Latest / The PNW Podcast / Heart Trouble, Blazers Drama & Portland’s Influence War

Transcript

Heart Trouble, Blazers Drama & Portland’s Influence War · The PNW Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: Well, Paul Blart, Mall cop, on his final day, booted the Uni Piper out, even though he was invited.
0:06
SPEAKER_01: That's a guy that takes his job very seriously, Drew.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: All the way to the last minute.
0:12
SPEAKER_01: And so he called a backup.
0:13
SPEAKER_01: I saw a video of them escorting him out, and you know, I guess the Uni Piper's never been kicked out of such a place, so it is a bucket list for him.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it just shows that we are the weirdest.
0:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
0:24
SPEAKER_01: We we not only do we have Darth Vader riding a unicycle with a flaming bagpipe, he's invited.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: Something about this mental picture I'm having is Paul Blart was on a Segway, right?
0:36
SPEAKER_00: So we've got Segway cop trying to get Unicycle Bagpiper out of there.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: I know that this they wrecked on the way to the door.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: They had to have.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: There's just no other way.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, and the funny thing is, uh, old Paul Blart, the mall cop, is probably in such bad shape that he lost the foot race on the Segway to the Unicycle.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, yeah, we're weirder.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry to say it.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Austin, you do, I'm sure there's great stuff in Austin, but it ain't as weird as we are here in Portland.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Just look it up.
1:14
SPEAKER_01: All right, welcome in to the PNW Podcast.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: I am here with Marcus Bridges, like usual, and gosh, it's been an eventful couple of days, but first things first, we are at the Stafford Hills Club, a beautiful place and a place that um never ceases to amaze me.
1:31
SPEAKER_01: And they'll actually come up in the story we're about to talk about um as just great people.
1:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's a sense of community over here.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: I've always said that, and it's not a copy point, it's a reality.
1:41
SPEAKER_01: The Stafford Hills Club and their staff, all the way up to the upper management, are some top-notch people who care about the people who come here.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: And uh, I am no exception.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: So check them out for yourself, Staffordhills.com.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: Tell them Drew sent you for half off your initiation.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: Saltwater pool, great classes, amazing workout facilities, recovery, and the premier place to play tennis indoor and outdoor, and even a little pickleball back there for those of you who like to get a little silly.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: So the reason that I even bring it up that it was a strange day, and I know it's the PNW podcast, it's all about the Pacific Northwest, but as one of the guys who hosts this show, I think it's only fair uh to give full disclosure.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: One nice thing about a podcast, Marcus, is um, you know, you have more than two minutes to talk about something.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: And so uh we are free to talk about what's been going on, and I'm just gonna peel the band-aid off and say it that um over the weekend things were pretty standard.
2:40
SPEAKER_01: I was having a normal day.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: I was actually editing podcasts at my house.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, my neighbor was having a garage sale, so my kids are running in and out of the door.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: And uh when you have three kids 11 and under, a yard sale is like a pretty big deal.
2:57
SPEAKER_01: And so if they get uh, you know, Marcus, if they get a hold of like a their bag of change or whatever money, their tooth fairy money, they want to go out and they want to spend.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: Um so I'm on the computer and the front door comes swinging open, it's all bam! And my daughter Lucy, who is super excited about garage sales and being independent, I hear her run up her stairs mumbling about a mini fridge.
3:24
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, wait a second, hold up.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: So I I yell up the stairs, you can't have a mini fridge.
3:31
SPEAKER_01: No response.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: And I hear I hear rustling, dude, in in the rooms all over the place.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: And I so I walk up there, I open the door, and Lucy's frantically cleaning her room, which red flag, because that's not normal behavior, right?
3:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, you don't just start cleaning your room on a Sunday morning for no reason.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what are you doing?
3:51
SPEAKER_01: She's like, I'm cleaning my room and making room.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: I got just enough room in this corner here for a mini fridge.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: Like, you don't get to have a mini fridge.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: Like, you think you get to have cold beverages and snacks that are unregulated in your bedroom at 10?
4:03
SPEAKER_00: Unprompted room cleaning at Lucy's age is, I mean, you described it perfectly.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: I don't even have kids, and that's a huge red flag at that age because I know what it was like, man.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Clean your room was a death sentence at that age.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be in there forever, it's never gonna be clean enough.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: What are you gonna do?
4:20
SPEAKER_00: And here she is doing it on her own for a mini fridge.
4:23
SPEAKER_00: I love the commitment.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she's got that for sure.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: Because she, what's funny about it is uh Amy must have said something along the lines of, you don't even, you don't even have room in your room for that.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: And she took that as, I'm gonna make room.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: So I come up there and I I tell her, you're not getting a mini fridge.
4:42
SPEAKER_01: Well, for the like 15 minutes before that, I had been feeling in my chest a feeling of like maybe heartburn, maybe like aggressive heartburn.
4:51
SPEAKER_01: And for you who's known me forever, I've been through all kinds of health issues when it comes to upper GI, uh, acid reflux, things like that.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm no rookie to the feeling.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, okay, that's weird.
5:05
SPEAKER_01: But as I'm sitting at the computer when I come back down from shattering her mini fridge dreams, I'm at the computer and I can just like I feel like a pressure in my chest, and I don't like it, right?
5:17
SPEAKER_01: And it's starting to feel less like heartburn and more like something I don't know.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: And so I go lay down on my couch, and Lucy is she's very intuitive.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: And so she looks at me and she's like, Dad, what's going on?
5:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, everything's fine.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: So she goes and, you know, she's got a motherly thing in her, so she brings me a water.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: I drink a water and she's like, just lay down, it's fine.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: And so I lay down, and right then Amy comes in from the garage sale, and she takes and we've been dealing with health issues with her mom, which have been really intense and the center of our focus.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: And she's been dealing with that all morning.
5:54
SPEAKER_01: She's on the phone with her sister talking about it, and she looks at me and she's like, I'll call you back.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: Hangs up with her sister.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: She's like, What's going on?
6:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I feel like I got some heartburn or something.
6:03
SPEAKER_01: And she's like, That doesn't look like heartburn, but just lay there and relax.
6:07
SPEAKER_01: So I lay there and relax, and it starts to wear off a little bit.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: So I've gotta finish editing the podcast.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: So I get back up after like three minutes, and I go back to my desk, and within a minute, I'm laying my head on the table, and there's just this feeling is back in my chest, and I'm getting nervous.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm starting to panic a little bit.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: So I go lay back down on the couch, and Amy comes around the corner and she's like, You're back down, what's going on?
6:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, my chest, there's something going on.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: She's like, Let's call your mom.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: And and Marcus, you know my mom.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: She's intense.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: So, like, if you call her, this whole thing's gonna get escalated.
6:47
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, Don't call, don't call, don't call, don't call.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: And so after a few minutes, I s I am starting to feel worried about myself.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I just did a podcast on my other podcast, the Fit for Radio podcast, where a guy had this exact same thing happen and died in his driveway.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: Now, granted, his wife brought him back to life, but it was like in my head at this point.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, this is what happened to Brad.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: Like, he just felt something.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: He tried to get his wife, it was too late.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: He dropped.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to drop.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: So we call my mom.
7:21
SPEAKER_01: She's happens to be in her car with a cardiologist showing him houses.
7:27
SPEAKER_01: How lucky.
7:27
SPEAKER_01: I mean, so lucky.
7:30
SPEAKER_01: And so he's a cardiologist.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: His wife is also in the car, and she's a nurse.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: And so they are instantly into the questions, you know, this, that, and the other thing, and I'm I'm trying to answer them, or through Amy, I'm answering them.
7:41
SPEAKER_01: And my mom's like, call 911.
7:44
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, No, I am not calling 911.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: If we got to go to the hospital, I'm gonna drive there.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: The cardiologist says it's fine to drive there.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: So my dad hauls ass to my house, stays with my kids, and we go to the emergency room, and I don't want to go.
8:01
SPEAKER_01: But when on the way there, I'm starting to feel a little bit better.
8:04
SPEAKER_01: A little bit.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm like, well, let's just turn around and go home.
8:07
SPEAKER_01: And Amy ignores that.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: We get to the hospital, we get out, we're walking in, I'm like, I think I'm fine.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: Let's just go home.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: I hate hospitals.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: I just I don't know how you feel about them, but for me, they are like number one on the list where I don't want to be.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm the same way, man.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: It's it's everything medically um involved.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm in this I'm the same way in a dentist chair.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: I've had a blood pressure reading of over 200 sitting in the dentist chair just because of my anxiety.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: So I get that part of it.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: And I think there's a lot of people that do.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
8:41
SPEAKER_01: And I and so I'm I'm in there.
8:43
SPEAKER_01: They take me back almost immediately.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: We do some preliminary tests, they're like, let's go talk to the doc.
8:48
SPEAKER_01: I think we're gonna like walk around the corner to like a little room where a doctor is where he talks to me about stuff, says, stay calm and carry on.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: Something like that.
8:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, no, it's like a battery of tests.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm in the emergency room part for six hours.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: And at the tail end of this, they're like, okay, we're gonna try and get you out of here.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: Just one more blood test.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: I'll take a half hour to get the readings.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: I'm being a little grumpy at this point.
9:13
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I want to go home.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: I got work to do.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: I gotta do this and that.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: Well, the doctor comes back in and he's like no longer laughing and smiling, and he's like, dude, your readings weren't good.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: We gotta admit you.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, what are you talking about?
9:28
SPEAKER_01: It turns out, Marcus, and I have to go to a cardiologist to go do follow-ups for this, but it turns out that I likely had a mini heart attack on Sunday, and I was admitted.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: I stayed overnight.
9:43
SPEAKER_01: Every couple of hours they were coming in, waking me up, stabbing me with needles.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: You know I hate those.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I was trying to talk them out of it.
9:51
SPEAKER_01: They'd come in, I'm like, hey, the last nurse said uh, whoa.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: And it's a double, you don't need any.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: I was doing all that stuff, and basically um stayed overnight, and it wasn't until the morning that the my numbers, so there are certain blood tests they can do that can detect if damage has happened to your heart in like an incident.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: And my reading came back that something had happened to my heart.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: And even while we're talking now, I feel almost like a not a shortness of breath, but almost like when you're getting over being sick and you're looking for that deep breath.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: I've got a little of that going.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, but we got we got through it.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: I found out that uh, you know, because of some hereditary things, my dad has traditionally high cholesterol, high blood pressure.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: My blood pressure was off the charts, my heart rate was 55, my uh my cholesterol was high.
10:50
SPEAKER_01: And so because I exercised so much, they told me that the after a couple hours that the heart rate wasn't as concerning.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: But I'm looking at 55, like, is this thing gonna slow to a stop?
11:00
SPEAKER_01: Right?
11:01
SPEAKER_01: We just are we doing the final slowdown lap?
11:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, but they they said because I ride a Peloton every day because of the push-ups, that's normal.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, but the blood pressure never came down, and the cholesterol's a problem.
11:14
SPEAKER_01: So, like, as of right now, I am on a special diet until I can go see the cardiologist.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: They want me to get on statins, which is the stuff to lower your cholesterol and help with your blood pressure, but you have to be on that for your whole life.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: So right now, I'm having no salt.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: I had some loveless eggs, is what I'm calling them, uh, yesterday.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: God, salt is so great.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: I mean, and so terrible because it almost killed me, but it is so great.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the best things in the world.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: And uh, I want to say this real quick.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: I I think that you already know um how I feel about it.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: We've been in uh connection, obviously, uh outside of the show.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: And so um, you know I'm concerned about you and all of our thoughts are with you, but man, if there's I just have this sneaking feeling there's a lot of guys out there right now listening to this that are in our age group.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: Whether that goes all the way back to 30 and all the way up to 60, that's fine.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about middle-aged people, and um what I want you guys to do is kind of take this in the same way that I did.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Drew and I are really close.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: We've been really close for two decades now.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: And um, this first and foremost scared me for you, and I'm concerned for you and concerned for your family and concerned for your girls.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but second, what it was was kind of a wake-up call to me because I'm only three or four years younger than you.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm in a lot worse shape.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: I don't take care of myself nearly as well as you do.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, and let's just say that carbs are some of my best friends.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: So uh take it as a little bit of a wake-up call for yourself if you're listening to this.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I last night I had chicken and rice and vegetables, uh, and that was just step one in hey, maybe we should tone this thing back a little bit, you know.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Um Ashley's getting ready for a class reunion, so she's wanting to bring the diet into check, and I'm using that as another motivator.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: It's like, hey, um, we can't do this thing where we live like we're 25 uh for the rest of our lives, Drew.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: And it's tragic, it sucks, and it makes me sad.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, but you got to deal with the reality of the situation.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: And that, I mean, that grabbed a hold of you by the shoulders and shook you this last weekend.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, and I think that every one of us need to do exactly what you said, and that is maybe make an appointment, maybe get some blood work done, because I'm always reluctant to be a part of that stuff, but there's certain things that I cannot control, and that is who are your parents, what is your lineage, what is naturally going to happen to you?
13:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I exercise a ton.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't eat many carbs, I barely eat any dairy, but I love red meat and I love tri-tip, and I love marbling, and I love butter and salt.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: And those are the things that have helped me to hide from the other foods that make you fat and bloated and and unhealthy on the outside.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: But you can be as healthy as as you want to look on the outside and then on the inside be dying.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: I mean, look at Siskel and Ebert.
14:08
SPEAKER_01: You would have pointed to the other one who's going first, but that's not how life works.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm with you on that.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: I I think everybody should get themselves checked.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just the look in my kid's eye as my chest is like pushing in on itself, and I'm thinking to myself, like, and I know it sounds dire, but as that when you have no control over that chest, and you know it's right where your heart is, and your kids and everything you ever built and everything that you love is standing right in front of you, it's a pretty quick wake-up call.
14:40
SPEAKER_01: And so I am I am gonna do what is necessary to turn this ship around.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: And it's just I thought I was doing enough, but uh uh I just need to do the other things.
14:51
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes you can't control the stuff, and so it takes a medication.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: Like my dad just found out that he's got like an advanced cholesterol thing that's gonna require shots, and that there is no diet or exercise planned for it.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: It's you do it or one day you have a stroke, and so it's very scary.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: Not trying to scare people out, but you know, it's burger week, Marcus.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know, man.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: What a week for it to all come crashing down on you.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: And and in terms of your dad, too, I want people to know because I've known Drew's dad for almost as long as I've known Drew, that's the last guy you would look at and think cholesterol.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: All right.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: Your dad is is a slender man, he's he's uh a little bit on the on the taller side where you and I would be concerned.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but as far as stocky or looks like he's unhealthy, not the dude you would look at.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: And and uh same thing for you.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: So you got to know a little bit about what's going on in that family lineage, man.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: Um that's that's a really important thing.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: And uh there's you know, that that old adage, the apple does not fall far from the tree.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: Nothing we can do about that.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: That is how it works, and there's a reason that people have said that for thousands of years.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's actually freaky how alike our bodies are, my dad and I, because I'm shorter than him considerably, but aside from that, I'm like identical to him in every way.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: And so much, in fact, we went to a food cart, I ordered my food, my dad was two people back in line.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: And when I ordered my food, I stepped to the side.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: When he came to the front, the lady looked at him and said, Your food's not ready yet.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, I haven't ordered.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: She's like, No, you no, you ordered the pot stickers.
16:31
SPEAKER_01: It's like, no, I I have not ordered.
16:33
SPEAKER_01: That's my son.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: And so, and he's 70.
16:36
SPEAKER_01: So that's a compliment to him and not so much to me, but uh, take care of yourselves.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're gonna just take a quick break and we are gonna pivot away from this.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: It's not all about me.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: We have some uh important information about the Moda Center and the Blazor deal and where we're at with it right now.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh, so we'll touch on that and some interesting stuff the city is doing uh to try and get the job done.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: The PW podcast is brought to you by a group of amazing people and companies.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: I am so prideful of the people I get to work with on this program and this weekend with my health concerns.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: That was no exception.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: Personal messages from the man who runs Stafford Hills Club, just an incredible human, Evan, checking on me.
17:21
SPEAKER_01: And it's part of the reason why this place is rated the best health and wellness facility in the Portland area.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: I was laid up at a hospital less than a mile from here, and they were doing nothing, but caring about me, it's a sense of community down here.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: You gotta check it out.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: You've got to see them when you get a chance.
17:40
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17:42
SPEAKER_01: Tell them Drew sent you for half off your initiation.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: It's so much more than a health and wellness facility.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: It's a family down here at Stafford Hills.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: Same goes for my people over at Motosport Hillsboro, where I'm always talking about how they can get you the easiest and best financing and how they work hard to get the job done, but also compassionate people as well.
18:04
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18:13
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18:19
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18:31
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18:37
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18:41
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18:55
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18:58
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19:04
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19:06
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19:10
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19:12
SPEAKER_01: This is a homegrown boy.
19:14
SPEAKER_01: Bruce is my favorite in the business.
19:16
SPEAKER_01: So check him out today, AxiomPDX.com.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: All right, we are back here on the PNW podcast, and everybody's talking blazers right now, Marcus.
19:27
SPEAKER_01: The Moda Center deal, trying to get it ironed out.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, we just need another 30-year lease or something.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: So I don't have to worry about it.
19:35
SPEAKER_01: I'd like to circle back on this when I'm 70 myself, uh, 75.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: That would be good.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: But um, what's happened since we chatted about it last is Multnomah County has approved just over a hundred million dollars towards the deal, which is bigger than the original amount that we thought that they would be willing to throw in.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: So that is a positive if you are team stay in Portland.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: I think that you've probably read some of the comments as well of because you know, we post clips to social media and give people a chance to chime in.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: And man, people are they're fired up, uh, some are angry, some are delusional, and really everybody has a differing opinion of some to some extent.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: But what I thought was crazy, and and I and I think I misspoke because I said the city of Portland was doing things to try and get the ball rolling here, but it's actually not the city of Portland that's doing what's been in the news.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
20:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Drew, I've got an article from Sports Business Journal here, and um it the original article was actually from uh Alyssa Gary of the Oregonian, uh, which has a paywall, and I'm cheap, so not going there.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: But uh this article says a Portland group lobbying for a publicly financed Motor Center renovation deal is recruiting social media personalities and sometimes big names to support its cause.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: Um comedian Ian Carmel, uh, who's a self-proclaimed lifelong Blazer fan, um, it was one of which he is, you gotta give him that.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: He loves the Blazers, you know, throughout his life.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: I've always seen him be pro-Blazer.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: He's one of four people who were paid to post videos on social media under the hashtag uh WarCPartner, uh, referring to We Are Rip City, which is War C, uh, which is a coalition of local businesses and organizations pushing for the city to commit public dollars to the estimated$600 million renovation.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh other influencers who have partnered include sports journalists Ashton Batusso, along with Portland entrepreneurs Ian Williams and Troy Douglas.
21:47
SPEAKER_00: We are Rip City spokesperson Lindsey O'Brien said that all four were paid a standard creator fee for their time and effort, though she did not specify how much that was.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: So we've got some people with some money in their pockets.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Paying other people that have a following to try to uh get some people on the on the bus here, Drew.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: I I kind of like it because what's the other what's the other option is just to whine about it or to beg about it.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you got to do something to move the needle.
22:15
SPEAKER_01: And this is something that happens all the time in the political season where all of a sudden you've got the biggest podcasters and biggest influencers in the in the country pounding a drum in one direction or the other.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: So it's just, it's, it's not a new idea.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: I I do like it on that front.
22:33
SPEAKER_01: I'm a little butthurt that nobody called us.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you guys know how to get a hold of us.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: I feel like uh we're we are Rip City.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: Well, we are the Pacific Northwest podcast.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Like, hook a honky up.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: You want Drew and I to show up in downtown and make a couple of videos.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: We're game and we've done that type of stuff before.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, I mean I'm not trying to pat my own back here, but uh we're pretty good at it.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: We've been doing it for quite a few years.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: So, hey, uh, you know, where's the call?
22:59
SPEAKER_01: And I and I couldn't agree more.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: And we're on the same side.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: We we want the thing to get funded.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: We want to get the the city money over there.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just take it out of our tent budget, which might be gone.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: The tent budget might be gone.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: I didn't even know we had one until we had already bought all the tents.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: So just move the money to somewhere that's gonna work for us.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: And and I and I do, I am interested in people going and go to our social media, check out the PNW podcast page, both on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: People are up in arms about it, and I think a lot of people misunderstand exactly what's going on here.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: You know, they're like, let's make the billionaire pay.
23:38
SPEAKER_01: The billionaire's out of cash.
23:40
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the billionaire spent all of his money to get the job done, and now he wants the back end to be paid for.
23:47
SPEAKER_01: Not saying who's right, but go there and chime in because next time we talk about it, I would like to kind of make it uh where Marcus and I can kind of take your comments and push them out here so people can hear what you're saying and really get the conversation going.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think it's important too to know uh that that that thing we pointed out right at the beginning is that this is a lobby group.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we are Rip City.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, because conventional wisdom says if this was the city paying people, just take that money and put it in the coffers towards the stadium.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: Love Ian Carmel.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh love the people that are pushing this in the right direction, in my opinion.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: But uh conventional wisdom would say use that money just to just put it in the coffers and hope that that, you know,$2,000 adds up to enough uh to help us in the future.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: So I'm glad to see that it's not the actual government-paying influencers.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of weirded out by the whole government-paying influencers thing, Drew.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: That seems like that's dangerously close to what is called propaganda in my studies as a political science degree holder.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: I knew that degree would come in handy here somewhere.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: It's taken 20 years, but I finally used it.
24:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: Go ducks, baby.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: That's what they do for you right there.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it it is a long way to water, also, you know.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: So if you think about it, you pay the influencer, the influencer influences their audience, and the audience does what?
25:10
SPEAKER_01: They have to return to a city council meeting or they have to do something back to the city to make it full circle.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: That's a tougher ride.
25:18
SPEAKER_01: Like what I was talking about with politics and and like say picking a president, they just need you to vote.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: Right.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: So they don't need you to go call the city, go to the meeting, do the thing.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: Because so many of us, and you know, for the right cause, I'll be at a city council meeting, but so many of us will never go.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: That's just something that's not they could be extremely passionate.
25:40
SPEAKER_01: They're not going to the meeting.
25:41
SPEAKER_01: They just don't.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: And it it's hard to get you.
25:44
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I I don't like being in Boersville, and that's kind of what those meetings are.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: And um I do think it's kind of a a weird way to go about it, but because it's not city money, you know, whatever is heading in the direction of paying for the stadium, I'm I'm for it.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: But it's funny because I saw the Ian Caramel posts before I heard about any of this, and I was like, oh, well, I'm glad he's getting passionate about it, but I didn't know he was walking his neighborhood on payroll.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and let me tell you something about city council meetings.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh, used to cover city council meetings for uh the local news radio down here in Eugene.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: You remember that.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's real hard to sit in those things and not go, oh, this is a hive mind.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: That's why they get actually get anything done is they all agree with one another.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: They're all going out for drinks after this.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: This is a hive mind.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously, that's not the way you want to look at it when you're looking for change in your in your government.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: And you should you should use all of your resources and and do the things that citizens are allowed to do to affect change.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: I will just tell you that my experience in going to those things, um you're you're kind of hoping for lightning in a bottle when you're talking about change.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: But it's good to see this direction.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: It's good to see that there are coalitions of people behind pushing this in a direction that benefits you and I, Drew.
27:03
SPEAKER_01: Because the next big date, I believe the next meeting where they have to meet about funding is August 12th.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: And so that I mean that's you know, when people are hearing this, that's gonna be today.
27:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there you go.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: I didn't even think about that.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: So that's today.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: And it it comes down to if we don't get this done, then every time from here on moving forward, it's harder to get the funding.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if we're already because August 12th felt a ways away before, and now it's here.
27:34
SPEAKER_01: And so if it doesn't get done, I could see things get pretty contentious.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: The Blazers, they probably just by the temperature, I don't feel like they're re they want to be in a fight.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: If this isn't gonna be easy, then we're gonna be in some trouble.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: You know, uh August 12th, a big day for me, Drew.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: It's uh obviously this meeting uh with the city of Portland.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: It's also my sister's birthday.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: The gift is on the way, not sure how it's gonna be received.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: Uh so I got a lot of line on the a lot on the line, excuse me, on uh August 12th, 2026.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: So fingers crossed here.
28:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, your sister could hate the present, and we could lose the Blazers all in the same day.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't think if for the Blazer part of it, and I'm sure your sister will forgive you for you know whatever um, you know, garbage of the month club you hooked her up with.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: But I this is also is to point out is not the end for the Blazers if we can't work out a deal on Aug on this date.
28:31
SPEAKER_01: So we'll keep our eye on it.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: We'll see what happens.
28:35
SPEAKER_01: Um I just want it done because while it feels like an old story, it's just it's ever present until, you know, because if we get to the end of the year and nothing's happened, we're in we're in a serious world of hurt, and then likely they're gonna end up being where what city do you see stealing our blazers and making you absolutely physically ill every time you see them play?
29:02
SPEAKER_00: Do you got one in your mind?
29:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I do.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the worst cities in the country right now, and um, I don't know that it shows up, but since we've kind of heard that Nashville's off the table, we've heard that uh Las Vegas is off the table, these places that want a team now, they're they want that new expansion money, so they're not going to take uh a relocation team.
29:22
SPEAKER_00: I do not want to see the Portland Trailblazers end up in Memphis.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh they've already had a team.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: Memphis is one of the highest crime areas in the world right now.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not the world, but don't they they they currently have a team?
29:34
SPEAKER_00: Oh, they do the they still do have the Grizzlies?
29:37
SPEAKER_00: See, I don't think all the games in well enough.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: Well, the the Grizzlies were originally in Vancouver, BC, and they're in Memphis.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: So they won't end up in Memphis, but what about um, you know, there is Nashville.
29:52
SPEAKER_01: Now I don't know if they'd give Tennessee two teams that seems aggressive, but what about this one, Marcus?
29:58
SPEAKER_01: What if they just keep the weird?
30:01
SPEAKER_00: The Austin Blazers.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: You kind of feel like Austin is trying to supplant Portland as as Weirdville and and kind of um be like Portland Southwest, and I I kind of hate it.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: Um I listen, I'm gonna hate wherever they go, and that just shows you how much I follow the rest of the NBA, not even knowing that the Grizzlies were still a thing.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: Um but uh I look Austin seems like a great city.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: I've never been.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: Um but I'm just don't bring any don't bring any weed.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what I hear.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh you might go to prison for 10 years.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: I Charles Barkley's had a few creative things to say about San Antonio.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we get some more comedy out of uh out of moving the team to Austin.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: But again, like, dude, Texas can come on.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: How many how many sports franchises do you need?
30:49
SPEAKER_00: I understand that state is big enough to be its own country, but there's only a few cities in it that matter.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: And does every one of them have to have two professional sports teams or three professional sports teams?
30:59
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I don't want them to go to Texas either.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: I don't want them to go anywhere.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: Right.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: But one thing I will point out so we don't just get blasted in the comments is, and I I don't mean to contradict you twice within five minutes, but the Austin, um, the weird, keep Austin Weird was there before Keep Portland Weird.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: Well, go to them.
31:22
SPEAKER_01: Go to the I know, but we stole their moniker and painted it on a wall and like took it as our own.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: I think it's because we do weird better.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: I mean, go like, you know, I I'm sorry, but if you you don't understand much about the Pacific, not you, but if you're listening to this and you think that in just in theory, Austin might be weirder.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: Like, let's look at the weird chance.
31:44
SPEAKER_00: Weird, there's no chance.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Portland weirdest.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna see Darth Vader playing bagpipes on a unicycle.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever seen that in Austin or anything of the sort?
31:54
SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: And I'm so glad you brought that up while we still have a couple minutes left.
31:59
SPEAKER_01: So Lloyd's Center, uh, which is a mall with the ice rink in the middle in northeast Portland, which has been a staple for over 60 years.
32:08
SPEAKER_01: It actually was my neighborhood mall when I grew up in northeast Portland, Alameda Elementary, represent.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: But they, after all these years, the place has been a desolate wasteland.
32:20
SPEAKER_01: And so they actually were shutting it down.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: Its last day was a couple of days ago.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: People were stealing the plants out of the food court on the final day, but they but they they had all these one-off final day things, and one thing they did was they invited the Uni Piper, who's the Darth guy dressed as Darth Vader with the flaming bagpipe.
32:40
SPEAKER_01: You've seen no matter where you live in this country, you've probably seen a picture of him.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: And he was invited down there.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: I've met him multiple times.
32:47
SPEAKER_01: We've done events with him back when I was on the standard issue radio.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: Great guy, great following.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: So he goes down there to play his flaming bagpipe and and do the thing.
32:58
SPEAKER_01: Well, Paul Blart, Mall cop, on his final day, booted the Uni Piper out, even though he was invited.
33:06
SPEAKER_01: That's a guy that takes his job very seriously, Drew.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: All the way to the last minute.
33:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: And so he called a backup.
33:13
SPEAKER_01: I saw a video of them escorting him out.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I guess the Unipiper's never been kicked out of such a place, so it is a bucket list for him.
33:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it just shows that we are the weirdest.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: We we not only do we have Darth Vader riding a unicycle with a flaming bagpipe, he's invited.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: Something about this mental picture I'm having is Paul Blart was on a Segway, right?
33:36
SPEAKER_00: So we've got Segway cop trying to get unicycle bagpiper out of there.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: I know that this they wrecked on the way to the door.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: They had to have.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: There's just no other way.
33:45
SPEAKER_01: Well, and the funny thing is, uh, old Paul Blart, the mall cop, is probably in such bad shape that he lost the foot race on the Segway to the Unicycle.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're weirder.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry to say it.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Austin, you do, I'm sure there's great stuff in Austin, but it ain't as weird as we are here in Portland.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: Just look it up.
34:06
SPEAKER_01: And the last thing I, and I I couldn't agree more.
34:08
SPEAKER_01: And the last thing I'll say about um uh Lloyd Center before we go is when I was in sixth grade, I remember I've, you know, I had a girlfriend, and you know, it's all very pathetic at that age, but I remember I got my mom to drop me off at the mall for skate night, and I was pretty awful at ice skating at that point, but I'm like trying to like impress this girl, and I'll never forget those core memories of like grabbing a hand and having them not shake it free at the mall, having an icy and just and you know, all I got was a handhold out of that, but I went home feeling like Rico Suave.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you gotta be careful.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: It's a dangerous thing if somebody tries to shake free of a handhold on ice.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: That's a concussion waiting to happen.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: So good on you.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: And great memories.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: You guys that aren't millennials don't understand how much time we spend at those free skates, whether they be on ice or at the roller rink.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: Man, that was a big part of the upbringing.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: And uh, that's where you held hands, Drew.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: That's where you got it done.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
35:05
SPEAKER_01: And if she would have known me a couple years later, Marcus, I was hockey stopping, doing the whole thing.
35:11
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I would have shown up on my rollerblades and been straight up ignored by her.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: So that's the way it is.
35:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh, thank you for joining me today, Marcus.
35:20
SPEAKER_01: Like usual, new episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
35:24
SPEAKER_01: And uh, we will we'll be back tomorrow with another new episode, if I can keep the old cardiac kid out of the hospital.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: But the nice thing is, right here at Stafford Hills Club, I am just one field away from the very hospital where I was sleeping over.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: I almost came by here to do a quick episode if they would have let me out.
35:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I was like on lockdown behind metal detectors and they did inventory.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: They did inventory on my eye drops.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, nothing to see here.
35:49
SPEAKER_01: That's just liquid bladder acid.
35:52
SPEAKER_01: Just kidding.
35:53
SPEAKER_01: All right, we will we'll be back tomorrow.
35:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, we are at the Stafford Hills Club.
35:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, check them out today, Staffordhills.com.
36:00
SPEAKER_01: Tell them Drew sent you for half off your initiation.
36:03
SPEAKER_01: And if you become a member, come by and see me here in my studio.