You used your fact-bending to support your argument. But really, given Greg's history, and his mental issues, he should have manned up and asked the Blazers and/or Carr, rather than jumping to his own conclusions and letting his paranoia getting the best of him. Did Oden REALLY not expect that Carr would converse with members of the organization?? He's an employee for Christ sakes. Of course he's going to converse. If he thinks those conversations were potentially crossing the line, he needs to communicate that. He had the wherewithal to know he needed to see a sports psychologist, he should have been a man and expand on his communication, not let the insecurity and paranoia take him further down a bad road.
Indianapolis is as generic as it gets and he takes a shot at Portland. He talks about how it sucks seeing Durant doing so well in OKC. OKC is a lot smaller, just as white, do you hear Durant talking down on his town?
Indianapolis is 25% black. http://indianapolis.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm Portland is 6.6% black. http://portlandor.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm
I don't think that was the intention. Organizations hire coaches, support staff, personal secretaries, etc for players all the time to help players out, and, it's another way of providing compensation while circumventing CBA rules.
Willamette Week had an article a few years back that said Portland is the most white major city in the USA. Weird is just another term for white!
Think about what I just bolded. You're asking somebody that you claim has mental issues to be self-aware and confident enough to confront his bosses. Good luck with that one. The easier answer would be to not have a clusterfuck for an ownership "group", and have some clearly-defined roles within the organization.
It doesn't matter what the intention is for any decision, it's the end result of that decision, and how it impacts who the decision was made for in the first place. That's my entire point. Everybody thinks they have good intentions, I assume. "What, I burned down your house because of the lamp I turned on in it while you were gone? I was just trying to make it light for you in the house when you got home. You should have told me not to turn on the lights for you!"
It was incredibly weird moving from Portland to Houston. I grew up in Portland, lived in the suburbs my entire adult life, so black people were few and far between. Then you move down here, and it's tough to find a school district where white kids aren't the minority......even in some suburbs
I can't laugh about the dog's fatal accident. I do wonder, though, what is Greg thinking? I mean, he's not really dumb. Doesn't he know how he would have been roasted alive in NY, Philadelphia, LA, and probably a lot of other cities? How mean was anyone here? From all I've heard the fans and city and most media stayed nice and tried to be hopeful to the end. The team re-signed him when they could have saved the money. His body breaking down may have just been nobody's fault, but I know a few things about alcohol abuse (no, not from personal experience) and drinking to excess definitely can impact physical condition. Do a Google search: alcohol impacts balance and coordination - not just while the person is drunk but as an effect of regular overuse, impacts training and conditioning. For example, this article from University of Georgia states: and later: Sound familiar, Gregory? You can't blame the Blazers for that!
Cause I don't want my kids being minorities in their school or their neighborhood. My next door neighbors are black, and I love them to death, but I wouldn't want to be the only white person on my street. just like he has told me he is glad he isn't the only black person on the street.
But that's a poor analogy. More like, you liked a lamp, I liked it also and bought the same one. Then you burnt down your house because you thought my copying your lamp was an attempt to sabotage your style.
Funny he is blaming the Blazers for rushing him back when he is the one that was playing at 24. I honestly do not think he would have been happy anywhere with all of his health issues.
What's wrong with being a minority? And what does your neighbors being black have to do with you loving them?
You know, I can understand fans that don't have a whole lot of sympathy for Oden, considering that a lot of his issues were clearly self-inflicted. What I don't understand is the animosity that so many seem to have toward him. I mean, I get that he was a huge disappointment to everyone, and that he had the opportunity to be a hall-of-famer and franchise cornerstone and basically squandered it, and that the article seems to be pointing the blame for his failures at everybody but himself. But is any of that really deserving of such hostility as is being displayed in this thread? How did he actually hurt any of us in any way other than by impeding the success of our favorite team? Does the fact that I don't despise him or desire to ridicule him mean that I don't LOVE the Blazers as much as everybody else does?
Yes? It's not like I called him retarded. He was insecure/paranoid/etc. He had the wherewithal to set himself up to talk to a psychologist. I'd say he was at least grasping that he needed something. I'm not sure I understand your point, or "easier answer". Are you saying that getting rid of the ownership/management is actually much harder than getting rid of some insecure, injury-prone bitch? Or that getting rid of ownership/management is easier than asking them about your insecurities? Or what? People give PA a lot of shit, myself included. But I see a lot of small and medium-market teams that struggle. They struggle for many reasons, but one reason always seems to be mentioned: financially, they are being run extremely tight. I know PA has clamped down on spending, but he's still done a lot for the team, the franchise, the city. I'm not saying we couldn't do better, but I'm not totally of the belief that the grass is greener. The organization is in chaos right now (at least to us outsiders), but every organization goes through it, and who's to say we won't be better for it even in the very near-future? And as cloudy and murky as roles within the organization look from my perspective, I can tell you that many employees of the organization don't see it that way. Maybe they're "told" that they don't see it that way, or maybe the employees there really do know their roles, and/or their contect/secure in them. Without true, subjective first-hand knowledge indicating otherwise, I'm not going to pretend like I know everything going on within the organization. But PapaG, please do. Go for it (not that you'd need my encouragement).
