Portland is a bad place for players during the season. It rains all the time and it is cold. The cost of living is high, and there is a sales tax. I love Portland, and lived there for 40 years, but I get the article.
Portland is cool, you just have to be in the right mindset. for a guy who is rich, young and wants to bang a lot of women, its not really the most attractive spot as the number of supermodels is low.
Why do we have that reputation in the first place? Bringing over 19,000 to a preseason game and giving standing ovations during timeouts against Sacramento doesn't sound very normal to me. Blazer fans may not be anything special, but they do give a good homecourt advantage and I believe it's one of the better crowds in the NBA. But let's say we are just like any other fan. That's a negative for FA's? "Oh don't go to Portland, their fans are just like other fans. How horrible would that be?"
well, the main draw to a place like portland has traditionally been a pretty fervent fanbase...however, that fanbase has been shown NOT to stick through thick and thin, through losing seaons....the 19k fans to a pre-season game isn't normal....but this was Oden's first game and the expectations were high. I think that would happen in many cities. having a lot of people jump on a bandwagon doesn't really say all that much. sure, the fans are great...when they're winning...one of the best in the league. its part of the draw....what Portland is like in its fanbase is pretty similar to the Kings fans IMO. Look at them now, pretty dead support because they suck...if Portland had that roster it would probably be pretty similar in fan attendance.
Not possible, as Utah has a special agreement with the league that they will not play home games on Sundays.
Sales Tax? You mean huge property taxes maybe? Portland is a crummy place for certain types of NBA players... Brandon Jennings, Darius Miles, Rasheed Wallace, J. R. Rider, Bonzi Wells. The town is small, and the town tends to both have a crowd favorite and a scapegoat. It is a very good place for certain other types of players... Elton Brand, Brandon Roy, LMA. Put another way, I think the analysis is too limited - but I like the idea of it.
Portland fans are a bit different -- just check how many posts we have on any of the big NBA boards. I suppose fans of other teams may be hiding somewhere on team specific sites, but not enough to make the crazy number of posts we have. Having lived in Chicago and Seattle and seeing how those cities operate, makes me think even more that we're different from most NBA cities. But I don't think it's because the water we drink makes us better. In Seattle and Chicago, fans congregate around whatever franchise is winning. They'll throw some support at all the teams, but the one that gets the bulk of the love in any given year is the one that's winning. We're a one sport town. Of the teams with no other big league franchises in town, only Utah has rivaled Portland in terms of success and ability to keep fans checked in. With no other teams in town, fans tend to obsess more about drafts and crazy trade scenarious and it continues year round. No opening day of baseball distraction. No Monday night games taking our attention. Let's face it, this board is the year in, year out champion of crazy trade scenarios and draft minutae talk. In this regard, the fans of all other teams are our bitches.
