I could go on and on about it… but seriously, there’s a danger in making that building more than it was. It was the people there — fans and players — who made it special. The building itself? Well, it was loud and for its time, it was fine, very representative of the arenas of that era.

In fact, I have no doubt at some point it will serve as a living museum for what sports arenas once looked like — a curiosity more than anything. By then all the other non-functional arenas of its ilk will have been torn down. But the old Glass Palace will still be there, probably hosting flea markets and the rare concert.

But fans going to the Trail Blazers’ exhibition game there tonight will find small leg room at their seats, fewer rest rooms than they need and concourses not big enough to accomodate the crowd. And of course, a building now on the National Registry for Historic Places. Yeah, great.

For me, the building was special because of the great people who played there and the devoted fans who idolized them. And pardon this little aside, but to me — one other thing:

Some great, great sports writers who wrote so many marvelous pieces there. Blazer beat writers like John Dhulst, Wayne Thompson, Bob Robinson and Ken Wheeler told the Blazer story with great skill and accuracy. Never fawning but always fair, these men did their jobs in an era before all the new media brought attention to the writers themselves. Most of those guys, in fact, would have run from the spotlight, anyway. They just weren’t brought up in the business to think they deserved it.

I love those guys. All are still with us, thank goodness, in various stages of retirement. All of them, too, were a great, GREAT help to me in my career, in their own way.  I hope at some point during the team’s 40-year celebration those guys will be honored, too. In the early days of the team, without a lot of TV coverage and no sports radio, people learned to love this team mostly through the eyes and hearts of the men who covered the Blazers for The Oregonian and the Oregon Journal.

It would be a shame to forget their great accomplishments — and the great integrity and skill they brought to their jobs.

One more time — thanks, guys. All of you.

Tweet This Post

Tags: Bob Robinson, Dwight Jaynes, John Dhulst, Ken Wheeler, Portland Trail Blazers, Wayne Thompson