How The Media Is Ruining Our Rip City Uprise
by GonzoFan on Jul 19, 2009 11:26 AM PDT
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PrintThe media is a poison. It has been for along time. Over the last few years, news stations like Fox and CNN have been pushing the propaganda of their largest sponsors, while the truth has taken a back seat to perception. Now, unfortunatley, it seems they are trying to take over the world of sports too. League biases or not, the teams and players that sell the most ads and garner the largest ratings are the ones that are featured, regardless of how good they are (think Miami Heat). It's even starting to effect this site.
Most of our speculation here has been driven by the media. Like the whole "toxic" offer report. Now people are bagging on KP for calling it that. Did KP ever call it that? Probably not.
And now, the Odom offer (or lack thereof). The media first called out KP for not making this guy an offer...and now you see a lot of garbage posted on this site about how stupid the Blazers are for not making an offer. I wonder if the media had never brought it up if we ever would have. I know for a fact that if you brought that idea up a few months ago with out the media speculation you would've been harrased right off this site.
Now it seems even the administrators of this site are getting into it. I feel like Ben Golliver has been very critical of our summer league team. THE SUMMER LEAGUE TEAM! These games shouldn't be about winning and losing, it's about measuring strengths and weaknesses and talent assesment. I thought it was ridiculous when Ben made a comment regarding Pendy playing center "chalk that up to poor roster structure". Seriously? It's the summer league. If it wasn't for the media attention it has started to garner since this particualr league moved from Boston to Vegas because of the Democratic Primaries you wouldn't be reading anything about it. Anybody remember the Rocky Mountain Revue? Yeah, it's still happening - but nobody cares because it is in UTAH!
Keep it real, people. The Blazers are back and have a chance to be a great team for a long time. If you're not happy with that - you'll never be happy with anything and can hardly call yourself a fan. Rip City is back. Because of the way KP and Co. laid the blueprint for this team it is getting better all the time, regardless of trades or FA signings. All this "summer of failure" bs will be an embarassing, distant memory by the time we start playing ball. By then Shaq in Cleveland will bring back memories of MJ in a Wizards uniform, Artest will be ruining the chemistry in LA, and the media will be singing Portland's praises for having the fortitude to stand pat and not make a "desperate move" like so many of the league's teams did over the summer - because we will be kicking ass (and the media can be frontrunners like that).
Let's try not to forget to enjoy this team and this front office while we have it. Things could've been much different in the Rose City and we are downright FORTUNATE to be Blazer fans right now. To have Brandon Roy and Greg Oden right now. To have KP and Paul Allen right now (Vulcans included - you gotta be able to take the good with the bad, nothing is perfect). I don't care what happens between now and November. I know where I'll be and who I'll be cheering for, regardless of what the media tells me to do.
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wait, what?
THE SUMMER LEAGUE TEAM! These games shouldn’t be about winning and losing, it’s about measuring strengths and weaknesses and talent assesment. I thought it was ridiculous when Ben made a comment regarding Pendy playing center “chalk that up to poor roster structure”.
How are you supposed to measure strenghts and weaknesses and talent assessment when you are having guys like Pendergraph play out of position? Thats like trying to evaluate Bayless playing as a small forward because the coaching staff doesn’t have the sense to actually play a small forward or include a servicable one on the roster. In this case, you have this guy on the bench, Padgett who can play the 5 spot which would allow Pendergraph to play his power forward position. And if you think Padgett is a stiff (I kinda do) then why didn’t they just pick up another 6’11 guy who can play center…again, to allow Pendergraph to be evaluated at the position he will actually play at. We didn’t draft him hoping for him to become our 3rd string center. We got him to (hopefully) be a backup PF in a few years (maybe sooner unless KP makes a move).
Also, as much as I hate to admit it, the Lakers aren’t built on chemistry but on talent alone. Kobe is an douche to his teammates (did anyone watch that spike lee steaming pile called “Kobe Doin’ Work?” You could see the looks of astonishment on Kobe’s teammates when he played up for the cameras by trying to motivate them and talk to them like actual human beings during time outs. Usually he just berates them for not passing him the ball. Unless Ron Ron bites someone’s ear off or gets into legal trouble, I don’t think he’s going to be poison enough to screw up that team. Kobe is bad enough as it is and they just won the championship.
I agree that the media does suck at times though. Unfortunately, if it weren’t for the evil media, being a fan sure would suck. We would get to watch the team play and thats about it. You need information to discuss (if you’re on blazersedge at least) and thats what guys like Jason Quick and Ben Golliver provide. Canzano doesn’t really do that, I guess he just writes his opinions which are pretty much worthless to anybody outside of…him.
The Blazers as a whole are far more like my wife than like me in the sense of their physicality on defense.
-Dave
read the post by Ben before you bag on this post.
In it they say that they are playing Graph at the 5 because he can’t guard a NBA 4.
here is the quote.
I think he’s going to have to play 5 on our level. I think there’s some 4s that are going to be really hard matchups for him. Guys who can take him away from the basket will be a hard matchup for him. His lateral quickness guarding the ball is not a strength of his right now. You couldn’t see that last night because he could just lean on Joey Dorsey, he does a good job getting low with a strong base. You take him away from the basket and the quick moves are hard for him.
He’s a guy that will have to play a lot of five for us. There are going to be some fives that are too big for him to guard. All the backups and third string 5s in our league — he will be fine against those guys. He’s not capable of guarding Dwight Howard or Yao Ming or someone like that.
He’s going to be a really good guy off our bench. He has a great attitude, he’s constantly showing positive energy and that’s a value for us. Teams in our league, good teams in our league have benches in our league that are into the game. I thought at times last year we didn’t have that. We need that. Especially on the road, you need to see your bench over there when you’re on the floor. I think Jeff has an amazing personality, he’ll be ready to play when he gets the opportunity.
After reading Joe Freeman's article today on Pend
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/07/pendergraph_a_unique_personali.html
It struck me how similar he is to Frye (quirky personality, cares about others, etc) but then after watching him play and reading that scouting report (was that from Buchanon?) it couldn’t any clearer that Jeff’s game is about as “opposite” of Channing’s as 2 big men can be
When reached 39 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
why draft a 3rd string 5?
Perhaps a long-term project but with the move up to #31 (while unloading Segio), I assumed they would try to address more immediate needs.
I know, I probably shouldn’t assume things…just hoping this was not a pick based on a mis-evaluation.
maybe he becomes decent 2nd string 5
for when we can no longer hold on to Joel
Sergio also got us more
Some cap relief and I believe a small trade exception.
The Princess of Blazersedge
I generally enjoy everything that Ben and everyone else here writes.
I also agree that our summer’s would be long and boring without them and I appreciate all of the work they put into giving us information like this when there’s really not much going on.
The main point of my post is the media has started to put a negative spin on what has been going on here in Portland just because two free agents didn’t end up coming to Portland and I think too many people are being suckered into agreeing with them.
Great points chrischa.
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."
The only thing I wouldn't agree with...
…is that saying evluating someone at the 5 instead of the 4 is the same as evaluating someone at the 3 instead of the 1.
In my opinion, 4’s & 5’s are basically interchangeable positions and can posses a variety of skill sets. Most teams basically play a high-low post combo – in which the better shooter (regardless of what letters are in front of his name on the roster) plays high. The difference between point guards and small forwards though are much greater.
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."
well, shoot.
I really don’t feel like Pendergraph is a 5 but if the lead Blazer scout is saying thats what he envisions him becoming then I have to defer to that. If thats the case though then I think he might be a long way away from seeing any meaningful minutes. A lot of it depends on roster changes of course…
The Blazers as a whole are far more like my wife than like me in the sense of their physicality on defense.
-Dave
I think he Pendy can be a 4 too.
His proponents say he is 6’10", his detractors say he’s 6’9". Just another example of the media trying to tell us what to think (he is/isn’t tall enough to play 5 because I do/don’t like him personally).
And I don’t understand how people already “know” that Pendy can’t guard 4’s in this league. Just like they “knew” that Gilbert Arenas couldn’t play point in the NBA.
I’m not saying that scouts should be perfect, or that we shouldn’t listen to them, and the scouts will be the first to say “hey, I’m just giving you my opinion”. But then there are the “journalists” who are trying to sell their papers and networks. They need to stick to the facts and not try to shape opinion, unless they are a columnist (like Canzano – who I rarely agree with but take with a grain of salt seeing as he is only giving us his own opinion because that is the job of a columnist).
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."
Facts v. Opinions
Such questions as the height of a player, how fast they can move laterally, how much they weigh, etc. are not matters of opinion, they are matters of fact that can be resolved by looking at measurements. I like Pendergraph, but my liking him does not mean I think he’s 6’10" or 6’9." Accoring to Draft Express, he measures 6’10" in shoes, 6’ 8.75" without them. “The Media” has nothing to do with it.
Whether Pendergraph will be able to play the 4 is an opinion, a thing everyone can have but which are not equal. People of the media are not of one mind on such questions. And, to some extent, these opinions can be tested once the season begins and how well he actually does against 4s.
And I don’t think it’s possible to “just report the facts,” because there are values and judgment inevitably involved in deciding which facts are important and which not. Personally, so long as a reporter does a conscientious job of fact checking and interviewing, I appreciate the varied perspectives from the media. Otherwise there’d be little more to go on what information each team organization released and how complete and unbiased would that be?
All that noise you hear is the sweet discordance of passionate discussion.
And that’s the truth.
by Trutherlizer on Jul 19, 2009 10:21 PM PDT up reply actions
I've read two articles.
One by a guy who doesn’t think Pendy was a good pickup. He said he was 6’9". I have also read another article by a guy who loved the pick – and says he’s 6’10". Technically, they are both correct because they don’t differentiate whether or not he is wearing shoes. But the guy who likes him presents him in a better light (obviously). And that’s the truth.
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."
I like the European deliniations
Posts, wings and point. SG and SF are essentially interchangable, with the taller player being the forward. Much more in common between the wing positions than the forward positions too.
Not neccessarily the Euro "deliniation".
That’s usually how it’s broken down in HS and little league b-ball. And how Naismith originally set it up.
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."
Kevin Pritchard has set the expectations
the media just reminds us all that he’s not met them, yet
KP was on the air with Mike and Mike the other night from Vegas, and he said something like “you remember draft night when we had the worst record but only got the 4th best choice? But then we turned that into LaMarcus and Roy? Maybe there will be something out there like that, again”
That was no spin, that was straight from the horse’s mouth. Of course he “couched” that comment with the obligatory “but nothing’s in the works right now” disclaimer and continued with the predictable “we really like our guys” and finished with the generic “we’ll look at everything we can do to improve the ballclub” but the point is this: it doesn’t take too much “coaxing” from the media for KP to raise the expectations of his fans. His aggressive track record (especially on draft days) speaks for itself. The bar has been set pretty high, and like Canzano said today
The Blazers don’t necessarily need to … go public again, as they have twice in two weeks, trying to spin what amounts to a dismal month into some kind of “We Didn’t Want ’em Anyway” tour.
We fans get that there are “no guarantees” with free agency. We also realize that 5 year contracts have come back to bite previous Blazer organizations. But if the Blazers didn’t think there was a need for a veteran with experience to help the kids improve (as both Roy and Nate had requested, following the season?) then why make the offer to Hedo right out of the chute on July 1st? “The media” didn’t pressure KP into that decision, and if anyone did it was his owner, head coach and all-star player.
So I think the aim of this fanpost missed the mark. The media are basically critics, and always have been. They don’t accomplish anything in particular, they just comment on the decisions made by others. Once you realize that, you can shift the blame or give the props to the folks who are really making things happen and “getting everybody’s hopes up” like Kevin Pritchard
When reached 39 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
I agree that guys like KP will use the media to fan the flames.
But he can do that because he actually is one of the people who is accomplishing something, good or bad.
What my overall point is that the certain members of the media act like they know better than the NBA GM’s, but all they are really trying to do is get you to come to their website or watch their show to keep the sponsors happy and, because it sells, they focus on the negative aspects of things leading us to believe that’s all there is. Then fans start calling for somebody like KP’s head – which is ridiculous after what he has and will continue to accomplished here.
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."
And...
how many times have you heard everyone on ESPN bag on some team for a decision they made, it ends up working out great, and then a month or two later they gush about what a great call that was – all with a straight face. There is no acountability.
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."
certain members of the media act like they know better
That’s not restricted to the media, we’ve all read Bedgers who fall into that trap, as well
The media (and I include bloggers in this) help me to understand what the Blazer may or may not be up to. Everyone can sift through their stories and discard the hype and ignore “the spin” just as much as they desire. The economy is “bad” for journalists just like it is for everyone else, and they’ve got to drive readers to their websites or programs and there’s no doubt that this leads to bravado and one-upsmanship. But when it comes to calling for someone’s job, that’s stepping over the line. And frankly I haven’t see nearly as much of that from the working media as I have from the “armchair gms” of this and every other pro team’s chat page.
Like I’ve mentioned before, talk is cheap (and anonymous, when it’s online) but the real fans who will decide who should be calling the shots" are the ones who vote with their wallets. And as far as I’ve heard, the Blazers are pretty close to leading the league in ticket renewals, so who cares what the media or some “expert” fans may say (and I humbly include myself in that last category…) the Vulcans aren’t going to drop the axe on KP or Nate as long as the arena is sold out and the advertising revenue continues to climb.
When reached 39 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
You're right.
I just get frustrated reading things on ESPN.com and Hoopsworld, and Oregonlive.com talking about how the Blazers are failing this summer. In my opinion, we don’t have to do anything this summer to succeed. Just letting the young guys get better is going to be a bigger improvment for us than Richard Jefferson in SA (I’ll admit that statement is out their).
And you’re absolutely right about “hearing more from armchair gm’s at sites like this”. Again, my point is that the media (and yes, I am getting tired of typing that) is what is effecting the fanbase to become so negative thus the title of the post “How The Media Is Ruining Our Rip City Uprise”. Not by making us look bad, but by making the fan base buy into it and start believing we are bad. I think we need to literally stop and smell the roses here and appreciate what we’ve got.
I am finally at a point in my life where I was able to purchase at least 1/4 season tickets, but I always feel like I’ve contributed in other ways. Like supporting team sponsors (Typhoon!, McDonald’s, and as a kid I would change my checking account to whichever bank was the team’s sponsor).
Two4larue, I’ve always enjoyed bouncing my thoughts off you. I feel like usually we’ll disagree but still make good points (DeJuan Blair). Maybe we can grab a beer after a game sometime.
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."
Why is one sentence emphasized, and others discounted?
Netting Brandon and LMA was worth marveling. What is wrong with hoping to repeat it? Since when did maybe turn into a guarantee. Is this really setting an expectation, or is it the listener wishing it to be so?
At the same time, other statements are being downplayed — “nothings in the works right now”, “we really like our guys”, “we’ll look at everything we can to improve the ballclub”. KP could have been very sincere about these statements. It is an interpretation to relabel these statements as couched, obligatory, disclaimer, predictable, generic.
So what did KP really say? and what was heard/interpreted? If we jump at everything he says and become overly critical, he will stop communicating. Would we prefer to encourage communication with the associated burden of being responsible listeners, or do we want to bite his head off so many times that he stops talking to us until its a done deal?
Remember Jason Quick’s fiasco last year with Greg Oden. The media has the ability to blow matters out of proportion and become disruptions. Seems like in the digital age, there is a real need for “rating” news sources, so that we can distinguish between tabloid and reputable journalism. We as readers should hold credentialled journalists to higher standards, so that our news sources are reliable and credible. Eventually good bloggers get credentialled, and we get to separate the “National Enquirers”s from the “NY Times”s.
In the meantime every blogger is gospel truth…
by FromAfar on Jul 19, 2009 4:37 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Ding ding ding ding ding!!!
You are the winner! Rating different news sources is a great idea and a good way to address my accountability issue (y’know – how a journalist can predict something in an article one day, be completely wrong, and then jump on the bandwagon of what actually happened without losing his job the next day).
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."
Well, and if news consumers didn't snactch at every morsel each time
these guys chum the waters, we’d see a different dynamic as well. But they do, and they will, so we won’t.
The fact is that competition for eyeballs and attention is brutal right now. Media outlets are fighting for their lives. Back someone against the wall and there is nothing they will not stoop to.
Media fear and hate mogering, general negativity and over the top BS just to get attention is going to get a lot worse before it get better. If it ever does.
Don't drink the haterade
I’m not sure about some of the claims in this post—but I have noted the negative tone of the local and national media. I prefer to just ignore it.
being a fan doesn't mean you have to bang on the media for doing their job
“Most of our speculation here has been driven by the media. Like the whole “toxic” offer report. Now people are bagging on KP for calling it that. Did KP ever call it that? Probably not."
so you think it’s more likely that jason quick simply fabricated the term and then placed it in quotes in a story and attributed it to a source?
i think it is very likely that someone in the blazers organization called it a “toxic” offer. honestly i doesn’t really matter if pritchard said that or not, it happened on his watch and for that he bears responsibility.
rather than drone on about creating culture and the like i’ll just quote dave who put it best just a few days ago:
“I will argue that this is not the image you want circulating about your front office. Things like this contribute to the growing swirl of anti-Portland chatter we’re hearing (or at least hearing implied in the case of opposing front offices). The issue could have been avoided by a simple change in wording. “Front-loaded” doesn’t look bad. “Difficult to match” also gets the point across. Neither of these has connotations of unfairness or malice the way “toxic” does. Perception often gets taken as reality. Keeping the perception professional and high-road is usually the best way to go when talking with the media, even when the discussion seems informal. That’s what you usually hear from NBA front offices. Not as much from Portland."
aggressive i would add is another way the millsap offer could have been described that would not have been so blatantly adverserial. like it or not pritchard is responsible for the front office’s communication with the media vis a vis trades and there’s no way anyone should ever have described the millsap plans in the way they did.
don’t blame the media for reporting what they were told, that’s their job whether it makes your favorite team look bad or not.
Here's a nit-picky word usage correction
The word “media” is a plural word. “Medium” is the singular.
Correct usage would be: “The media are destroying our lives.”
They sure is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exOxUAntx8I&feature=channel_page
by The Cactus Leaguer on Jul 19, 2009 7:29 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Amen
And now, the Odom offer (or lack thereof). The media first called out KP for not making this guy an offer…and now you see a lot of garbage posted on this site about how stupid the Blazers are for not making an offer. I wonder if the media had never brought it up if we ever would have. I know for a fact that if you brought that idea up a few months ago with out the media speculation you would’ve been harrased right off this site.
I made a FanPost Lamar Odom could be close to final piece for next 3 years, a month ago, right before FA started. It was not well received.
I also agree on your takes with the media. John Canzano is the worst culprit. He was on the other day saying how Kevin Pritchard made a bad name for himself because fans had made up the term “Pritch Slap”. He then went on to say that the first report of this happening was in one of his articles. Whoa! So either he’s the one reporting the news thats starting the problem, or he’s creating the report out of thin air for controversey. Thats a lot of power to give to this man Portland. Watch your steps with this guy.
"Both Anthony Carter and Jameer Nelson were downright jubilant in the Magic locker room postgame. Carter said to no one in particular, "Brandon Roy, that man is unstoppable, it's like he's playing NBA Live" and Nelson was cracking on his teammates for not being able to guard Brandon. The kinds of jokes you can make when you win."
Poison or The Cure?
I don’t know, I think there has to be a balance. I also think Portland as a media enviroment is somewhat unique. Sure I think we take a LOT too seriously as fans. But is that the media’s fault or as they say, does the fault exist within ourselves?
Yes, we should enjoy this team, where it’s at and where it appears to be headed. Yes, I agree too many people are taking the “results” of Summer League far too seriously. BUT on the other hand, Blazer fans are incredibly demanding.
I talk to my Dad in San Diego and he says the coverage of their California sports teams is different. In a certain way they just don’t care as much. In Portland? We demand to hear about every practice, every game, every scrimmage. We simulataneously want updates and reports on everything that is happening, and then we cringe and complain if it’s not exactly what we wanted to hear.
I love this about being a Blazer fan, and I also sometimes hate it. It’s pretty easy to blame the media, but we create the media. A great thing about living in the times we do, is that there are plenty of outlets, professional and amateur. I don’t blame the media, I try to absorb the media. You are only in trouble if you refuse to diversify. If you are only getting your opinions about The Blazers from one outlet, or one site? Then you get what you deserve. If I read or hear an opinion I disagree with? I don’t immediately imagine a conspiracy, I check out the whole media picture. It takes a little work, but it’s vast and all encompassing.
If you want to use this summer as an example? Sure The Blazers have taken a lot of heat and criticism both locally and nationally. But we were easy targets. Hedo was a public failure. National “experts” and pundits are charged with making some type of evaluation and some type of commentary. It was pretty easy to look at The Blazers and our cap space, and our struggles to obtain any player and evaluate that we have failed this summer. Conspiracy against Rip City Uprise? I don’t think so. At worst, short sighted evaluation.
I think we as Blazer fans need to relax a little about everything. Every negative article is not a secret or direct conspiracy to bring The Blazers down. Every positive article is not a written in stone covenant with The Basket Ball gods promising us success and a N.B.A. championship in the next 5 years.
Learn to enjoy the whole picture. I enjoy a commentary by Dave or Ben inwhich I agree, as much as an article or post by Quick and Canzano inwhich I may not agree.
"Mother Nature started this fight, I think it's about time we ended it!"
It's particularly bad right now imo because some of the biggest 'personalities' in town are
a guy who wishes he could be Colin Cowherd (Canzano) and another guy who wishes he could be Jim Rome (CIP). Also Dwight Jaynes who apparently retired from sports commentary to do…… sports commentary full-time (???)
Really Wheels at Work and this website are the only two places I can get Blazer info without feeling the need to be ill.
Blazer Fan
Now it seems even the administrators of this site are getting into it. I feel like Ben Golliver has been very critical of our summer league team. THE SUMMER LEAGUE TEAM! These games shouldn’t be about winning and losing, it’s about measuring strengths and weaknesses and talent assesment. I thought it was ridiculous when Ben made a comment regarding Pendy playing center “chalk that up to poor roster structure”. Seriously? It’s the summer league
this was disappointing.
i thought i provided balanced coverage of the team this year, seeking out expert opinion to inform our understanding of new players while offering additional commentary of my own.
the team as a whole played well at times and i wrote that. they played quite poorly and i wrote that too (mainly allowing the coaches and players to tell that side of the story).
i hardly think the sentence about poor roster construction was an insult and it was meant, as mentioned above, to clarify our understanding of the future positions of the two rookies, who are each balancing between different positions. on draft night, the team referred to them both as 4s. it was clear immediately in las vegas neither was a true 4. after writing that i sought out the opinions of a head scout and an assistant coach to further our understanding of those players’ positions. that is what summer league is all about — gaining information on players and that was the focus of the pieces.
very disappointing that you misconstrued my coverage in such fashion.
I thought your coverage was fine
I think the poster is commenting on Pendergraph and whether the kid should play center or not.
I agree with you Ben that it would have been interesting to see Pendergraph at the 4 and Cunningham at the 3, and the Blazer brass didn’t agree with us. I think down the road, we will see these players playing these positions. – Elgin
Without you out there, we're nowhere here
Overall I thought your coverage was excellent.
I thought there were some negative comments that maybe, because it was just summer league, didn’t need to be made.
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."
first and foremost , I would like to say you have every right to your opinion
and you have the right to post it here as long as it’s according to Dave’s rules.
I also think venting can be semi constructive-IF you don’t cross the line over to Destructive.
I feel you have crossed that line, and here is why:
Now it seems even the administrators of this site are getting into it. I feel like Ben Golliver has been very critical of our summer league team. THE SUMMER LEAGUE TEAM! These games shouldn’t be about winning and losing, it’s about measuring strengths and weaknesses and talent assesment. I thought it was ridiculous when Ben made a comment regarding Pendy playing center "chalk that up to poor roster structure". Seriously? It’s the summer league. If it wasn’t for the media attention it has started to garner since this particualr league moved from Boston to Vegas because of the Democratic Primaries you wouldn’t be reading anything about it. Anybody remember the Rocky Mountain Revue? Yeah, it’s still happening – but nobody cares because it is in UTAH!
Ben dedicates a tremendous amount of time to writing for this blog-FOR YOU. Without Ben and his locker room reports, practice reports, summer league reports, youth league reports, local and national prospects analysis, Front Office reporting and any other coverage re: practice/gathering/team business of the Blazers would not happen. Dave lives in the woods, in Idaho. All the inside info and breaking news that always beats the Oregonian wouldn’t exist. All the great player interviews and quotes that other "mainstream" media outlets cant or wont publish wouldn’t exist. Sure, Dave does an EXCELLENT job at what he does, but Ben offers a local, passionate , fairly objective , and responsible account of the team. That doesn’t happen at ALL anymore.
So, Just ask yourself, What would Blazersedge.Com be without Ben?
-Sophia
The Princess of Blazersedge
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