Can't buy me love (Jack Bog's Blog)

Yawn. So now Paul Allen isn't going to sell the Blazers. Huh. Well, it sure didn't look like a team that was about to be sold -- not these past few weeks, not with the excellent personnel moves it's been making.

It's too bad. Paul Allen has shown himself to be -- how shall I put this delicately? -- a colossal jerk, and the sooner he's out of Portland's hair, the better.

What's really going on with this guy? It beats me. If this is more of his laughable "hardball" act with the former mortgage holders who are now the unwilling owners of the Rose Garden arena, it isn't going to work. After all he's done to those folks, they're not going to make him a deal of any kind. They'd rather carry lackluster real estate on their books than show the rest of their borrowers that they're an easy mark.

And is the city or state going to bail Allen out? It's out of the question.

My guess is that he still thinks he can move the team to Seattle. Oh, I know, he's got a long-term lease that says he's stuck in Portland until they sing that "In the Year 2525" song, but I suspect he thinks, rightly or wrongly, that there's some way out of that. Just as he thought, quite wrongly, that his bankruptcy stunt and the constant whinging about his operating losses were going to produce a taxpayer bailout, a more reasonable lease, or both. With so many dumb business moves lined up in a row, you've got to think more stupidity is in the offing.

Maybe he's thinking of proposing a swap with the Oklahoma crew that just bought the Sonics -- exchange the Blazers for the Sonics, straight across, like they used to do in the old days with the Blitz-Weinhard and Olympia breweries. Both ownership groups will already have been league-approved. Then they can move the Blazers to OK City.

I wouldn't put it past Allen to waste many months and throw many millions at such a fantasy. When it comes to his running a business without Bill Gates, let's face it, a fatal exception always occurs.

One thing for sure, Mr. Chapter 7 Moneybags will never own another NBA team after the shenanigans he's pulled with this one. And so unless he's giving up on pro basketball entirely, he'd better hold onto the Blazers, wherever he thinks they are going to play.

Comments (1)

Call me crazy, but I think Allen is in this for the long haul. I think he realized he couldn't sell the team for any real money, and he can't move the team because of the lease, so he might as well try to make the team better.

Posted by: Justin at August 4, 2006 08:07 AM

Yeah, I hope he's just 're-energized' about the team and decided he'd rather have fun with it. I don't mind Allen as an owner if he's spending like a drunken sailor or at least actively trying to make the roster better. Looks like they're giving it a shot...

Posted by: TKrueg at August 4, 2006 08:39 AM

We'll know if Good Paul or Bad Paul is running the show once the Blazers decide whether or not to make Pritchard the full-time GM. The guy had a sensational draft, and has already made one great trade, getting Magliore, and I think rumors say they'll be making at least one more. If they dumped Miles once and for all, I'd be totally thrilled.

Posted by: Dave J. at August 4, 2006 08:47 AM

I don't think Paulie wants to go try his hand at arguing for a better lease and scrapping with hostile local officials in Seattle. He's got even less of a chance than Howard Schultz did, unless he can leverage his Seahawks deal with the city in some non-obvious way.

My guess is someone sold him on the fact the team is due for a revival, and selling now would be selling at the low point.

Posted by: Sebastian at August 4, 2006 09:28 AM

My pessimistic view is the same as yours.

My optimistic view is that the same thing that happened with the Seahawks is happening here. With the Hawks Allen got rid of Whitsitt then after a couple shakey years found a real GM (Ruskell) and stepped back to let him do his thing. The optimist in me hopes that he foudn his Ruskell in Pritchard and the positive moves heading into the draft and since have renewed his interest and shown him that taking a hands off approach with a savvy GM/coach combo is the way to go.

Posted by: Eric at August 4, 2006 10:14 AM

None of this would have happened if we'd drafted Adam Morrison.

Posted by: Bill McDonald at August 4, 2006 12:20 PM

Lots of wishful thinking here. If they call me trying to sell tickets, I'm going to say, "The economic model for that is broken."

Posted by: Jack Bog at August 4, 2006 12:53 PM

I wish somehow the Blazers could have been moved to another city. I'm tired of hearing about their "upcoming turnaround." Whether it's their new coach, their young rebuilding team which might just take the NBA by storm, their awesome trades, and all the other hype so painstakingly laid out that wastes everyone's time and comes to nothing.

And, of course, Paul Allens machinations mean zilch to me.

Their run-ins with the law are not something that enhances my life.

Their missed practices, and subsequent fines, aren't something that makes me want to see basketball.

Do they want to be here at all? Is it possible they see the fans as incorrigible suckers? (Gosh, I couldn't blame them.)

I'd rather watch a bunch of old geezers roller skating to a Wurlitzer organ.

They are a joke and people who go to see them are "enablers" in my book. To encourage Paul Allen's further basketball follies here is to wish nothing but grief on one's self.

But maybe Portlanders like to be treated that way.

Posted by: patrick b at August 4, 2006 09:19 PM

The Portland City Council meets on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Posted by: Jack Bog at August 4, 2006 09:57 PM

Uh, Jack, with the exception of the mayor, the members of the city council are all younger than, um, you.

Posted by: Gil Johnson at August 4, 2006 10:08 PM

Yes, and your point is?

I have referred to myself as a geezer here many times.

Fireman Randy is a retiree. Saltzman's activity level is nursing home caliber. Opie and Tram may be only middle-aged geezers, but they dance whenever creaky old Homer Williams and Tom Imeson start doing the clogging calls.

Posted by: Jack Bog at August 5, 2006 12:47 AM

A wurlitzer would substantially improve my vision of City Council meetings.

I don't think Jack looks like a geezer, not in the swimsuit shots anyway.

Posted by: Mister T at August 5, 2006 06:05 PM

[Posted as indicated; restored later.]

Posted by Blog restoration | August 14, 2007 12:33 AM

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Friday, August 4, 2006

Can't buy me love

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