SB Nation User Blog: TallTimber

Who are your Blazer untouchables?

TallTimber — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:07:30 -0000

Tomorrow we may be saying good-bye to some of our favorite Blazers. I am wondering which Blazers do you think we must keep to be part of our championship run and which can be traded or let go in order to get better.

I would be willing trade anyone except Brandon, LMA, Greg, Joel and Rudy. I love our two big guys in the middle and would hate to see either go. The other three will obviously be mainstays for years to come.

Anyone else I could see being traded to upgrade the team.

Your thoughts. please.

BendBroadband only showing 13 Blazer games this year.

TallTimber — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:08:28 -0000

There will be no Comcast or KGW games for BendBroadband customers this year, most likely. Only ESPN and TNT games will shown.

Here is the latest press release from BB.

"What about Trail Blazer Basketball?

CSN plans to air about 50 exclusive Trail Blazer games. In addition, unless BendBroadband offers CSN, BendBroadband will not have access to the syndicated broadcast games that have been previously carried on digital channel 39, (this was about 25 games during the 2007-8 season). 13 regular season Trail Blazer games will be carried on other cable networks like TNT and ESPN during the 2008-9 season.

Does BendBroadband plan to carry CSN?

BendBroadband has been in ongoing negotiations with Comcast Sports Network for the past 12 months. During this time we have made some progress towards an acceptable agreement. We are continuing to negotiate for terms that will minimize the increase in the price of our customer’s cable TV service. However, Comcast has made it clear that the cost of the channel is not negotiable.

Like other regional sports networks, Comcast Sports Network charges a very high programming cost per subscriber. The cost that BendBroadband would pay to Comcast Sports Net would then have to be passed on to subscribers of the specific programming package where that channel would be carried (in this case that would be our Preferred digital package). The cost for Comcast Sports Net would also be in addition to the annual programming cost increases of the existing channels already carried in that package. Considering that CSN alone will add about $1.50 to the monthly cost of the Preferred package.

We understand that there are many enthusiastic Trail Blazer and Oregon Duck sports fans in Central Oregon and we will continue to gauge our subscriber’s interest in this channel as we remain in negotiations with Comcast. Given the current economic climate, we are hearing from many subscribers that they are very sensitive to further price increases. However, if an overwhelming number of Preferred customers support the addition of CSN, this will of course influence our decision to carry the channel. As we have always indicated, we look to our customer’s feedback when it comes to adding channels.

Why not just put CSN into the digital Sports Tier or offer it as a pay-per-view choice?

Comcast Sports is not willing to allow BendBroadband to place this channel on our digital Sports tier nor are they considering offering specific sporting events on a pay-per-view basis. Comcast requires that cable operators place CSN into a package that reaches at least 40% of that cable system’s subscribers."

It's amazing to me that we won't be able to watch the only professional sports team in the state of Oregon in a market that's only 150 miles from Portland. The most anticipated season in many years and I will only be able to see a few games. Unbelievable. What a horrible decision by the Blazers to give the contract to these people.

We have another new player.

TallTimber — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:05:22 -0000

Yahoo has given us another new player.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap;_ylt=Ao4bHw3hPlvMSqCGtI0pOjS8vLYF?gid=2008031005

When will they ever get it right?

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Next year's minutes

TallTimber — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:10:26 -0000

Like most of you I am loving this team this season and can't wait for Greg Oden and maybe Rudy to join the team next year. But then I get to thinking "where are all the minutes going to go?"

I have been doing this fun little exercise on and off for about a month now. Sometimes I do a 9 man rotation and other times a 10 man rotation. Adding in GO and Rudy and taking out different players who may not be here. Obviously, trades and signings (or not re-signing) would affect this, but with the players we currently have, what will it be next year?

This year the minutes look this:

C - Przybilla 21, Frye 18
PF - LMA 34, Outlaw 26
SF - Webster 29, Jones 23
SG - Roy 37, Jack 27
PG - Blake 28, Sergio 9

My feeling is someone above has to go in order to fit in minutes for Oden and Rudy. This is a very difficult puzzle for KP. If I think about it almost every day, I imagine he thinks about it all the time.

My favorite scenario for next year looks like this:

C- Oden 32, Przybilla 14
PF - LMA 36, Frye 14
SF - Webster 24, Outlaw 24
SG - Roy 36, Jones 24
PG - Blake 24, Rudy 12

I see Jack being sent packing and Sergio still with us to help Rudy but just not playing much.

Tough puzzle. I am interested to see anyone else's minute projections for next year.

Bend Blazer fans - No Comcast forthcoming

TallTimber — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:48:30 -0000

It looks we in Central Oregon are out of luck for the majority of Blazer games. Here is an email I received from BendBroadband:

"Thanks for checking back. Unfortunately, being honest, I don't have any good news for you at this time.

We have had discussions with Comcast, but have opted not to add the channel at this time based on their distribution requirements. The
combination of a significant programming fee and requirement for 40% of subscribers to receive the channel would inject another large price
increase on over half of our subscribers. We have indicated to Comcast that we will consider putting the channel on our Sports tier and we'll
see if they rethink their requirements and allow this.

In the meantime I have started discussions on the NBA League Pass. Unfortunately, this service is offered by In Demand, who we don't currently do business with and comes with a maze of legal/contractual requirements. Due to other significant Q4 priorities it will be early
2008 before resources are available to work through the In Demand contracts and determine if we can add this service. I wish this one was
more straight forward - we wouldn't hesitate to offer it."

BendBroadband does have a contract with KGW so we will get those games. Unfortunately, a dish is not going to happen for me anytime soon so I will have to try to get to one of the local establishments for some games.

If there are any other BE'ers here in CO, I would ask you to call BendBroadband and indicate you would like to have the Comcast channel and League Pass.