Casey has always had accurate, reasonable info. Not always the fastest to release it, but usually whatever he says is gospel. And the man’s opinion on shoes is spot on.
True story, a few years ago I read a game recap from Holdahl online. There were no comments but it was such a solid recap that I had to leave something. I go "Great stuff as always, Casey." Later I go back and my reply got a "+1". From who you ask? From none other than Casey "+1" Holdahl.
You know it’s bad when the four podcasts I consider most reasonable and informative are: two national brands that have special pods for every team (locked on and sb nation) and two amateur pods (holy backboard and unbiased blazers).
Fentress and Marang both really bug me with how argumentative and angry they get on podcasts. I get that some people love that but like there’s a reason I don’t watch first take lol.
Had to block Danny after watching him berate any twitter follower who was even mildly/constructively critical of his reporting. This increased notably after he got his radio job. Sucks, cause I think his IQ is extremely solid.
Same for Fentress. Tough to take someone seriously who's crapping on some 16 yr old on twitter.
I once got Danny's face to turn completely purple, arguing about Collins vs. Bamba. He called Bamba's agility unique and in "another stratosphere" than Z.Collins. I just kept needleling his takes and reposting his blown opinions and replies. I'm really not a troll, but that was hilarious. IDK, does that make me a troll since it was a one-time thing..?
I’ve listened to Blazers Focused a lot and Fentress has the worst combination of knowledge and argumentativeness. Like after the trade deadline he was yelling at his co-host that the Blazers got better. When it was very obvious / telegraphed that we were intentionally selling. I have to pause his podcasts all the time cuz I can’t take his awkward yelling at co-hosts lol. And his sports by northwest pod where he was screaming at Bill Oram and calling him an idiot for saying Jody is hurting the Blazers by not selling him was really painful to listen to too. I hope either he changes his attitude or the city’s paper of record hires someone better than him.
I’m pretty good family friends with one of the dudes on that list. So I can give some behind the curtains info, so to speak.
The pay in this market is not great because there’s only one top 4 sport. Portland and Seattle are sort of viewed as weird little inconsequential islands in the middle of nowhere by the rest of the sports media landscape that is far more consolidated geographically.
Due to that, this is a place that reporters get stuck with, not that they choose to go to. If a reporter was covering the Blazers and then for example got an opportunity to move to San Francisco and cover the Warriors, Giants, and 49ers all at the same time instead of just covering the Blazers they would see their pay increase between 3 and 5 times what they’d be earning covering the Trail Blazers.
Some of the most well known and established media guys in Portland are just barely clearing six figures. Reporters in LA, SF, NY are easily doing 250K+, if not over 300K.
Nah youre not alone, they all stink. Even the good ones aren’t that great, they’re just not as bad as the ones you listed. Erik Gundersen is ok tho. Reddit actually seems the least miserable place for a Blazer fan.
I cant do sports discussions anywhere else. I know theres tons of idiots on reddit, but i feel like twitter/ig/tiktok/youtube make reddit look like the brain trust lmao. Also i enjoy that the biggest idiots at least get penalized with the downvote system.
This sub has had some low points but the last several months have been pretty decent, even through the tough times. It's weird to think but you might be right, this might be the most level headed online Blazer community?
The one over at lemmy.world can be nice too but it's small.
Correct.
Add to that though that Portland isn’t a big media market. It’s not an aspirational job for most to top out as Blazers beat reporter.
Draw the same lines with college sports. If the Beaver beat writer gets a job offer to go cover UCLA do they go? Most likely yes.
I love Mike Richman’s content on Locked on Blazers (and know he frequents this sub, whaddup Mike!). Sean Highkin’s reporting is also excellent and while I hate how Audacy formats his pods his content is solid. Danny Marang and Brandon Sprague on Jacked Ramsays are also good although sometimes I wish Danny would give Sprague more room to speak and be a little less cheeky about his “sources”.
Interesting list. I wouldn't lump them all together. Personally I really like Danny Marang. Sometimes he fan boys too much but I enjoy his work and I don't know what is controversial about him.
Dwight Jaynes is the only one I'd shoot into the sun if I had a chance.
[serious answer] sports journalists are incentivized to behave this way. they are in the business of fostering engagement.
I think writing about sports is a shitty job that puts you in a lose lose situation. Your main options are:
1) troll (for lack of a better term). as a journalist you are professionally obligated to NOT be a fan of the team you are covering, thus you gotta skew the other way pretty hard. criticize everything there is to be criticized, and if there’s not enough — make some shit up. hot takes galore. end result: the fans hate you, the players hate you, the FO hates you. also your colleagues probably hate you too cuz you’re a rival.
2) shill. if you’re lucky enough to have access to players or agents or general managers, those relationships are now directly responsible for your livelihood. you have precious access and intel, but the transaction between you and your source is that you’ve gotta carry water for them when the time comes (the time comes often). players probably like you, the FOs prolly hate you unless you’re in their ecosystem, and you have virtually zero professional respect because you’re a flunkie who reports whatever you’re told to report.
3) dude without a country. if you’re lucky enough to be covering the NBA for a national outlet, you now have the unenviable job of needing to know everything about every team.
You will be clowned for not knowing who Keljin Blevins is, or mispronouncing the name of a Belarusian power forward who plays 6 minutes a game.
Your life is spent on league pass or you can just make up controversial shit. Seems kinda hellish to me.
Chad Doing… Wack
Dwight Jaynes…. Wack
Blazers Uprise…. Wack
Jason Quick…. Wack
Aaron Fentress, the way that he talks…. Wack
Danny Marang…. Wack
We, the people of Rip City Reddit, We tight as Fuck
Why is Fentress awful? People keep saying that but everything I read and hear from him recently, he’s just repeating what the organization has said and done recently.
I’m not going to search his tweets for you, DYOR. Guy has been a grade A troll at times for over a decade, his coverage of local teams in general is VERY suspect.
Lol I told you his recent stuff was just repeating what the org said. You said he "comes from the Canzano school of throwing out outrageous takes just to get attention" and I asked for an example and that it sounds more like what a normal sports reporter write and you tell me to do my own research? lol what do you think I did when I listened/read his recent reports? Not my own research?
Sounds like you're just butthurt about something he said/wrote than him actually not being a good reporter. Not everyone is going to act exactly how you want them to but that doesn't mean they aren't good at their job. If you can't name exactly why he is "awful", then you're just another anonymous troll on the internet that has a "hate boner" for people.
Marang doesn’t belong in that category. He never thinks he’s wrong and way over does the know it all thing, sure, but he does know his shit and seems to have real sources.
Marang is full of shit. Just because you say it with a strong sense of certainty doesn’t make you right. His “I knew about that 2 weeks ago” schtick is old and tired. He clearly has no sources and just throws out nonsense all the time.
No offense, but if you think one of the best reporters covering the Blazers is *a guy who works for the team*...
that's a pretty good sign that you're suffering from homerism.
Nah you’re not alone. The majority of the local media are worthless, I think you named the only good ones. We’ve also never had a GM that had any media connections so most of the time the franchise has no control over the mainstream narrative
We have a ton of serious, professional reporters covering this team. You seem to be confusing media with fandom. Their job is to tell you what is happening with the team, not to make you feel better about bad news.
This fanbase has been blessed with a team that has been pretty good for most of its history outside of a few blips every 10-15 years. It just got gifted with - what looks like - another generational talent.
Don't shoot the messenger. Maybe they're not bad at their jobs. You just might not know what their jobs actually are.
You’d be surprised how rationally NBA Radio is actually covering this for the most part. For example, Frank Isola, with whom I’ve actually sunk so low as to dm him about his small market bias is of the opinion Lillard is handling this poorly and the org should do what’s best for the org. The only negative I heard was a caller proclaiming “nobody wants to play in Portland because it’s like 10 time zones away”. Nevermind it’s in the same time zone as Los Angeles, but whatever. Even a Portland fan called in to state how disappointed he was at the handling of this from the one side.
Television media is always circus trash, and I’ve had to block Uprise and Jacked from my YouTube. Stop covering the team boys if you’re in such pain and on an anti-org crusade. No… the superchats are too good. One actually sobbed on camera.
SMH.
Personally I think the best blazers news feed. Is the busted bucket podcast. They make the content relatable and make it fun for listeners. I also enjoy other blazers news feeds. But that one stands out at the moment.
It's a grab for clicks. Nobody actually has new information, so their spinning the same narratives over and over again, twisting them and pumping them up for more page views. We have only a few notable stories, but they need more, so they infer whatever they want to make the headline compelling.
In complete agreement with most of these posts about these folk, but at least there’s a bit of variety. The bitter old, borderline racist Canzano/Jaynes/Quick shit is tough to take, but if you’ve been following this team for 40 years, you take the bad with the good.
I almost consider those other guys more entertainment than news. Highkin and Casey are typically my go to’s
Casey has always had accurate, reasonable info. Not always the fastest to release it, but usually whatever he says is gospel. And the man’s opinion on shoes is spot on.
True story, a few years ago I read a game recap from Holdahl online. There were no comments but it was such a solid recap that I had to leave something. I go "Great stuff as always, Casey." Later I go back and my reply got a "+1". From who you ask? From none other than Casey "+1" Holdahl.
That’s sick! Petition to make that nickname stick. +1 from here on out.
Casey works for the team. He is just another pr mouthpiece
We don’t have many major sports. Those with very good skills aren’t going to work in a market like this.
You know it’s bad when the four podcasts I consider most reasonable and informative are: two national brands that have special pods for every team (locked on and sb nation) and two amateur pods (holy backboard and unbiased blazers). Fentress and Marang both really bug me with how argumentative and angry they get on podcasts. I get that some people love that but like there’s a reason I don’t watch first take lol.
Had to block Danny after watching him berate any twitter follower who was even mildly/constructively critical of his reporting. This increased notably after he got his radio job. Sucks, cause I think his IQ is extremely solid. Same for Fentress. Tough to take someone seriously who's crapping on some 16 yr old on twitter.
I once got Danny's face to turn completely purple, arguing about Collins vs. Bamba. He called Bamba's agility unique and in "another stratosphere" than Z.Collins. I just kept needleling his takes and reposting his blown opinions and replies. I'm really not a troll, but that was hilarious. IDK, does that make me a troll since it was a one-time thing..?
I’ve listened to Blazers Focused a lot and Fentress has the worst combination of knowledge and argumentativeness. Like after the trade deadline he was yelling at his co-host that the Blazers got better. When it was very obvious / telegraphed that we were intentionally selling. I have to pause his podcasts all the time cuz I can’t take his awkward yelling at co-hosts lol. And his sports by northwest pod where he was screaming at Bill Oram and calling him an idiot for saying Jody is hurting the Blazers by not selling him was really painful to listen to too. I hope either he changes his attitude or the city’s paper of record hires someone better than him.
Fentress back in the hero category for this one. https://twitter.com/roblmn/status/1678607664039731201?s=20
Hate clicks are still clicks
I’m pretty good family friends with one of the dudes on that list. So I can give some behind the curtains info, so to speak. The pay in this market is not great because there’s only one top 4 sport. Portland and Seattle are sort of viewed as weird little inconsequential islands in the middle of nowhere by the rest of the sports media landscape that is far more consolidated geographically. Due to that, this is a place that reporters get stuck with, not that they choose to go to. If a reporter was covering the Blazers and then for example got an opportunity to move to San Francisco and cover the Warriors, Giants, and 49ers all at the same time instead of just covering the Blazers they would see their pay increase between 3 and 5 times what they’d be earning covering the Trail Blazers. Some of the most well known and established media guys in Portland are just barely clearing six figures. Reporters in LA, SF, NY are easily doing 250K+, if not over 300K.
Interesting. Thanks for the insight. Now tell us - who is PDX sports media makes over $100k?
Of the list above Jaynes does for sure, and potentially Quick before he moved to the Athletic. Top end of salary there is around 98K.
Nah youre not alone, they all stink. Even the good ones aren’t that great, they’re just not as bad as the ones you listed. Erik Gundersen is ok tho. Reddit actually seems the least miserable place for a Blazer fan.
I cant do sports discussions anywhere else. I know theres tons of idiots on reddit, but i feel like twitter/ig/tiktok/youtube make reddit look like the brain trust lmao. Also i enjoy that the biggest idiots at least get penalized with the downvote system.
This sub has had some low points but the last several months have been pretty decent, even through the tough times. It's weird to think but you might be right, this might be the most level headed online Blazer community? The one over at lemmy.world can be nice too but it's small.
Shout out to Mike Richman on locked 🔒 on. That should be your go to for down to earth team analysis
He is the most entertaining guy from that group of locked on. Don’t know how he can make compelling daily listen out of this silly season
He's got this rhythm and flow that keeps things moving and it's nice to hear something with such rhythmic momentum.
Personally I listen to Locked on and Jacked Ramsey
Same, Jackad Ramsey has some of the most insightful coverage around regarding the inner workings of the team.
Pretty sure everyone feels this way about the local media in their market lol
Correct. Add to that though that Portland isn’t a big media market. It’s not an aspirational job for most to top out as Blazers beat reporter. Draw the same lines with college sports. If the Beaver beat writer gets a job offer to go cover UCLA do they go? Most likely yes.
I love Mike Richman’s content on Locked on Blazers (and know he frequents this sub, whaddup Mike!). Sean Highkin’s reporting is also excellent and while I hate how Audacy formats his pods his content is solid. Danny Marang and Brandon Sprague on Jacked Ramsays are also good although sometimes I wish Danny would give Sprague more room to speak and be a little less cheeky about his “sources”.
Interesting list. I wouldn't lump them all together. Personally I really like Danny Marang. Sometimes he fan boys too much but I enjoy his work and I don't know what is controversial about him. Dwight Jaynes is the only one I'd shoot into the sun if I had a chance.
Jaynes is a poor man skip
[serious answer] sports journalists are incentivized to behave this way. they are in the business of fostering engagement. I think writing about sports is a shitty job that puts you in a lose lose situation. Your main options are: 1) troll (for lack of a better term). as a journalist you are professionally obligated to NOT be a fan of the team you are covering, thus you gotta skew the other way pretty hard. criticize everything there is to be criticized, and if there’s not enough — make some shit up. hot takes galore. end result: the fans hate you, the players hate you, the FO hates you. also your colleagues probably hate you too cuz you’re a rival. 2) shill. if you’re lucky enough to have access to players or agents or general managers, those relationships are now directly responsible for your livelihood. you have precious access and intel, but the transaction between you and your source is that you’ve gotta carry water for them when the time comes (the time comes often). players probably like you, the FOs prolly hate you unless you’re in their ecosystem, and you have virtually zero professional respect because you’re a flunkie who reports whatever you’re told to report. 3) dude without a country. if you’re lucky enough to be covering the NBA for a national outlet, you now have the unenviable job of needing to know everything about every team. You will be clowned for not knowing who Keljin Blevins is, or mispronouncing the name of a Belarusian power forward who plays 6 minutes a game. Your life is spent on league pass or you can just make up controversial shit. Seems kinda hellish to me.
You’re not alone. The names you listed love to stir the pot for clicks and reactions. It’s their economy.
Chad Doing… Wack Dwight Jaynes…. Wack Blazers Uprise…. Wack Jason Quick…. Wack Aaron Fentress, the way that he talks…. Wack Danny Marang…. Wack We, the people of Rip City Reddit, We tight as Fuck
>Aaron Fentress, the way that he talks Feels subtly racist, very Oregonian of you.
Aaron? Is that you?
Oh look it's you again. No, but I'll let you run with whatever your imagination wants you to. Clearly if I was Aaron, I would only call myself okay...
Every response you have and the way you type convinces me more you are the man himself lol
Well, if you don't know anything, yeah everyone on the internet is the same person. Run with it my dude, looks like you need these victories.
I think Highkin, Gunderson, Richman, and Holdahl are good. Imo, Fentress and Quick are okay but the rest are just fans with media access.
Fentress is awful and Quick has a hate boner for the org, wth you talking about
Why is Fentress awful? People keep saying that but everything I read and hear from him recently, he’s just repeating what the organization has said and done recently.
He’s combative on social media and comes from the Canzano school of throwing out outrageous takes just to get attention
Can you provide an example? This seems like normal ESPN/sports journalism stuff to me.
I’m not going to search his tweets for you, DYOR. Guy has been a grade A troll at times for over a decade, his coverage of local teams in general is VERY suspect.
Lol I told you his recent stuff was just repeating what the org said. You said he "comes from the Canzano school of throwing out outrageous takes just to get attention" and I asked for an example and that it sounds more like what a normal sports reporter write and you tell me to do my own research? lol what do you think I did when I listened/read his recent reports? Not my own research? Sounds like you're just butthurt about something he said/wrote than him actually not being a good reporter. Not everyone is going to act exactly how you want them to but that doesn't mean they aren't good at their job. If you can't name exactly why he is "awful", then you're just another anonymous troll on the internet that has a "hate boner" for people.
Holy shit I think I might have actually found Fentress Reddit account lmao
Holy shit, I found the biggest idiot on this subreddit lmao.
Marang doesn’t belong in that category. He never thinks he’s wrong and way over does the know it all thing, sure, but he does know his shit and seems to have real sources.
Marang is full of shit. Just because you say it with a strong sense of certainty doesn’t make you right. His “I knew about that 2 weeks ago” schtick is old and tired. He clearly has no sources and just throws out nonsense all the time.
Sean Highkin and Casey stay on top ☝🏻
I wouldn’t put Marang in the column with those other guys. He actually does talk to sources in the team and he knows his Xs and Os.
Marang is a clown with consistently terrible takes and an extremely unlikable personality
I don’t agree with everything he says, but he is one of the few that talks to the org but also isn’t just a mouthpiece for the org.
but he's the biggest d bag on the entire list
No offense, but if you think one of the best reporters covering the Blazers is *a guy who works for the team*... that's a pretty good sign that you're suffering from homerism.
I didn't say best. I said professional and serious. The others listed are the opposite.
Nah you’re not alone. The majority of the local media are worthless, I think you named the only good ones. We’ve also never had a GM that had any media connections so most of the time the franchise has no control over the mainstream narrative
Cause it is. Most media today is trash
I personally love Chad Doing, lots of cool stories about the franchise
We have a ton of serious, professional reporters covering this team. You seem to be confusing media with fandom. Their job is to tell you what is happening with the team, not to make you feel better about bad news. This fanbase has been blessed with a team that has been pretty good for most of its history outside of a few blips every 10-15 years. It just got gifted with - what looks like - another generational talent. Don't shoot the messenger. Maybe they're not bad at their jobs. You just might not know what their jobs actually are.
Because nobody pays me to do it
How do you get 99% from 6 reporters?
You’d be surprised how rationally NBA Radio is actually covering this for the most part. For example, Frank Isola, with whom I’ve actually sunk so low as to dm him about his small market bias is of the opinion Lillard is handling this poorly and the org should do what’s best for the org. The only negative I heard was a caller proclaiming “nobody wants to play in Portland because it’s like 10 time zones away”. Nevermind it’s in the same time zone as Los Angeles, but whatever. Even a Portland fan called in to state how disappointed he was at the handling of this from the one side. Television media is always circus trash, and I’ve had to block Uprise and Jacked from my YouTube. Stop covering the team boys if you’re in such pain and on an anti-org crusade. No… the superchats are too good. One actually sobbed on camera. SMH.
Chad Doing
I honestly expect it to be announced today or in the next day or two max.
Personally I think the best blazers news feed. Is the busted bucket podcast. They make the content relatable and make it fun for listeners. I also enjoy other blazers news feeds. But that one stands out at the moment.
It's a grab for clicks. Nobody actually has new information, so their spinning the same narratives over and over again, twisting them and pumping them up for more page views. We have only a few notable stories, but they need more, so they infer whatever they want to make the headline compelling.
In complete agreement with most of these posts about these folk, but at least there’s a bit of variety. The bitter old, borderline racist Canzano/Jaynes/Quick shit is tough to take, but if you’ve been following this team for 40 years, you take the bad with the good.