Triple-A All-Star Game

Impressive,

For the past three years I have been excited and curious to see the Triple-A Baseball All-Star Game, which was played today in my city of Portland. Though I was mostly looking forward to seeing the stars of the future, the city had its eyes on another goal: impressing Major League Baseball enough to bring a team to Portland. The prospects of this are doubtful.

Portland just doesn't seem to have what it takes to bring home a Major League club, whether you look at the mind-bogglingly small crowds, or the attempted waves in the heat of a close game*. Frankly, Portlanders just don't care for baseball that much, and the ones that do would rather take the 2 hour train ride down to Seattle and watch a real game with real fans than try to stay awake in the midst of an unenthusiastic Portland crowd.

This is not to say we're not enough for other sports. Portland has a very successful basketball organization in the Blazers, who sell-out nearly every home game, and are home to the rowdy Timbers Army, which will only expand come 2011 when our USL (United Soccer League) team is replaced by a more powerful and competitive MLS (Major League Soccer) squad.

And then there's loyalty to your team. Portland is home to some of the most loyal fans in the nation, which is a plus for the basketball and soccer world, but a minus in the baseball realm. As I briefly brought up earlier, most baseball fans in Portland (however few) have already lined themselves up behind the Seattle Mariners organization, which would put a potential MLB team in Portland out of business as soon as the team hits the field. I myself, a long time Seattle fan, don't believe I could bring myself to back a team that would end up rivaling the Emerald City boys.

Fortunately I won't have that problem, because Portland won't have an MLB team... ever.

Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel


*There are rules to when the wave is appropriate to be used:

1: The difference in score MUST exceed 3.
2. The game must NOT be interesting.
3. If the wave is to be used after the 7th inning stretch, the difference i score MUST exceed 5 (if the difference is exactly 5 look to see if fans are enjoying the game, it's you're call)

The wave's intent is to entertain fans who were not being entertained by the game. DO NOT break these guidelines, or else you risk ridicule from true baseball fans.

Jeff Pendergraph/ Brandon Roy

Hello Readers,

Possibly the most exciting prospect coming out of this years draft is Jeff Pendergraph. The 6-9, 240 pounder is easily the most exciting pick (beating out Patty Mills) because of his attitude and the fact that Portland was his first choice for Draftee (Link). When asked what he brought to the game his first answer was toughness (exactly what we need). He is also totally willing to be the back-up to Lamarcus Aldridge because he understands that he will probably never be the go to guy for a team.

That being said, what point is there in signing Paul Millsap to a big deal and then losing him when he wants more minutes? Well I don't know, but maybe Kevin Pritchard knows what he's doing. Although the next subject in the post has me questioning that.

Recently I have heard rumors that talks between Brandon Roy and Kevin Pritchard have hit a "snag"
... WHAT?! how can the negotiations hit a "snag" when there is only one choice: sign Roy for as long as you can and give him as much as you can. This whole process is made much easier because he's asking for the longest possible contract extension. So what's the problem? Your star and future is asking to stay with you for as long as he can and you hit a "snag"? What?

Until next time BlazerManiacs...

Sincerely,
Anders Herreid-O'neill

Useless

Let's get to it,

Nobody likes the adds that pop up on youtube it the middle of your video. They suck. They're about as meaningful as the darts page on the BBC website (I'm serious it's really there). There are much more effective ways advertising on videos, that don't aggravate the watcher. Take Hulu for example.

They put the ad at the beginning of the video, so you can't even start watching it until it goes away. This too is a bit annoying, but it doesn't interrupt my video, so it's better.

What advertisers need to understand is that people won't be influenced in a positive way by this sort of advertising. I am a huge baseball fan, but the advertising on Hulu made me not even want to watch the All-Star game. What they really need to do is put the ads at the end of the video. Not the lame pop up ones, that just sit there like a stale gumdrop, but the video ads. That way people listen to your ads, and can't be distracted by the cover flow of related videos.

These things have caused so much of my time to be wasted, while I could be watching important business videos on youtube... like this one(Ouch).

Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel

Anders Herreid-O'neill: First Post

Hey Guys,

Newcomer to the staff, Portland Trail Blazers specialist Anders Herreid-O'neill.

Enjoy!
Lucas Biespiel






Hello Readers,
First Post... Heard something interesting today, a Jerryd Bayless interview. What i love about this kid is his work ethic, during the interview with The Oregonian (link below) when asked about his vacation he said "I didn't deserve a vacation this year, I didn't do enough to get a vacation." While this analysis is somewhat harsh for my taste it just goes to show that J-Bay has the work ethic of a sweat shop worker being paid overtime (Funny?/Bad Taste?). With the departure of "spanish chocolate" a spot opens up for J-Bay to get consistent minutes at the PG. And although many people will point out that he is an "in-between-er" (two small for a 2, no pass ability for a 1) I don't think this is a problem because J-Bay's work ethic and will to win won't allow him to sink deep into the bench. Believe you me, J-Bay will be a star in this League of ours.

Oregonian Article

See you soon BlazerManiacs...

Anders Herreid-O'neill

Anders's Blog