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.)
Our thoughts and prayers go to Pauls Family and Friends. I know your Jammin with Jimi now. Paul thank you for everything you have done for the world .
My thoughts prayers go out to Paul family. My Dad die from cancer and seeing him go through it was the worst thing to see until death. This year the players will be playing for Paul Allen!!!!
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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?
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).
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.
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.