Paul Allen has died

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by OSUBlazerfan, Oct 15, 2018.

  1. jlprk

    jlprk The ESPN mod is insane.

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    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.)
     
  2. ripcityboy

    ripcityboy Well-Known Member

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    Just curious, do you know if that article is still online? I'd like to know what he said.
     
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  3. borim69

    borim69 Well-Known Member

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    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 .
     
  4. SwissBlazer

    SwissBlazer Well-Known Member

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    If english would have been my 1st language, that would have been my exact words.
     
  5. Chris Craig

    Chris Craig (Blazersland) I'm Your Huckleberry Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    Its like I woke thinking I had a bad dream only to see it really happened again.
     
  6. James lamphear

    James lamphear Well-Known Member

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    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!!!!
     
  7. BigGameDamian

    BigGameDamian Well-Known Member

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  8. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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  9. Hoopguru

    Hoopguru Well-Known Member

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    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.
     
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  10. crandc

    crandc Well-Known Member

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    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.
     
  11. ripcityboy

    ripcityboy Well-Known Member

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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.
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2018
  12. jlprk

    jlprk The ESPN mod is insane.

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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.
     
  13. jlprk

    jlprk The ESPN mod is insane.

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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.)
     
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  14. e_blazer

    e_blazer Rip City Fan

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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?
     
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  15. jlprk

    jlprk The ESPN mod is insane.

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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).
     
  16. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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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.
     
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  17. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Common decency?
     
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  18. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    The team has been run like a business very successfully under McGowan.
     
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  19. ripcityboy

    ripcityboy Well-Known Member

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    Yeah. I can imagine he lost money quite a few years. But it was obviously a passion project for him.
     
  20. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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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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