Oregonian hires outsider to examine relationship with Blazers

Former Mercury News sports editor Craig Lancaster is the guy. He's going to write an independent story that's going to be independently edited, too:

http://www.truehoop.com/portland-trail-blazers-48974-craig-lancaster-describes-his-oregonian-story.html

 

That should be an interesting piece. Things have been ugly between both sides. Canzano basically despises the Blazer's management and throws a hissy fit every time something doesn't go his way. The note in the piece about John not being a very happy person rings pretty true. I've met him a few times and he's the type of writer who, if he can't find any smoke to lead to a fire, will toss a smoke bomb and start screamin "Fire!" at the top of his lungs. Couple that with the fact that Blazers management has notoriously thin skin and things have all gone south in Portland. I'll be interested to read Lancaster's piece when it comes out.

 

I was just reading the blog posting about the deal and wanted to see what the SportsJournalists.commers had to say about it...that's an interesting situation to say the least.

 

This goes back a very long time and stems from people who aren't there anymore...at the Blazers or The Oregonian. ... Relations went sour when Allen bought the team, then brought in Whitsitt and fired Rick Adelman. Geoff Petrie quit in the knick of time. Blazers adopted an arrogant ``we don't need you'' approach to the media and The Oregonian adopted a ``we don't like you'' attitude toward the franchise. Then came the legal problems and, after a bit of winning with Rasheed Wallace and the rest, the team went south. While I think The Oregonian is correct in this process, especially since the NBA is the only game in town, that franchise has so many problems it should try to get along with everybody.

 

The Blazers' problems with the media started long before Canzano and Steve Patterson got their jobs. I don't agree with everything he writes, but Canzano is an excellent reporter who in many ways approaches his job like a beat writer. He's exposed several Blazer follies, so -- go figure -- management hates him. And no, I'm not John.

 

This whole episode is predicated on the assumption there are two equally meritorious sides to the story.

Absurd.

 

met john, met many people who've met john, never heard him described that way. either the 15 people i've spoke with are wrong, or you are.

 

Tom, the 15 people you spoke with are right.

 

The dude is one hell of a columnist (he reports). Don't know him personally, but I've seen him work and go out of my way to read him. He's a real pro; not surprised the Trailblazers can't stand him being around.

 

For 25 years, the Portland Trail Blazers were nearly a model franchise in the NBA. Won the title in 1977, remained serious contenders for most of the following two decades, and had a nearly unbelievable streak of consecutive sellouts (over 1,500 straight games, IIRC).

At some point, the team's management decided to begin concentrating on acquiring every borderline psychotic punk thug in the NBA, a pursuit at which they were quite successful. Resulting in, first, a catastrophically dysfunctional team on the court, and further, a spectacularly repugnant team in terms of general conduct in civilized society.

The fanbase, pushed beyond endurance, finally responded by stampeding to the exits. While for 20-25 years in a row, tickets were impossible to get, now they are impossible to give away. The team plays in front of some of the smallest crowds in the NBA.

Any coverage of the team which did not prominently feature all of these facts as context, would be delusional. There is no need for the Oregonian to be "objective."

There is no "objectivity" to be achieved here. Ownership and management are fuckups. It is what it is.

 

good post starman. right on the money.

 

The fact that he does actually reporting for his columns is one of things that I like about him. However lately his columns seem to have turned into either finding a sick a kid to write about or finding a way to take pot shots at Blazer's management whenever he can, and then complain when he gets blowback. The Blazers management team is about as paranoid as the Nixon administration, and he does his best to get the bottom of every story. I just think he could do it without trying to turn a stripper into a sympathetic character (which he tried to do a few weeks ago).
I think John is a solid reporter, he keeps digging until he gets answers. He just should not expect himself to be endeared to Blazers management. If anyone on the Oregonian staff has the right to have a beef with the Blazers its Jason Quick, the Blazers beat writer.
Maybe its that I'm fairly young and not to incredibly jaded yet, but many times it seems like John is trying to poke a Cobra so it will bite him, and then be able to write a column about it.
Hopefully though his recent trek to South America will give him fresh ideas, because when he gets away from his personal war with Steve Patterson he really is a bang up columnist who does a great job featuring local teams and individuals that fly under the national radar (see his coverage of the University of Portland women's soccer team last year and his recent feature on new Blazers guard Sergio Rodriguez).
Maybe I've just gotten the wrong read on him from the few conversations I've had with him, I talked to him at a few press conferences when I was in Portland, but I've never had lunch with him or anything. He's a bulldog reporter and I respect him for that.