SB Nation User Blog: CatMan2

Blazersedge social research project #1: Who's your 5th favorite active Blazer?

CatMan2 — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:20:43 -0000

Hey there, Blazer fans! This is my first attempt at a poll on the Edge. Let's hope I get it working properly.

Well, the purpose of this poll is to find out who your 5th favorite active Blazer is. So, try to rank your top five favorite Blazers, who are on the team now, and then vote for the one who is in the number 5 slot. By "active", I just mean on the roster. For this poll, a player could be starting, in the rotation, not in the rotation, or injured--it doesn't matter. Being on the roster currently is the only criterion.

Now, your favorite players don't have to be the most talented or most vitally important ones on the team. They should be the ones you most enjoy watching, who interest you the most, who you might care about as just plain people.

If you feel like it, go ahead an write a brief comment explaining your vote.

Thanks for participating. See you around!

Poll

Who's your 5th favorite active Blazer?

LaMarcus Aldridge

16 votes

Nicolas Batum

26 votes

Jerryd Bayless

15 votes

Steve Blake

3 votes

Dante Cunningham

10 votes

Rudy Fernandez

18 votes

Juwan Howard

0 votes

Andre Miller

4 votes

Patrick Mills

4 votes

Greg Oden

5 votes

Travis Outlaw

6 votes

Jeff Pendergraph

0 votes

Joel Przybilla

4 votes

Brandon Roy

11 votes

Martell Webster

10 votes

132 votes | Poll has closed

KP to French daily: "Il est mort."

CatMan2 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:03:21 -0000

That’s right Blazer fans, the team’s PR machine is at it again. This time, to add insult to injury (no pun intended), they’ve decided that the French public is more deserving of accurate and timely information about our players than we are.

In what is becoming an embarrassing pattern characterized by incomplete, overly optimistic, or inaccurate medical reports about its players, the Blazers have apparently reached a new low point. While the press release for home audience consumption assures us that Batum is just fine after undergoing an operation to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder, Pritchard’s statement to the French daily newspaper, Le Monde paints a far different picture. Here is a partial translation sent to me by a friend in Le Mans:

"Sliding easily into the earthy patois spoken in the Sarthe region, Mr. Pritchard announced that young Nicolas Batum had died of ‘minor complications’ during his shoulder surgery on Friday. Pritchard said that, as usual, the team would not address private medical matters except in general terms. However, he did say that Mr. Batum’s death had come as a surprise to the Blazers, especially to trainer Jay Jensen, who performed the procedure in the Blazers locker room. According to Mr. Pritchard, Mr. Jensen had initially believed that the operation was proceeding as planned despite the fact that Mr. Batum had evidently lost ‘several liters’ of blood early on. ‘Nicolas had shown a resilient quality on previous occasions, and it’s understandable that Jay expected him to bounce back quickly,’ said Mr. Pritchard. ‘It was only later on, after his assistant noticed that Nic had not moved—or taken a breath, for that matter—in over an hour and twenty minutes, that Jay began to be concerned,’ he added. Mr. Pritchard then expressed his strong support for Mr. Jensen: ‘Jay’s been around the block. This type of thing may seem unusual to people who don’t know Jay, but, believe me, he’s seen it all. All of us in the office have the greatest respect for what Jay has accomplished and continues to achieve.’"

"Biting easily into a cracker covered with the earthy paté eaten in the Sarthe region, Mr. Pritchard put the day’s events into perspective: ‘It’s definitely a setback for Nic at this point in his career, and we don’t want to minimize that. On the other hand, we aren’t going to fall into any kind of knee-jerk reactions because of this. The important thing is we have a process, and we’ll look at this thing from all the angles, see what works and doesn’t work, and we’ll learn from it. Do we make mistakes sometimes? You bet we do. Do we make the same mistake twice? We like to feel that our process makes that less likely.’"

So there you have it, Blazer fans. But wait, there’s more! Thanks to LkrsSukDablzrs4Eva over at oregonlive for this scoop .... According to LSD4E, a printed email from Blazers President Larry Miller missed the shredder and was mistakenly taken home by a low-level Blazer employee. In the email, which was addressed to all the NBA GMs, Miller said (and I paraphrase) that attempts by other clubs to portray Batum’s surgery as less than successful would be seen by the Blazers as efforts to ‘poison’ future contract negotiations with Batum and other players, and the Blazers would litigate to the fullest extent in those cases. Miller’s position is that the surgery was indeed 100% successful in repairing Batum’s shoulder despite having regrettably left the young prospect in an inert state for at least the time being.

We should soon know even more about this, since Jason Quick has just published a brief account of informal discussions he had today with Nate McMillan about the surgery snafu. Nate reinforced KP’s points about the team approach, and then he seemed to become a bit impatient with Quick’s suggestion that this turn of events might lead to significant problems for the Blazers. According to Quick, Nate said, ‘Look, Nic is—or was, I guess—showing a lot of promise at the three spot. We really liked what he brought on defense. But, don’t people realize that we’ve still got some talented guys on this team who can play that position? I’m talking about guys who are still alive. I just don’t see what all the fuss is about.’ Quick then asked Nate specifically what role he could foresee for Nic in the long term. After an uncomfortable pause, Nate said that he would weigh all the options. He was careful to say, though, that Nic would probably never regain the range of smooth moves he has exhibited in the past. Nate said he "wouldn’t be surprised" to see Nic moving "very stiffly" on the court.

In addition, Quick added some background to his story that may shed some light on KP’s current frame of mind. An unnamed Blazer insider is saying that Pritchard has received inquiries from several other teams regarding Batum’s availability since the surgery. Apparently, the Blazers could obtain Zach Randolph in a lopsided trade if they could make the salaries match somehow. Another possibility is that New Jersey might offer Drazen Petrović straight up. Randolph would fill the role of a "banger" off the bench, that so many Blazer fans insist is the team’s foremost need. On the other hand, Petrović, while replacing Batum as the team’s only (acknowledged) dead Euro wing, would not improve the logjam at his position. However, these are exactly the kinds of unattributed remarks that cause the blogs to brim over with speculation. Please, let’s take this one step at a time!

Finally, this incident with Nic may be only part of a larger, more important story. Rumor has it that the Oregonian is soon going to run a series titled "Quick and the Dead", in which JQ will chronicle these kinds of stories on an ongoing basis. Connecting the dots, it seems pretty clear that there must be other Blazers with similar issues. For example, what are we to think about Steve Blake’s recent play? To me, it just doesn’t seem like the same old Steve. Could it be that the injury he sustained last year was more serious than the Blazers organization let on? In case anybody has forgotten, here’s how he looked after banging his head. Note the gray pallor, the lifeless gaze.

Anyhow, I’ll try to stay on top of these disturbing developments. Can we all call for greater transparency from the Blazers organization? They want our support—both our cheers and our money. Shouldn’t we be treated at least as well as the French?

2009-10-30 Junk Drawer: Pre-Halloween Conspiracy Theory Edition

CatMan2 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:19:40 -0000

Okay, what exactly happened to the previous JD for this day. Did AK destroy it? Or was there a rippin' flame war that got to be too hot for the mods? OR what???!!!??!!?!?

While we're on the subject, what are your current conspiracy theories? Anything we all really have to know that is being buried by the main stream media?

On another subject, what are everybody's plans for Halloween? I think there might be a game on. I'll check.

Maybe this theme has been done before in a JD. I don't know. Mainly I'm just posting it to find out what happened to the other JD and as a public service to the Bedge. You're welcome.

Here's somebody the Blazers should draft around 2015 or so.

CatMan2 — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:34:13 -0000

Here's somebody the Blazers should draft around 2015 or so.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/22/forward-flip-basketball-s_n_218799.html

LeBron, Kobe on Finals collision course No need to even play the first 3 rounds. Fourteen NBA...

CatMan2 — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:21:28 -0000

LeBron, Kobe on Finals collision course

No need to even play the first 3 rounds. Fourteen NBA teams might just as well start their vacations right now. Personally, I plan not to watch any of the games until the preordained matchup, and this will free up a lot of otherwise wasted time so I can finally learn Japanese and lose 120 lbs.

Junk Drawer April 9, 2009: Happy Birthday, Becky!

CatMan2 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:35:52 -0000

I saw there was no JD for today, and it IS my wifes birthday, so here's a pathetic attempt to get (more) on her good side.

By the way, "Trail Blazer" was a phrase on Wheel O Fortune just a few minutes ago. I see this as a powerful omen whose meaning is shrouded in mystery.

Poor Martell. Now I almost don't want the Blazers to win the championship this year because Webby won't feel 100% a part of it. I guess I'd learn to cope though.

I'm not gonna root for that team down in SoCal tonight, come what may. I do look forward to another Blazerific smackdown tommorow night.

Well, that's about all I got. Whassup?

First (Junk Drawer O' 2009)

CatMan2 — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 07:46:47 -0000

Happy New Year, BEdgers! Good luck to you in all your endeavors in 2009. And, may we see the Blazers not only get into the postseason, but prosper!

What resolutions, if any, are you all making? I've already started on one of mine recently, trying to be more positive in my comments on BE.

Well, I DID mean to post at 12:00:01, but ... there were tactical problems. My wife and I were at a small party with our friends, and about 11:00 pm, I realized they had wireless internet and a laptop that I could use. My wife was none too keen on the idea, but I thought wow, how cool would it be to have the 1st post of the new year. So I typed in the first part of this post, and just when our clock struck 12:00, I clicked to publish it, the rushed over to kiss my jilted-feeling wife. Never thought to check online whether our clock was accurate. Doh!

Anyhow, Happy New Year to all!

Please UnRec Worst Junk Drawer Ever? Dec. 22, 2008

CatMan2 — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:36:38 -0000

Okay, this is my first, probably last, junk drawer. I don't anticipate that I'll spend much, if any, time responding to anybody who posts here, and I've only really got one thing to tell you that may interest a few BEdgers out there.

The Blazers flew out of Eugene today on account of the crappy conditions up north. They had a bus ride to Eugene's airport, then a charter flight to Denver. I just heard about this on the late news here in Eugene. The sports guy said the Blazers will come back through Eugene after the game in Denver.

Because hardly anything exciting happens here in Eugene, and because we're all kind of frazzled by the holiday rushing around and weird weather phenomena (flaky whitish matter falling from the sky), my wife and I are considering going to the airport to greet them when they return.

I don't know when, exactly, that would be. And I'm not really trying to organize anything. I'm just putting this out there in case anybody in the area thinks that might be a fun, random thing to do either late Monday night or possibly sometime early on Tuesday.

Discuss amongst yourselves. Or not.

What's in a name?

CatMan2 — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:15:49 -0000

Here's a bit of fluff I came up with based on about 30 minutes of intense "research". My sources were http://en.wikipedia.org/ , http://www.babyhold.com/ and http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/

Ever wonder about the meanings of the Blazer players' names? Me neither. However, the following may entertain some of you. Rankings are for American boy's names.

Greg (50th most popular boy's name in 1988) = "Watcher". How about that staring off into space?
Brandon = "Prince" or "Brave" (15th in 1984) Any questions?
LaMarcus (not in the top 1000 in 1985) is one of two Blazers with names that could be said to derive from Mars, the Roman war god. Martell (812th in 1986) is the other. May they live up to their names!
Travis (42nd in 1984) = "Toll collector". Maybe as in "It's gonna cost you to drive this lane, buddy!"
Steve (201st in 1980) = "Crown". Blake has already won an NCAA championship and is now bent on winning it all in the NBA.
Joel (71st in 1979) = "The Lord is God". If Joel says so, I ain't gonna argue.
Rudy (359th in 1985) = "Famous wolf". Hide the womenfolk!
Channing (not in top 1000 in 1983) = "Knowing". How fitting is this for a guy who just radiates intelligence?
Sergio (196th in 1986) = "Servant". That's a great name for a pass-first point guard!
Nicolas (218th in 1988) = "Victory of the people". Just what you'd expect in a great team player.
Jerryd (b. 1988). Hmmm. Could he be Jerry with added "d"? Jerry = "Spear ruler". Right.
Ikechukwu, aka Ike (b. 1983). For some reason, Ike wasn't in my main source, so I cheated and assumed "Dwight", and that means "Mountain of Zeus".
Raef (b. 1976) = "Forgiving". That's a relief.
Shavlik (b. 1983) remains an enigma.
Nate (187th in 196) = "God has given". Hmmm.
Kevin (17th in 1967) = "Beautiful at birth"!
Paul (17th in 1953) = "Small" or "Humble"!

By the way, somebody has played a juvenile prank on Joel's Wikipedia page. Check out the first sentence. I have yet to edit a single word on that site, but maybe one of you readers might want to fix it?

OT: OSU coach's brother-in-law elected to office

CatMan2 — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:46:54 -0000

Craig Robinson, the men's basketball coach at Oregon State has an in-law who has had some recent success on the political stage.The story has been picked up nationally; e.g., see http://www.nytimes.com/

Details are sketchy so I don't really have 75 words at this time :(

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