Unknown | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

This exchange was a complete miscommunication, even with his friend nearby who spoke some English. I tried to explain that the Trail Blazers--"mi casa y mi equipo"--were my team in Portland, Oregon. He had just finished work and gave me this look, not amused and not interested. He just wanted to sit on the sidewalk and talk to his brother and friends, and not necessarily an excited white tourist talking jibberish about American basketball. Hoops are huge in the Dominican Republic, and I never found out why he was wearing the hat. A relaxed, Blazers-hat-sporting-Dominican is as much an Oregonian as anyone I know. Just a shame that the language barrier (on my end) kept this exchange from playing dominoes over beers on a white plastic table in the street.