The Vig

Full-on Blazermania is almost back. It’s like that movie Backdraft where the fire is just waiting for that gush of oxygen to make it explode.

Or words to that effect.

Last night’s game was #1 of my 20-game package for the season. The way the thing works, I paid $100 for 20-games in the 300-level. The seats are never in the same place twice and I don’t get any sort of season-ticket holder privileges. But I am in the building. So that counts for something, right?

Last night I sat parallel to the retired jersey numbers in the back of section 317.

Twardzik will always be my all-time favorite Blazer and when I figure out how to order the 4XL Mitchell and Ness special, I’ll be displaying my love at every game. In the meantime, I’ll just be content to start a grassroots effort to bring him back to Portland to replace Anotonio Harvey as the radio color man. Brutal does not even come close to describing Harvey’s style on the air. He’s frequently unprepared and rarely offers insight beyond gibberish. And as long as we’re on Blazer broadcasters, it’s only because no one in the local media has Comcast that there’s been no mention of how bad the Blazer TV production is. Sideline reporter Rebecca Haarlow is well on the way toward becoming a YouTube sensation to rival Miss South Carolina (she is that bad) and Michael Holton isn’t much better in the studio.

I haven’t spent much time up in the 300-level in the last several years. It’s always closed for Winter Hawks games and the Blazer games I’ve seen have been so sparsely attended that lower level seats were practically being given away. The folks at Global Spectrum did a fantastic job upgrading the luxury areas the season before last. And this season they’ve gone even further in revamping the main concourse. They’ve added a couple of beer gardens and completely redone the concessions. It looks really good. The 300 level, though, still has some work ahead of it. What, for example, is this display still doing up there?

‘Sheed’s been gone since 2004, kids. Brian Grant, who’s palm print is to the right of ‘Sheed, left in 2000. That’s 7 seasons ago. Yet the display is still up there. We’re on our second GM since 2000. Let’s get this taken care of, a’ight?

Some other thoughts, in no particular order:

Darius Miles will play for the Blazers this season. You can take that to the bank. Don’t believe me? Read this. If they’re smart, they’ll play him on the road to start. Far away from the several hundred who booed when he was on the screen going through his Eddie Murphy “Trading Places” bit. “GI Joe with the kung-fu grip.” The perfect time to bring him in would be on the East Coast road trip starting January 13 in Toronto. It would get him showcased in front of some Eastern Conference GMs ahead of the trade deadline and who knows, he may not come back. That would be the best case scenario. But I’m guessing they’ll put him in to get us used to having him around when they get back home on January 25th.

The question then becomes who’s minutes does Miles take? Webster’s? Jones’? Outlaw’s? Who?

Wally Szcerbiak is still in the league? Now that I look at it, he was part of the Ray Allen deal. It all makes sense now. The point is that guy can fill it up. Wow.

Did you know James Jones leads the league in 3-point percentage?

Sergio Rodriguez is Jason Williams. He’s never met a shot he didn’t like. He even had me yelling at him in the fourth quarter. “Shoot it! You know you want to!” No wonder Nate doesn’t want him out there. The team needs a distributor at the point, not a shooter. And not a poor decision maker. I can live with turnovers, but poor shot selection will make a man tear his hair out.

Why does Brian Wheeler never yell Boom Shaka Laka when Przybilla dunks? Employee #10 had a much more spectacular dunk in the first quarter than the one Roy threw down in the second. Yet Roy gets the extra dap. Why is that?

BeBe Winans has got some pipes. Normally I’m not a fan of overwrought national anthems, but I make an exception for Mr. Winans. Maybe he can come fill in for Katie Harman at the Winter Hawks game next Monday.

Greg Oden is worth his weight in gold. His “Day Before Christmas” bit was pure comedy genius. And whoever figured out to rhyme Charles Barkley McLovin with microwave oven deserves an extra holiday bonus.

It was fantastic to see Paul Allen animated. An engaged Allen is a good thing.

Is Christmas In Hollis considered old school? I don’t know how to feel about that.

Casey Holdahl looks freaking weird in a coat and tie. I wondered walking into the arena who got the better gig. Marentette or Holdahl. I’m guessing Marentette hasn’t had to wear a tie in a while. I’ll give the edge to him. But it’s close.

So that’s that. I think my next game is Sunday versus the Sixers. I gave away Friday’s tickets as a Christmas gift. Hopefully the Blazers will be working toward #13 when I see them next. Maybe they can bring in Twardzik to celebrate. Wouldn’t that be nice?

As of tonight, Former O-Liver Casey Holdahl is back in the blogosphere.  His new Trail Blazers Center Court will be a must read for any fan.  Imagine getting paid to blog about your favorite team.  Must be nice.

Anyway, congratulations Casey!  Don’t forget about us little people.

Congratulations to friend-of-blog Casey Holdahl on his new gig with the Portland Trail Blazers. Until last week, he was OregonLive’s Blazer blogger, taking over for Eric Marentette, who left a while back to become Kobe’s web guy. Whoever gets the gig next has some HUGE shoes to fill.

There has been some tongue-in-cheek discussion as to whether Casey is a real person or some sort of Paul Allen-created borg. I can assure you Casey is real. He’s taken both money and meals off of me by preying on my misguided loyalties. I wish him the best in his new endeavor.

The Greg Oden injury put Portland front and center on the sports map last week. Outlets from ESPN, to Sports Illustrated, to AOL, to The Big Lead were chock full of commentary on the injury and what it means to the Blazer franchise. Knees and micro-fracture surgery both give fans the heebie jeebies and when its your franchise savior who’s knee just had the micro-fracture performed…well, pardon us if we go a little overboard.

Casey Holdahl had an excellent rundown of local and national reaction on Friday. Much ink was spilled and bandwidth consumed. One link Holdahl left out was Canzano. JC, as is his habit, zigged when the rest of the nation zagged. Rather than give us any insight into what happened or thoughts about where we go from here, Canzano gave us The Birdman. I don’t get it. JC gets 750 words three-times-a-week to talk sports. Instead, more often than not, he’s giving us “life lessons”.

Like the time earlier this summer when he was dispatched to the All-Star Game in San Francisco and came back with the story of Anne Marie Feigner. There were so many other things to talk about down there. Ichiro. Bonds. Heck. Even a column about how the Giants stabbed the A’s in the back and forced them into the South Bay would have been an interesting story. At least that would have justified the expense of sending him down.

There are countless other examples of Canzano writing about down on their luck sports fans, imploring us to write checks and send donations. I’m getting really tired of it. The Oregonian is a big paper, filled with reporters and columnists who’s job it is to give me “perspective.” Now they’re letting their #1 sports columnist become Margie Boulé-lite.

Add to that the fact Canzano’s now moonlighting as talk show host for the Paul Allen owned KXL. I’ve commented on the strained ethics of the deal elsewhere. No one has come up with a satisfactory explanation as to why it’s alright to take a paycheck from an organization you’re being paid by someone else to cover, but whatever. JC says he has complete editorial control, so I guess I’ll believe him. I do wonder though about the timing of the deep tongue kiss he gave the Blazers just before his radio show started. Will he continue to play footsie with the Blazers in print while chiding them on the radio? How long Fred and Sandy will put up with that?

I left a comment on his blog wondering whether his status as a Vulcan employee was clouding the content of his column (djsaladplate, an homage to another local sports guy’s recent weight loss, will now be retired in favor of the much simpler snethen). You’ll have to trust me on that. Seems JC edited that part out, then called me his friend. The comment, as I recall, was something to the effect of “nothing to see here, so says the Blazer employee/Oregonian columnist.” Pretty tame, if you ask me. I’ve left other comments for him, all as djsaladplate, suggesting a local Murrow Award winning journalist might be better suited to cover his subject matter and could we please get back to talking sports. Those have never made the cut.

Having blogged for nearly 4 years now, I can say I’ve whacked my share of comments. I’ve even banned a guy who can’t get it through his head that this isn’t Romper Room. I’ve yet to edit any comment that’s taken a direct shot at me though. You’re either in or you’re out (mostly in, unless your curse). Deleting a comment is one thing, but editing a comment to make yourself look better is not cool. Welcome to Canzano’s world.

My time as a sports fan is limited. I’m not alone in making that observation. I’m getting tired of turning on my radio or opening my paper hoping I’ll find commentary on my favorite team only to be greeted with Debbie Downer or worse. If Canzano wants to be Steve Duin, then by all means go be Steve Duin. There are hundreds of young hungry journalists out there who would kill to write a regular sports column. Maybe it’s time to give one of them a shot and let Canzano go chase his dream.

Update:  You can check out some contrary views here and here.