MB answers my questions

What is your gut feeling on John Nash's future with the team?

-I hope John is back with the team,
and it wouldn't really do any good
for me to try and predict what will happen.
He's a terrific guy and I usually end up
sitting near him on the team bus when he makes
trips with us. We talk a lot of basketball
history, politics, horse racing, and he always
has trivia questions ready. I don't know where
a lot of you guys stand when it comes to John,
but I would encourage you to keep in mind how
difficult a situation he stepped into in Portland.
He was told to cut payroll, drastically, bring in
character guys, and continue to try and win.
He's done all three. The winning obviously
hasn't been there as much as any of us would like,
but I think he's done a pretty good job with everything
else. Give him credit for signing guys like Joel
Przybilla, Steve Blake, and Juan Dixon. He pushed
hard for Sebastian Telfair, and Martell Webster, and
also got Jarrett Jack in last year's draft. He would
say it has been a team effort in getting all of this
done, but it's happened on John's watch, and he's the GM.


If you were replaced on TV, do you'd take that
especially hard because you're a local kid, and grew
up a Blazer fan (I pressume)? Or are you already at the
point where you're cynical enough that it doesn't matter?

-I don't want to think about that actually. I will be
here as long as they want me here. It's a rare thing
in this league that a guy ends up calling the games for
the team he grew up watching. I realize how rare
and special that is. I love Portland and don't want
to leave. I went to Blazer games growing up and have
a good grasp and perspective on the history of the
franchise that I wouldn't have for another team. I
know it's a volitile business, but I can't imagine
not being involved with the franchise. Like a lot
of you know, it gets in your blood.

What's an average day in Mike Barretts life
(during the season)?

-Not very exciting. My wife and I had a baby last
June and he takes up most of my time when I'm home.
The travel is very tough and it's been especially hard
to be away during long stretches this season. It's a
strange job because of the travel, and because weekends
and holidays don't mean as much, meaning, we work all
the time. We were gone for Thanksgiving for the second
straight year, and left on Christmas Day for a game
at Sacramento. I was away for my wife's birthday, our
anniversary, and will be gone on Easter. Obviously,
you've got to have an understanding spouse, and I do.
I can't think of a day recently that I've totally had off.
I'm either doing a game on TV, travelling, hosting the
radio show, doing the blog or writing for the game program,or am busy at the computer researching our next opponent and reading articles. It's doesn't end, and if you get lazy it's very, very noticable to a lot of people.

People often ask what we do during the summer. After working just about everyday for seven months, we take a little time off. The radio show, of course, continues year round, and with the draft, and summer league, we're still very busy. The one thing I do a lot of during the summer is golf. I said you've got to have an understanding
spouse, and now having a baby, the golf may be limited this summer.

She's understanding, but not crazy.


Chevy or Ford?

-I've never owned either, but my dad was a Chevy guy so I guess I better go there. We had a couple of Chevy station wagons with the wood grain on the side.
Beautiful. He does own a Ford truck now, so I'm not sure what that means.

If you ran the team, who would you keep and who would you ditch?

-Are you serious? Didn't you just ask me about being replaced on TV?

If I were to answer this question I'd be able to truly tell you how it feels to get replaced.

Which organization treats you guys the best (on the road)?

-All the teams do a good job. Some have better game notes than others, and some are more attentive to our needs than others. The league keeps pretty close watch on this kind of stuff, so it's pretty consistent around the NBA. There are some cities that are much more enjoyable than others to visit, but that doesn't have much to do with the individual franchises.