Stadium Updates - Late Night

You know it's a big deal when Fark picks up the baseball stadium idea to move the Portland Beavers to Beaverton. Fark.com is a website dedicated to the collection of odd and crazy news, all set up in one happy home. While this was going on and announced Tuesday night, about 50 people were touring the Memorial Coliseum to get a close up look at the building whose near death and now spared death sentence has potentially pushed baseball to Portland's suburbs. Some people appreciated the art, while it appears a big group sweltered in the heat and stuffiness of the MC. Gee, anyone who has been to an event there within the past few years could have told you about the stagnant air and warmth when it's full, but hey, it's a architectural treasure that needs to be saved.

At least one city gets it, and is trying to do something. Beaverton has been trying to forge an identity in the metro area for years, and so far, it's been the headquarters of the swoosh, and traffic. Beaverton has been one of the fastest growing suburbs of Portland for years, mostly because of their good schools, abundant land, and up until recently, available jobs. However, the density has caused a bit of sprawl, the schools are starting to struggle with extra kids in the classroom, and people can't seem to drive anywhere easily. Well, that's the perception anyway.

Beaverton is actually a nice town, proud of its area, and is full of people that are interested in improving their region. Many time, school measures have passed there simply because the taxpayers want to help their schools, or even general services when needed. I can imagine it's tough being a suburban city put in the shadow of Portland, which dominates the landscape and attention. Beaverton does a lot of good things for its residents, but I think often times, it gets lost in the static and not recognized for being a progressive, thoughtful city. Getting a baseball team to Beaverton might just get rid of some of the inferiority complex, and actually give people a reason from outside the area to visit.

But I will give them the biggest credit of all in this situation. They wanted baseball, and they had the courage to write to Merritt Paulson and ask, even promoting a few stadium ideas in the process. Considering how Paulson has been treated at a lot of meetings in the area around here, plus his now famous interaction with the Lents neighborhood, I can imagine it's a wonderful feeling to be wanted, and be treated positively. Sounds like it's a match made in baseball heaven.

A Subtle, but Pointed Reminder

I couldn't have said it better myself. Portland has an identity crisis, and we can't seem to figure out what we want in terms of sports in our long term future. The author points to the city up north as the poster child of getting things done for their teams.

Well, I'd hate to point out what happened to their former NBA team, but I think the issue there was a combination of apathy, anti-government forces, a city that wasn't sure why an arena needed to be upgraded when it was done a few years prior, a hated owner, and the NBA secretly involved with the change. I can't imagine the league really wanting to lose a top 20 TV market for their team, but they approved the move and we are where we are at. But, the city and team ownership has stepped up to help the Mariners and Seahawks with their various stadiums, and the city has done some forward thinking, which doesn't seem to be in short supply here.

Granted, there are some factors that helped with this situation. The 1995 vote to provide tax funds for the Mariners new ballpark happened just after the magical 1995 playoff run, and the end vote was really close, even with the renewed baseball interest. Qwest Field, just like the Rose Garden, was mostly paid for by Paul Allen with some involvement from the city with tax benefits and infrastructure changes. That playoff run doesn't happen, the Mariners are actually playing elsewhere, and we miss the 2001 historical season, the train noises in Safeco, Ichiro, none of it. It's also likely that the Seahawks would still be playing in the Kingdome, which had all the charm of a cave and the smells of the forest all indoors for everyone to enjoy.

But the key point of Portland not having the moxie to make something like this happen couldn't be more true. The original plan to bring baseball to the Memorial Coliseum and refurbish PGE Park for soccer was visionary, and took care of a need for MLS and helped upgrade the Rose Quarter from the doldrums it currently suffers from. But some short sighted architects and the Trail Blazers threw a monkey wrench in the plan, and the City Council blinked. It does appear that at least one city commissioner, Randy Leonard, is still interested in putting baseball at the MC, and I think he's got the right idea. The baseball plan would solve the ghost town the RQ is now, give the veterans a more usable and vibrant memorial, and revitalize an area that simply put, should be doing more than it is now. But, instead of us talking about this plan and getting excited, we sit 6 months later with the MC still standing, and more talk about what to do with it. My hope is that the city can stop with the blue sky conversations, and come up with something useful and tangible. I'd love to see some of the moxie from up north here, as long as they keep that god awful green color to themselves.

EDIT - At least one suburb has already stepped up to lure the Beavers there. Can you guess which one?

Weekend Update - July 20th

It's another long weekend, and I have to say that this summer is the summer of concerts for girl and I. Last summer, it was the season of travel, as we went all over the place last year, but this year, it's been concerts. First, Duran Duran, and this weekend, it was Death Cab For Cutie at Edgefield here in town. I've been to Edgefield dozens of time, and know the place very well, especially Blackberry Hall. I've never seen a show there, so I was curious to see how the venue would work for a show, especially one for a bank like DCFC. They are a very good band, but their music can be rather mellow, so you need to have the right venue to make things interesting. Crystal Ballroom works for them, Memorial Coliseum, not so much, and thankfully, Edgefield was very good to them. It was a very good show, and they played various songs from their catalog, including a few old gems for fans like myself that have been there since the very beginnings. Even the really warm day near 90 degrees didn't deter the surroundings, as the show went off without a hitch. The only thing that was disappointing was that concerts there stop at dark, and so Death Cab only played a really short set and one encore. And August is full of more shows, including a trip to Vegas.

 

The Timbers had a good weekend, too, getting a draw in Miami at 1 - all on Friday and a 3 to nil win on Sunday down there. Friday's game, the Timbers really were bothered by the speed of Miami, as they ran circles around the Timbers early, and the Timbers got a late goal from a free kick by David Hayes. Sunday was a completely different scenario, as the Timbers were the more aggressive, quicker team, and they put Miami on their heels in the first half, and then buried them with two early goals in the second half. The Timbers now own the longest unbeaten streak in USL First Division history with 16 straight games without a loss, and they have a first place battle with Puerto Rico Thursday night at PGE Park. Also in Timbers news, Scot Thompson became the record holder for most minutes played as a Timber over the weekend, and I can't think of a more deserving player to hold that record. Scot has been a true Timber through and through, and it's great to see him get this deserving honor. We'll have more about Thursday's match later on.

 

The issue of the Memorial Coliseum continues to boil around, as the city sets up a task force to try and decide what to do with the MC in the long run. The arts community has weighed in on their choice, wanting to turn the MC into a theater and arts complex, or at least preserve the artistic integrity of the building for future generations. Even the cyclists have weighed in, wanting to turn the MC into a velodrome. I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it, but apparently, everyone has an idea for the building, and none of them seem to be geared towards the entertainment complex idea the Trail Blazers have put forth. 

 

I can appreciate the ideas put forth, because they are thinking outside the box and fit within the idea of Portland doing things differently. As a city, we tend to march to our own music, not following conventional wisdom in some cases, but simply going with what we think keeps Portland unique, even if it means swimming against the current. But the more I think we try to keep things weird around here to borrow a phrase that some residents here live by, we miss opportunities to do some real forward thinking. While the ideas for the arts and cycling are interesting, neither of them have even mentioned how to pay for their idea, much less the time frame to make it happen. It's blue sky thinking at its best, which might be good for some, but at the same, doesn't do much for reality. At least the baseball idea put out some actual figures and costs to pay for it, which while the numbers gave the opponents fodder to blog or write about, it did put forth some real concepts to what they wanted to do. Even the Trail Blazers haven't really explained their full idea of an entertainment complex, much less how the thing will be paid for. Yet at the end of the day, baseball is a bad idea for the area, even though a price tag has been associated with the project.

 

But a thought had been put forth today on Sports Radio 95.5 The Game about Portland and the way things are. For a city that likes to think we are progressive and forward thinking, we really fail at making decisions at key moments. In our desire to make sure everyone has buy-in on something, we tend to gather input so much that it almost makes our process seem slow and clunky by nature. And given the chance to really make a legacy for the city for years to come, we end up being tied up by the desire to make sure everything is exactly perfect and quirky. The Rose Garden doesn't get built unless Paul Allen pays for almost all of it out of his own pocket, and there was a huge amount of frustration about the $36 million dollars the city spent to help. We've managed to build transit with help, we've managed to have a good reputation for the city for people to visit or move here, we love our pets, the homeless do very well with panhandling and services, but sports fans are a neglected and misunderstood group, and not represented by most of the people in charge around here. We simply want our teams to be taken care of, now and in the future, and if the city wants to be part of owning facilities or assisting with things, they need to make some realistic and tough decisions and not cave when things get rough, or a small but vocal minority decides that the MC is an architectural treasure. Baseball, and really, sports in Portland deserve a whole lot better.

 

 

 

It's The Weekend, and there's still a baseball buzz, but it's game day!!

I've never been so happy for the weekend to be here, because it's been a rather crazy week. With trying to clean up from the Row N movie fest, keep up with work, baseball games this week and my other blogging job, I've been crazy busy. And tonight, girl and I are heading to see Death Cab For Cutie at Edgefield. For me, this is my fifth time seeing them, and at least for me, I either see an incredible band with some great musical performances OR an incredibly distracted bunch of musicians that aren't sure what's going on. My hope is that tonight, it's more of the former, because they do play some incredibly complex and beautiful songs. I've spent a lot of time at Edgefield, but never seen a show there, so I'm looking forward to it.

 

Baseball is still in the wheelhouse of some local sports fans, including one guy that can't understand why baseball is being moved from PGE Park. The author can't figure out the numbers, and can't figure out why we are shunning baseball. Well, I could go through all of the trouble to refute the article, but somebody has already done it for me. Baseball has a wonderful history here, and deserves a park that works for Triple AAA baseball, but right now, PGE Park is too big for baseball, and lacks some important things that would help baseball.

 

The Timbers are in Miami this weekend for two games, which is the first time we've seen the Blues this year. This is one of two trips the Timbers are making (or have made) to play teams back east, and we play Miami tonight and Sunday on the road trip. The Blues are sitting in the middle of the pack with 6 wins, 6 losses and 2 draws, playing just 14 games this year. So far this year, they've either been blown out or blow out other teams, which is characteristic of their operation. They play fast with lots of flair, and initiate a lot of contact and fall down quite a bit if they are bumped, essentially like most South American and Latin teams. The Timbers have done pretty well down in Miami, it should be a matter of how they deal with the heat.

 

You can watch the game on USL Live, listen to broadcast at the Portland Timbers site, or visit the Soccer City USA website for information about various viewings around town. Go to the Game Day Chat thread, and then check out the Away Game Viewing - Pub Guide thread. There are at least 4 locations in town showing the match and some of them are all ages friendly. It might be a good way to avoid the heat coming to town this weekend.

Baseball Puts Its Best Foot Forward in the Rose City

For one night anyway, baseball was the top game in town last night, as the Triple AAA Pacific Coast League and International League put their best talent on display at PGE Park. And PGE Park was filled to the brim, as over 16,600 joined the event, which included myself and girl. We're baseball fans, although soccer in this town is much more of a pleasurable fan experience for us. For a crowd this large, it was mostly quiet at time, politely clapping and cheering when prompted, and the only loud cheers were for local player Chad Huffman and the Chicken, making one of his last appearances in costume. There was an attempt to start the wave, which finally worked around the eight inning, and the Rainiers' first baseman got some polite cheers from Mariner fans in the crowd, but for the most part, it was quiet for being this big of a crowd.

The Trail Blazers spent so much time pumping music and distractions out there, it's loud at most points, but it's artificial as they don't want any idle time at all during the game. The Timbers are loud and boisterous, but that has a lot to do with the antics of the Army, chanting, singing, and generally having a good time. Baseball hearkens back to a different age, where the clock doesn't matter and things move at their own pace. While this might work for many baseball fans who have grown up around the game, there were plenty of fans that decided texting or surfing on their phones was a better use of time. Plus, there were plenty of people that just couldn't sit for more than an inning, moving from getting food to walking around to going to the loo to whatever. For some, baseball is the death of the short attention spanned world, because it can drag at points. Granted, there are some nuances that are fun to watch, the chess game between pitcher and batter, the strategy on the bases, and the outguessing that goes on, but honestly, if you didn't catch it or understand it, it would be lost on you. Much like the subtle part of soccer that most detractors point to as reasons to hate soccer, if you missed the strategy of the game, it can be boring.

But what last night proved more than anything is that Portlanders love an event, and last night certainly was one. From the anthem done by Storm Large who did an amazing, understated job in her rendition, to the flag display in center field, to the Chicken's antics, it was a large scale undertaking, and for a game that was played for little more than pride and entertainment, the players and the PGE Park staff didn't disappoint. We were greeted by our server right as we walked to our club seats, and Nick did a great job of taking care of us all night. I got some great pictures that I will share later tonight after downloading them, but overall, here are my memories and thoughts about the night:

• The game itself ended 6 to 5 for the International League, but it was a true back and forth affair, as noted in the Oregonian. The PCL fell behind, but rallied with two runs late, and got things close. Both managers used their benches extensively, as I believe everyone got to play for both sides.
• Chad Huffman played very well, and represented Portland and the Beavers well. He was smiling, laughing, and just having a good time playing in his home park, and it was great to see the team represented so well. Scott Patterson also pitched well in relief, representing the Beavers as well.
• Girl and I had a crappy day in our jobs, and so we tried to put forth some positive karma for the evening. After striking out on parking near the Mission Theater, we moved closer to PGE Park, and drove up 17th. As we got stuck in a traffic line, someone was leaving and gave up a parking spot near the Cheerful Bullpen, and we were able to swoop on it before anyone noticed. Then during the game, Girl was the lucky recipient of the first foul ball of the night in the first inning, as a ball was hit foul and tossed into the crowd. It glanced off her shoulder, bounced off her margarita drink in the cup holder, and then plopped into her laugh. And it's a special ball, carrying the Triple AAA All-Star logo on it, it was a rather pleasant surprise. Karma is pretty cool.
• The Chicken's shtick was predictable, but it played really well for the crowd. Even after all these years, he brings it and the crowd was mesmerized by his act. Mascots could learn a thing or two from him, he's still got something special.
• I still think the Albuquerque Isotopes is the coolest team name in baseball.
• Girl, S3K and I spent a great deal of time talking about the stadium, the Timbers, MLS and why baseball would be great in a slightly different environment. The stadium photographs very well (Tight Jeans said this, and I agree with him for once), but it's cramped in parts, the concourses are still too small once the crowd tops 10,000, and there are some rather bad seats in parts of the stadium including some obstructed seats. The Beavers could really do well with a slightly smaller, but more baseball appropriate venue.
• At least some people felt that PGE Park was good enough last night, just like heaven. I'm not sure I would go that far, but it was good to see.
• I'm glad to see that Rick Burk got his chance to show off his skills, calling the game. He's a passionate, knowledgeable baseball guy, and he's very good at his craft. He deserves a shot at the big time, but I'm happy to see him stay with the small fish here for a while. We're lucky to have him.
• The most interesting comments I read after the game was from PCL president Branch Rickey, who indicated that Portland was an important market for the PCL, but the stadium location isn't so much of a concern. Rickey realizes the issues with PGE Park being too large and cavernous at points, and seems very aware of the MLS efforts, but still supports this town for baseball. I can imagine that Merritt Paulson is keeping him looped in on everything going on.

I'll post my pictures later tonight, and I'm also working on my next piece for Oregon Live, which will be posted there later today. So far, I'm enjoying my work for the Timbers Blog, and hopefully, I'll be able to provide some insight on the team and the history of things from my own warped perspective. Give it a read, and let me know your thoughts.

And finally, I'll have a big announcement coming soon about something at PGE Park, which could be extremely epic!!! I'm hoping to get it done by this weekend!!

EDIT - I've added the Flick link for pictures, noted below