ducks
12-02-2005, 02:35 PM
Just a few things to ponder on a cold night in front of the fire:
• If Ruben Patterson doesn’t want to play however many minutes Nate McMillan wants him to play, why are the Trail Blazers paying him? He was fined two games’ salary but missed five other games on the recent seven-game road trip, sitting comfortably at home in Ohio, for which he was paid his normal salary. Does this make any sense?
• Is there any bigger mess of a franchise than the Detroit Lions? I am not a Joey Harrington homer, but I just don’t think he had a chance there. The team stinks and has for years. I hope he gets a legitimate chance someday to play for a team that’s talented and well-coached.
• What’s the toughest sports ticket in town this weekend? No, it’s not the Blazer game tonight. It’s a ticket for the back porch at the swanky Multnomah Athletic Club during the evening’s Class 4A football semifinal playoff games. With Jesuit, Lake Oswego, Lincoln and Tualatin playing, don’t you figure that a good many fans, parents and boosters are MAC members?
• Isn’t it going to be a waste of gasoline and time to send the winners of those two prep games to Eugene to play for the state title next week? I hated the idea of locking that championship game into the same site every year for this reason — it makes no sense for two Portland-area teams to drive 100 nasty freeway miles for a game that would work fine at PGE Park. The real consequence will be lost revenue, by the way, as a good many Portlanders will decide to stay home and watch the game on television.
• What can you say to people who have lost so much? My deepest sympathies to the family of David Heller, the junior guard from Central Catholic who died in his sleep last week. I covered David’s father, Jeff, when he was a starting center at the University of Portland on some outstanding teams during the Jack Avina era. I’ve seen more talented centers than Jeff was, but I never saw one who played any harder.
• Barry Bonds has told people he’s going to lose 40 pounds before next season, to ease the pressure on his surgically repaired knees. Makes sense, but it’s also just a little bit of a coincidence, what with Major League Baseball instituting its heavy duty drug policy. Hey, Barry, losing all that weight wouldn’t have anything to do with being off the steroids, would it?
• If Ruben Patterson doesn’t want to play however many minutes Nate McMillan wants him to play, why are the Trail Blazers paying him? He was fined two games’ salary but missed five other games on the recent seven-game road trip, sitting comfortably at home in Ohio, for which he was paid his normal salary. Does this make any sense?
• Is there any bigger mess of a franchise than the Detroit Lions? I am not a Joey Harrington homer, but I just don’t think he had a chance there. The team stinks and has for years. I hope he gets a legitimate chance someday to play for a team that’s talented and well-coached.
• What’s the toughest sports ticket in town this weekend? No, it’s not the Blazer game tonight. It’s a ticket for the back porch at the swanky Multnomah Athletic Club during the evening’s Class 4A football semifinal playoff games. With Jesuit, Lake Oswego, Lincoln and Tualatin playing, don’t you figure that a good many fans, parents and boosters are MAC members?
• Isn’t it going to be a waste of gasoline and time to send the winners of those two prep games to Eugene to play for the state title next week? I hated the idea of locking that championship game into the same site every year for this reason — it makes no sense for two Portland-area teams to drive 100 nasty freeway miles for a game that would work fine at PGE Park. The real consequence will be lost revenue, by the way, as a good many Portlanders will decide to stay home and watch the game on television.
• What can you say to people who have lost so much? My deepest sympathies to the family of David Heller, the junior guard from Central Catholic who died in his sleep last week. I covered David’s father, Jeff, when he was a starting center at the University of Portland on some outstanding teams during the Jack Avina era. I’ve seen more talented centers than Jeff was, but I never saw one who played any harder.
• Barry Bonds has told people he’s going to lose 40 pounds before next season, to ease the pressure on his surgically repaired knees. Makes sense, but it’s also just a little bit of a coincidence, what with Major League Baseball instituting its heavy duty drug policy. Hey, Barry, losing all that weight wouldn’t have anything to do with being off the steroids, would it?