In the comments section of a recent post I heard a lot of people whining about Allen.

You can say what you want about how he’s run the team — and I’ve been critical of his management style — and you can even stay all paranoid about him moving the team to Seattle, which he isn’t going to do.

But I remain firmly convinced of one thing — without Allen as the team’s owner, the Trail Blazers would have moved out of Portland a long time ago.

Huh?

Well, here’s the thing — Allen’s most lasting contribution to Portland sports isn’t just his ownership of the team, it’s that he built the Rose Garden. And I will maintain forever that he’s the only one who would have done it.

I mean, seriously — you think the city of Portland would have done it? There is NO WAY. In the 90s, this team would have still been trying to make it playing in Memorial Coliseum and our city would have slipped into its usual “if you want an arena, you better build it yourself” mode and any other rational owner in sports would have looked elsewhere.

I mean, plenty of other cities would have been willing to build an NBA owner a new arena. The Trail Blazers would have moved to Kansas City or Las Vegas a decade ago without Paul Allen deciding just to build his own venue, which ended up costing him a lot of money and heartache.

The fact is, the price you pay for major-league teams these days — which most progressive cities believe is important — is building the venue.

Portland doesn’t do sports venues. We re-do them. Which is a bit of a joke in most cases.

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Wendell Maxey wrote this on Twitter a couple of days ago:

according to a source close to kevin pritchard, paul allen doesn’t want kp sitting with him in allen’s courtside seats during games…..
8:45 AM Apr 18th via TweetDeck

Nobody made much of it at the time — but it’s all over the league by now. You can bet that with the playoff games here Thursday and Saturday, many will be watching to see if Pritchard continues to be relegated to his seat up near the media area for these games.

Does anyone really believe he prefers that seat to the baseline one next to Allen he used for the last several seasons? On the other hand, is this thing so toxic that they can’t even sit together?

UPDATE: According to Rick Kaplan, the agent for Marcus Camby, it was Kevin Pritchard who negotiated the Camby deal for the team. On the Morning Sports Page Wednesday, Kaplan said that Pritchard was the prime negotiator and seemed to act like any other general manager in that situation. Kaplan saw no sign of any decline in Pritchard’s authority or position in the organization.

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This franchise can take injuries and defections at just about every position but one — at the very top. There is no other owner out there like Paul Allen.

I remember telling someone this summer, every time this man sets foot in the Rose Garden he ought to get a standing ovation. He’s been that important not only to this franchise but this city. Do you really think Portland would have built a new arena unless he paid for it? Really? I don’t. No way.

The city of Portland would either be still trying to tweak and “renovate” Memorial Coliseum — or the team would be long gone to Memphis or somewhere else by now.

Do you think any other owner would be willing to lose the millions and millions of dollars Paul Allen has lost on the Trail Blazers? I don’t think so. The realities of owning a team in a small market haven’t been a problem here for years. We’re so spoiled here that fans and media take it for granted. I have for years.

Allen treats this franchise as if it’s located in New York or Los Angeles, spending what it takes to win and knowing the bottom line is going to be scary. He’s tightened his belt at times, but who doesn’t? It still hasn’t deterred him from trying to make this the best franchise in the NBA.

He just wants to win. God love him for that. And God bless him in his fight against non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

My first reaction upon hearing the news that he’s fighting cancer again was pretty much what I wrote at the start of this post. I worry about who would own this team if he doesn’t. I can’t imagine the next owner being willing to subsidize the franchise the way he has.

I think that’s a natural knee-jerk reaction a lot of us had. But what I’m thinking about now is the man I’ve now been acquainted with for nearly two decades. A quiet, hard-to-get-to-know guy who keeps to himself and doesn’t reveal much. I’ve tweaked him in print and on the air countless times, without him ever complaining or whining or even acknowledging it.

But to watch, through his tenure as the team’s owner, what he’s put in to this town, both financially and emotionally, has been amazing.  He doesn’t ask for kudos or credit, but there ought to be a statue of him in the courtyard of the Rose Quarter.  Someday, the arena should bear his name.

I’m reminding you, he’s a special guy. Sure, he’s made mistakes and we’ve criticized him for them. But I also think we’ve taken him for granted for too long in Portland. Without him, I just don’t know where we’d be as a sports town — but it would be a lot less than what we are now.

Good luck, Paul. Beat this thing. Your team has a long run ahead but for it to reach its potential, you’ve really gotta be here running the show.

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I’m not sure I could ever look up there again.

I know, for some reason last night, while Jordan was in Miami talking about the 25th anniversary edition of Air Jordan shoes, the Heat decided to retire No. 23 in honor of Jordan. It has even been suggested that the number should be retired, league-wide, the way baseball retired No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson.

It may be the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard of. Especially for teams that Jordan beat or publicly scorned — like Portland. Not only did Jordan hand the Blazers a loss in the NBA Finals, he has on a few occasions talked about how lucky he was never to have played here.

I find the whole idea wrong on so many levels. First off, numbers become iconic within a generation — but not much longer after that. When I was a kid if you wore No. 7, everyone knew you were a Mickey Mantle guy. The No. 24 was Willie Mays. And No. 37? If you were a coach or manager, you wanted Casey Stengel’s number. Was there a more iconic number in sports than Wayne Gretzky’s 99?

Today, those numbers are all but forgotten, except by the gray hairs. I have a feeling Jordan’s number will be the same way. His Jumpman logo is more iconic than his number and it will be around for a long time.

I see no reason to honor him league-wide. Certainly, he’s no Jackie Robinson. He didn’t break the color barrier. Greatest player of all time? Well, for now. But since when did sports want to retire the number of their all-time best player? I’ve never heard of it.

Someone will come along at some point, though, who is better than Jordan. It’s always that way. Not sure somebody playing right now won’t eventually be that.

Switch out Jordan’s Jumpman for Jerry West onto the NBA’s logo if you want. I could live with that. West’s had a great run in that thing for years but just about all leagues do a little refresher on their logo at some point.

Just please, Trail Blazers, PLEASE, spare me from having to look at that No. 23 in the Rose Garden rafters. And don’t automatically dismiss the possibility — Trail Blazer president Larry Miller was once the president of Brand Jordan and has a close relationship with the guy.

But I would hope we could somehow retain the impression that this league belongs to competitors. It belongs to the people whose will to win aspires to be as great as Jordan’s. And to honor those people, don’t ever hang another team’s player’s laundry in the rafters of their house.

UPDATE: Can you imagine how well this would go over in Boston or Detroit?

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Don’t forget, Comcast Sportsnet Northwest will telecast the Trail Blazers’ Fan Fest live from the Rose Garden, beginning at 5:30, with all kinds of features, interviews, etc.

I’ll be roaming around the sidelines with the wireless microphone getting interviews with coaches, players, etc. It should be a lot of fun and if you can’t make it over to the arena, this is your first chance to see what it all looks like for this season.

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Dana White, whose organization did a sensational job of promoting this event, marched into the interview room after the fights smiling. It was a good night Saturday in the Rose Garden for UFC.

“16,088 and a gate of $1.92 million,” White said. “It was great. Energy in there was great. One of the loudest crowds ever. . . . And nobody went to the hospital. Nobody got hurt. A good night.”

Indeed, you’ll find more people limping around or in a dream-street daze at your average college football game next week. (Speaking of which, you must go read my pal Bean’s great review of last night and UFC in general right here.)

Couture, who lost a unanimous decision to Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, fought a terrific fight at the age of 46 — then announced he’d signed a fresh, 28-month, six-fight deal with UFC. “He can fight at heavyweight or light heavyweight,” said White. “His choice. He’s earned that. He’s proved he can hang with the best heavyweights but he’s earned the right to choose where he fights. I don’t care. He’s a Hall of Famer.”

Couture said he’d take a week or two to decide his future but this really was one of his classic fights, the best bout on the card by far  – against a man who looked a lot like he did in his old dominant days of being the champion of Pride, when it was arguably the top MMA organization in the world.

“That was the loudest crowd I’ve ever been in front of,” Couture said. “I think it was a good fight. They just don’t always turn out the way you want them to.”

I think Couture would be wise to drop down to the light heavyweight division. At about 220 pounds, he’s been giving up a lot of weight to most heavyweights he’s fought. And I’m not sure he’s got many main-event bouts left as a heavyweight, but as a light heavy, he’s right in the thick of a title picture, at least for a few fights.

People ask me why I’m so interested in the UFC and I have to admit, a lot of it starts with Couture. I’ve been covering athletes and their sports for three decades. The UFC thing started for me years ago when I watched the early ones on pay per view and didn’t like them much. But I still talked and wrote about it some and when I was doing radio at KPAM, Matt Lindland, another great guy, called the show one day just as a listener to talk about something I said. Soon, we were talking about Team Qwest, Lindland and Couture’s joint venture in Gresham.

One thing led to another and we decided to put on a UFC-themed show at a local pub, featuring Couture, Lindland and Tim Sylvia, who was then in town training. It was an incredbly fun show and I was so impressed with the intelligence of these athletes and their dedication. We got calls, too, from all over the country as passionate MMA fans listened via the Internet.

I got to know Couture pretty well, saw him outside the cage and even went to Las Vegas for one of his championship fights. At that fight, he allowed us access to his dressing room within an hour of the start of his fight. It was amazing watching his calmness as he got ready to fight a man who would, in a few minutes, knock him out.

I’ve found him as charasmatic as just about any athlete I’ve been around. He’s professional, hard working and dedicated — all the things you’d expect. But more than that, he’s charming, self-deprecating and really, just down-to-earth nice in a quiet sort of I’m-there-for-you way. His attitude about his profession is so amazing — he’s all about trying his best, doing his best and whatever happens, happens. The idea is simply to push himself to be the very best he can be, for as long as he can do it.

Life is good for people like that. And it’s good for those around them. Sport would do well with a whole lot more Randy Coutures. After so many years in the newspaper business, in the days when people took being unbiased real seriously, I’m always pretty distanced from outcomes when I watch sports. But I found myself squirming in my seat Saturday night as Couture escaped (barely) from everything Nogueira threw at him.

I wanted him to win but more than that, I just wanted what I know he wanted — to stage a real Randy Couture Fight in what’s probably going to be his only appearance in what was his hometown for several years. He didn’t win, but it was a Randy Couture Fight for sure. He used every bit of intelligence and skill he could muster, relied on his conditioning and smarts – and did his best.

We were left wanting more — hey, come on, just two more rounds! Brock Lesnar, the monster of a heavyweight champ who was sitting with White and openly rooting for Randy, told White the same thing. “We both would have liked to see it be a five-round fight,” White said.

However, five rounds are for title fights, which this one wasn’t. But Randy Couture certainly makes every fight feel like a championship fight — because he’s a champion in just about every way.

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Even if you’ve read the morning paper, you may not know that Randy Couture, a man Shaquille O’Neal once told Sports Illustrated was his favorite athlete, is fighting tonight in the Rose Garden on a pay per view event that will be shown all over the world. There are some other very good bouts on the card. Tickets are still available and the fights start at at 4:30, although the TV presentation doesn’t get under way until 7.

And the Portland Winter Hawks are playing their first exhibition game of the season tonight next door in Memorial Coliseum, against the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Enjoy your evening.

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Yes, even Dana White. But if you showed up expecting the bombastic, sometimes profane Dana, you were sadly disappointed. Instead, we got the charming and funny Dana. And it was a lot of fun. Plus, all the fighters were there.

A few highlights:

Dana said his company next year will be staging “three fights a month” — which is part of the reason it’s going world wide. Thursday he promised a fight in Vancouver, B.C., “very soon” and mentioned Boston, New York, Toronto and Brazil as future sites. He called the main event matchup between Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira a battle between “two of the greatest heavyweights in history” — which it is. And he also said both fighters are “100 percent healthy” — which in Nogueira’s case is a big improvement from his recent bouts.

Couture said he bought 45 tickets for family and friends after spending several years here building Team Quest with Matt Lindland. He also said he’s been working out since Tuesday night at Team Quest’s facility and “it’s a lot cleaner than I remember it. With Lindland running it, that’s surprising. I thought it would be dirtier.”

White said the top three fights on the card, Couture-Nogueira, Keith Jardine-Thiago Silva and Nate Marquardt-Damian Maia were going to be “great fights.” I’d agree on that one, too.

Tickets are still available in all price ranges but will go fast now that the fight is near. There’s never been an event like this in Portland — a top-shelf UFC pay per view that will attract fans from all over the globe. Besides, it’s also the first time Couture has ever fought here in his adopted home town.

“I never gave up on it happening,” he told me after the news conference. “We came close to getting the Lesnar fight here and after that I figured it would happen, either here or in Seattle. I’m really happy to be back.”

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Congratulations should go to the Rose Garden’s Chris Oxley for chasing this for a long time and then finally making it happen. It’s going to be interesting to see how many tickets the UFC can sell in Portland at these prices.

 Heavyweight Legends to Headline First-Ever UFC Event in Portland at the Rose Garden Aug 29

Tickets On Sale Sat, Jun 20

Who: The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

When: Sat., Aug 29 ● 4:45p matches begin; 7p PPV matches begin

Where: Rose Quarter – Rose Garden

Portland, Oregon

Tickets: Tickets are priced at $600, $400, $300, $200, $100 and $50. Tickets go on sale Saturday, June 20th at 10a and can be purchased at the Rose Quarter Box Office (M-F 10a-5p), all participating Safeway/ TicketsWest outlets, by calling 877.789.ROSE (7673), or at ComcastTIX.com. For more information please visit RoseQuarter.com. Prices do not include service charges. To receive event notices, pre-sale opportunities, discounts and prizes join our free Rose Quarter CyberClub at RoseQuarter.com.

What: The Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) is headed to Portland for the first time ever and it’s bringing a couple of true heavyweight heroes. Mixed martial arts legends and former UFC champions Randy “The Natural” Couture and Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira will face off for the first time in their storied careers at UFC 102: COUTURE vs. NOGUEIRA, live from the Rose Garden on Saturday, August 29, 2009.

“We’re extremely excited to be heading to Portland,” UFC President Dana White said. “When you get two mixed martial arts legends that are all heart and have wanted to fight each other for years, plus the fact that Randy has roots in Oregon, that tells me that not only will the crowd be electric but it’s also a night where the fighters will be looking to cement their legacies.”

A UFC Hall-of-Famer and five-time UFC champion, Randy “The Natural” Couture (fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev.) has a mixed martial arts resume that truly stands out from the rest. The Everett, Washington native has registered a series of wins over big names that include Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Tim Sylvia, Pedro Rizzo, Vitor Belfort and Gabriel Gonzaga. On August 29th, Couture returns to Oregon after coaching wrestling at Oregon State University, and the 45-year-old former three-time UFC heavyweight champion and two-time UFC light heavyweight champion will be looking to give his legion of fans yet another reason to cheer when he takes on Nogueira.

“Nogueira is the type of fighter that is dangerous everywhere,” Couture said. “He’s difficult to knock out and he’s a world class jiu-jitsu player. I will have to train very diligently and very specifically for him. Also, the fact that I’m fighting in Oregon makes me want to put on a great show and win for these fans.”

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo black belt and the only man to hold the PRIDE and UFC heavyweight championship belts, “Minotauro” Nogueira (fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) has the experience and the world-class talent to take out anyone who opposes him in the Octagon. With UFC wins over Heath Herring and Tim Sylvia in his first two UFC bouts, the revered Nogueira quickly made his presence felt in the ultra-competitive heavyweight division. Now the 6-foot-3, 240-pound former interim UFC heavyweight champion looks to get the gold back around his waist.

“I’m honored to face such a great fighter as Randy Couture,” Nogueira said. “I wanted to fight him for some time now and I know to become a legend you have to beat a legend.”

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Not a week goes by that I don’t get at least one e-mail that goes something like this one did yesterday:

OK I know it is a dream (an old dream) but I would love to see a NHL team in Portland!!

The short rink of the old Glass Palace is history and the Rose Garden is a prefect fit.

I mention this today because I listened to a Bloomberg broadcast today with a NHL offical, and he talked about the failure of the NHL in those Southern Cities: Atlanta (again), Florida (Tampa) and also Pheonix is on the ropes. They are talking about moving some teams back to Canada (Ya).

Why doesn’t Seattle and Portland jump at this chance?????????????????

We always supported the Bucks and we are a great Hockey City.

Do you know of any effort in the NW ????

Well, Gary, I’m afraid the answer is always the same. Paul Allen now has control of the Rose Garden again. If he’d have wanted the NHL, and for only a brief time it appeared he did, we’d have it here already. But for right now, it doesn’t appear he wants the competition against his basketball team. You know, someone else trying to sell sponsorships or ticket packages to what little major corporate support exists in this market.

There are two ways a team could come to Portland — either Paul owns it or he rents the building to those who own it. I don’t believe he wants to take the financial gamble it would be to buy a club and move it here. And I would guess his financial advisers don’t believe the money he’d make renting the building to a prospective NHL owner would balance out the money he could lose to that team on the sales side.

But that’s just a guess based on watching what’s gone on here. There was one single case that I know about, back before Mario Lemeiux got involved in the Pittsburgh ownership, when apparently the Blazers were about to announce they were buying that franchise. But Super Mario stepped in to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

Certainly there are some NHL teams available very cheap right now. If he wanted to bring hockey to Portland — and there are certainly some opportunities with sales and economies of scale that would make sense in packaging the two franchises together — this is the time. I’m fairly certain, too, that all the suites in the Rose Garden have kicker clauses that ups the rent should an NHL team hit town.

I’d love to see it happen. I know in the past, when the Blazers were way down in the standings and in the hearts of Portlanders, there was concern than a hockey team could steal a lot of the spotlight from the basketball team. With the Blazers on the upswing, I doubt that would happen now.

Maybe the time is ripe, Paul. Perhaps it’s something to consider. A lot of the team’s staff could double up and be used for both franchises (I bet those overworked people love me for saying that) and it’s possible there’s a financial opportunity there if the team could be purchased for the right price.

So there. I’ve tried my best, hockey fans, to talk someone into at least looking into it. It would be GREAT for the city.

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