The
Phantom Menace: Blazervision
NOISE IN THE 'HOOD
The Rose Garden is not known as one of the the loudest
NBA venues, so it was a bit surprising that before the
Saturday game a half-full arena of fans watching warm-ups
produced the sound of a full house. The big screen above
center court proclaimed, "We believe...that the NBA's
loudest arena...isn't the Delta Center." Well, we believe...that
some of that crowd noise was coming from the Rose Garden's
loudspeakers, not the fans.
STARRY NIGHT CLUB
The stars were out this weekend in Portland. They
weren't like the stars at L.A.'s Forum or Madison Square
Garden, but the Rose Garden played host to some familiar
faces: NBA Commissioner David Stern, University of Utah
coach Rick Majerus, Olympic skier Picabo Street, University
of Oregon coach Ernie Kent and local pro putter Peter
Jacobsen.
INSULT TO INJURY
Not only did BlazerVision fans have to fork out
some cash to watch a sold-out home game, but they got
ripped off during the post-game show. While commentators
Bill Schonley, Eddie Doucette and Mychal Thompson blabbed
at the end of the game, TNT nabbed Isaiah Rider for
an interview and broadcast Jerry Sloan's tirade against
Rasheed Wallace.
THE DREADED TRUTH
The most common Blazer gear at the Rose Garden?
Got to be the Brian Grant mock dreadlocks. The headband-with-hair
was popular not only with fans but also with NBC broadcaster
Bill Walton. The eccentric former Blazer, who sported
a wild 'do of his own during his on-court career, briefly
donned the dreads on the air Saturday.
COMIN' UP SHORT
City Commissioner Erik Sten bet $5 that Isaiah Rider
would score 25 or more in Game 4. Rider scored 24.
UTAH RAZZ
Earlier in the season, Jermaine O'Neal lamented
Blazers fans' habit of cheering for opponents. He didn't
have to worry last weekend. Booing bruisers like Malone
is commonplace in the NBA, but Blazers fans branched
out Sunday, regularly razzing Utah guards John Stockton
and Jeff Hornacek. Fans also got creative with their
signs. Our favorites: a picture of a baby, saying "I
cry less than the Jazz," and the minimalist, "U-Came,
U-Tah, U-Lose."
TALK ABOUT YOUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS...
A few NBA players, including the Blazers' Brian
Grant and Rasheed Wallace, have their own PR guys. But
Blazer center Arvydas Sabonis has one-upped 'em. He's
got his own personal journalist. Gintautas Alksninis,
a foreign correspondent for Lietuvos Rytas, a
Lithuanian daily newspaper, started covering Sabonis
in the second round of the playoffs and made his first
trip to Portland last weekend. Alksninis says his paper,
the largest daily in Sabonis' native country, regularly
runs NBA news and expanded coverage of the Blazers.
The country even receives live broadcasts of the playoffs
(though they usually air in the middle of the night).
DIVINE GUIDANCE?
How's this for inspiration?: Jesus and Deion Sanders.
Jimmy Jackson's locker room reading material last weekend
was a copy of The Case for Christ, while Walt
Williams' locker contained a copy of Sanders' autobiography.
Carlos Rogers, the Blazers' injured forward, had both
books in his locker. Overall, though, it seems that
J.C. has got the edge over Neon Deion. Several players,
including Jermaine O'Neal and Isaiah Rider, wear black
bracelets with the acronym "WWJD" (What Would Jesus
Do?).
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
Lost in the flood of post-game stats, Jermaine O'Neal
played in his first playoff game at home on Sunday.
He suited up for nine minutes in the third quarter after
Grant and Wallace fell into foul trouble. O'Neal matched
up well against Karl Malone, hit a pair of free throws,
snagged three rebounds and had a big block before retiring
to the bench. "It felt really good," O'Neal said. "That's
the tough part. You've got to always be ready to play,
and you never know when you'll get your call." O'Neal,
whose contract expires this year, told WW two
months ago that he had all but made up his mind to leave
Portland. He now says that even though he's focused
on the championship drive, it's still a topic of conversation.
"Whenever a guy's contract is up, we always talk about
it," he says. "It comes up a lot around the locker room."
The Phantom Menace
The hottest topic in the Blazers-Jazz series
last weekend wasn't Karl Malone's elbow or Jerry Sloan's
temper; it was the Blazers' decision to televise Sunday's
game on BlazerVision only, which means you had to have
cable TV, a special box and $15.95 to view the contest.
Here's why: When playoff games are broadcast on NBC,
they are available to everyone in the Portland area.
But when NBC chooses not to broadcast games, as was
the case on Sunday, the games are usually offered on
TNT--with one big exception. The league's blackout rule
won't allow TNT to broadcast the action within a 35-mile
radius of the home court. The Blazers could still have
chosen to allow a local station to broadcast the action.
But they opted instead to put the game on pay-per-view.
Blazer honcho Harry Hutt says he felt he owed it to
the cable systems, such as Paragon, that carried BlazerVision
during the regular season. "They provided a good broadcast
outlet," says Hutt, the team's vice president of marketing.
"We don't think it's good business to all of a sudden
get hot and turn around and tell a partner to take a
hike."
As WW went to press, Hutt still hadn't decided
whether a possible Game 6 on Thursday would appear on
free TV or BlazerVision.
But there is good news to report on the BlazerVision
front: After Thursday, NBC will carry all remaining
Blazer home games.
The bad news? BlazerVision may be back next season,
even though Hutt pronounced it dead earlier this year.
Why? Hutt says BlazerVision sales tripled this year.
"On the one hand, you have a lot of people upset about
it," says Hutt. "On the other hand, we're selling like
we haven't in eight years."
--Bob Young
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Willamette Week | originally
published May 26, 1999
