Cute article, but I have to assess a Flagrantly Awkward Alliteration penalty for his use of "tectonic tumult". That is just ugly.
RIP City was fine while the team was winning and had a shot. Attendance remained in the 20K range throughout the Blazer career of almost every "rogue" the writer lists. Unfortunately neither duct tape or anti-inflammatories could keep Pip and Sabas together anymore. R.I.P. City was the Nash regime afterwords. Each year was worse then the previous until they posted the worst record in the league. Attendance was (always is) tied at the hip to winning and it tanked alongside the team. Nash slashed some salary only to overpay other mediocre talent. Paul Allen publicly contemplated selling that mess. I understand that accurately relaying the Blazer's recent history might take an extra paragraph, but we're worth it! STOMP
That said, I think Kelley would do fine as Canzano's replacement. I mean, now that he has no Sonics to write about.
...btw, how can the writer list those "rogue" players and not include the home town fuck up Damon? Dude was busted more then any other "Jailblazer" always making the club the laughing stock of the sports world. It's like the writer lifted his Blazer history take directly from Quick/Canzano. STOMP
Yeah, I'm not sure how Damon gets a pass? Whatever, I'm just glad those days are behind us, hopefully never to return.
You make a good point, but I can tell you from my own experience that my interest in the team declined steadily after all the shenanigans started with Isiah Rider and continued with the departure of Brian Grant, and then the acquisition of a whose who of NBA knuckleheads (Woods, Patterson, etc.) Nash may have pounded the final nail in the coffin of the Blazers' goodwill with the city, but Whittsitt plotted the murder, hired the hitman, and dug the grave -- it was like the team had contracted a fatal illness with a 3 year incubation period, and finally blew up long after first contact with the infected.
I had never really seen it described this way. About as apt as it gets, though. I just gave you an imaginary rep.
The real "Rip City" was on life-support even in the Whitsitt years. Yes, fans were still coming to the games, and still cheering on the team, but they were holding their noses while they did so. No one wanted to cheer for Ruben Patterson and Bonzi Wells and Gary Trent, et al, but they did so because those guys were BLAZERS. It's a little like standing up for your cousin even though he's a public disgrace; he's "family" so you feel obligated to defend him, but at the same time you wish he would just disappear and go away.
some fans are always going to whine about things... in fact some fans do nothing but whine regardless of what the team is doing. I even know of one fan who lived in NJ and only got to see a handful of nationally televised games in those days, yet he claimed to know what the masses of Blazer fans were feeling... Fact is, Portland was selling all but about 1000 seats in the Rose Garden when they had the reported rogues (and Damon). Then idiot GM Nash squandered what was left of the talent in bad trades, wiffed in the lotto, and made many poor signings (with the lone exception being Joel). His teams got progressively worse until they were the worst in the league and he was canned. Check out how they did in attendance in Nash's final year. They've steadily improved their record since those dark days and the attendance has followed until they started selling out again mid-last season with the winning streak. So the writer's claim that fans no longer came to games because of "Jailblazer" personalities just isn't accurate. The fans stopped coming when the club started losing. They came back to fill the Garden again when they started winning games again. STOMP
geez, overreact much? I never said anyone's feelings are worthless, but the facts are pretty squarely against the writer's contention that Blazer fans stopped attending games because of certain players... clearly they stopped attending games when "the rogues" were already gone but the loses were piling up. Heck, Blazer fans really didn't start supporting this current bunch until they started winning last year. Along with several others in an office pool I had access to Club level seats last year. Prior to the winning streak I was going to nearly every game... even with free Club food (good stuff) and a parking pass no one wanted them. There were always tons of empty seats to throw your coat on... I even snuck a friend down into my section a couple times in the 2nd half as there was no problem finding an extra seat. But then the winning streak started and it's been sold out/packed since. just setting the record straight STOMP
