# Statement to the Blazers Board from Mixum



## mixum (Mar 19, 2003)

First off let me say thank you to those on the board who have realized im not trolling or trying to upset anyone. You have to realize I love the Blazers and wanna see them do well just like all of you. I obvioulsy see the team headed in a different direction then most of you, which is fine but i think you should all realize I want this team to win. I understand they are rebuilding, however I feel our GM has made some terrible moves without going into detail. If you support Nash, thats your choice but as you know I cant stand him and count the days till hes finally fired.

I am a very competetive person and will not accept losing. To me John Nash has always been associated with losing which has a habit of following you until you stop it. In john Nash's case I dont see this ever happening. Dont get me wrong I like some of our players but also realize we are far from having a legit star or even a 2nd level star. I think Nash has done an awful job but I realize you all dont so I will try and tone it down a notch on my Nash bashing...i will try. I think alot of you know your basketball and are great fans, infact thats why i love the Blazers....I like the college atmosphere that you all bring to the Rose Garden. You guys arent fair weather fans and thats why it pains me to see NAsh destroy a once great franchise. You guys never accepted losing before so dont settle for it now. ITS THE BLAZERS NOT THE CLIPPERS WE ARE ROOTING FOR.

Anyway im sorry to continue to upset you all and will not post here if it means causing all this chaos on a messgae board. I truly want to see this team win and will cheer as loud as any of you if they ever do again, however that wont happen if Nash doesnt get fired soon. Im sorry again and thats the way I feel. Losing takes practice, and becomes acceptable if you let it! This has happened to Nash...dont let it happen to you all since you are great fans.

Mixum
:boohoo:


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## sa1177 (Feb 18, 2005)

Thanks Mixum I repsect your courage and humility for posting this. I apologize for my attacking antagonistic posts directed at you or anyone else as well. 

:clap:


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## Schilly (Dec 30, 2002)

Mix that is an excellent post, I love it. You did an excellent job of conveying your opinion, without questioning other members of the board....Awesome, the effort is well appreciated.

I hope you will continue to post here, we all need to hear this type of opinion...yin and yang if you will, gotta balance things out.

As a Blazers fan you know there is not better place to be than bb.net

:cheers:


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## Nightfly (Sep 24, 2002)

Mixum, if every one of your posts was like this one, you would quickly become one of my favorite posters here.

I think it's good to know that at the end of the day, all of us here want the same thing from our Blazers, a Championship. There is nothing wrong with that at all.

I hope you will stick around if you can continue to post like this!


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## chromekilla (Aug 21, 2005)

i never really payed attention to ur posts unlees u posted in a real support thread or something,its good that i wont have to see anymore of the type of posts again from ,cept for sometimes.good job if i could rep u i would how old are u btw im just wondering because im 13 Zid


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## Schilly (Dec 30, 2002)

Zidane said:


> i never really payed attention to ur posts unlees u posted in a real support thread or something,its good that i wont have to see anymore of the type of posts again from ,cept for sometimes.good job if i could rep u i would how old are u btw im just wondering because im 13 Zid


Huh?


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## chromekilla (Aug 21, 2005)

i was telling him good job and i never payed attention to his posts very much good job on the statement to the board.and how old he was.most of it i was joking though


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## Sambonius (May 21, 2003)

Even when Cheeks was vividly the worst coach I've seen in years, I still supported him and I would hope he would do well. Even if you dislike ALL of Nash's moves if not all, I don't see how you say you are supporting him. Supporting him would be actually giving credit when it is actually due, I don't have to say when and where he deserves credit. It's good to know me and you want the same thing but understand Nash isn't #1, he's not even the #2. He's not calling all the shots like you think he is.


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## Schilly (Dec 30, 2002)

Zidane said:


> i was telling him good job and i never payed attention to his posts very much good job on the statement to the board.and how old he was.most of it i was joking though


ahhh....I thought so much I just needed verification.


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## ryanjend22 (Jan 23, 2004)

now your probably going to call this blasting, but honestly...

ya'll are pretty soft if this is even an issue. its a message board. you should be able to post what you think (negative or not) about the blazers. as long as you dont curse or call people out (which seems to be board rules here).

if you dont like somebodys post, ignore it. stop cryin.

i respect everyone here, as i do in my everyday life. so i dont want to be disrepectful, but i just wanted to say that.


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## Schilly (Dec 30, 2002)

ryanjend22 said:


> now your probably going to call this blasting, but honestly...
> 
> ya'll are pretty soft if this is even an issue. its a message board. you should be able to post what you think (negative or not) about the blazers. as long as you dont curse or call people out (which seems to be board rules here).
> 
> ...


Not blasting at all....You are right on the money as to what the expectations are. Thanks for chiming in.


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## Draco (Jun 28, 2003)

I think you have a valid opinion Mixum and I agree with you in many ways. If you worked more on explaining your opinion, like you did in this post, I think more people would agree with you, or at least give your perspective more consideration. But if you just want to spew off short comments saying Nash is an idiot or whatnot, you should be allowed to if it doesn't break any rules. Its just those threads can degrade into worthless blabber.

But it's not just you Mixum, a lot of us could do a better job of articulating our ideas into persuasive arguments.


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## chula vista blazer (Jul 13, 2005)

Mixum

I'm going to deviate a little from the politically correct thing to say because I tend to be kind of a straight forward guy.

I don't enjoy reading your posts, in general, because I find them to be overwhelmingly negative, not well thought out and because you usually don't care to follow up with responses to counter-arguments later in your thread.

By contrast, posters like Ed O, though they're negative, make the board more lively because of their responses to what you say. A good flow between the optomists like me and the cynics makes for an entertaining series of posts to read.

You have a right to post whatever you'd like to post, but have the respect to post at least a couple more times within the thread when you start a topic.

By the way, I liked Whitsitt better than Nash- with a better coach, we could have had a couple championships with the talent he brought in. I don't want to settle for losing, but I honestly see a lot of promise in the players we have today.

Oh, and, why not, here's a little of the PC: it's nice to hear you express your feelings, I don't doubt that you're a Blazer fan, you are probably a decent human being and not an ax-murderer, I hope you keep posting, and etc..

Now, grab a beer (or a coffee) if you will, and write something entertaining for the rest of us to respond to...or respond wittily to something someone else says... And pray that the mods relax and allow a little ebb and flow! I have yet to get a strike-though....I wonder if any of this qualifies for my first? I think chilling is good for all of us, but what do I know? I'm in sunny San Diego!


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## BlayZa (Dec 31, 2002)

good on ya mixum , keep doing yer thing!


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## Paxil (Jan 1, 2003)

If nothing else, Mixum brings balance to the force.


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## hasoos (Jan 3, 2003)

Now if we can only shift Mixum to the Dark Side!!! Muahahahahhahahha! :evil:


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## RedHot&Rolling (Jun 26, 2004)

Thank you Mixum for a more thought-out, and coherent Post. I accept your apology and have taken you off my IGNORE list - to give *me *an opportunity to try to understand you and your thoughts better than I have.

I'm sorry too for many of my less than nice responses to you personally.

Please continue to make comments - but then explain them - and _participate _in this discussion board.

Go Trail Blazers!

Red Hot & Rolling


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

I too will take mixum off my ignore list and REALLY appreciate the effort to tone things down and present valid points with his opinions. I will never understand his hatred for Nash, because I feel he has done a good job given the circumstances, but respect his opinion when he lays it out it like he did in this thread. 

Thanks mixum. I really hope Nash and the young guys will win you over in the next couple of years, and I think it will happen. 

:cheers:


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## BBert (Dec 30, 2004)

mixum, your posts never offended me personally, in fact I generally find them funny, and certainly lively. 

However, I'm glad you understand that blasting the entire message board (or individual posters) as being blind and not agreeing with how you see Blazers management and the current state of the team is not only against site rules but counterproductive to getting your point across. Also, making wild !!!-filled posts then dissappearing rubs a lot of people the wrong way.

If you are a little more careful about how you post your ideas, and don't insult the board, I think you'll have a lot more fun here and your views will carry much more weight. 

Remember, we are all in this painful transition period together, and there ain't much we can do about it.

JMO.

Sincerely,

Bert.

:cheers:


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## mixum (Mar 19, 2003)

again...i like all of you since we all root for the same team. I just hate Nash but I do hope he proves me wrong since id rather see the blazers win then be right myself about nash.


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## Bwatcher (Dec 31, 2002)

ChulaV pretty well sums up my thinking. I frankly don't buy that a poster is seeking discussion, if they don't follow up starting threads with appropriate responses. For the most part I have not seen much interaction from M. It led me to believe that M was mostly just trying to agitate. I would be happy to see/read different behavior.


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## SheedSoNasty (Dec 31, 2002)

Yeah, Chulavista pretty much summed it up for me too. I'm all for having different opinions, but not backing up them up with any sort of evidence or explanation just seems like trolling to me. I really hope that you can turn it around (even if it's negative) and post some reasonable responses.

And, if you could lay off the CAPS, I'll lay off the caution tapes. Deal?


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## ProudBFan (Apr 29, 2003)

Thanks for explaining yourself, mixum. I think it clears a lot of things up.

I think you and I are, in many ways, polar opposites. I was EXACTLY in your shoes with respect to the Blazers in the waning days of 2001 when all hell started to break loose with our players. I was a regular on the ESPN.com forum at the time, and I was every bit as vocal against what was happening then as you are now. Moreso, in fact. I was openly campaigning for a fan boycott in a (naive) attempt to force change. What I saw then was the actions of our players and management eroding away at a once-proud franchise. What you are seeing now is the decisions of our management doing the same thing.

But back then, I was branded a 'fair-weather fan' by many of my fellow regulars. And if you will notice, I have never branded you with that label. I may have had questions about the sincerity of the opinions you have posted here - because you have never seemed willing to back them up and because at times you have seemed to contradict yourself - but in every single one of your posts I have seen a level of passion for the Blazers that has rivaled my own. The difference between you and me is that you are extremely focused on winning, and I am extremely focused on character. However, just so you know, I believe firmly that character contributes to and plays a very important role in winning. I think Lauryn Hill said it best when she penned her song, "Doo *** (That Thing)":

"How you gonna win, when you ain't right within?"

So although you and I are at opposite ends of the winning vs. character spectrum, when it comes right down to it we both want the same thing: We want the Blazers to win. I just happen to believe that the character issues need to be addressed in order for that to happen. And because Patterson and Nash have been addressing those issues, I am much more supportive of the moves they've made than you are. Further, I think this is the fundamental difference of opinion on this forum between those who approve of Nash's moves and those who don't.

And all I have to say to that is: Patience. The character issues, for the most part, have been addressed. The air in the Blazers locker-room is likely as clear now as it has been since the 1999-2000 season, or even before. We have moved rapidly from "dysfunctional" to "functional". And now the goal is to move from "functional" to "kickin' ***". And we have budding talent, good chemistry, and a great coaching staff to help us along that path.

I see your frustration and your passion, dude. Hang in there. In the end, we all want the Blazers to win. Remember that.

PBF


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## tlong (Jan 6, 2003)

No apology is necessary mixum. If anything, other posters on this board should be apologizing to you.


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## ProudBFan (Apr 29, 2003)

tlong said:


> No apology is necessary mixum. If anything, other posters on this board should be apologizing to you.


I agree that no apology is necessary, and I dont see this statement from mixum as an apology. It is an explanation. And it is very much appreciated, since it should help us all better understand where mixum is really coming from (something many of us could not do until now due to HOW mixum has been posting here).

PBF


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## sa1177 (Feb 18, 2005)

> I was a regular on the ESPN.com forum at the time, and I was every bit as vocal against what was happening then as you are now. Moreso, in fact. I was openly campaigning for a fan boycott in a (naive) attempt to force change


HeHe PBF I remember your boycott campaign...ESPN refugee baby!!


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## Scout226 (Sep 17, 2003)

tlong said:


> No apology is necessary mixum. If anything, other posters on this board should be apologizing to you.



bah.. 

It all comes down to two sides. 

Group 1:
Pessimistics/Bob supporters/Bonzi and Sheed supporters/No change needed 

Group 2:
Optimistics/Nash Supporters/anti Bonzi and Sheed fans/Change needed

I see it as that plain and simple. There may be slight variations, but I think that holds true. So, in this whole situation, Group 1 will say "no appologies needed and Group 2 is at fault for everything".


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## ProudBFan (Apr 29, 2003)

Scout226 said:


> bah..
> 
> It all comes down to two sides.
> 
> ...


And Group 2 will say "thanks for the apology and you're right, you and the rest of Group 1 were wrong".

This whole thing will only blow over, Scout, if we all decide to let it. We all want the Blazers to win, some of us just believe that a solid character-based foundation is the prerequisite. That's the difference here, IMO.

PBF


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## tlong (Jan 6, 2003)

The most important ingredient, *BY FAR*, to winning basketball games is talent. That is something we are sorely lacking. Character can't put the ball in the hoop.


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## ProudBFan (Apr 29, 2003)

tlong said:


> The most important ingredient, *BY FAR*, to winning basketball games is talent. That is something we are sorely lacking. Character can't put the ball in the hoop.


No, but lack of it can certainly KEEP the ball from getting in the hoop. Guys running around out there with their heads in the clouds are fighting against themselves to perform. Case in point: Darius' botched dunk during the season finale vs. the Lakers.

PBF


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## Kmurph (May 7, 2003)

I know you hate Nash Mixum, and some posters here don't like certain players like Telfair (a lightning rod for some reason still unknown to me) but at some point, you have to start rooting for the team, and hope they do well... 

You don't have to put your "Blazer goggles" on and be a rah rah rah type....and I certailnly understand NOT being happy with some of the things that have occured, but at some point you have to put all that out of your mind and just enjoy watching the team play and hope for the best...or if it is just too ugly to bear...step away for awhile...

I just don't understand the continual pessimism...it serves no purpose...You can't change anything with regards to the team...Nash will eventually get fired...practically all GM's do...but you or I won't have anything to say about it....You have made your point....CONTINUALLY made your point...now switch to something else...Isn't there any other aspect of the team you can discuss?... I do no understand, nor like reading\seeing, posters who continually harp on a certain point....after awhile it just gets ridiculous...

I swear that 1/2 of this board WANTS to see the Blazers suck this year...and personally, I resent the fact that I end up defending Nash, who I don't necessarily think is the greatest GM either, from posters whose accusations of his ineptness are beyond the pale IMO...

I don't like everything that has happened either...but REPEATEDLY crying about things that have happened and cannot be reversed is a bit ridiculous IMO....

This is the team we have to watch (or not) this year going forward...I suggest you switch your focus to...something....other than your hatred for Nash and lamentation of the moves or non moves he made...What's done is done...It is time to watch the young guys play and hope for the best....

Personall,y I am actually more excited to watch this team play than I have been in a few years...and I fully realize POR may not be a very good team this year....but if their is ANY silver lining to this team, then it will come in the development of our young players...let's ALL hope that Nash did draft wisely and that one or more of these guys develop into good\great pro players...and the sooner the better....


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## BlazerCaravan (Aug 12, 2004)

I took you off ignore to read your post...

...and I think I'll keep you off my ignore list.

That's pretty good given how mad your posts used to make me.

Keep up the IQ level of the posts (or at least replace IQ with dumb humor ) and your rep level will be in triple digits in no time.


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## LameR (Jan 4, 2004)

Thanks for posting this. Don't leave the boards.


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## Foulzilla (Jan 11, 2005)

Scout226 said:


> bah..
> 
> It all comes down to two sides.


I strongly disagree with this. Each person is unique and has different opinions on different things. I for example definately could be considered in either of your two groups depending on what we are discussing. I know I'm not the only one that is true for. The world is not black and white, and there are very few issues that ever are as well.


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## Oldmangrouch (Feb 11, 2003)

Scout226 said:


> bah..
> 
> It all comes down to two sides.
> 
> ...



What if you are a mildly optimistic, think that overall Bob was better than Nash, and wanted to keep Sheed but not Bonzi? (a simplistic summation of where I stand)

:whoknows:  :whoknows:  :whoknows:  

Seriously, there are way more variations/shades of gray involved here.


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## Schilly (Dec 30, 2002)

Oldmangrouch said:


> What if you are a mildly optimistic, think that overall Bob was better than Nash, and wanted to keep Sheed but not Bonzi? (a simplistic summation of where I stand)
> 
> :whoknows:  :whoknows:  :whoknows:
> 
> Seriously, there are way more variations/shades of gray involved here.


yep which in and of itself is why realtional problems arise a lot of people tend to be of the opinion that if you are 100% with me then you are against me.

So, here's how I feel.

I Loved Bonzi, when he was the 6th man and just balling. Once he becam the everyday starter, his ego stepped in and became a distraction, not necessarily on the floor, but it took focus away from the game, for me. Instead of watching the games to watch them I was there watching every disrespectfulk hand gesture he would make not only to oponnents, but officials and even fans. That disgusted me. Bonzi had to go.

With Rasheed, I was on the trade Sheed now bandwagon, but not because of Sheed, it had more to do witht he fact that I felt he had lost too many of the fans. I personally though the best thing for Sheed and for the team was for them to part ways. Many disagree with that thought, IMO Sheed played like a man who wasn't happy here.


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## Scout226 (Sep 17, 2003)

Foulzilla said:


> I strongly disagree with this. Each person is unique and has different opinions on different things. I for example definately could be considered in either of your two groups depending on what we are discussing. I know I'm not the only one that is true for. The world is not black and white, and there are very few issues that ever are as well.



Ok, next time I'll draw a picture of what I meant. I did say there will be SOME variations to this. I'm not saying each type of person believes all of this, while another person believes all of this and there is no other type of person. 

I know I made the controversial "generalization", but I just find it so clear on this board about people. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. But take for example said poster who started this thread. There will be the same people to bash his wild statements(myself included), and there will be the same people who come to his deffense. The same thing holds true on Sheed and Bonzi, and Bob vs Nash..


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## chromekilla (Aug 21, 2005)

i think i more of a 1 1/2 i dont really like nash but hes trying the best strategy he can find to get this team back to playoff sor improving,iwanted sheed to stay but i dont really know to much about bonzi


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## Scout226 (Sep 17, 2003)

Oldmangrouch said:


> What if you are a mildly optimistic, think that overall Bob was better than Nash, and wanted to keep Sheed but not Bonzi? (a simplistic summation of where I stand)
> 
> :whoknows:  :whoknows:  :whoknows:
> 
> Seriously, there are way more variations/shades of gray involved here.


Sorry, instead of saying there would be slight variations, I should have said: There is a +/- 10% in this theory..  IMO, it still holds true 8 out of 10 times.


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## Schilly (Dec 30, 2002)

Oops cut myself short. I personally became disgruntled with Bob Whitsitt, I loved him when he was making deals to bring in guys like Pippen and yes even Damon and DD. I htought the summer he brought in Rider and Anderson was phenominal. But after 2000 adding Kemp and the effort to then bring in Rod who became a distraction, then Coaxing Detlef to return at the ends of the season, also a distraction, I began to lose faith that Bob was actually thinking through things well. The team was doing fine as it was but downthe stretch he brought in 2 players who all of a sudden needed their touches and the team lost focus. 

It was obvious that team chemistry was a major concern, and Bob IMO arrogantly defended his moves by saying "I'm not a chemistry major", rather than saying some of the moves hadn't panned out the way he had hoped he retorted sarcasticly.

Then Bob re-signed and Nash was hired. Nashs first move was to trade Bonzi for Person and a Memphis 1st rounder whcih at the time was projecting out to be a lottery pick. I despised Bonzi with a passion, and I still do, so I was happy there. Turns out he wasn't able to stick in Memphis either and they traded him essentially for very damaged goods.

Then a surprise...McInnis who was starting to be a problem about coming off the bench, was moved for Miles...Great move, Miles still carried and does carry that mystique that he could be an all-star calibre player.

Then came Sheed for Shareef, something many people had been pegging as a relatively good move for Portland talent wise, and then the fact that we got Dan and Theo in the process too, was just bonus in my book...Nash all good up to that point. 

Then came summer 2004.
Nash started the 2004 offseason with what I considered a very possitive draft, but the Free agency period was looming....1st was teh Hassel debacle, that I basically just laughed at, but for some reason people took it to heart as a mass failure.

The signings that did happen I looked at like this....
Theo..4 years 40mil!!! FOr a 1 dimensional guy who is frequently injured!!! OK he is a very nice guy and is probably worth the money for PR sake and for what he does when healthy.

Zach....Massive error in judgement IMO. Zach was extended rather than going the route to RFA where other teams could set his value...in hindsight with Zachs kne injury we could have matched anyone and nabbed him for about 8 mil a year IMO.

Darius...I still think Darius got fair market value for a player of his ability and upside...

So here we are now, I really do now look forward to what could be, want to win as much as the next guy but if we can see that isn't going to happen, I'm hoping with all my might that these young players pan out the way the seem to be panning out. I see that they potentially have the best young core that I have personally seen on this team, assuming they do pan out.


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## Blazer Freak (Jul 11, 2004)

As a lot of people know on here mixum and I used to butt heads all the time. I'm very happy that he gave all of this explanation. 

Mixum:
I really think you could be a good or even great poster, you just can't start threads about things that we already have threads on, and also you can't just take out a part of a quote and use it to your advantage, thats where you lost my respect. Your posts are okay, but the threads were the main thing with me. I think one thing you could really do is tell us why you think Nash isn't a good GM, why you don't like Telfair, and things like that, if you make posts that defend what your saying when people question you, you get respect with me. 

Now I don't think Nash is a savior or even a great GM, but he's a decent one. Were all going to have different opinions on things, and thats what is great about message boards, you can have different opinions. It's just the problem I had with you was, you'd give your opinion in a brand new thread, then you 1)Wouldn't back up what you said and 2) Just never posted in the thread again.

I hope you can keep making posts like this one, and I hope to see more posts from you.


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## Webster's Dictionary (Feb 26, 2004)

Hey Mixum,

First of all I would like to say thank you for trying to explain yourself. I would like to explain my biggest problems with your posts. It's not just the negetivity. It's the fact that your posts are always "The Blazers will suck this year because of Nash" "The Blazers wont win more than 10 games this year." "Telfair will be just another flashy turnover proned point guard."

What I would like to hear, and maybe this is just me being simplistic, is "The Blazers will probably suck this year because of Nash, I can't see the Blazers winning more than 10 games this year, To me, Telfair just looks to be another flashy turnover proned point guard." To me this makes all the difference in the world. I feel like you are trying to declare an ultamatum or state your opinion as fact instead of sharing your opinion with the rest of us. Here is an example from one of your latest



> *Originally posted by Mixum*
> 
> we will never be a playoff team with him as our GM and thats the sad truth... This was once a proud franchise USE to winning UNTIL NASH came...now you guys accept sucking every year cause we have potential HIGH SCHOOLERS...GIVE ME A FRIGGIN BREAK.


How about "we will probably never make the playoffs with Nash as our GM" or "I don't think we'll ever make the playoffs under Nash"
How about "Now it feels to me like you guys are accepting sucking every year cause we have potential."

I have just made these two comments much less offending, at least to myself. I could read that and say, "I think your wrong" instead of saying "quit trying to assume what I think of our team and making it look like you know the future."

This may just be my personal preference, and may be selfish, but I think that rephrasing your posts a bit would go a long way to keeping people on their toes without offending them.

Like the rest of this thread, just my :twocents:


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## Oldmangrouch (Feb 11, 2003)

Scout226 said:


> Sorry, instead of saying there would be slight variations, I should have said: There is a +/- 10% in this theory..  IMO, it still holds true 8 out of 10 times.



I agree, posters do tend to fall into patterns. My real point (which Schilly noted) is that that habit can be unhealthy. 

Personally, I have always been an Al Davis fan. I despise losing, and don't give a rat's rump how cute and cuddly the players are. OTOH, I can feel interest, even guarded optimism, about the kids. It is a different kind of interest, but still valid. I wish everyone could see that.


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

the ability to be practical and logical in debates help a lot too.

Since most of the arguments you've laid out in the past have never been followed up by logical and practical to supplant your arguments, most people just see it as you coming in, saying something antagonistic and leaving. 

If you can argue the things which back UP your point of view, I think most people wouldn't be as condescending towards you posts. Instead of saying the same thing over and over (of which most seem's to be made up of contradictory arguments), and actually giving reasons why you believe what you do, that'd be a great improvement.


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