StumpTownSports

I love sports and I’m not generally a cranky guy, but getting a fresh dose of my least favorite sports talk guy on this morning’s commute must have put me over the edge because I find myself itching to complain about a few things I hate in the world of sports at the moment. Not a complete list. Not in ranked order. Just a few things off the top of my head. The Herd - The afore mentioned disfavored sports talk guy is none other than Portland’s own Colin Cowherd. Actually I don’t think he’s from Portland, just made an idiot of himself here for a while before ESPN inexplicably picked him up. My dislike for him started when he began referring to himself as a local media icon. I think that’s kind of like being a genius in that if you have to tell people, chances are real good that you are not. The Herd does know football, I will give him that. He seems to have a very keen eye for who is legit on the gridiron and cuts through a lot of the nonsense that floats around from pundit to pu...

I love to make sports predictions and mouth off about what I think is going to happen for a player or team or anything else in the world of sports. I find that being right in that situation allows you lots of bragging rights and no one really holds you to it when you’re wrong. So far my favorite “got it right” was when I called a local sports talk station before the NBA draft last year in response to a local beat writer who said the Blazers should offer every player on their roster to get the first pick so they could take Adam Morrison. I called in and said Morrison had a ceiling of Mike Miller and probably wasn’t that good and that the best player in the draft was Brandon Roy and that if the Blazers moved up they should take Aldridge. They ripped me for that on the air, but I’ve been bragging about that ever since. But for every time like that when I called it right, there are 50 times when I was wrong. Truthfully, I follow sports fairly religiously now and that has greatly boost...

FINALLY!!!! Coach Nolan can finally wear his suit . Great decision by the NFL even if it did take too long to make. Heaven forbid someone show a little class and respect. Apparently the NFL would prefer that everyone dress in that awful cut up sweatshirt that the Pats' coach embarrasses himself in every week. I really couldn't like Nolan any more at this point.

Just some things in the sports world to get off my chest: This is a brutal time of year unless your baseball team is in first place. Mine (the Giants) are far from it. That means, since the NBA finals are all but over, I have to wait until August before there is something interesting going on in sports. Fortunately, this promises to be one of the most interesting and entertaining NBA offseasons in recent memory. Of course, that may only be for me and other Blazer fans, but still…. I love that everyone is talking about the Blazers these days. I couldn’t help thinking as I saw Oden at last night’s game, that Portland may be on its way to where Cleveland is now. Cleveland merchandise is in the top 10 for the NBA even though they are a relatively small market that the rest of the country usually doesn’t care too much about. I don’t expect Oden to have that kind of marketing power (though Durant would), but Portland is relevant again in hoops even before they draft and that’s a good time. S...