The Vig

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Was it only two seasons ago that Joel Przybilla re-signed with the Blazers?  Wow, time does fly.  Watching the media’s reaction to the arrival of Rudy Fernandez reminds me a lot of their reaction to the Przybilla signing in 2006.  You’ll recall the Blazers put on a big show down on the waterfront which culminated in the big fella taking a ride in a jet ski.  The press hated it.  I mean they loathed every second of it.  The guys on The Fan along with Canzano just went on and on about how much it sucked to be dragged down to this event and how the whole thing seemed cheap and how it was a new low for the Blazers.  How the organization just didn’t get it.

That afternoon was a sign to me that the media was behind the curve on what the Blazers were trying to do.  They were trying to reconnect with Portland.  They were trying to shed the Jail Blazer image.  They were going to rebuild the franchise around solid guys who could play.  You’ll recall that was the same summer Canzano and the two guys from the Uptight and The Monkey afternoon show all ripped the Blazers for passing on Adam Morrison and getting Aldridge and Roy instead.  The summer of 2006 was a major turning point for the Blazers, but the media missed it.  They didn’t catch up completely until that spring, when Roy and Aldridge had asserted themselves as leaders.

I still remember the day Steve Patterson was fired last March.  Morrison and his Charlotte Bobcats were in town that day.  The Fan and Canzano both went on and on about the end of an era and how the Blazers got it right with Roy and Aldridge.  Morrison’s name wasn’t uttered once.  How quickly they had forgotten.

Why do I bring all of this up?  Because the media is behind the curve yet again on the Blazers.  The burn-out is starting to set in on this group.  That stunt over the weekend where the Blazers publicized Fernandez’s flight information was just too much.

Sidebar: I guess there’s something in the CBA which prevented Paul Allen from flying Fernandez in on a private jet?  Was there a reason they made him fly commercial then made him run a media gauntlet?  Dragging him off a plane from the East Coast then into a press conference less than two hours later is plain cruel.  End Sidebar.

Expectations on this team have been blown way out of proportion.  As a commenter on Brother Jaynes’ blog noted, there are some people in this town who need an intervention.  I have a feeling that in six months we’re going to be looking back on this period and wondering what in the heck we were thinking.

I honestly didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to this week’s visit to Portland by Major League Soccer Commissioner Dan Garber. I figured he was blowing into town to drum up some support for bringing his league to our fair city and that would pretty much be that. What we got instead was a bunch of “what are you willing to do to woo me?” Reading Boaz Herzog’s article in Wednesday’s Oregonian is like reading one of those personal ads on CraigsList.

Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson, who is negotiating with MLS to bring a team to Portland, said PGE Park could be updated to league standards for no more than $20 million, much less than the cost of building a new facility.

Right. The City just spent $40 million in upgrading Civic Stadium and now Paulson wants 50% more to lure a “major league” soccer franchise. And he wants a new stadium for the Beavers? Yeah, good luck with that. Paulson seems to believe he deserves the same perks (read: government dollars) the original Portland Family Entertainment received a decade ago. He doesn’t. He owns two profitable minor league sports franchises which he’ll be able to sell in a few years for a profit. No doubt those new owners will also wail that they need a check from the government to stay in town too. Those days are over. If you don’t believe me, watch what’s happening in Seattle right now with the Sonics.

Adding fuel to the fire is John Canzano. JC hosted the MLS commish on his radio show Wednesday night. Garber spent most of the segment trying to convince Canzano that not only is MLS a “major league” sport, but it also deserves some kind of special civic consideration. PGE Park, he argued, isn’t up to MLS standards and if we wanted the MLS, we’d better step up. Canzano nailed Garber to the wall by simply pointing out it wasn’t up to Portland to sell MLS, but it’s up to MLS to sell Portland. This sent Garber sputtering and Canzano ended the interview soon after. Canzano explains here.

All I said to Garber was that MLS is minor league, and he’s nuts if he thinks he can get public money to assist in bringing an expansion team here, and also, that if he’s not going to answer a simple question in a simple interview, we might as well move on and take calls from callers.

So I moved on.

He went on to explain:

I also don’t think MLS has the best soccer in the world. It’s not the best soccer. The product is inferior, even with David Beckham in uniform. And calling it “major league” is a stretch until it becomes the best in the world. I’d say the same thing of MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA etc. if those leagues didn’t have the best in the world.

The MLS is minor league.

He’s right on all counts. Paulson has the money to build a new soccer stadium himself. He doesn’t need the City to help him. And aside from giving local youth soccer teams a cool place to play when the Timbers aren’t around, there’s really no benefit to the city. None.

And despite what Garber wants us to believe, the MLS is minor league. Oh sure they have a national TV contract and play in several soccer-exclusive stadiums, but until the EPL and other European Leagues quit coming over here and poaching our best players, it’s going to remain minor league. Major leagues feature the world’s best players. And fans will seek those leagues out, which is why I’m watching the Man U match this morning.

Was it rude to hang up on the commish? Yeah, probably. And I have a feeling were his guest’s name Stern or Goodell or Selig, he may have shown a little more deference. But then none of those guys is trying to sell their product in Portland. Garber is. Canzano simply did what anyone should do when a salesman overstays his welcome. He showed him the door.

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.

John  Canzano, lifting a line from a John Carpenter movie, has a little note in his blog this morning about the progress of one Channing Frye.  You may remember Frye as the “who ‘dat?” portion of the deal that sent Z-Bo to the Knicks for Steve Francis’ salary.  Rest assured, Kevin Pritchard knew who he was when he brought him into town.

With the departure of Luke Schenscher (a guy who, by the way, may find a home in Minnesota with Garnett now gone), Frye is now my favorite Blazer.  Why?  Because he’s self-entertaining.

I deliver take-out a couple of nights a week and most weekends.  It’s a pretty sweet gig.  No stress.  Decent bucks.  So very Portland.  Anyway, a few weeks back now, I got to take food to Channing’s place.  He was new to town, and had just bought his new place.  How could I tell?  There wasn’t a stick of furniture in the entire place.  Actually, I take that back.  He had a small card table and a folding chair.  And he mentioned he had a bed in the back.  Besides that?  Empty.  Not even silverware.  Seems all his stuff was on a truck from NYC and wasn’t due in for a few days.

But there he was.  Home sweet home.  A man who needed nothing more than a table and a chair.  And a restaurant menu.

As we exchanged small talk, I mentioned how happy we fans were to have him in town and asked how he liked Portland.

“Oh man,” he said, “I love it.”

And he meant it.  I so badly wanted to say “just work hard for us and we’ll love you forever”, but I kept my mouth shut.  I just handed him his chopsticks (I was out of silverware and he said he knew how to use the sticks) and wished him well.

Channing Frye, folks.  My new favorite Blazer.