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This is Antonio Harvey's first full year as the Blazers radio color commentator. When someone is new at a job they probably get tips from their supervisors. A little constructive criticism from time to time doesn't hurt anyone. But apparently everyone is intimidated by the six foot eleven former power forward. He constantly uses the terms "us" and "we" like he is still part of the team. I remember Harvey playing one significant game in his entire Blazers career. He filled in for Rasheed when he was suspended or hurt and Harvey actually had a real good game. But that was it.
Harvey now makes the radio broadcasts sound like a joke.
Someone needs to tell Harvey he's not on the team. That he is just a broadcaster for the team. I'm surprised Brian Wheeler hasn't mentioned it. Wheeler is one of the best in the business and this must be driving him crazy.
I know Paul Allen signs his checks but put down the pom poms and be a professional.
Ron Pivo
RPivo@kgw.com
We haven't heard much from former Ducks quarterback A.J. Feeley recently. He is now in San Diego buried on the depth chart behind both Drew Brees and second year player Phillip Rivers. Safe to say that after playing in both Philadelphia and Miami his career has taken a turn for the worse.
I think Ducks fans should be surprised that Feeley has become a millionaire playing the NFL. I thought he was good at Oregon, certainly not great. The fact that he has made a nice career out of pro football says something about his drive.
I remember the season Feeley lost his job to Joey Harrington. I was at the team hotel in Burbank eating breakfast next to Feeley's parents. A.J. came up to them said "hi" and thanked them for coming to the game knowing full well he wasn't going to play. I honestly thought they just wanted to see their son in a Ducks uniform one last time. Little did they know he would be in an Eagles uniform, a Dolphins uniform, and now a Chargers uniform.
But as you can see A.J. is doing well for himself off the field. He's still dating soccer star Heather Mitts.
So here's to you A.J. You've exceeded all expectations. Not bad for a small town kid From Ontario.
Ron Pivo
RPivo@kgw.com
The next time someone who gets caught with drugs actually admits it's theirs, will be the first.
Michael Irvin is in trouble again. Irvin was stopped for speeding in Texas over the weekend. According to a Plano, Texas police report an officer found a pipe and a baggie of pot under the driver's seat. Irvin claims it was it was a friend of his who he's known for 17 years. However, the police report says that Irvin told them it was his brother's.
I've watched enough episodes of COPS to know that when police find drugs in your car, it's usually yours.
In this case I have a sneaking suspiscion the drugs belong to Irvin.
I would much rather Irvin come out and say that he is still fighting a drug problem if that is indeed the case. American people forgive and forget. But to come on out and start lying makes him look like an idiot.
Look what happened to Damon Stoudamire. Police found a bag of pot in his crawlspace. Damon immediately said that a lot of his friends come to his house when he's on the road and it was probably one of theirs.
Sorry, there are Bigfoot stories more believable than that.
Damon eventually admitted that he had a marijuana problem, he straightened his life around and now he's looked up to by a lot of people for just being honest.
I would recommend Michael Irvin do the same.
Ron Pivo
RPivo@kgw.com
Dan Le Batard is one of the best sports columnists in the country and he has a great column about the demise of the Florida Marlins.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/13241921.htm
Let me just say this. I am a Sportscaster. I make my living from covering sports. So if there's another professional team in the Portland, it not only makes my job more enjoyable, but it makes me more relevant.
But the big question isn't if Portland can support a team. The big question is building a stadium and who will pay for it.
There's about $150 million dollars on the table now thanks to the Oregon Legislature passing a stadium financing bill 2 years ago. But these days stadiums cost roughly three times that.
Oregon taxpayers aren't going to foot the bill. So where's the money coming from ?
Meet Jeff Loria the owner of the Florida Marlins. According to the Orlando Sun Sentinel Loria offered $212 million dollars of his own money for a new stadium. Let's do the math. 150 million and $220 million makes $370 million. That my friends gives us a new stadium.
Let's see in a few years if it's really that simple.
Ron Pivo
RPivo@kgw.com
Tomorrow night will be the last Friday Night Flights of the season. This is the second year I have hosted our high school football show. Even though it's just a few minutes in lenght, it's t is easily the most chaotic thing we do in the Sports Department through the course of the year.
On any given Friday night we have six photographers getting highlights of up to 12 games. Then we get highlights from our affiliates in Medford, Eugene, and Bend. Considering all this is essentially happening from 10:30-11 PM it makes for a hectic night.
Our producer Evan Chevrier organizes the whole show. Everything from the landings we do in the 6:30 PM sports to all the scores we get throughout the night.
We have a very special treat this Friday. Joe Becker wrote a song called appropriately enough Friday Night Flights. He and our extremely talented Sports Photographer Brian Warner put together a music video which is as good as anything you will see around the country (even though I honestly don't think too many stations around the country have Sports Reporters who do music videos). I think this will be music video number 11 for Joe.
Joe loves music, both listening and playing. In fact, he's really a singer-songwriter masking as a Sportscaster.
His dream is to move to Nashville and give music a shot. I don't think his wife is too hip on this idea.
I've never told him this but if I were him I would take a year off of work and try it. Why be 75 years old and think of what could have been ?
Anyways, because you came to this blog there's a special treat for you.
Here's Joe's music video. Tell the people on your block you were the first to see it.
Enjoy and have a great Thanksgiving.
http://www.kgw.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=www.kgw.com/112405_sportsvid.wmv
Ron Pivo
RPivo@kgw.com
A group of enthusiastic Ducks fans want the team to go to the Fiesta Bowl. How badly ?
They have started a grassroots campaign to get the officials at the Fiesta Bowl to take notice. Next Tuesday this group of fans are asking people to buy Tostitos products and have provided a website so you know exactly what tasty food Tostitos makes.
http://www.tostitos.com/products.php
I can see the conversation in Phoenix right now.
Fiesta Guy # 1- "So what do you guys think, Oregon or Ohio State ?"
Fiesta Guy # 2- "Well, Ohio State is such a strong national draw. It has only have two losses, both to top three teams. Oregon is a nice story. Nike has done some nice work with their uniforms. They travel well. We could probably parlay this into a trip to the Nike Employee Store if we play our cards right. Guys, I'm torn."
Fiesta Guy # 3- "I don't know if you guys saw the sales last Tuesday for chips and salsa, but they were through the roof. That's the dedication we need. Let's give Bill Moos a call. I want Oregon !"
People, isn't there a better way you can be spending your time ? I like your enthusiasm. I like how you're thinking out of the box.
That's good.
But instead of buying chips and salsa next Tuesday, go out and buy some turkeys, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. Then drive to the nearest homeless shelter. Drop it off and say Happy Thanksgiving.
That's what you should be doing.
Let the Ducks handle the Fiesta Bowl.
Ron Pivo
RPivo@kgw.com
Well, here we go again. Get ready for endless news stories both on tv, and in the paper, about Major League Baseball coming to Portland.
The Florida Marlins owner is not happy about the team's stadium situation, and is threatening to move the club elsewhere.
The Oregon Sports Authority has already thrown their hat into the ring.
But there are several signs that lead me to believe Portland's gonna swing and miss.
1) Marlins ownership is probably just threatening to leave, to get the ball rolling on a new stadium. A pro sports insider has told KGW that's exactly what's going on.
2) Can Portland drum up support from state, city and business leaders again, who were left at the altar last time around? Ron Pivo asked Mayor Tom Potter, on the night he was elected, whether or not Portland would ever get a baseball team. He said, "Not on my watch".
3) If the Marlins do move, does Portland stand a chance against Las Vegas? Word is, that Marlins ownership has already taken a trip to Sin City to meet with local officials. Maybe they were just there to see "Siegfried, the Solo Spectacular," but something tells me Vegas has better odds at landing baseball than Portland does.
Evan Chevrier
Sports Producer
echevrier@kgw.com
What in the world got into the Blazers tonight in Memphis ? It's two-fold. First, young teams are going to be all over the map. The Blazers got blown out by 39 in Denver and then gave Detroit a run for its money. Young teams are like young kids, they can be smiling and happy one moment and the next they can be crying on the floor because you took out their Heffelump Movie
Maybe that's just my daughter.
So just be prepared Blazers fans. You're going to run the gammut of emotions this year. So don't get too high after a win, and don't get too low after a loss.
One more thing... thank goodness the Blazers announcers didn't wear those matching Adidas shirts on the air tonight. Something tells me Adidas and the Blazers have a nice cozy relationship these days. Someone whispered in my ear today that Sebastian Telfair's girlfriend's best friend just got a job at Adidas.
Remember those rumors about Telfair, the Blazers, and Adidas before the draft.
Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Ron Pivo
RPivo@kgw.com
You want to know why the NFL is king. Take a look at this column written by USA Today sportswriter Michael Hiestand. Since I'm in the television business these types of articles interest me. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2005-11-17-hiestand-nfl-pregame-shows_x.htm
Go to the part where it shows what kind of ratings the various cities get for NFL games. These are huge, huge numbers. A "rating" is the percentage of televisions on in that particular market. The "share" is the percentage of those televisions that are turned on.
To get a better understanding of these numbers the Blazers/Warriors game last Friday night on KGW had a 5.1 Rating/9 share.
Now you can see why the NFL gets billion dollar tv deals and why the NBA struggles in the ratings.
RPivo@kgw.com
So who's surprised that Ruben Patterson went Ruben Patterson during the Knicks game and got sent home ? This guy is as calm as an active volcano. Most of us got caught up in Ruben's new leadership role on the team. In fact he was named co-captain at the start of the season. While some people can turn over a new leaf later in the life, as the popular saying goes "he is who he is".
I like talking to Ruben. He speaks from the heart and doesn't bore us in the media with tired cliches.
But the Blazers inability to trade him has caught up with the organization. How long did it think Patterson could go without getting in trouble ?
It's pretty obvious that it's Nate's way or the highway.
I'm sure Maurice Cheeks is giggling in Philadelphia tonight and wondering why he couldn't get this backing from the club when he was coaching the team.
RPivo@kgw.com
Oregon fans, you better hope the suits at the Fiesta Bowl like Penn State, and here's why:
Assuming USC and Texas go to the Rose Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl will have first choice of teams left from this group of eligible candidates... Penn State, West Virginia, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Oregon etc...
Now, let's say they pick Notre Dame. They might decide a Notre Dame/Ohio State matchup is the most attractive.
But, if the Fiesta Bowl picks Penn State, the Orange Bowl will probably take the Irish.
Well, we're not going see a Penn State-Ohio State matchup, so they may decide the Ducks are a better fit as that second "at-large" team.
Evan Chevrier
Sports Producer
echevrier@kgw.com
Oregonian Pac 10 writer Ken Goe will be on Sports Sunday tonight. We'll talk about the Civil War and look ahead to next year and find out which coaches Goe thinks will be on the hot seat.
We will also have our "Nate at Night" segment with Blazers coach Nate McMillan.
Finally, we will recap the Civil War game with plenty of sound from the players and a Fiesta Bowl Representative who I spoke with after the game.
See you then.
RPivo@kgw.com
1:30 PM--- Somehwere on I-5. A man in an orange shirt is seen on the shoulder of the freeway, bending over, with his hands on his knees. He obviously had a little too much to drink. Listen, when you're throwing up on the side of the road 2 hours before a game, you may want to look into this whole tailgating thing.
On one particular stretch of I-5 there are a lot of sheep in a pasture. That's why this sign made me laugh out loud.
OSU Players
Leave Us Alone
The Sheep
RPivo@kgw.com
Here's all you need to know about this year's game. Oregon is averaging 34 points a game. Granted most of those games were with Kellen Clemens at quarterback, but the Ducks still put 34 on the board last week at Washington State. The Ducks will score points on Saturday. So the question is... can the Beavers offense go toe to toe with the Ducks ? The answer is no. Ryan Gunderson is a nice guy. But his first start of his career is in one of the most hostile places to play in the country. There's no way he and the Beavs will keep up. Like I predicted on the air, I like the Ducks by 3 touchdowns or more.
Ron
RPivo@kgw.com
A couple of us from the Sports Department had dinner last night with some of the guys who are putting on the boxing card at the Rose Garden Saturday night. Let me just say that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is not a big man. But he has the some of the quickest hands in the world. You should have seen him when the dinner rolls came. Wham !
I asked the promoter of the fight, Dan Goosen, if he thinks Portland will host more big time fights in the future. He said that logistically Portland is a tough place to have a fight. For instance in Las Vegas everything is already set up for fights. You don't have to travel all the over the city to train and you don't have to fly in your own promotion people like Goosen had to do. Those are just a couple examples why promoters rarely venture outside their comfort zone.
It's not a knock on Portland but that's what happens when you hold fights in places that don't ordinarily have fights.
Ron
RPivo@kgw.com
I don't know what blog means. I don't know where it started. All I know is that I'm all in.
Check in every day to get my thoughts, opinions, and random musings about the world of sports, and also the world in general.
Looking forward to doing the blog and also hearing your feedback as I will always post my e mail address.
Blog you soon.
Ron
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