Bill Simmons with rare Blazer/Portland love

[chris_in_pdx]

Latest Page 2 rant

That reminds me, I attended Game 3 of the Mavericks-Blazers series on Thursday. Since winning the 1977 title, Rip City suffered through Walton's feet, Bowie's shins, Roy's knees and Oden's everything. Its team famously passed on Jordan and Durant. It had quality contenders squashed by Isiah's Pistons, Magic's Lakers and Jordan's Bulls, eventually fumbling away the 2000 title to Shaq's Lakers with the cruelest collective choke in modern NBA history. When that roster slowly morphed into the hideous Jail Blazers, the most fan-unfriendly team ever assembled, the fans finally reached a breaking point and rebelled. Corporations stopped buying suites; fans stopped selling out the arena. Things looked bleak.

Why didn't the situation implode? Because Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge showed up. Because owner Paul Allen embraced how deeply Portlanders identified with his franchise and started emphasizing character. Because Allen hired an enterprising front office that used his money as a competitive advantage, buying extra draft picks, thinking outside the box with creative free-agent offers and raiding cost-cutting teams of solid veterans. The team built a good enough foundation to survive a few bad breaks (most recently, Oden and Roy), and now they're giving the Mavericks everything they can handle in Round 1. Maybe the Blazers haven't been totally lucky, but they've definitely been smart.

During Game 3's satisfying victory, fans hollered for four quarters, worked the refs, heckled Cuban mercilessly, stood and cheered at the right times, brought their energy to another level when their team needed it, then skipped happily out of the arena when it was over. The way they were banging drums, honking horns and chanting "Let's go Blazers" on the street, you would have thought they had just won a Game 7. Some of them headed over to celebrate at Spirit of 77, a perfectly named sports bar because Walton's 1977 team legitimized Portland as a sports city, distinguished it from every other small market and set the tone for everything that followed. Portland might not be the best professional basketball city in America, but it's definitely in the top five.

And guess what? Portland's arena isn't so great. The Rose Garden was built right before everyone figured out how to build state-of-the-art arenas, with only one tier of suites located too far from the court. Portland fans love their Blazers so much that they didn't even flip out when Allen jacked the price of playoff tickets to staggering heights. You can do these things when you're winning with likable players. That's how any NBA team not located in Los Angeles, Florida, New York or Texas survives in the NBA in 2011.

 

[HailBlazers]

The way they were banging drums, honking horns and chanting "Let's go Blazers" on the street, you would have thought they had just won a Game 7.

it did feel that way!

Portland fans love their Blazers so much that they didn't even flip out when Allen jacked the price of playoff tickets to staggering heights. You can do these things when you're winning with likable players. That's how any NBA team not located in Los Angeles, Florida, New York or Texas survives in the NBA in 2011.

So how is the league going to survive past 2011? Portland is a very unique environment, not often duplicated. There are some very dark skies on the horizon for the NBA with the lockout looming. I sure hope everyone can come together to find a solution to helping small markets thrive. The league will not be the same in a very bad way if they don't figure it out.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Latest Page 2 rant

Just read this while I was out at lunch--was planning on posting it first thing when I got back to my computer. This was a perfect description of the post-game atmosphere on Thursday; Simmons captured it perfectly. Sly, Wheels, Hailblazers and I were right there when a guy started a "Let's Go Blazers" chant with his horn. The jubilation of the crowd when it pours out of the arena following a big win is nearly unmatched. Honestly, I'm tempted to hang around the garden near the end of game 6 just so I can be a part of the throng again, even if I can't actually attend the game.

Good job by Bill.

 

[¹²³]

I think this was a pretty good article. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Rhal]

When me and my friend were walking back to car after the game, people were yelling "Lets go blazers" almost the entire way to Lloyd. It was hard not to get swept up in it even after yelling it for 3+ hours. The "Dirk's a bitch" chant a girl was screaming in the hospital parking lot was kind of funny too.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Simmons gets a bad rap amongst Blazers fans because he criticized the Oden pick (before it was made btw) but he's usually (maybe always?) complimentary of the team's fans. and the city.

 

[B-Roy]

Simmons gets a bad rap amongst Blazers fans because he criticized the Oden pick (before it was made btw) but he's usually (maybe always?) complimentary of the team's fans. and the city.

Most of the time, when he bags on something, he's usually just looking for a reaction.

 

[BrianFromWA]

I'm with Nik on this...he routinely talks about how Portland's one of the best cities for a writer/reporter to go to on a road trip, he thinks that the demise of the POR/SEA/VAN road trip and while he bags on the "soccer moms" he routinely holds up our fanbase as a model for most cities to emulate.

 

[barfo]

Most of the time, when he bags on something, he's usually just looking for a reaction.

Maybe we should ban him, then?

barfo