OT MLB to PDX: We're talking baseball to PDX

SE Portland 82nd Street Lots

 

The Portland Homeless Homers

 

Lol not really.

 

As far as i'm concerned it is.

 

I guess you are right. Better agree with you again!

 

You posted that to yourself?

 

How is this relevant to the GIF I posted, that is relevant to Mediocre's post that I responded too?

Do you not understand the relevance of my GIF?

 

This ranks up as one of the NERDIEST.....GEEKIEST posts EVER!

 

Do you understand the relevance or not?

 

I don’t and never have done wrestling, so I’m going to have to go with No.

 

https://www.oregonlive.com/mlb/2019...ill-a-dying-shopping-mall.html?outputType=amp

Canzano: Will annoying enthusiasm help MLB to PDX finally kill a dying shopping mall?



I asked a Seattle media member on Thursday morning to tell me why Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson has been so successful.

I mean, beyond the obvious athleticism, what’s Wilson’s secret sauce?

The answer came: “He’s relentlessly positive. It’s borderline annoying as (bleep).”

Think about that when you frame what I’m about to write about the Portland Diamond Project. Because the worst-kept secret in the city officially got out this week. The group that wants to build a Major League Baseball park, including investors Wilson and his wife Ciara, has zeroed in on the left-for-dead Lloyd Center Mall as a possible stadium site.

Nobody with either side will confirm on the record that the mall and MLB-project officials have talked. Likely out of respect for mall ownership, which fears the news might cause a mass defection of the few tenants that do remain. (Most notably, Macy’s -- which I doubt is even paying rent at this point.)

Lloyd Center makes far more sense as a ballpark site than the “preferred” Terminal Two property the group already has under control. The mall already has built-in infrastructure, including the public transportation lines. And beyond Barnes and Noble and Macy’s the mall is essentially dead.

That said, relentless enthusiasm remains the MLB to PDX fuel, doesn’t it?

Think about the obstacles.

Commissioner Rob Manfred’s office has been in regular back-channel communication with the Portland Diamond Project, but hasn’t made a recent meaningful public statement. That’s discouraging and inhibits the momentum of the effort. It also fuels the faction of taxpayers in the metro area who are vocal and dead-set against the project.

People keep asking me: “Is this baseball thing going to happen?”

I know Portland wants baseball. Probably in the same way you once wanted to marry a movie star. But MLB has to want to come to Portland. That’s the biggest single factor. And right now, the statement from MLB remains that there’s nothing to talk about on the expansion front.

So why is the Diamond Project still moving forward?

Relentless enthusiasm. Which is probably annoying as (bleep) to some of you reading this. Because it’s far easier to construct an argument against (vs. for) MLB putting a team in the 25th largest city in the country. But I’m watching this group operate, at times bumbling along, other times sailing, and I’m thinking the greatest asset it possesses beyond the initial round of funding is that positive and annoying Wilson-like spirit.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had that sort of upbeat enthusiasm. So did Apple’s Steve Jobs. So did entrepreneurs such as Mark Cuban, Paul Allen and Bill Gates. The Diamond Project is a start-up that is essentially trying to fake it until it makes it. And the fear remains that all the group is doing is serving as a pawn for MLB as it leverages the threat of a move to Portland to find stadium solutions in Tampa and Oakland.

Lloyd Center Mall has a rich history.

It’s where Tonya Harding learned to skate. That the mall itself even existed is a great story. It was dreamed up by Ralph Lloyd in the early 1920s. But the story goes that mall proponents had to overcome three tremendous obstacles: the Great Depression, World War II, and the city’s anti-growth ninnies.

The first two were difficult, but the third felt impossible.

Again, annoying enthusiasm got the job done.

When Lloyd Center opened in 1960, nobody was really sure if it was the largest mall in America. But apparently people said so anyway, and so it was. Over the years, the mall was renovated, then enclosed, then gutted again, and expanded. Tenants have come and gone, a food court was added, and it survived a non-fatal gang shooting incident in 2010. But anyone who has spent any time in the mall in recent years knows that the property itself is dead.

The most exciting thing happening for Lloyd Center is now the possibility that people might be back on the grounds one day. Not to buy slacks and a pretzel or to ice skate but to watch a baseball game. And that has to have the surrounding businesses, including a movie theater, excited about the development possibilities. The mall ownership group has to be thrilled that it may have a lifeline.

Likely, also terrified to go public unless it knows this baseball thing is really happening.

Chris Edmonds works for Hubbell Communications, a Portland-based public relations firm. The Lloyd Center is one of his clients.

“There have been zero conversations about putting a baseball stadium on the site of Lloyd Center," Edmonds said on Thursday. “We are aware of conversations about putting a baseball stadium in the Lloyd District. Lloyd Center has signed an agreement with Live Nation that will bring a new, major concert venue to the mall. That project is on schedule to break ground this year. We support baseball in Portland, and have actively encouraged the Portland Diamond Project to look at the Lloyd District.

"The mall itself is not part of that conversation.”

Well, it should be. A concert venue and ballpark have interesting synergy. A Cinnabon? Not so much anymore. Also, the “zero conversations” part doesn’t match what key sources indicate. But I understand why Lloyd Center would want that message public -- for now.

Wilson is a great athlete. He has tools and an uncanny ability to improvise. Also, loads of annoying enthusiasm. Also, he takes no days off. Wilson was the only quarterback in the NFL to play every one of his team’s snaps last season. Think about how those things might work hand in hand to foster success.

Then, think on the Diamond Project.

I keep coming back to that meeting in May of 2018 in Seattle between Wilson and the managing partners of the Portland Diamond Project, Craig Cheek and Mike Barrett. Wilson brought his agent, Mark Rodgers. At one point of the meeting, Rodgers interrupted the pitch and turned to Wilson.

Rodgers said: “This is an answer to prayer for us.”

The baseball people left in shock, slapping backs in the elevator. Cheek and Barrett thought they were going to have to win over Wilson. Turns out, the quarterback was onboard from the initial handshake, selling the Diamond Project management why he thought it would work.

None of us can be sure MLB to PDX is going to happen. In addition to funding, and smart wrangling, it’s going to take some blind optimism. I was reminded on Thursday morning that Wilson, a third-round draft pick who played for two colleges and stands 5-foot-11, led his team to two Super Bowls and has a $140 million contract.

This baseball project is going to need some of that good mojo.

The mall could use it too.

 

I'd be good with it either place. But it sure would be a complete mess to build there. Lets see some of the mock ups? We have people that have hundreds of hours working on ways to build it at T2. Have not seen one request on making the Lloyd Center work. But if they ask i'll get right on it.

 

Every time I read an article from Canzano I think about Bart's people.....

 

The wrestler in the Gif is of Razor Ramon who was called 'The Bad Guy' his gimmick seems to be inspired by Scarface's Tony Montana.

Therefore my response to Mediocre was relevant to his post. Was not sure how BGD's Gif of Rick Rude related to the conversation so I asked him.( Still have yet to get an answer.)

Are we on the same page now?