Reporter defends officials

[Mark Padgett]

From this morning's Oregonian newspaper:

Ugly loss is no excuse for bad fan behavior
by John Canzano, The Oregonian
Monday April 20, 2009

The Trail Blazers were awful Saturday night. The Houston Rockets were not. And so the fans at the Rose Garden watching Game1 of this NBA playoff series did what fans sometimes do.

They booed the officials.

Then they chanted, "These refs suck!"

Call Saturday's Game1 loss abysmal, be frustrated, but know that the worst part of the evening was provided by Blazers fans who went small time in a big moment. And that shouldn't happen again.

This issue is bigger than basketball.

It's about how Portland is perceived across the nation. And since we live here, it's about you and me.

The Blazers didn't move on offense. They didn't match Houston's defensive intensity. Portland let Aaron Brooks get loose, looked surprised to be in a big-time game, and failed to effectively defend Yao Ming.

It was a breakdown on the basketball end by the Blazers, and it's understandable that you'd be frustrated. But crude chants, with NBA commissioner David Stern in attendance no less, re-enforce the worst things a TV audience can think about you.

You fight that little-brother syndrome when it comes to Seattle and Los Angeles. And maybe that's why making the playoffs with back-to-back whippings of the Lakers and with Mr.Sonic as your coach felt so good. And while I received more than 1,200 e-mails about Saturday's terrible performance, too many of them blamed the loss on the officials.

The officials didn't miss 10 of 11 three-point attempts. The officials didn't allow Yao to shoot 9 for 9 from the field. The officials didn't fail to compete.

The Blazers did those things.

The boos should have been for them, no?

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

It's about how Portland is perceived across the nation.

I have relatives in Philadelphia and have been to many a game there......

Nuf sed.

[26 Year Gap]

Isn't 'Jail Blazers' one of the terms used to describe the team? Or wasn't it in the past? Maybe this reporter heard Colin Cowherd on the radio the other day.

[WreckRef]

Originally Posted by 26 Year Gap

Isn't 'Jail Blazers' one of the terms used to describe the team? Or wasn't it in the past? Maybe this reporter heard Colin Cowherd on the radio the other day.

Yes, Jail Blazers was the term that used to describe the team of the past. It did in fact fit with the players on their roster. We had Bonzi Wells, Shawn Kemp, Darius Miles, Rasheed Wallace, J. R. Rider...do I need to keep going?

Luckily, management shipped out all of those guys (Darius Miles being the last) and now they not only have quality players but more importantly, quality people.

[jbduke]

Could the mods be a little more stringent in monitoring fair use? Lots of things get posted here in their entirety, rather than just summarizing and linking.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but my brother is a newspaper reporter who was just given a mandatory two-week furlough this year, so I'm pretty sensitive on this issue.

[icallfouls]

Originally Posted by jbduke

Could the mods be a little more stringent in monitoring fair use? Lots of things get posted here in their entirety, rather than just summarizing and linking.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but my brother is a newspaper reporter who was just given a mandatory two-week furlough this year, so I'm pretty sensitive on this issue.

You do know that newspapers are dying out right? They have been for nearly a decade or more. We cannot help when people make bad career choices. Maybe Obama could help him out, I hear that he is giving away lots of money right now.