Ball Don't Lie: Neil Olshey laughs off odd criticisms of the Trail Blazers' 'failed culture'

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by Nikolokolus, Apr 26, 2017.

  1. BlazerCaravan

    BlazerCaravan Hug a Bigot... to Death

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    "Would you read me? I'd read me so hard."
     
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  2. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

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    I will say this on the matter:

    I covered the team from 2003 until 2006. During that time, the team was extremely welcoming to the media. They allowed me and a few other internet guys to get full access to the team. They had a great reputation about being ahead of the curve with internet journalists. I went to games, practices, locker room, the whole shebang. I also had a great relationship with the team and their staff. They were very friendly and open to ideas. We did a lot of collaboration with them.

    After the 2005 season they fired most of the people that I had worked with. They hired Collin Romer and things changed. I didn't feel like starting over from scratch and completely rebuilding my relationship with the team. It's easy to do that if you're working for the Oregonian, but not so easy if you're some schlub from Hoopsworld.com. I was also burned out on sports. I left the business entirely.

    A few years back, when Denny was first talking to the team about becoming the official forum of the Trail Blazers, we were told that could mean credentials. I was excited. I thought it would be fun to get back behind the scenes, and maybe take a few of you to experience the ride. We were jerked around. Sly and I showed up to pick up the "credentials" and instead were given two tickets to sit up in the stands. We were allowed in the media room... but nowhere else. From what I can tell, this has not changed. Sly gets to sit in the press area from time to time, but gets zero access to the team. They also pulled the credentials from BE around that same time. This is such a stark difference from how the team operated in the past. They didn't try to control the message like they are now.

    From what I can tell, there are competing philosophies in the organization. On the one hand, you have Dewayne Hankins, who spearheaded adding RC2 as the official forum, and pilots their web presence. He's the reason why their twitter is so great. On the other hand, you have Collin Romer and the media relations guys, and they want nothing to do with us. Unfortunately they're the ones who control the access to the team.

    I don't disagree with Canzano about how the team is being run publicly. It feels very corporate now. They got rid of the Mikes. They got rid of BE. It feels very different from how it was when I was behind the scenes 12-14 years ago, and that's really too bad. I enjoyed that team.
     
  3. BigGameDamian

    BigGameDamian Well-Known Member

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    Good shit!
     
  4. BoBoBREWSKI

    BoBoBREWSKI BURP!

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    I hardly doubt there are any sports teams that operate now like they did in 2003-2006. Largely due to the impact of social media.
     
  5. BigGameDamian

    BigGameDamian Well-Known Member

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  6. Nikolokolus

    Nikolokolus There's always next year

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    Canzano's criticisms might have been fair, but it's hard to speak as an authority on a team's "culture" when you've spent absolutely no time around them to observe said culture. If the article had been written by a beat guy like Kerry Eggers, I think people might have been willing to give it some serious thought. Instead it was penned by a guy who's made his living as a provocateur.
     
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  7. Stevenson

    Stevenson Old School

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    The issue is that he too often likes to make himself the story. He's also a blowhard and BSer. And a clickbait junkie.

    Hard to take him seriously.
     
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  8. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    Exactly.

    Back then, teams were figuring out digital media. Now they've figured it out, or at least they are doing much better at it.

    I used to run the biggest Oakland Raiders forum for a short while. That ended when the NFL took over all the team WWW sites, so there's new politics in the mix.

    I also want to plug Paul Allen here. He founded one of the earliest sports WWW site companies, StarWave. That company built ESPN.com and NBA.com. If there's one thing you have to believe about this organization with Mr. Allen and Mr. Hankins, they know what they're doing.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starwave

    Starwave was a Seattle, Washington based software and website company, founded in 1993 by Paul Allen,[1]co-founder of Microsoft and led by CEO Mike Slade.[2][3] The company produced many original CD-ROM titles, including titles for Clint Eastwood, Sting,[4] and Peter Gabriel. They were the original developers of Castle Infinity, the first MMORPG for kids, but Starwave's most lasting mark was in the area of web content sites. They developed ESPN.com, ABCNEWS.com...

    https://www.cnet.com/news/credit-data-taken-off-nba-espn-sites/

    Starwave, which hosts the popular NBA and ESPN sports sites, is warning customers to contact their creditors in the wake of news about an "intruder" who took credit card numbers from the ESPN and NBA Web sites and then sent messages to the card owners, warning them about the alleged security flaws.

    (OOPS!)
     
  9. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

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    The expansion of the internet should give us MORE access to the team and the players, not less. There are so many more possibilities for content. Give fans a way to connect with the team. Going hyper controlling about the message is not a good move. It's counter to the way things SHOULD be done. And like I said, on the one hand you have Dewayne and he's a visionary genius.... and on the other you have Collin who is stuck in the past.
     
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  10. blazedanugz

    blazedanugz Well-Known Member

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    Canznano's main example in his article was GS players shaking the hands of ball boys and other employees around the court....which to me, is a shot at the PLAYERS on the blazers. He may have some points but he rushed that article out and used bad examples to get his point across.
    he was going at the players in that article, not media availability.
     
  11. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

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    Yeah, that part was bullshit. Totally unrelated and stupid.
     
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  12. Schilly

    Schilly Well-Known Member

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    Canzano to me is the reason I cancelled the Oregonian, he's the reason I don't read Olive. I am on the road a lot during the day and do listen to his program as opposed to the other local options. I actually find a lot of his show very worthy of a good listen... But he is hypercritical of the larger local sports draws, (Ducks, Beave's, Blazers) while smaller local draws can do no wrong. Beyond that his nature of tone is extremely condescending, he implies that if you don't agree with him you are less than gifted between the ears. I get it, it's his job to be controversial but I think his schtick has become predictable and is a schtick not opinion.
     
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  13. chzbrgr

    chzbrgr Well-Known Member

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    I get this criticism "how could you know if you werent even there" but other people were there and your job as a reporter whatever the subject is to develop sources talk to your sources and draw educated conclusions from there. I dont think he needs to spend a minute inside the actual locker room to know what's what if people inside are telling him so. That's what being a reporter is, isnt it?

    I dont mean to defend the guy too much cause I loathe his gotcha journalism and click bait articles but the argument that he couldnt have any idea of the culture because he wasnt physically there is flawed. I would add that his absence would probably make it easier to be objective about the players and front office.
     
  14. Jade Falcon

    Jade Falcon Just to piss you off.

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    Sometimes, it seems like I'm the only one who can tolerate Canzano and Stephen Smith.

    Meh. :dunno:

    @Denny Crane made a point about forums: the 49er forum I used to be a member of was absolutely awful, and it was controlled by the team. It remains THE worst run forum I've ever been a member of in the 19 years I've been online.
     
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  15. Nikolokolus

    Nikolokolus There's always next year

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    He's not a reporter. He's a columnist. Big difference.
     
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  16. Mediocre Man

    Mediocre Man Mr. SportsTwo

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    Again, it was the organizations culture. Something he has dealt with for many years. In his article he says he knows nothing about the players relationships
     
  17. Mediocre Man

    Mediocre Man Mr. SportsTwo

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    It doesn't mean he's wrong. It means he's a douche
     
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  18. Nikolokolus

    Nikolokolus There's always next year

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    I have no problem with criticizing the team's culture, but why use the Warriors' back-slapping and ass-grabbing with ball boys as some kind of illustration?

    I guess I should re-read the article instead of skimming, but the bottom line is that the Blazers' "culture" (whatever that is) isn't the primary reason they got drummed out of the playoffs. They got their asses whupped because they don't have the talent right now.
     
  19. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

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    So why specifically mention Curry and Durant? What relevance did that have if he's talking about the organization?
     
  20. Boob-No-More

    Boob-No-More Why you no hire big man coach?

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    So he can suck up to them for future photos opps with his nephew.

    BNM
     
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