are both beloved by Blazer fans for their personalities, but their play on the court makes people say unfortunate things about them.

Travis has become this year’s Jarrett Jack- the scapegoat for everything. I’ve been disappointed by Travis’ failure to develop consistency, and by his shot selection, and by the fact that he forgets about shooters on D (though the whole team does that), but there is absolutely no doubt he’s gotten more than his share of criticism this season— just like Jarrett Jack last year.

But good luck convincing Travis of that. Even after hitting the game-winner against the Pistons, Outlaw still joked that he’s not feeling the love.

“They most definitely still hate me,” says Outlaw post-game. “They probably still be like ‘That’s still a bad shot; he just made it.’”

Wow, Travis can read my mind.

is the fact that most Blazer fans are born and raised in the west which is a far cry from the south. I know speaking for myself that the south is the last part of the country that I would want to go, and yes a lot of that is simply from what I have heard or read, as I have never been there, but a lot of us are not used to that type of person (a southerner.)

Travis is different, Brandon, Marty, Bayless and Frye are all west coasters, Gregzilla are both from the midwest, LMA is from TX and of course Rudy, Sergio and Batman are all Euros. Blake is from Miami but that is not really “south” as much it is Florida.

I definatly think that his drawl and good ol boy nature can sometimes be misconstrued as “dumb” here in Portland, but what do we want from our basketball players? Nobel Laureates? I know we have high standards here but cmon.

True he sometimes lacks on his shot selection, but he has improved a ton over the past few years and add in the fact that his early development was screwed by the situation when he was drafted, ie loaded vet team with a bunch of malcontents, that in itself was detrimental to his development, meaning that he still has room for improvement.

Sometimes it is exasperating watching Travis but for what he does, his price and his effect on overall team chemistry I think he has a valuable place o the team.

They’re just not always thrilled with his defense and shot selection.

Those are reasonable concerns.

I think fans will say they hate Frye more, but Frye hasn’t been playing and the hate has dissapated. Then it is Sergio and then maybe LaMarcus. The people who don’t like LaMarcus, don’t like him because he is such good friends with Sergio.

there seems to be a very direct relationship between how much Blazers players are liked and their whiteness, at least in relationship to their talent.

E.G. – Sergio. He’s okay. People love him. He is white
Bayless – He has sucked; but has potential, and is light skinned. People love him.
Travis – He is a solid player, has skills that no one else on the team has. He is dark skinned, and people hate him.

The outlier here is Aldridge, who is modestly dark skinned (i’d say, “even-toned” for an African-American) and well-liked.

Other than that, we definitely love our white players.

<3 Travis in a very complex way

Sophia

Least hot supermodel

I don’t see why people dislike him… nobody around here dislikes Travis. I couldn’t imagine what our bench would be like without him, he brings energy into our bench.

And here’s why. He cares. He wants to win. He is a good teammate. He gives it 100% every time he is on the court.

Does he make mistakes? Sure. Does he sometimes take bad shots? Uh huh. Does he try to improve? Yes.

Do we see his incredible athleticism and want more? Darn right we do.

But put that all in a jar, shake it around and what you have is a good person with a good heart who is a good teammate and wants to win. And actually helps us win more often than not. And when he isn’t good, well then we have plenty of other options.

Hate is a strong word and one my mother told me never to use. She’s right.

I really don’t like to hear that one of the players on this team feels hated even if he is joking. I think it would be great if we could do something special for Travis to show him he is welcome in PDX!

Its like trying to choose which of your children you like the least…

You are da man. Don’t let anybody tell you different. Great guy, great athlete, great sport and phenomenal person. I’ve always had your back buddy and feel its safe to say “YOUR COUSIN IS WRONG!”

Keep up the good work and don’t let the the nay-sayers have the effect they crave.

I feel like stealing some thunder——- #25!!!!!

Yes, sometimes Travis does not make the best decisions. However, he is only 23 and he has gotten better every year he has been in the league. So, we can only imagine that he will get better. The good thing is that he’s nowhere near his potential. There are a lot of good things about Travis, case in point the game tonight.

cause he’s a Blazer

Perhaps Trout’s cousin was mistaken? The most hated Blazer (at least on ESPN) is Bo Outlaw. We’re fine with Travis.

I have been critical of Travis in the past and was excited by Batum’s early play because I thought it would make him an expendable piece that was valuable enough to bring back something good for the team. As the season has progressed, I can’t imagine we would be able to replicate some of the things he can do with just any player, I am specifically talking about Gerald Wallace here.
Travis gives the Blazers something that not too many teams have: a second option in the fourth quarter that is almost as deadly as their first. There are things that are frustrating about Travis’ game but he is a special player that would be greatly missed if traded. He has games where he is a no-show and those stick out more than other players’ no-show games because a) when he no-shows, he excells at it and b) winning becomes much easier when he shows up to play.

Amazing athleticism. Great personality, just a laid-back humble guy. Probably one of the most popular guys inside the team, who maintains friendships with everyone from LMA to Roy to Greg to the international players. I wish him nothing but success in the NBA. However in terms of how his overall play has progressed and where it has stalled, I might love him more depending on who we could get for him in a trade :)
Don’t lie, you have thought about it too. Travis could be a much bigger star on another team where he gets the regularly gets the kind and number of shots he talked about in his interview over the summer. E.g. he could really become a sixth man of the year candidate or even an All-Star under guys like Don Nelson and Mike D’Antoni, who love quick athletic guys who can also shoot from outside – and are fine if those guys don’t completely kill you on defense. Then we would say “see, Travis was really really good”. He is, but not so much in the versatility department on both ends of the floor where Nic figures to have a brighter future that might fit better within what the Blazers need long term from their wing player. That said, Travis is an awesome guy off the bench. Few teams can bring such a player in when they could need one.

But he doesn’t have the mind of Jordon.

Personally I love Outlaw. He has stated that he wants to start, that’s just not going to happen. I think Travis will re-evaluate his desire to start, and be happy coming off the bench. If Travis can be happy with that then we’ve got a great 6th man.

If Travis keeps improving – he may very well start one day. He looked a little like MJ out there tonight.

But this post seriously pisses me off. I have a ton of respect for the work done on the Sports Page for the Oregonian, and on Oregon Live, but this is a fansite, and yes I realize you are a fan, but why, as a paid journalist stir the pot at a teams fansite? What motivation do you have other than to get a large response knowing that your name will generate responses almost ten fold?

The post itself wasn’t negative at all to Outlaw, but the subject matter is something debated on here at a near religious level, last thing the team, or Travis needs is a focal Blazers Media type going out of his way to push the issue even farther.

Like I said I’m pissed, so I hope I came across the way I wanted, if not oh well.

I’ve said it before, will say it again, and will repeat EVERY other person on here when I say….

I LOVE TROUT, I just hate his fade-away jump shots. That’s all! And when I use terms like “God Trout, what the hell is wrong with you?!?” or “I HATE U!!!” after he takes a horrible shot, I say it to EVERYONE when they do something dumb that can cost us a game. Case in point, Blake has pissed me off prolly as much as Outlaw when he drives to the hoop and then stops, looks around for someone and doesn’t just take it to the hole. Rudy has pissed me off when he attempts a flashy pass to Pryz (who we all know isn’t the greatest at handling the ball), Channing pisses me off when he hovers at the 3-point line, and Bayless pisses me off when he drives to the basket but doesn’t make any contact. Every player screws up, and Trav did not have a good start to the season. I think people talk about him because they know he can, and has done better than what he showed us in the beginning of the season. Hopefully now, with some playtime at the PF position and with a couple of good games under his belt, Trav can be more consistant and the complaining about him will stop.

And for Travis’ cousin: You seriously suck for telling him people hate him. Totally uncool.

+25

Hate is what you feel for terrorists who kill innocent people because they don’t think the same. Or the guy who abuses animals for the fun of it. I don’t hate any of the Blazers. I don’t even dislike any of them.

To quote someone above (bow4meow?) – Travis drives me crazy. You don’t know if you’re going to get SuperTrout or a fish out of water. But I don’t hate him. I don’t dislike him. I love to see him do well. But cringing at some of his on-floor and off-season decisions does not equal hate. I don’t have the confidence in him that I have in some of the others but that doesn’t mean I hate him.

I hope that “hate” has just become another watered down word that really has little meaning anymore. Don’t you hate it when that happens? :-)

People use it in such mild manner ways and toss it around.

I love outlaw and when I look at him as a role player, I’m happy. He’s going to have up and down games and that can frustrate me. The guy has amazing talent, but he also makes some plays that leave me scratching my head and fails to recognize situations as they come up. Really, I’d recommend to him to learn HOW to learn. What works best for him to figure out when he’s in those situations and know how to act. Different people can learn their instincts in different ways. On the court it has to be instinct and for travis, it looks like it hasn’t translated over to that. He thinks and then the moment is lost or he acts and the move is off.

I do not hate travis. I do think he’s a person with talent that should be on trade bait, but that’s not a diss to him so much as a recognition that he’s not the big three but he IS good.

My other gripe about travis is a wish that he’d attack the basket more often. Then again I wish that with just about all the blazers.

Fans can be idiots sometimes. Even me. (Just so you know i’m not excluding myself) We ride an emotional high and low because we CAN be rather fanatical about our teams. Travis is part of our team though. I think we just wish he could take that potential of his and turn it into a little more reality.

That said, I love how fearless he is. He’s not afraid to shoot and he has a short memory in that regards. He can provide the team energy and off the court he’s an awesome guy that brought two of our leaders together. If travis could find his consistency and grow his instincts, his flexibility is something that I’d want to keep. If he stays inconsistent then I think he’ll forever be possible trade bait.

Love the guy though.

that starts playing well 1/3 into the season. Kind of a Robert Horry type of guy. Look at how many seasons he has started out rough, and then turns into super trout in January.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99249669

NPR is reporting that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are attempting to re-brand fish as “Sea Kittens”, hoping to encourage more empathy for our scaled friends.

Money Quote: “Most parents would never dream of spending a weekend torturing kittens for fun with their families, but hooking a sea kitten through the mouth and dragging her through the water is the same as hooking a kitten through the mouth and dragging her behind your car”

In other news, the Portland Trail Blazers have released an update for the 2008-09 Media Guide:

—Dave

It is justified because of the position they are in. They are paid to play a game that entertains us. You don’t “hate” the guy that pumps your gas, even if he spills the last dollars worth down the fender. But when he does an awesome job of pumping gas, you don’t buy a shirt with his name on it and put his poster up on the wall either.

I don’t think a single person that says they hate Outlaw really hates him. They may despise the way he plays and wish he was off the team, but if they saw him on the street they’re not going to spit in his face because of bad shot selection. Soccer fans maybe…

So obviously Outlaw takes this stuff to heart. Is it fair? Would it be fair if there was a message board about the same gas pumper dude with thousands of posts saying he sucks? Probably not. But for an NBA player, I say it is unfortunate, but completely fair. Goes with the job.

I’m visiting Grand Bay, Alabama in April. Can you ask Outlaw if his town is worth driving for four hours to visit?