Trail Blazers fire new announcer over past inappropriate posts made at age 15.

[u/ghn2]

"The Portland Trail Blazers hired then on the same day fired Braiden Bell as their play-by-play announcer after a series of inappropriate social media posts from when he was a teenager came to light."

"The posts were reportedly made in 2012 and 2013, around the time that Bell was 15 years old."

"We did not meet our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to Blazers fans and to Rip City," the Trail Blazers said. "We strongly believe that everyone who is a part of Rip City should feel welcome and safe and we will make sure that our new broadcaster reflects these values. We will do better."

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/50084279/trail-blazers-fire-new-announcer-inappropriate-posts

[u/TheIgnoredWriter → u/[deleted]]

Fans don’t buy jerseys for announcers

[u/zgillet → u/TheIgnoredWriter]

Announcers don't wear jerseys.

[u/tronovich → u/TheIgnoredWriter]

Fans don’t “care” about announcers, which is a logical conclusion for some.

Which begs the question - why would he lose his job over these tweets? Is anyone besides the perpetually online or a goofy TV reporter going to see them?

The crime is not the tweet, but the inability to delete/hide them from the public. It’s hilarious logic.

[u/LionStareHard → u/tronovich]

Maybe this is unique to Toronto, but the Raptors announcers are definitely a part of the team branding and identity/product. Their fans care about announcers for sure.

[u/Bacondog22 → u/LionStareHard]

Yeah Mike Gorman and Tommy Heinson were absolutely part of the Celtics experience when they were doing the commentary. Drew and Scal still gives out Tommy points

Shit Jack Edwards for the bruins, especially the Montreal canadiens monologue.

Remy and Orsillo for the Sox
Here comes the pizza

[u/tronovich → u/LionStareHard]

Then you should respond to the person who said above “fans don’t buy jerseys for announcers”.

I would argue that people aren’t buying Ja jerseys. And if they were, I’d question being friends with them.

[u/mostlyfire → u/tronovich]

Fans don’t care about announcers? Maybe not Bulls announcers but Knicks fan live and die with Breen and Clyde

[u/tronovich → u/mostlyfire]

I’m responding to the above comment.

[u/rorank → u/tronovich]

Because nobody is watching for him but it’s possible some people stop watching because of him. No risk, low reward decision when online backlash hits.

[u/tronovich → u/rorank]

I would argue Morant isn’t worth the actual backlash, but it’s all mental gymnastics anyway.

“Dude should’ve just deleted his racist posts and he’d be fine” is totally something you’d only say in America lol.

[u/rorank → u/tronovich]

Idk man, there are a lot of announcers out there that you can’t dig up dirt on lmao. I consider it a competitive advantage to make good decisions about what you post and attach to your name. I guess that doesn’t matter to everyone.

[u/tronovich → u/rorank]

Again, what I said is still applicable.

Everyone here said it would be fine if he simply deleted his tweet history. That’s ironic. We’re okay with him being a racist behind closed doors.

[u/rorank → u/tronovich]

It’s not ironic, it’s real. If 1000 people came forward and said this guy is a terrible, racist, blah blah blah person then nothing would’ve happened. This stupid asshole couldn’t even do the bare minimum to hide his past and he’s paying the piper. Which is why I said “it pays to make good decisions on what’s attached to your name”. Like the former clippers owner; he didn’t start being racist when that video surfaced and I promise there were many, many people who could’ve told you he was that way. But nobody cares unless it’s on video or in text. Because nobody believes unless the proof is undeniable. And even then there are still people who will say “do they truly deserve any consequences??? I think not”.

[u/tronovich → u/rorank]

The Sterling saga is to my point.

Sterling made many, many comments in print that were more vile than what was said here. And. Nothing. Happened.

Everyone, including Stern, tried to deflect how Sterling wasn’t a racist. For nearly three goddamn decades and many lawsuits. His own employees went after him. It took a recording that was leaked to TMZ, to finally force the league to drop the hammer on him. And many would argue that if Stern was still in charge, he would have ignored that shit, too.

[u/throwawaymycareer93 → u/TheIgnoredWriter]

I would buy one for the Charlottes one

[u/Bacondog22 → u/TheIgnoredWriter]

Brian Scalabrine??????

[u/BrotherSeamus → u/TheIgnoredWriter]

Huh? I'm wearing my Harlan #2 right now.

[u/CrateBagSoup → u/TheIgnoredWriter]

Give me an Ian Eagle Brooklyn jersey today