I don't know... some of the stuff the O was putting out was pretty shady. On more than one occasion they would report a quote from a player or coach, but they would leave parts of the quote out to server their own purposes. I busted them on it at least two or three times because I was standing there when the quote was originally given.
Canzano and Patterson's little war was sooooo stupid. Remember when Canzano sent Patterson a box of doughnuts and Patterson sent Canzano a case of Janitor in a drum?
One of the reasons I find it impossible to believe Patterson's revisionist history regarding the Roy/LMA draft. Plus, the fact that the guy hasn't sniffed a job in the NBA since Allen fired him is a red flag.
I will always hate the Oregonian for how they tried so hard to hurt the team. The national media got their slant by reading the local media. Canzano still tries, but it's now haphazard, not systematic (e.g. Paul Allen is the worst owner in sports). They want players to look up to their reporters as if the paper owns the team. Players who don't, get jabbed in articles.
You know, I still don't read the Oregonian because of all that. It's been how many years? I couldn't wait to get my hands on the Oregonian and read the sports page every day from the time I was in Junior High until they started their flame wars against the Blazers. I finally just stopped and I haven't cared to read that paper since.
For years I've fantasized about Allen fighting back, like this: If he encouraged a boycott and put it on posters in the Rose and bus ads, it would have some effect. It wouldn't put the paper out of business, but they'd notice some decrease in sales. They'd retaliate with less Blazer coverage, but it wouldn't hurt ticket sales and they'd get many complaints, until they returned to full coverage.
Paul Allen should have paid off his local creditors when he declared bankruptcy on the Rose Garden. Why the Oregonian never blasted him for that seems odd to me. Also, a boycott involving Paul Allen, considering his track record of "success" at business, would probably have resulted in the Oregonian taking over for the New York Times as the leading paper in the US.
He did fight back. The Blazers pulled all their advertising from the Oregonian for a while after they felt that the negativism got out of hand.
Remember how well that worked out? Allen and PAM ended up putting the team and arena up for sale in 2006 after the 2004 bankruptcy filing. Shortly thereafter, Brandon Roy came along, the arena starting selling out, Paul Allen got excited again, and the rest is history. That people bitch about Brandon Roy makes me question their memory about this franchise and what was happening in the mid-2000s. Either that, or they are ignorant to it all and didn't know that Allen wanted to sell the team because it was so messed up.
For those who don't remember or weren't fans 5-10 years ago. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=sheridan_chris&id=2666051 The sad part is that it only took Allen 4 years to turn on the guy who basically made the moves that helped keep the Blazers in Portland.
Allen never intended to sell. He was testing the waters, under advice from his post-Whitsitt Vulcan management.
I disagree, but it still would have sent a bad message to Portland. Paul stopped going to games for an extended period of time. On second thought, maybe he did have a temper tantrum, though. Who knows?
The sad part is that we don't REALLY know what happened with KP and the Blazers. I would love to hear the Blazers side of things.
Oh, and jlprk, you misquoted me in your signature. http://sportstwo.com/threads/177662...Post-Surgery?p=2519391&viewfull=1#post2519391
You can thank me for making you appear to be smart. Do I hear a thank you for making you appear to be smart or what? I edit almost all of the unfunny, supra-verbose sentences I find into concise, sharp, intelligent lines worthy of TV, solely to my own public glory, since the evil media hasn't discovered my talents yet. I always have about 10 new ones, but I'm too lazy to change it more than weekly.
I still like See-pass-tian Telflair. He had a promising sophomore season...a 13 PER at age 20. Not a brilliant performance, but pretty nice for a point guard who was only 20. But then he regressed and stagnated after that. If he had been a little taller or had a better shot...well, then, i guess he'd have been drafted before Portland's pick.