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This is perhaps where the "rumor" came from. A column by John Canzano.

New-look Blazers need a quick trip to the tailor

Sunday, June 03, 2007

The Oregonian

T hey have a new future. And the franchise soon will have a new face, or two, in the starting lineup. And the Trail Blazers will open the season with a new hardwood floor, and a new state-of-the-art scoreboard will hang from the Rose Garden rafters, and it will be the finest in the league.

It's a new era, right?

Except, it won't look like one.

The Blazers have three game jerseys -- black, white and red. And unless the franchise makes an inspired plea in the coming weeks, and the NBA grants a special exception to its intricate uniform-redesign process, the players of the new, refreshing era, presumably led by Greg Oden, will wear the same uniforms associated with the dark days of the "Jail Blazers."

Something about that doesn't feel right.

Blazers insiders say the team recently has been toying with uniform redesign ideas, including possibly placing a "PDX" in place of "BLAZERS" on the front of the red jersey, but the NBA's redesign process moves at such a painstaking pace it's not going to happen any time soon.

The colors used must be approved by the league. The fonts must be approved. The redesigned logos must be approved. Proofs must be submitted, and resubmitted, and all this takes time, which is why the Blazers are thinking they won't be able to get anything done until 2009 at the earliest.

The NBA must understand that its entry from Portland isn't typical by league standards. I've talked at length with NBA executives who have long viewed the Blazers as the league's eccentric and unpredictable problem child. They've been embarrassed by yellow Hummers, and cries of "CTC . . . " and loading-dock episodes, and suspensions relating to animal cruelty and airport metal detectors.

Trust me, they get it.

So the NBA must then understand that the franchise, and the entire league, is faced with a wonderful repackaging opportunity in Portland. This is the chance to bury an ugly era, once and for all. If there ever was a franchise that merited a rapid cosmetic makeover, it's the one that manufactured a tired stereotype in the last decade.

The franchise is making cosmetic changes in the arena geared at improving the fan experience. The Blazers not only won May's draft lottery, but they also won 2,500 new season-ticket holders who probably would be delighted to see the 2007-08 Blazers players wearing jerseys that didn't have a direct visual association with Bonzi Wells, Isaiah Rider, Qyntel Woods and Co.

The energy from the draft lottery was intoxicating. Executive vice president Mike Golub said he was running around the team's party looking for someone to hug after Golub realized the organization caught a break.

General manager Kevin Pritchard returned from New Jersey with the No. 1 pick, went straight to the team offices and told the staff, "It's our time." And Golub said last week, "We'd love to do something different with the jerseys. It feels like a new chapter."

It's just not going to look like one unless the NBA realizes it's blowing an opportunity here.

There's an easy solution, of course. It's on the wall of the team offices in the form of the 36 team photographs that feature the players from the franchise's 36 seasons in Portland. And if someone with the franchise moves fast, there's still time to get this done by the season-opening game.

The NBA should grant the Blazers permission to go retro in 2007-08. The franchise should put away the tired jerseys it's utilized for the last 15 seasons and bring back the uniforms from the original 1970-71 team, or better yet, the championship-era model from 1976-77.

If the league is going to embrace a franchise's desire to re-invent itself, if it's going to walk to the edge with the Blazers and see this through, there's no valid reason to make Portland wait two seasons for color and font approval. There's money to be made on merchandising with any Oden jersey, but we all know this isn't just some team hoping to introduce a new color or logo for the sake of keeping busy and exploiting its fan base. Certainly, a league focused on dress code off the court understands the value of improving image through packaging. And Portland needs a makeover.

The last two seasons, the NBA celebrated St. Patrick's Day with three large-market teams (Boston, New York and Chicago) wearing special-edition green uniforms. It's a money-driven move. And all 30 NHL teams will switch to new uniforms for the 2007-08 season. The NHL claims the jerseys are sleeker, lighter, more durable and enable players to skate faster and with greater range. But what the new look mostly did was make us believe the league was new, fresh and improved. The teams didn't look much like the money-hungry ones that went on strike.

People will tell you the entire notion of a redesign is psychological, and intangible when it comes to wins and losses on the court, but then again, intangibles win games. And anyone who closes his eyes today and thinks of the Blazers' new-era beginning in old-era clothes and cringes, understands what I'm talking about.

Oden, Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge deserve a fresh start. So do their fans, who undoubtedly would enjoy seeing that trio wear the same style jerseys worn by Bill Walton, Maurice Lucas and Lionel Hollins. There aren't new colors on those retro jerseys. The logos aren't new. The 1976-77 jerseys had lowercase "blazers" draped vertically on the front from the top of the right shoulder down, and I can't think of a better look.

How about you, Mr. Commish?

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Please I am tired of this "Let's go back to the future/glory days" fetish that everyone has of sports unis. The past is called the past for a reason and that's because it's the PAST! As a blazer fan, the unis they have know are a nice modern rendition of a trademark they've had on their uniforms/colors for decades if not since their induction. These are same unis/colors that legends like Bill Walton and Clyde Drexler and other legendary blazers have worn with a "little splash" ^_^ of silver. Big Deal. Their was a time before the "Jailblazers" era and most of....no all of those players are gone. Leave the past in the past. The jailblazers don't exist (a couple of bad apples don't spoil the entire bunch in this case and if they do well they can be thrown out/traded).

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I was a HUGE Blazers fan in the early '70s (I even go back pre-Walton), and even I hated, hated, HATED the 1976-1977-era unis. Just a terrible design. I saw those unis live a couple of times, and even in person it was hard to make out the "blazers" in vertical text down the side.

Loved that team though.

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The blazers have a classic look and a dark few years in the franchise shouldn't be enough to burn the whole thing down. They need to stick to what they have. I'm one of those in favor of a return to the simpler, Drexler-era look. It is time to ditch the unnecessary silver, too. If they want fans to forget the jail blazers, they need to keep doing a better job of cleaning up the players inside the jerseys. Thanks to that fluke lottery win I'm excited again that things are turning around. Add Greg Oden to Brandon Roy and that young nucleus and the unis shouldn't matter. Leave them as they are.

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G, that's my thought as well: go brush up the old mid-to-late '80s lowercase font, turn the pinwheel back vertical, add a new number font and we're good to go. Dust your hands and be glad for a job well done.

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Blazers insiders say the team recently has been toying with uniform redesign ideas, including possibly placing a "PDX" in place of "BLAZERS" on the front of the red jersey

Jesus Almighty, please bring this airport abbreviation fad to an end. Of all the nonsensical garbage... PDX? There is precisely one letter in that which is also in your city's name. Thusly, it has no business representing your city name on a jersey.

If I ever see the Bulls take the floor in an ORD or MDW jersey, I'm switching allegiances.

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For all the bird de lis haters I think the bird de lis isnt supposed to be a pelican and a fleur de lis I think its just a fleur de lis with a pelicans head. Thats what it looks like to me. Also the flair around the tip of the beak is just flair that fleur de lis have sometimes source I am from NOLA.

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Blazers insiders say the team recently has been toying with uniform redesign ideas, including possibly placing a "PDX" in place of "BLAZERS" on the front of the red jersey

Jesus Almighty, please bring this airport abbreviation fad to an end. Of all the nonsensical garbage... PDX? There is precisely one letter in that which is also in your city's name. Thusly, it has no business representing your city name on a jersey.

If I ever see the Bulls take the floor in an ORD or MDW jersey, I'm switching allegiances.

I count two letters in "PDX" that also appear in "Portland"....

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Blazers insiders say the team recently has been toying with uniform redesign ideas, including possibly placing a "PDX" in place of "BLAZERS" on the front of the red jersey

PDX? There is precisely one letter in that which is also in your city's name. Thusly, it has no business representing your city name on a jersey.

P(1)ORTLAND(2)

It is lame though. SFO...maybe. Iv'e always liked PVD for providence. but really. c'mon. I know a lot of portlanders refer to the city as PDX in print, but splashed across the front of the jersey is a bit much. maybe very small between the shoulder blades. and ditch the flaming winged ball.

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X is for international IIRC, and while it's not overly popular as a reference to the Rose City, this wouldn't be the first time it's ever been used, if that makes sense.

I like that as the alt logo, though, instead of the ball.

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X is for international IIRC, and while it's not overly popular as a reference to the Rose City, this wouldn't be the first time it's ever been used, if that makes sense.

I like that as the alt logo, though, instead of the ball.

I type PDX in reference to Portland almost all the time but I think I might have mentioned the letters no more than a handful of times in my life. I could see the Winter Hawks (two words) using that abbreviation. It would make a nice shoulder patch.

Off-topic, but it's not just airlines that use PDX as an abbreviation for Portland. Amtrak also uses the same three letters to differentiate it from Portland, ME.

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X is for international IIRC

I don't think so.

John F. Kennedy International Airport: JFK

Newark International Airport: EWR

Miami International Airport: MIA

Chicago O'Hare International Airport: ORD

Whatever it means, it doesn't signify "international."

EDIT: I did find this explanation for the X -

When the Wright brothers first took to the air in 1903, there was no need for coding airports since an airport was literally any convenient field with a strong wind. However, the National Weather Service did tabulate data from cities around the country using a two-letter identification system. Early airlines simply copied this system, but as airline service exploded in the 1930's, towns without weather station codes needed identification. Some bureaucrat had a brainstorm and the three-letter system was born, giving a seemingly endless 17,576 different combinations. To ease the transition, existing airports placed an X after the weather station code. The Los Angeles tag became LAX, Portland became PDX, Phoenix became PHX and so on.

http://www.skygod.com/asstd/abc.html

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I'd wager 95% of people would have no clue which city a team with "PDX" on their chest would represent. As stupid as PHX is...at least most people could figure out it was Phoenix. Unless you are from the area or fly into Portland often, nobody knows that PDX refers to Portland.

As for their jerseys, just ditch the silver and they are fine.

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Blazers insiders say the team recently has been toying with uniform redesign ideas, including possibly placing a "PDX" in place of "BLAZERS" on the front of the red jersey

Jesus Almighty, please bring this airport abbreviation fad to an end. Of all the nonsensical garbage... PDX? There is precisely one letter in that which is also in your city's name. Thusly, it has no business representing your city name on a jersey.

If I ever see the Bulls take the floor in an ORD or MDW jersey, I'm switching allegiances.

This kind of forward-thinking in the Blazers' frontoffice is exactly why the team has been in the toilet the past few seasons.

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X is for international IIRC, and while it's not overly popular as a reference to the Rose City, this wouldn't be the first time it's ever been used, if that makes sense.

I like that as the alt logo, though, instead of the ball.

I type PDX in reference to Portland almost all the time but I think I might have mentioned the letters no more than a handful of times in my life. I could see the Winter Hawks (two words) using that abbreviation. It would make a nice shoulder patch.

Off-topic, but it's not just airlines that use PDX as an abbreviation for Portland. Amtrak also uses the same three letters to differentiate it from Portland, ME.

One would have thought that, being the bigger city, Portland, Oregon, would have taken precedence.

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Uh, Portlanders don't even think twice about the duality of PDX being used as both a nickname for the city and the airport code. To a Portlander, writing PDX is just like a New Yorker writing NYC. Everyone uses it, understands that it stands for the city and not the airport, and, if I might say, could not care less about what the rest of the country thinks or the misinterpretations it may garner.

Back to lurk.

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I was a HUGE Blazers fan in the early '70s (I even go back pre-Walton), and even I hated, hated, HATED the 1976-1977-era unis. Just a terrible design. I saw those unis live a couple of times, and even in person it was hard to make out the "blazers" in vertical text down the side.

Loved that team though.

Man, I loved that team, too. I was 16 and in the zenith of my NBA fandom. Watching that team execute so selflessly was thrilling. Bill Walton twirling his fingers above his head running down court. And the fact that Portland, Oregon was suddenly in the national spotlight was fascinating, interesting, surprising. I disagree, however, about the uniforms. I liked them. The vertical lettering was unique at the time--still is, i think--and the association with that amazing team is so strong that the uniform is given a free pass. Success by association.

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Blazers insiders say the team recently has been toying with uniform redesign ideas, including possibly placing a "PDX" in place of "BLAZERS" on the front of the red jersey

Jesus Almighty, please bring this airport abbreviation fad to an end. Of all the nonsensical garbage... PDX? There is precisely one letter in that which is also in your city's name. Thusly, it has no business representing your city name on a jersey.

If I ever see the Bulls take the floor in an ORD or MDW jersey, I'm switching allegiances.

This kind of forward-thinking in the Blazers' frontoffice is exactly why the team has been in the toilet the past few seasons.

You do realize that in the last year they have...

New VP of Marketting, New Exec VP, New GM, New Ast GM and very shortly new President as the spot is vacant after Patterson was fired.

I know there is a clamor for the Vertical lettering, but I think it looks unbalanced and awkward.

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this forward-thinking front office is what turned Sebastien Telfair and Ruben Patterson into Brandon Roy (plus just adding on to Bill Simmons' mire) plus Tyrus Thomas and Viktor Kryhapa into LaMarcus Aldridge...plus, like others mentioned, this is also a front office that has almost completely changed in the last two years and is about the ONLY front office for a favorite sports team of mine that I actually trust (Mariners? eek. Arsenal? complex right now. Oregon? Swoosh-tastic. Seahawks? Trader Bob's still around, right?).

I've talked to a few people in depth about this (including this board's own gordie_delini) and I'm still in favor of 're-creating' the lowercase lettering look in one way, shape or form.

if the Raptors added YYZ and then the song....damn, I might have to join my roommate in supporting the Raps. That would be ridiculously awesome.

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