No.

I’m taking some heat from a few long-time friends that I’m not in the middle of the fight to keep PGE Park as a combination baseball/football/soccer venue. But really, it’s not worth fighting for.

It’s never been a ballpark. It’s been a stadium. And I’m just not going to settle for a stadium any longer. If we have to lose baseball yet another time, in order to get a real ballpark built, I’m all for it.

The University of Oregon, for $21 million, has built PK Park, a gem of a ballpark — a facility that may be the best ballpark anywhere between Seattle and San Francisco. And Portland, in like 100 years, can’t build a new ballpark? Ridiculous.

And I sit back and watch politicians criticize Randy Leonard and Sam Adams for what they’re doing with PGE Park, well — at least it’s SOMETHING. I mean, if you’re against the current plan for PGE Park, what exactly is your plan for professional sports in Portland? That’s what I thought — you really don’t care. You have no plan.

Am I big soccer fan? Obviously not. But for me, it is serving a purpose. It’s forcing this city to face up to its sports future. Will we ever build that ballpark, that gem, here? Maybe not. Probably not. At least not in my lifetime.

But at least we’re no longer fooling ourselves into thinking PGE Park is a real ballpark. It’s a stadium. And if you don’t know the difference, well, that’s maybe why we’re in the fix we’re in.

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Tags: PGE Park, PK Park, Portland Beavers, University of Oregon

I gave up worrying about it a long time ago. Seriously. In fact, I must say I enjoyed baseball on the juice more than I do this smallball game they’re back to playing these days. People who go to games just waiting to see a fine bunt really amuse me.

Damn, not just chicks dig the long ball, folks. Guys do, too. I think a whole lot of fans are like me. They really don’t care how the players got that talented, they just want to watch them play at the highest level possible (no pun intended). I think the media worries about it a lot more than the average fan does.

I sort of naturally assume just about everyone from that era used steroids and/or HGH, actually. And hey, what kills me the most is all the holier-than-thou whimpering from some of the old timers out there. As if they wouldn’t have used them if they’d had the chance.

And seriously, as if they didn’t play hopped up on “greenies” in the “old days” all the time, too. I was a clubhouse guy for the Portland Beavers way back in the 1960s and I saw heavy amphetamine use even then — by minor league guys. And what I heard at the time was that it was even more common in the big leagues in those days. And many days to follow — including when I covered pro baseball in the late 1970s through the 1990s.

Cheating is part of the culture of baseball, I’m afraid — from stealing signs to throwing spitballs to using corked bats. You think many guys hesitated about using an illegal substance?

And really, it’s ridiculous to think this is confined to baseball. You think there isn’t rampant use in the NFL? Come on, those guys just have better masking agents. I believe I’ve seen the signs in the NBA, too. And the Olympics.

I’m sort of libertarian when it comes to this stuff. Explain all the ramifications of usage to these guys and if they want to take the risk in order to provide me with better entertainment, I’m pretty much fine with it.

And hey — don’t talk to me about kids using it. I don’t condone that any more than I condone underage drinking.

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Tags: Dwight Jaynes, major-league baseball, Mark McGwire, Portland Beavers, steroids

The city of Portland had one last chance to keep the Portland Beavers within the city limits when Beaverton couldn’t get its act together to do something that would have forever changed the face of that boring mass of car lots and fast-food restaurants.

But nothing’s going to happen here, either. Heck, we’ve already paid for one sports arena/stadium in the last 100 years here, why build another? And really, why finance a sports facility and do what every other major city in the world does? Let’s just be Portland. Let’s keep it weird.

Besides, that Merritt Paulson guy is a Republican! And he’s from the east coast! And he only wants to contribute about $10 million of his own money to build us a ballpark. Damn, he should be paying for the whole thing! We want free stuff here — it’s the American way!

I believe at some point, Paulson is going to have no choice but to sell the team and watch it go elsewhere. They’re building a new minor-league ballpark in a suburb of Houston right now and my guess is, the Beavers will end up there. Or someplace else. Who really cares, right?

And I’m afraid not many people here do care about it. And the team really ought to be in a place that cares about it. Which is fine. We have our convention center, at least. Pack up the kids on a Sunday afternoon in the summer and spend the day with them over there — maybe catch a breakfast at Denny’s, too.

And don’t forget to take the MAX train!

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Tags: Beaverton, Dwight Jaynes, Merritt Paulson, Portland Beavers

He was the mostly absent guy who owned the Portland Beavers and Timbers for a while prior to selling them to Merritt Paulson. My understanding is that he made a lot of money when he flipped the franchise to Paulson.

But it didn’t seem to do him much good. His financial problems have put a LOT of people out of work at TGI Friday’s restaurants all over Oregon and Southwest Washington.  (Thanks to Clueless Vince for the tip!)

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Tags: Abe Alizadeh, Dwight Jaynes, Merritt Paulson, Portland Beavers, Portland Timbers, TGI Friday's

KGW.com is teasing a story for the news at noon that he’s “suspending” efforts to relocate the Beavers in Beaverton. It wouldn’t be surprising. There’s simply no time to wait for them to have an election.

Beaverton residents can now go back and rest comfortably, knowing they will now continue to be totally irrelevant. Take that five bucks a month it would have cost and buy a happy meal.

UPDATE: The story is here. Paulson informed the mayor with a letter that read:

“It is with sadness that I am writing to inform you of my decision to suspend planning and negotiations with the city on a new stadium. I’ve made this decision for practical, not political reasons. … The practical consideration is that after more than three months of effort, there is no stadium location under city control and the City’s timeframe for making a firm financial commitment is months off. This makes it impossible to meet the timelines required to start groundbreaking in time to play the 2011 season at a new stadium.”

Your turn Gresham. Or Oregon City. Or West Linn. Or Lake Oswego. Or Vancouver. Or Linnton.

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Tags: Beaverton, Dwight Jaynes, Merritt Paulson, Portland Beavers

The San Diego Padres, over the years, have been an absolute disaster of a parent club to the Beavers and this past season has been no exception. Not only did the team lose 84 games, it ran through 69 players and three managers during the season!

Gee, it’s just shocking that the crowds were a little thinner, wasn’t it? Seriously, winning at the Triple-A level isn’t mandatory for drawing big crowds, but it helps. And losing year after year really hurts. But what’s even worse is putting no players into Portland who are top prospects — guys who you know you’ll be watching in a big-league uniform for years to come.

The Padres have seldom done that during their tenure in Portland. On top of that, running the equivalent of three different teams through this city during one season – with three managers to match — is downright ridiculous, particularly for a big-league club going nowhere.

I realize, Beaver management doesn’t have much say in the matter, but it really should be shopping for another parent club. If the Padres can’t do any better than that, what’s the point? Yes, a new ballpark will revitalize interest in the team, but a better shake at getting a talented roster once in a while would be a big help.

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Tags: Dwight Jaynes, Portland Beavers, San Diego Padres

First off, it started about 20 minutes late, which isn’t nice on a day when everyone is seated in an unshaded area of metal grandstands. But anyway, I digress.

Point one — I was told just prior to the news conference that there’s a real chance Beaverton mayor Denny Doyle doesn’t quite have enough clout with his city council to pull this whole thing off. At least that’s what opponents were saying after a Monday night council meeting. That’s a little bit ridiculous, if you ask me — since the group hasn’t even heard a proposal yet from Beaver owner Merritt Paulson.

To me, if I was on that council, I’d at least wait to hear what Paulson’s asking the city for. Obviously, because he’s in a rush and doesn’t exactly have a whole lot of other options, he’s probably willing to make a pretty sweet deal. And trust me, that city could probably use the Beavers more than just about any other in the state — for a multitude of reasons that are partially economic and partially just community identity.

Second, I didn’t realize how important it seems to people out that way that this be described as a “multi-purpose” stadium. I lost track of how many times the mayor mentioned it in his brief speech. Well, I guess… I mean, if that’s what you need to say.

Folks, it’s a ballpark. It’s not something that can be used all year round, unless you want to put a dome on it — which you really can’t afford. Relax with that.

Yes, when the Beavers are out of town, when the weather cooperates and assuming the joint has (sigh) artificial turf, you can hold community events, use it for youth baseball, stage college baseball tournaments — whatever you want. But get the idea out of your head that you need to use it every day of the year. NOBODY in any town owns that stadium, unless it’s domed, OK?

Look, build a nice ballpark and build it big enough to seat 8,000 with an outfield berm that can accomodate another four or five thousand and the place will pay you back many times over. Beaverton would have a community gathering place built by a public/private partnership that it couldn’t get any other way. And some needed identity for the city, too.

That’s plenty beneficial enough to at least listen to a proposal, isn’t it? Man, politicians around here can just about drive you batty.

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Tags: Beaverton, Denny Doyle, Dwight Jaynes, Merritt Paulson, Portland Beavers

One of the things about running a Triple-A baseball team is that you have virtually NO input these days into the kind of team you’re going to end up with. You use players handed to you by a major-league affiliate, which often has no regard for how much talent is there.

You’re a way station. One more stop along the way toward the big leagues. Often, as soon as you get a good player, he’s gone — recalled to the big leagues.

But quality major-league organizations stockpile talent. They have good players in the pipeline. If you’re affiliated with a quality organizations you’re not only going to get good teams frequently, but blue-chip baseball prospects — which is just as important for fan appeal.

In Portland with the Beavers, we see little of either. We’ve had a decent team or two and a few nice prospects. I would say Jason Bay is probably the best player the Padres have shipped through here and San Diego couldn’t wait to trade him.

This year it’s no different. The Beavers stink. They lose home games constantly and feature no promising big-league stars. Still, they’ve been drawing 6,000,-7,000 people per night as the team uses quality promotions, nice weather and well, just the lure of a ballgame, to put fans into their seats.

I worked many years for the Beavers as a kid, in every job from bat boy, to PA announcer, to radio broadcaster, to press box boy, to clubhouse manager to group sales director. And I can tell you the sales philosophy probably hasn’t changed much since those days long ago.

You sell baseball as a family outing. You sell it for what it is — a wholesome, clean thing to do with your family on a warm summer evening or afternoon. You make people feel guilty if they haven’t taken their kids to a ballgame at least once or twice this summer — because, let’s face it, they should feel that way. And then you throw a few gimmicks in — a celebrity softball game, a clown or two, a fireworks show, whatever, just to sweeten the pot.

And that way, when the parent club sends you lemon, you can sell it as lemonade. In the minors, you don’t well winning baseball. You just sell baseball — and bobbleheads, fireworks and the usual dog-and-pony shows. And that works — particularly in nice ballparks.

The Beavers, since hooking up with the Padres, have done a halfway decent job of moving tickets and putting people into an uncomfortable ballpark. But it really would help if once in a while we had some terrific young prospects on a powerful team that wins a lot, wouldn’t it?

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Tags: Dwight Jaynes, minor-league baseball, Portland, Portland Beavers, San Diego Padres

The Oregon Sports Authority is now on board with Beaverton being the new site for a Portland Beaver ballpark.

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Tags: Beaverton, Dwight Jaynes, Oregon Sports Authority, Portland Beavers

All we’re really hearing about Beaverton’s pursuit of the Beavers is that it would be very effective in helping the city spark growth in the area of The Round. That it would be good for the city’s economy.

It pains me, too, to think how often, during Portland’s efforts to obtain a major-league baseball team, the same topic was beaten to death. Honestly, I don’t know about the impact of pro sports on the economy. It always seemed pretty obvious to me, but you can usually find economists today who will tell you it’s negligible.

Whatever. If that’s the real reason your community is chasing pro sports it’s the wrong reason, anyway. You should be trying to bring the Beavers to Beaverton because, you know, it’s going to enhance the experience of living in Beaverton. That’s really what this is all about.

How often does your community get the opportunity to bring a clean, wholesome family entertainment business into the area that provides a chance for a number of citizens to gather in one place and have a great time? That has serious value to a city and its residents.

Think about it. When we look back at the Portland Trail Blazers’ long life in Portland, do we talk about the team’s impact on the economy? Never — even though it’s surely been major. We talk about the sheer fun we’ve had following the team. That’s what it’s really all about. That’s the real value of the Steelers to Pittsburgh, the Red Wings to Detroit or the Cubs to Chicago.

And that’s why a community shouldn’t be ashamed to put public money into stadiums or arenas. They’re invested in the improvement of a lifestyle in a city. They’re investing in a city’s self-image and quality of life. They’re helping to build an identity for their community.

Or, as I’ve said before so many times — that’s unless you think all the other major cities in the world are wrong for investing themselves in sports venues. And that we’re the only ones, right here in Perfect Portland, who are correct for never investing in such frivolity.

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Tags: Beaverton, Dwight Jaynes, Portland, Portland Beavers