Top-5 Mac Musings – August 14, 2025

A REBOOTED RIP CITY??
At first I thought it was a dream. Now, after my third cup of coffee it is starting to sink in… my beloved Portland Trail Blazers have a new owner!

At long last the Jody Allen “Let Them Eat Cake” or “Let Them Eat Loss-After-Loss” reign of terror is finally over. Trying to distill how I felt about Jody Allen running the team (into the ground) that the late Paul Allen cherished and did his best to innovate and improve can be summed up in one .gif

I expect her next venture will be bankrupting a Vegas casino.

Enough of the past and let’s meet the new guy, billionaire financier and Texas land baron Tom Dundon. The owner of the Carolina Hurricanes knows a few things about building thriving franchises in small markets. The Canes won the franchise’s only Stanley Cup in 2006 and have advanced to the conference finals twice in the last three seasons.

Let me check my notes… the last time the Trail Blazers accomplished a similar feat… Oh yes. I was in high school and still had a full head of lush, strawberry blonde hair. So, it’s been a minute (1990-92).

One of the fascinating things about Dundon is that he and his development group recently unveiled an $800 million plan to revitalize the area around the Hurricane’s arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

In my most recent past life working for the Oregon Department of Transportation I worked on the I-5 Rose Quarter Project which among many other vital initiatives was meant to resuscitate the area surrounding Moda Center home of the Blazers. I worked on a highly talented group which obtained a $415 million federal grant – the largest ever secured by the agency at the time. Now with all federal infrastructure funding in… a state of flux? Enter Dundon and his new franchise.

I am not pretending that Portland offers… shall we say a more complex political environment than Raleigh ever dreamed of – “Keep Portland Weird” is a real thing. But hope in Rip City may be emerging at last.

I will let Red take us out from here.

Let’s do it… Mac Musings for Thursday, August 14.

1. 1. Warning… I can almost guarantee you these musings will be heavy on the sportsball side today, especially my Portland Trail Blazers. 
   2. Bill Schonley was the voice of my childhood. I used to listen to at least 60 games a year on the radio growing up. (Yes… the radio). Having an iconic, Naismith Hall-of-Famer describe the action, the energy and the joy of high level hoops? Unbeatable. I would do my best “Schonz” imitations in the driveway while shooting hoops. Why, yes… I was a nerd growing up in the country…
   3. Fair warning: I am about to go deep down the wormhole of the internet and rewatch the 1990 and 1992 NBA Finals. I still distinctly remember my high school graduation day and before I gave my speech I asked the crowd if they knew the Blazers/Bulls game three score. 
   4. Losing to the Bad Boy Pistons and the Bulls for their second title in a “three-peat” still rankles. And now the players I hated most on those teams. You can thank me later. 
      • Isaiah Thomas, Detroit – Zeke still haunts as the ringleader
      • Isaiah Thomas, Detroit – Yes, again. 
      • Bill Laimbeer, Detroit – Notre Dame guy… made him even less likable. 
      • John Paxon, Chicago – Another Notre Dame dude.
      • Bill Cartwright, Chicago – Just a walking, swinging elbow to the face.

• *You will notice that Michael Jordan is not on this list. I could not muster hate for this guy who should have been a Blazer. I just spent most games in total awe like everybody else.

1. My LAL hatred has never really subsided from all of the childhood trauma inflicted by the Showtime Lakers. Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Rambis, Scott, AC Green… shudders. It may have peaked in the 2000 Western Conference Finals as the “Jail Blazers” at its peak tackled Kobe and Shaq and the rest of SoCal. What an amazing series. And then Game Seven happened. There are gut punches and then there was this game. Portland entered the fourth quarter leading 71-58 and looked ready to vanquish Public Enemy No. 1 wearing the purple and gold road uniforms. It did not end well. Portland was outscored 31-13 in the fourth and missed approximately 85 straight shots to close out the game. OOOOOFFFFF.
2. Bonus musing: My Favorite Jail Blazers
   • Arvydas Sabonis
   • Scottie Pippen
   • Rasheed Wallace
   • Bonzi Wells
   • JR Rider

Bonus List: My Top-5 most hated Lakers… ever.

1. Magic Johnson – He may have sent me to therapy. I will discuss it with my therapist.
2. Kobe Bryant – I will not speak ill of the dead, but I am really tempted.
3. Michael Cooper – Did you know he made 80% of his career 3-pointers in the final seconds to beat Portland?
4. Kurt Rambis – He played college ball at Santa Clara. Makes everything else that much worse.
5. Byron Scott – Did you know that “Byron Scott” means “dagger 3-pointer” in Swahili?

Honorable Mention: Kareem Abdul-Jabaar – I used to have nightmares about the skyhook, but loved him in the movie “Airplane”…

**I just can’t hate Shaq. Believe me… I’ve tried. It’s just impossible for me.

QUOTABLE
Jordan also reportedly used comparisons to Clyde Drexler as motivation, stating, “He’s a better three-point shooter than I choose to be…“ and “Clyde Drexler is just as good as me; he just doesn’t know how to play the game“.

***Of course, Michael Jordan and Clyde Drexler could have been in the same backcourt if not for… Sam Bowie. Apparently I am still not over it.