Paul Allen has died

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jlprk said:
It's amazing how no one has brought up that little peanut Canzano. I hope nobody does.
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Someone on /r/nba said that no one said anything bad about Allen. And I was like "ehhhhhh you must have missed John Canzano hating on Allen and Vulcan Inc during the jail blazers era." Isn't that when John rightfully earned his Clownzano nickname?
 
What a devastating day. He’s been an owner for about as long as I have been a fan of the team. There are many good memories of this team and he is a key reason why there is. For many years we were spoiled as fans. It was only in the last few years that that changed and I think we are learning why so.

My condolences to all Blazer fans. We lost a great person today. He gave plenty reasons for us to be hopeful and excited and to discuss and post that excitement on boards like this one. I’m saddened and don’t think I have smiled or laughed since I heard the news. Just a devastating loss. Thank you for everything Paul and may your soul Rest In Peace.

Sorry for your loss, Blazer Faithful.
 
Rip Paul Allen. Very sad day to be a blazer. We can only hope that whoever buys the team has half the passion that Mr. Allen had.
 
jlprk said:
The first time I heard of Woj was when he joined the Oregonian in advocating that Paul Allen quit, in about 2003. I have disliked Woj ever since. (Magic Johnson did the same back then as a guest on Ernie's TNT show. Fuck him, too.)
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Just curious, do you know if that article is still online? I'd like to know what he said.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
I am much more emotionally impacted by this than I should be. He's just a business man, and a team owner. A rich guy I've never met, have no connection to other than through the Blazers. Yet I'm fighting back tears. Somehow, through the prism of sport, strangers become family.

It's amazing how we'll all mourn and miss someone we've never known.
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If english would have been my 1st language, that would have been my exact words.
 
Its like I woke thinking I had a bad dream only to see it really happened again.
 
Just heard
Condolences to his family and TB family!
He was the reason we were able to keep the franchise in Pdx as he stepped up big time with the RG.
 
We have all agreed Paul Allen was a very smart person. I'm sure he had a small army of lawyers and accountants making sure his business, personal, and charitable interests are sewn up tightly.

Like others I'm surprised by how hard this hit me. I was already pretty down, it's been a hard few weeks for women, and now this? Partly the shock; two weeks ago he said medicine improved - and we know he got the world's best available - and he & his doctors were optimistic. Then boom! Also because he was always there. Few of us followed the team before he owned it. Players changed, broadcasters changed, arena changed, team was variously great, good, mediocre, and crummy, but the one constant through all the ups and downs was Paul Allen.

'Scuse me while I kiss the sky.
 
crandc said:
We have all agreed Paul Allen was a very smart person. I'm sure he had a small army of lawyers and accountants making sure his business, personal, and charitable interests are sewn up tightly.

Like others I'm surprised by how hard this hit me. I was already pretty down, it's been a hard few weeks for women, and now this? Partly the shock; two weeks ago he said medicine improved - and we know he got the world's best available - and he & his doctors were optimistic. Then boom! Also because he was always there. Few of us followed the team before he owned it. Players changed, broadcasters changed, arena changed, team was variously great, good, mediocre, and crummy, but the one constant through all the ups and downs was Paul Allen.

'Scuse me while I kiss the sky.
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Yeah. I was amazed at how hard it hit me as well too. The one thing I think that Allen's legacy will be with the Blazers is how much of a 'community" based team they are. Almost every other NBA team feels like "Big Business" or at least big time sports entertainment, the Blazers feel like family or some locally built private establishment. And I think all that was made possible by Allen. He didn't have to go the extra mile, he could have pinched pennies and never even watched the team much, but he didn't. Everything was first class.... the Rose Garden, the private plane, the practice facility in Tualatin, all that was made possible by his sincere love of the team and the belief that the players came first. They feel like they can settle down here after their playing career and the late owner made their comfort a priority. Pro sports owners who come from dynasties like the Maras, the Rooneys, the O'Malleys and Steinbrenners.... you always hear about how much foresight and acumen they have when it comes to the sports world. Well there was no one with more foresight and technical acumen than Allen, and that stretched across all fields. We will never see another one like him.
 
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ripcityboy said:
Just curious, do you know if that article is still online? I'd like to know what he said.
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I'll work on it, but I don't expect to find it. I'll post here in a day or so with (lack of) results.
 
crandc said:
We have all agreed Paul Allen was a very smart person. I'm sure he had a small army of lawyers and accountants making sure his business, personal, and charitable interests are sewn up tightly.

Like others I'm surprised by how hard this hit me. I was already pretty down, it's been a hard few weeks for women, and now this? Partly the shock; two weeks ago he said medicine improved - and we know he got the world's best available - and he & his doctors were optimistic. Then boom! Also because he was always there. Few of us followed the team before he owned it. Players changed, broadcasters changed, arena changed, team was variously great, good, mediocre, and crummy, but the one constant through all the ups and downs was Paul Allen.

'Scuse me while I kiss the sky.
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I've posted before that he wasn't trying to make money. He spent on his interests, and shared the fun results with the public. Money-grubbers (like PapaG) derogated his money-making skill with the book "The Accidental Billionaire." I used to answer, every billionaire is a lucky accident. No one deserves to be one. The fact that his fortune didn't increase is something to praise, not criticize. (PapaG couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't spend his life pursuing the Almighty Dollar.)

(...appealing to you from the pre-1970 Left, i.e. economic class system issues instead of social issues.)
 
jlprk said:
The first time I heard of Woj was when he joined the Oregonian in advocating that Paul Allen quit, in about 2003. I have disliked Woj ever since. (Magic Johnson did the same back then as a guest on Ernie's TNT show. Fuck him, too.)
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This may be the article you're thinking of:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/802575/posts

The way I read this, Woj was a young buck looking to make a name for himself by blasting Paul Allen for the JailBlazers crap. Perhaps the passing of a quarter century has made him a bit wiser?
 
e_blazer said:
This may be the article you're thinking of:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/802575/posts

The way I read this, Woj was a young buck looking to make a name for himself by blasting Paul Allen for the JailBlazers crap. Perhaps the passing of a quarter century has made him a bit wiser?
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Thanks! That looks like it. I seem to remember that Wojnarowski wrote another ESPN hit piece about a year later, so maybe that was my introduction to him, but you probably found the right article. (I now know he was a local New Jersey writer, guesting on ESPN sometimes.)

National writers are less, not more, knowledgeable about local teams. Woj parroted what he read from Oregonian writers (plus, he would have phoned Canzano and Quick to develop contacts).
 
ripcityboy said:
Yeah. I was amazed at how hard it hit me as well too. The one thing I think that Allen's legacy will be with the Blazers is how much of a 'community" based team they are. Almost every other NBA team feels like "Big Business" or at least big time sports entertainment, the Blazers feel like family or some locally built private establishment. And I think all that was made possible by Allen. He didn't have to go the extra mile, he could have pinched pennies and never even watched the team much, but he didn't. Everything was first class.... the Rose Garden, the private plane, the practice facility in Tualatin, all that was made possible by his sincere love of the team and the belief that the players came first. They feel like they can settle down here after their playing career and the late owner made their comfort a priority. Pro sports owners who come from dynasties like the Maras, the Rooneys, the O'Malleys and Steinbrenners.... you always hear about how much foresight and acumen they have when it comes to the sports world. Well there was no one with more foresight and technical acumen than Allen, and that stretched across all fields. We will never see another one like him.
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He ran the franchise like it was in a big market, but the team was consistently in the bottom of the league for operating income. Makes me wary of our future owner who will run it like a business.
 
yuyuza1 said:
He ran the franchise like it was in a big market, but the team was consistently in the bottom of the league for operating income. Makes me wary of our future owner who will run it like a business.
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Yeah. I can imagine he lost money quite a few years. But it was obviously a passion project for him.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
The team has been run like a business very successfully under McGowan.
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Not on the bball side.

No one takes on Varejao's massive deal for a pick, or signs ET to his ridiculous contract, or keeps on shelling out the max limit on $$ for second rounders if they're running a successful business.
 
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