There’s a new sport out there, and it’s called the BB League for short.
Some call it Blazer Bashing.
Since the Portland Trail Blazers ended their season in not-so-spectacular fashion at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers last weekend, Oregon’s only professional sports team has been forced to endure more grief than Charlie Brown kicking a field goal.
The Blazers have been called “a disgrace” by The Seattle Times and a “team of disarray” by the Oregonian. Blazer players have been labeled “an embarrassment” by the Register-Guard and “a disappointment” by The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
The Oregonian’s Web site even has a “Blazer Survivor” contest, where fans can vote off their least favorite player each week. Thursday’s castaway was Shawn Kemp, the fourth player to be voted “off the team.”
With all that bashing going on, people forgot to step away for a second and realize the Blazers really aren’t that bad.
Why, just a year ago, the Blazers were the jewel in the Northwest sports crown. Blazer fever swept over the state like an Eastern Oregon brush fire as Portland marched through the playoffs.
Was that so long ago? Were we so different then?
The Blazers have made a few changes since then, to be sure. Add Kemp and Rod Strickland, subtract Brian Grant, Jermaine O’Neal and Bonzi Wells because of injury, and the resulting mixture isn’t too pretty.
Those things can be remedied with the ease of a layup. Make a few more roster changes, keep the core group of players like Rasheed Wallace, Steve Smith, Arvydas Sabonis and Scottie Pippen, and the Blazers could contend with the Lakers again next year.
What I’m saying is, don’t let this team leave a bad taste in your mouth. Sure, Rasheed got kicked out of a few games. Yes, the players got in fights. Of course, the referees were a little harsh on this team of bad boys, er, men.
What you saw this season was a team in a tornado, being sucked into a never-ending circle of bad sportsmanship and losing streaks.
But there’s always next season.
If the fans get behind them, if their coach, Mike Dunleavy, supports them and if their general manager, Bob Whitsitt, thinks with his head instead of his rear, the Blazers will ignite the Fever once more.
At last Sunday’s Blazers-Lakers game, the final contest in the forgettable 2000-01 Blazers campaign, a fan toted a sign that said “Trade Whitsitt,” in full view of the Portland GM. In a now-infamous incident, the woman and her boyfriend’s son were removed from the game by Rose Garden security guards.
That woman was wrong. The Blazers don’t need to trade Whitsitt. They need to trade attitudes. They need to trade some personnel, and they need to trade reputations.
Maybe then the bashing will stop, and next year the Blazers can trade a first-round exit for the NBA Championship that has been so close in the past.