. “Everything was full of change. It’s been a season of trying to get used to how things are. With Terry there for so long and Dame and CJ and other guys — you get comfortable. This year has been an overhaul.

“But this has reminded me how much I do love my job. Now we have to get to know the new players and coaches … that kind of revived me in a way. It’s different, so let’s go. We have to work harder, because we have to form relationships.”

Part of Brooke’s job is to get to know players so she can provide insights to the viewers not necessarily provided by the team’s regular broadcast crew. So she has gone about chatting up the likes of Trendon Watford and Greg Brown II and Elijah Hughes and Brandon Williams and Drew Eubanks.

“The part of the job I love the most is forming relationships,” Olzendam says. “It’s been cool to get to know the new guys. It’s really been starting over again.”

With recent games escalating out of control, broadcasters have spent more time spinning yarns than describing play by play. Brooke says she has enjoyed the comic relief banter between Calabro and Hurd.

“I tip my hat to Kevin and Lamar,” she says. “They’ve been more entertaining this year than ever. About once a game I’m nearly in tears — crying laughing — because I can’t believe what’s happening … what you’re watching is must-see TV.

“In a weird way, it’s been a fun challenge for the broadcast team. It’s been a different kind of season, but I’m proud of the way we have brought the games to the fans and told the stories on air. We’ve made the broadcasts fun to watch.”

It has been three difficult seasons back-to-back-to-back, with the pandemic idling and shortening the 2019-20 season and forcing the Orlando “Bubble,” then delaying and shortening a 2020-21 season that was played mostly without fans. In 2020-21, Olzendam didn’t travel with the team, instead serving as a studio host on game nights.

“I’d be up there on the concourse at Moda, basically watching the game by myself,” she says. “I’m proud of the way we pivoted and made the broadcasts as good as they could be.

“But there were so many little things we were missing. I couldn’t go interview the guys. Post-game interviews were all on Zoom with 10 writers, and I couldn’t ask silly little questions, like something about Dame’s kids or whatever. That was the biggest negative thing that affected how I like to work. I didn’t have the one-on-one time.”

This season, with Olzendam back on the road with the team, her access to players has resumed. Recently, for instance, viewers got the chance to see Brooke perform the “Griddy,” a dance popularized by a number of pro athletes.

“After (Memphis’) Ja Morant scored 52 points, he did it in the hallway back to the locker room,” she says. “Everybody was talking about that. Trendon and Greg do it when they run out onto the floor (before games). I’d seen them do it. I mentioned it to them and they said they would teach me how to do it. It sounds easy, but it’s not easy to do. I am not a dancer. They make it look easy.

“Those are little moments where the guys can trust you and you’re supporting them and it’s a family. That’s when you get the fun stuff. During the pandemic and in the Bubble, I didn’t tell the stories I like to tell.”

Olzendam enjoys the travel offered by her job, though it keeps her away from her six-year-old son, Theo.

At six, Brooke Olzendam’s son Theo isn’t enamored of his mother’s job. But he’s already become a hoop junkie (courtesy Brooke Olzendam)

“It’s a fun little escape,” she says. “I love all the people I work with so much. Our broadcast team is super close. But you miss your family. I miss my son every single minute I’m away from him, but to have people around you who you truly love is very helpful.”

Does Theo understand what Mom does for a living?

“He does,” Mom says. “He’s not impressed, but he does understand. If we’re at the store, somebody might want to take a picture, and he rolls his eyeballs. When he’s older, he might think it’s cool. Right now, he looks at it as a nuisance. He has become obsessed with the game of basketball, though. He knows the nickname of every team. He loves watching games. We get to watch games together on TV, which is fun.”

Brooke and Theo live in Garden Home. Theo’s father lives nearby — “Theo loves spending time with his Dad,” Brooke says —and her mother and her husband have moved to Lake Oswego.

“That helps a ton when I’m on the road,” Brooke says. “And my dad, who lives in Seattle, has been coming down more. I have lots of support from family. Theo has a lot of love.”

The other major consumer of Olzendam’s time has been her “Brooke Hearts Your Heart” program, a fundraiser for the American Heart Association of Oregon and Southwest Washington, which just finished her third year in the month of February. This year, the program’s focus was to encourage children to eat healthy, get active and avoid bad habits such as vaping.

“It has opened my eyes,” she says. “I didn’t realize how many teenagers are vaping. We’re trying to inform and educate people that it’s not a better option (than smoking cigarettes). It’s addictive and can be deadly.”

This year, the program sold branded scarves in support of the AHA at Moda Center during games in February.

“We sold out all 150 too quickly,” Olzendam says. “Next year, we’re going to order four times that many.”

The first year, the program’s intention was to spread awareness about the importance of CPR and automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in saving lives.

It’s a particularly poignant cause for Brooke, who lost husband Andy Collins —  a former college quarterback at Division III Occidental — to a heart attack at age 27 running on a treadmill 10 days into their marriage in 2011.

“Lamar did an interview with me on the subject that ran before one of the games,” Olzendam says. “One of my girlfriends watched the video. She reached out to her sister, who had some health issues. After her sister watched it, she went out and got her heart checked. Not too long after that, she had emergency surgery. If we can raise awareness in situations like that, we’re doing something important.”

Before games at Moda Center and through social media, Olzendam gets feedback from fans on the cause.

“During February, someone reached out at least once every game,” she says. “People tell what happened to them or a family member … I’ve heard so many stories. A lot of them are sad and a lot are inspirational. I love the connection. They feel they can talk to me about it because I am so open about what happened to me.”

The first two years, “Brooke Hearts Your Heart” raised about $30,000 total for the AHA, including a $5,000 first-year donation by Stotts and his wife, Jan. “A great way to kick it off,” Olzendam says.

This year, the program raised $26,502.90, nearly equaling the first two years in one swoop. Each year, the Blazers have matched the first $5,000 raised.

“It’s truly the greatest thing I’ve ever done, hands down,” Brooke says. “I feel humbled by it. I wanted to honor Andy, but I wanted to make a difference by doing that. It has made a difference. Our fan base is unbelievable. I’m so touched by them all.”

Olzendam’s next important mission is participating as a celebrity in the “Pros vs. Joes” Bracket Challenge, forecasting winners in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. She’s an old hand at it.

“I do at least two brackets every year,” she says. “One is what I really think is going to happen; the other one is the way that I want it to happen. Which one would you like me to give you?”

Why, the one that will actually happen, Brooke.

We may have an early favorite to win the whole thing, folks.

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