The San Antonion Express ran a great article on the Jailblazers. Excerpt: The Trail Blazers are a hard team to cheer. At any given moment, Coach Maurice Cheeks could put the following guys on the floor: a registered sex offender at small forward, a guy busted for pot at power forward, a veteran who elbowed Robert Horry in the throat at center, a veteran who forearmed John Salley in the head at off-guard, a guy arrested and charged with possession of mar1juana at point guard. [...] When Portland isn't running up and down the home court, its players are running off to municipal court. Which explains why fan Geoff Gillam is boycotting the Blazers. [...] So tonight's game against the Spurs is critical. Crime Boys vs. Choir Boys. That's the way some fans see it. "We're a magnet for trouble-makers," Richardson said. "We can't attract the Tim Duncans. We've got to go after the Ruben Pattersons." Duncan, the Spurs' all-star forward, is a past winner of the NBA's Community Service Award. Patterson, the Blazers' reserve forward, entered a modified guilty plea last year of forcing his nanny to perform a sex act. [...] In San Antonio, no player has been arrested in almost three years. In Portland, six players have been arrested, charged, suspended or fined for offenses ranging from rape and assault to fighting and skipping practice. [...] But you can keep up with new player misconduct in The Oregonian. A link on the newspaper's Web site chronicles the team's law breaking.
Terrible article, despite the off the court problems the Blazers are still taking care of business. They defeated the Spurs, which I'm not really that proud of because I don't think that they are that good. The defense they played on Duncan was outstanding, he scored well below his season average, which I attribute to the swarming defense. Pippen had a great game, and Anderson came up big at the end of the game, with a couple of nice drives and two crucial free throws.
PiPdAdY33: "Terrible article, despite the off the court problems the Blazers are still taking care of business. They defeated the Spurs" The article had nothing to do with playing basketball. The author conceded that the Blazers were winning. The point of the article was not that they are poor players, but that they are poor human beings. Apparently, a lot of Blazer fans agree.
So people who smoke bud are poor human beings? Maybe in the eyes of some people... Ruben Patterson is the only Blazer who I could consider a bad person, but I don't know all the facts of his conviction, and I will not judge him.
ZRB: "So people who smoke bud are poor human beings? Maybe in the eyes of some people..." Geez, did you read the article? It is Blazer fans complaining, and weed seems to be the least of their concerns.
i'll tell you what bothers me about NBA players smoking pot: I know a great many people who quit smoking pot just so they could hold onto their crappy blue collar jobs with random drug testing. These guys all get paid millions of dollars and they can't kick the pot to avoid scandal? It's part of their job description to pass drug tests. Another part of their job description is keeping a respectable image. People don't want to take their kids to see a bunch of criminals play basketball. They don't want their kids idolizing Rasheed Wallace, Ruben Patterson or Damon Stoudamire. They want their kids idolizing your Tim Duncans, David Robinsons, etc etc. Besides, there are no rules against drinking and they can all certainly afford taxi cabs if they get drunk out on the town and don't have a ride. why do they insist on using drugs?
