Break-Ups and Bad Moves

first.

But seriously, if they moved to another city in the region – like Tualatin, or Lake Oswego, and kept their name “Portland” (kinda like the Auburn Hills – I mean, “Detroit” Pistons) I’d cash in my season tix… but probably keep watching on TV.

I feel like if we didn’t stop liking them during the worst of the Jail Blazer years, that pretty much says it all. But yeah, the relocation and money-before-basketball would be the only two things I could think of.

ORIGINAL

As much as I love them, it would be like pining after someone you consider gorgeous when you’re stuck in the “friend zone”.

As much as I love them, it would be like pining after someone you consider gorgeous when you’re stuck in the “prez zone”.

…not for rings, trophies, or bragging rights. I have a team that I root for far above the others but I am not so bound to it that I lose sight of what it is—entertainment, athleticism, and edge-of-your-seat action—with some nostalgia thrown in, as you age as a fan. That will always be there, regardless of whether a team wins a championship or not. A championship is a goal, a prize, something that is a destination so you know what to aim for—but it isn’t the whole thing, not by a long shot.

If the Blazers went back to the Jail Blazers and had management like Steve Patterson back in power I’d lose interest in them. I don’t mind the Blazers losing for a few seasons as long as management strives for character and is always looking to improve. But poor character won’t fly far in my book. And yes, I put my money where my mouth is on these things (when I have disposable money, that is) — I would buy tickets to a 21 win team as quickly as a 60 win team, no question. It’s about the basketball and the experience.

Without a doubt. But I think that’s it. This is my team. The Red and Black is what I grew up with: I wanted to BE Terry Porter.

The Jail Blazers are definitely fresh in my mind (as they are for all of us), and I wasn’t proud of them, nor would I make excuses for any of them, but that’s still my team. I have a hard time NOT rooting for the Blazers, even when they’re a bunch of knuckleheads.

but the worst move ever was when they decided to not bring back the Schonz. RIP CITY!

The chance of winning something at some time down the road keeps driving fans back even if it is unlikely. Crappy little European football/soccer clubs that will never amount to anything significant except the very rare win against a big team. Not a title, just an isolated win in some cup tournament. have enthusiastic fans (remember that in soccer the worst teams get relegated to lower leagues while others come back up. I know people who still support their formerly “famous” club in the third league).

In basketball, the Clippers have fans, and it’s pretty clear that their owner will never let a nice championship run come in the way of a nice profit. The Suns have fans even though their owner could have created a dynasty if he had been willing to go into the luxury tax to retain all his free agents and keep his draft picks.

were players like JR Rider and Bonzi Wells that disrespected the fans and the community.

I have been a Blazers fan through good times and bad. I rooted for Rider, Sheed, and the like just as fervently as I now root for Brandon and LaMarcus. I was honestly willing to believe that Sebastian Telfair would be the second coming of Oscar Robertson. I still have my Derek Anderson poster, my Arvydas Sabonis beanie Blazer, my Brian Grant rasta-dreads from G.I Joe’s, and gulp my Bonzi Wells bendable action figure.

I’m not sure whether all of this means that I am naive or passionate (probably both), but I don’t think anything would turn me away from this team. If they moved—yes, even to Seattle—I would still root for them. If they re-signed Darius Miles, Z-Bo, Sheed, and Qyntel Woods in one fell swoop, I would still root for them. I think it would take a cataclysmic act of God (i.e. moving the team to Billings and trading Roy, Aldridge, and Oden for the rights to that Looby guy from the D-League team) to make me question my fanhood.

For the majority of Blazer history, the teams built have epitomized the northwest (barring the jailblazer era) and I can sum it all up with this:

We are a small market team that can hang with the best of them.

For those of us who live in or near Portland understand this better then anyone in the country. There are so many bits and pieces of the Northwest people just turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to. However, once people come to town, experience this slice of the country, most have a hard time getting back on the plane out. This is what people like to call the intangibles. And Portland has a LOT of them. Most of them are die hard Blazer fans.

This is the Blazers. This is why I root for them. Its not because its my favorite team. Its OUR favorite team. Once it stops being OUR team and it becomes something else. Thats when I lose interest. The jailblazers were not our team. They did not represent what we in the northwest idolize. It may be what places like NY, Chicago, LA, and Miami think is ok to do. We dont. Thats what separates us from them. Thats what keeps us weird and in touch with us here in the northwest. We do it weird around here. Dont forget, its these intangibles that will hold attendance and consecutive playoff appearance records for a long, long time.

So barring utter disconnects from the management and the fan base (see Seattles recent history) or the team moving somewhere other then the northwest, they will continue to be my team.

Let it bake.

P.S. It does pain me to admit I would still root for the Blazers if they moved to Seattle. It would take a while to warm up to the idea though. A long while.

As blaze1 said, it’s the Jordan saga, and it’s not even close.

… would be the only reason I would ever break up with the Blazers. They can lose bad, they can have terrible administration, they can even make bonehead picks in the draft… but the moment they sell out their fan base by moving cities would be the day I stop following this team. The Blazers are nothing if they’re not Portland. And I’m not even from the area, let alone from the US!

"They’re going to see a guy that can dominate on the court and change games," Oden told Yahoo! Sports this week. "…They drafted me for a reason and I want to show them why they drafted me."

See the Fanshot I just posted or this link.

We knew we needed to take the next step in order to win a championship so we hired one Bob Whitsett. People thought, “Alright, now we’ve got someone who will work trade miracles and get us what we want.”

It’s actually eerily similar to how a lot of people now think of Kevin Pritchard.

Realizing this, I think I’m even more comfortable with Pritchard’s so-called fear of making a big move.

I wouldn’t trade him for LeBron, personally.

First, my definition of love is an unconditional acceptance. My definition of friendship is equal love or equal sharing and caring within in the 40 -60 range. My definition of passion is affections either + or -/, Ranging from worship to hate to moderately happy or dislike. Also, the different of love is not hate; the different of love is indifference. Anyway, this is my learned concept of my feelings to stop me from continuously being confused.

IMO, lovers are a dime a dozen, but true friends are few and hard to come by. There is a different between being friendly and being true friends. Being friendly is usually is usually a civilized acquaintance. A true friend is undying love.

with all that emotional definitions out of the way. If I had a true female friend that I never crossed the finish line with, I would still be a true friend. I would not even like to think that my wife did not want anything else from me just because I never reached her expectations of me. There is other ways to satisfy your passions other than seeking them from some place else. It has often been said that cheaters still love their mate, but just satisfying there passions. Same as Blazer fans, they say they still love Travis, but he does not satisfy their passions.

I will accept my wife for everything she is or wants to be, but I may have negative passions, ranging from dislike to hate, of some of her habits. That being said, you can dislike some of the choices of the Blazers or some of the present or past parts. Trader Bob comes to mind in that respect. But you are not being a true friend if you jump off the band wagon just because they are not living up to your expectations. Therefore I will always be a true Blazer fan.

Of bad deals, band trades or bad parts of the past, I would have to say Trader Bob, and all of his horrible trading.
We have had some great players and lousy players, but we may have not have known that at the time of a deal. That comes from 20-20 hindsight. Drafting Bowie was not bad at the time, the Blazers and Clyde didn’t think they could be compatible with Jordon because Clyde and Jordon played the same position. In today’s world that wouldn’t make a difference but at the time it was a sound decision.

I do have passions of the Blazers being great. Not necessarily Champions. That may be the result of enjoying them for the last 30 years without reaching that goal. I feel the “Glory of victory and the agony of defeat” but I will always be a Blazer fan.

bbk

I can’t think of any bad moves off the top of my head. I do sometimes wish the Blazers would have been more committed to the development of Erick Barkley.

::sigh::

Trading Drazen Petrovich, I really liked that guy. He’d probably still be alive, too, since his death was simply a matter of wrong place, wrong time.

1) A move to another city. No matter that I’ve followed the Blazers even after moving away from Oregon 20 years ago. The Blazers = Portland. Seattle, Las Vegas, Kansas City, wherever they might move to, they would do so without my support.

2) If I learned that the Blazers would never win a championship, I wouldn’t necessarily stop following them. If I learned that the Blazers were going to throw in the towel and seek financial profit over trying to be competitive long term, then they’d lose me as a fan.

A line from the movie The Mexican that starred Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts went something like this: Question: “if you truly love someone, when do you reach the point of deciding you can’t stay with them anymore”? Answer: “Never”.

Just ask any die hard Cubs fan. But seriously, if the Blazers were to leave town that would probably be it for me. Gee, I wonder if I’ll still care about the Beavers if they move to Beaverton? Maybe there’s some kind of a “they must move a certain distance away to stop caring rule”?

I suffered with the Blazers through long periods of losing in the first round from the late 70’s to the late 80’s. Stayed with them. They darn near lost me during the jail blazer years, though. When a team acts like it doesn’t care about its fan base, that can ruin a love affair.

if Whitsitt and his chemistry lab came back.

I’ve been with the Blazers rooting hard for them since their inception. Although I hated Rasheed, the jail blazer years never caused me to waver from that. Not in the least.

If their plane went down killing them all (maybe I should chose a more comforting scenario—-say they all decided to retire at once), and we rebuilt our team through a dispersal draft (picking players that other teams left unprotected), I would still be rooting hard for that new team, would watch as many of their games as I could, and still be bitching about comcast.

Yep, I know that they would be years away from putting together a top flight team but there’s no doubt I’d find a player or two on that team that I liked and would be rooting real hard for that player(s) to do well and find success in the NBA. And I’d be excited about the string of high draft picks we would likely be in line for. For me, rooting for individual players to do well is almost as satisfying as rooting for team success. I’d also be keeping in mind that the Blazers were the fastest expansion team ever to win a championship.

Nope, I can’t picture anything taking away my passion for the Portland Trailblazers.

Dave: you THINK that would be it???? is this irony, or the greatest understatement of all time?

As transplanted Seattle native, who grew up with the Sonics but loves the Blazers, I am still ready, at a moment’s notice, to abandon my interest in the NBA because of the Sonics move.

If I hadn’t moved here and become a Blazers fan, and still following the Sonics, I would make sure my children, and my children’s children, learned to hate Clay Bennett and David Stern and their families with a ferocity that would make the Serbian army blush. I would get myself elected President so I could see to it that Oklahoma lost its statehood and was returned to territorial status.

“Following” a team moving Portland to some middle America cesspool would not be on the table for discussion. No “thinking” would be required.

I think I could be happy with knowing that we would never win a championship during my lifetime (hopefully another 50+ years) as long as I knew that we would be able to beat the Lakers in the playoffs regularly. I really hate the Lakers and always have (with the exception of James Worthy, but that’s another story for another time.) I would honestly be satisfied with beating the Lakers in the WCF at least once every five years. My two most painful Blazer memories were losing to the Lakers in the playoffs (‘91, ’00) and I don’t feel like those loses have ever been avenged. I got upset just typing that last sentence. Revenge! Revenge!

but for me it was a break-up point: When the Blazers threw that woman out of the RG for holding up a “Trade Whitsitt” sign. By itself not that serious a move, but for me it was the final straw. Rasheed getting himself thrown out of games was cool for the first season or so, but come on. Then came Bonzi, Ruben, and it seemed like Whitsitt had no idea how to construct a Team— just how to pick up the highest profile free agent available for way too much money. When someone pointed that out on a sign at a game, they had her removed. Totally classless.

I didn’t like the JailBlazers and didn’t follow them.

When I’d see them on TV I’d root against them for a bit and then change the channel. I felt bad for Sabonis, whose game I admired, but Sheed, Wells, and Tokeamire could lose every game as far as I was concerned. The 2000 playoff loss only annoyed me because it was to the L*kers, who I’ve despised ever since they acquired Shaq (long story, but I’ve really hated certain aspects of his game ever since he lost his footspeed).

So if the Blazers start signing players like Tinsley and Artest, I’ll likely lose interest.

The worst move they ever made was inking trader Bob to his GM deal. Bob never understood that team chemistry really is critical to team performance, and though he could bleed Paul Allen’s money to give every marquee free agent a huge contract, he didn’t know the first thing about building an actual team. A close second was drafting Bowie not Jordan.

I’d have to agree with Dave, for me to make a permenant break with The Blazers it would take movement of the franchise which I would consider it’s death or continued evidence that ownership and management were simply not trying.

Perhaps the more important question for most fans is where is your Make Up point? Because we were pretty close to scenario #2 not very long ago. Remember when Paul Allen was threatening to sell or move the franchise during his feud with PAM? During that period, it was very hard to feel very good about the franchise. People look at the Brandon Roy, LMA and Kevin Pritchard as the “turning point” but the real turning point was the revitalization of interest and investment into the franchise by Paul Allen. Everything got a lot better after he bought back The Rose Garden.

Had we been sold, of course I would of hoped that new ownership would of been competent, I’d of given them a chance but as The Vulcans know, operating The Blazers in Portland is a difficult business proposition. As a Blazer fan, I can only thank Paul Allen for his support of The Blazers. I’m not really sure we are here, if Paul Allen isn’t our owner.

So for me, my “make-up” point is pretty low. I want ownership that applies the goal of winning a championship because that is what every franchise should be striving. I’d like resources backing the franchise that make that goal tangibly possible. I don’t need perfect management, because it doesn’t exist. But I want good, competent management, sincerely working in The Blazers best interest. These things I feel now exist.

A disinterested Paul Allen, threatening to sell or move?
John Nash, Steve Patterson?
The “Jail Blazer” roster?

I came dangerously close to breaking up with The Blazers. Most fans would site the drafting of Brandon, LMA as a turning point, or the drafting of Oden, or even the recent return to the playoffs. For me the greatest moment in the recent history of the franchise was the announcement that Paul Allen was buying back his interest in the Rose Garden. Without that, I fear we aren’t here today, or if we are, we are owned by sometype of frankensteined together ownership group, struggling to make ends meet.

I’d have to put them at the top of the teams I hate so bad I won’t watch them list (current winner – Yankees). While I love to hate the Lakers, I will at least watch them if there’s no other option ‘cause it’s just such good basketball. But seeing the Blazers in another city – just twist the dagger a bit more…

Now, I would go back to my dark days of being a disappointed fan if we ever were to go back to the Jail Blazer era. I didn’t buy tickets, watch games, buy merchandise or even admit to following the Blazers – just shook my head whenever I saw another sorry story about bad behavior. But, I never gave up altogether and when things turned around I returned to my ticket buying (now even season tickets!), tv watching, internet surfing obsessive fan self.

Of course I think my boss would prefer the jail blazer me…..

He was a long time season ticket holder (20+ years) and major fan. He left because it got too expensive and I can’t say that I blame him. He didn’t quit because the team was full of jerk offs, he quit because beers were 8 bucks. 12 bucks for a plate of food, 5 for a soda, and 60+ for any seats outside of the 300 level? Thats a damn expensive night for a guy and his son to watch some basketball. What if a family of four wants to go? I know some can afford that, but sports are supposed be to be an everyman kind of thing. This isn’t the opera.

I’m 22, I buy nosebleed seats for 5 or 6 games a year from scalpers with my friends, sneak in some whisky, and buy one soda. I love it, but I’m not gonna do that forever. The Blazers will always be my team, but Larry Miller better not expect me to drop thousands of dollars for season tickets cuz it ain’t happening! I’ll go to Buffalo Wild Wings and watch there.

The money making side of sports has really gotten out of hand and its really frustrating.

would be giving Blaze a sidekick, like a pet on a leash

Make-up point:
If the side-kick was Kobe, sniffing the ground and begging for treats

Probably not the worst thing that happened in Blazers history, but I wasn’t even following the team at that point and I remember the story clearly and the public reaction. Sure she was baiting him, she even admitted to trying to get seats that were clearly in his view. It doesn’t even matter. It’s part of the job of being King that the peasants will boo on occasion. Having her ejected from the RG was completely uncalled for and demonstrates the kind of classless hubris that drove this team into the pits in the first place. You could almost mark that as the moment the team left it’s “struggling to keep contending” phase and began its steep decline into madness.

goes through the rough times with the team. Even if they move, until another NBA team comes here, I am a Blazer follower. However that does not mean they get my money when they don’t represent the community. The dollar is the vote we get to change what needs to be changed.

I hope the Paul Allen lives a very long and healthy life.

1. Moving to another city
2. Jail Blazers.

Losing is okay, I was a big fan of the 41-41 team even when they started terrible. (That season was looking awful until the 13 game winning streak.) However, having rapists, dog fighters, brawlers, and thieves on the team does kill the game for me. I want to like everyone on our team, but when half the guys are criminals, I just can’t do it. Hopefully a lesson was learned and we never return to this.