<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Ron Tonkin, a longtime Portland car dealer and Blazers suite owner, struck a nerve last season by saying he was not sure whether he would renew his suite, calling the team "a disgrace" in a letter to The Oregonian newspaper. The Trail Blazers also are facing the loss of other loyal and longtime fans. "Quite honestly, this was going to be my last season. If this keeps going this way, I'm really reconsidering whether to cancel," said Jerre Brown, a season ticket holder for the past 13 years. </div> Full Story.
I think every team is loosing alot of their long time older fans. Alot of the older basketball heads just cant relate to todays NBA stars. And I think the Blazers are loosing their long time fans faster than everyone else because over the last past few years they have had the exactly the type of players that old cats cant relate too. They have had million dollar ball players (like Damon, Rasheed, Bonzi etc) who are known more for their offcourt troubles than getting wins on the basketball court. Players fighting in practice, people not respecting their coach or the NBa in general. If I recall correctly didnt Bonzi last season say something like he didnt really care about Blazer fans? I mean how do you expect fans to surpport the team when they getting the feeling that the blazers dont care about them or representing the city of Portland in the correct manner. And even tho most of those players have been tradd away, that mindset is still stuck in the back of blazer fans heads. And Portland still has to make some more deals during the offseason to convince fans of something different. And they have to do some majar Public Relations moves to appeal to the city of Portland as a whole. And then & only then may some of their past fans return to surppoting the Blazers.
Yeah, my dad lives up in Portland. We were talking about this the other day after I seen that the owners of the Rose Garden were filing chapter 11 bankruptcy. He said the fans have grown tired of the players and thier bs. They don't take to the fans like they once did, not to mention all the bs they've been involved in the last few years. And underachieving doesn't help either. He said that he's noticed a difference since the trades and is optimistic that they can turn it around and win the fans over again.
This was my point in a prior thread which apparently got too personal and was torched by the Mods. I'm glad to see the backlash of the Portland fans that they will not support or put up with bad behavior. Madden says "winning is a great deodorant" but I do not think that the behavior of the past couple of years could be masked. Since the trades, it seems that the Blazers are going in the right direction. I can only hope that the rest of the NBA follows suit.
im not sure why the blazers would be losing fans if anything the old fans should be coming back. the blazers have a great future ahead of them. they got rid of the trouble makers, Zach is playing like an all-star and they have the most underlooked player in league in Rahim
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting philsmith75:</div><div class="quote_post">Madden says "winning is a great deodorant". </div> I heard Jason Kidd say that too... oh well, I think they are losing fans because Rasheed left. Although he wasnt the ideal player, some people still liked him. Don't worry, portland is lucky to have Darius Miles now. Sonner, you wil llearn that although your team loses a lot, you will develop some connection with the players and the team will be fun to watch eventually. I learned this through my agonizing years sticking with the Bulls. Now, it isnt so bad, I love all of them!!
