FanPost

Let's trade the Blazers' entertainment director

I've read a lot of teeth-knashing posts about tonight's loss to the Nuggets.  Jarrett Jack is a popular scapegoat because of his 7 turnovers--despite the fact that--as Dave pointed out in his recap--the Blazers never make it to overtime in the first place without Jack's many contributions.  Others have pointed to Trout and Martell's missed free throws or to LMA's poor shooting, etc., etc.  But a possible factor in tonight's loss that those of you not present at the Rose Garden wouldn't even know about was the wonderful Blazers' "entertainment."  

Under the best of circumstances, I view the unrelenting loud, tasteless hype that goes on during each and every break in the action at Blazer games with distaste.  But I thought tonight was a new low: at one critical point in the game, while Nate was trying to coach his players, interviews were played on the big scoreboard in which Blazers were asked which teammate had the ugliest feet.  Then they cut to a live close up of Roy on the bench, clearly embarrassed that his feet were getting singled out for ridicule. All good fun, right?  Sure, but this was being shown while Nate was desperately trying to right the Blazers' ship during a critical stretch of a very important game! From Roy's reaction, it was clear the "ugly foot video" was distracting.  How could it not be?

During another timeout--again while Nate was trying to instruct his players--a video was shown highlighting the "play of the night" or some such (the sequence at the beginning of the 3rd quarter when the Blazers had taken the lead).  This video was accompanied by the announcers' play-by-play commentary.  You'd have thought the game was over and the Blazers were celebrating a victory!  

Did these incidents distract the Blazer players sufficiently to contribute to the loss?  Probably not.  But this kind of thing hardly maximizes the home court advantage for the Blazers.  If we have to put up with constant non-basketball "entertainment," stick to the idiotic races, t-shirt giveaways, and pizza promotions.  Better yet, fire or trade the Blazers' "entertainment" director for his many crimes against humanity.