http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2012/05/paul_allen_is_not_looking_to_sell_portland_trail_b.html ....waiting for the next Canzano column insinuating that PA paid off Stern to make those comments.
New new rumor: the secret Vulcans just had lunch with representatives of the Oregonian and Paul Allen wants to buy the paper so he can fire Canzano.
You guys are all blinded by your rose colored glasses. If you truly want to see the Blazers, sports in the region and the city of Portland itself get better, then you should be hoping and praying for Allen to sell.
why do you say this? i don't fall in the camp of allen being the best owner ever but i tend to agree with those that the known evil is much better than the unknown one.
I say this for many reasons. Paul has shown over his ownership that he is way too involved, or his company is, with basketball decisions. He doesn;t rely of the help he hires that knows the game. He has even come out recently with that letter saying as much that he pushed for players like Sergio... Also, as Paul has shown he has no real idea how to run a championship basketball franchise, he doesn't have the business sense to buy one that was being gift wrapped for him. He had the paper work to buy the Penguins of the NHL in front of him and baulked at it. Shortly after, the Penguins hoisted Lord Stanley's Cup. To play off my last point, Paul will not allow a NHL team to move into his area for fear of the competition with the Blazers. Paul also fought hard against the plan to build a baseball stadium, that would be MLB upgradable, on the Rose Quarter property. He was against the Timbers making the jump to MLS also. He is a greedy business man that wants his team to be the sole focus and make primo dollar, yet he is clueless on how to build a winner. He has had the rights to develop the Rose Quarter into a sports and entertaiment district since the building of the Rose Garden, and truly turn the rose quarter into a year round destination spot this city could really use. It has worked in every other city that developed around their stadiums. He chose to hold those rights hostage so that other things, such as baseball, could not move into his territory. We also cannot have a NFL team as long as Allen owns the Blazers due to a rule that a NFL franchise cannot move into a city that has a sports team that plays there and is owned by a owner that also owns a NFL team in a different market. Well Allen owns the Blazers and Seahawks... So no NFL anytime soon, either. Paul Allen is not only bad for the Trail Blazers, he is bad for sports in Portland altogether. This is a fact. Major sports will not grow, including his Blazers, as long as he is owner and has the presence he does here. I cannot wait until the day he does not own our franchise.
While I don't disagree that he isn't a good businessman who meddles too much with this team but i'll take him here and know the blazers are relatively safe in portland then rolling the dice on some other businessman who is looking to turn a profit. I agree that the NHL would seem to be a good product here and the Vulcans/PA have seemed to fall on their face with the Rose Quarter/baseball proposals. You can however save the NFL talk, because it isn't coming here even if Allen didn't own the hawks.
I've read posters pining for Geoff Pietrie to be GM... but no one pining to be Sacramento. I'm very happy that Portland continues to have a supportive owner who has poured a lot more then just cash into this franchise. Though many of his rolls of the dice didn't work out in the end, they were reasonable gambles that just didn't go out way. Opportunities come and go and sometimes the best laid plans go to waste, thats business. The grass on the other side of the fence isn't always greener. STOMP
You can't have it both ways. Is he the guy making decisions? Or are decisions made by committee, and the team needs to be centralized in a John Nash-type dictator? Allen critics blow in all directions, inconsistent. Other owners lead the same way as Allen, only more cheaply.
