The O’s Jason Quick is reporting that the Blazers won’t extend a qualifying offer to forward Channing Frye, and therefore Frye becomes a free agent this Wednesday, when free agency officially begins. And while this poses a lot of questions for the (somewhat incompetent) sportswriter in me (What kind of offers will he get? Will he look to sign with a contender or go where he can get guaranteed minutes? Will he keep his South Waterfront home?), it kinda bums the human in me out.
In my ridiculous three-year history of writing about the Blazers for this paper, I’ve never really tried to be a “real reporter.” So my post-game interactions with players have been largely relegated to quick, two-question follow-ups about whatever trivia I find more interesting than the evening’s stat-line. The admittedly limited appeal of having me cover the team was that it was completely ridiculous to have me anywhere near professional athletes. I have never worked out in my life and I don’t shave regularly or own a single nice shirt. That was the idea for the shtick, anyway. But there are guys doing the whole “another perspective” thing much better than I ever did it these days, and they’re way more committed to the whole thing.
My point was, as nice a group as team as this is, I’m not exactly partying with any Blazers in my off-time. I had a great conversation with Ime Udoka (traded to the Spurs) about marijuana and Rasheed Wallace once while he was giving me a ride from Tualatin to the Willamette Week offices (just to be nice). Sergio Rodriguez (traded on draft day) always gave me a big smile after we attempted a multi-lingual conversation that went nowhere at all. Zach Randolph gave me a man-hug once. That’s about it.
But Channing Frye was nice enough to spend an entire day with me late last year for this Willamette Week cover. I met him at practice in Tualatin, and from the get-go he was cool with me. In the fifteen minute drive from the Blazers’ practice facility to his South Waterfront condo, he’d cracked a handful of self-effacing jokes and talked seriously about his childhood. We got along pretty well, perhaps because we like the same stuff: Food, art, videogames. We played with his dogs and faced off on NBA 2K9 (I chose the Blazers). I beat him, and took a picture with the iPhone to prove it. I then asked him to look really pissed with the controller in his hand as a reaction shot, which he was nice enough to do. I think maybe he was a little pissed, because I talked a lot of shit while we played. But he snapped back into form pretty quick.
See, I’m a basketball geek. And there’s stuff about the inner workings of the league that I’ve always wondered about. So I could have asked questions for days on end. Stupid questions. For me to hear Channing talk about his friend Richard Jefferson’s terrible “RJ” tattoo or Andrei Kirilenko playing World of Warcraft made me downright giddy. I asked whether NBA players play fantasy basketball (mostly just the vets, Channing said) or play as themselves in videogames (I beat him mostly with Channing Frye, did I mention that?).
Basketball players, in 2009, are guarded and media-savvy characters. They aren’t supposed to say the first thing that pops into their head, they’re supposed to formulate a careful media image. I didn’t get that impression from Channing at all. I was taken by what an open person he was and how realistic he was about his own situation.
Most of all I was impressed by how fully he had fallen in love with this city. You gotta remember that the guy is from Arizona. There’s not a lot going on there, even in Phoenix. And his New York City experience was tainted by a real fucked-up basketball existence and long drives to and from the Garden. So in Portland, everything was new. And everything just clicked.
Over the course of our conversations, Channing said that he realized people might take his love for Portland as an act, a way to become a fan favorite. Granted, “Fan Favorite” was a status he really enjoyed here (he printed up t-shirts that said “Fan Favorite” on them, actually), but the love for the city was real. Most Blazers don’t make it past Ruths Chris steakhouse and Bridgeport Village. Channing Frye will probably spend his last days in town chomping pancakes from Stepping Stone and eating the Channing’s Fries at Buffalo Gap.
Channing playing World of Warcraft.
These are little things. But they don’t happen every day. Especially in Portland, a “small market” that players often itch to leave. For Channing this was pretty much the cat’s pajamas. It’s just the right place at the wrong time.
For me personally, losing Channing to free agency makes the locker room a slightly less inviting place. For the city, I think it’s going to be something a little bit more fundamental in their relationship to this team. I think they’ve lost their basketball ambassador. See, it’s one very admirable thing for guys to put time and effort into local charities and good-will endeavors. The NBA facilitates that very well, and Portland’s more committed to the community than most professional teams. But finding players who consider themselves citizens of Portland, not just guys who work here, is a much longer shot. Blazer players will always be found at the city’s flashier dance clubs or in the V.I.P. rooms of its most expensive bars. But finding athletes who come down from Olympus to get a few beers at Dante’s, that just doesn’t happen every day.
Again, these are little things. But little things are a big deal. Channing Frye was just as interested in Portland as Portland was in him. Guys like that don’t show up every day. At least, not in a Blazer uniform.
And now that I’ve talked about the guy like he’s dead for 1,000 words, I’d like to say good luck. 
Hope he ends up staying. I’ll be a fan of him wherever he goes. Cool dude and I like his game as well. He’s a smart player that is getting better. Hope to see you at Rip City Grill before you leave.
Sad! I adored having Channing Frye as a Blazer and will be sad to see him go. He always had the funniest clips on the jumbotron during the timeouts at the games. I also admire his work for environmental causes, something else that made him a perfect fit for Portland. Wherever he goes I hope he gets more minutes and that the fans appreciate him as much as Blazers’ fans have.
Good Luck Channing!
With the Blazers’ young crop of players starting to grow up, we all knew that at one point some of them had to leave. I wasn’t able to meet Channing personally, but reading this gives me the impression that he’s a really nice guy. And seeing nice guys leave that leaves teams with a certain void that could be very hard to fill.
Well hopefully wherever he goes he gets to play more, he’s got skills, it’ll be fun to see him kick some Blazer ass like Von Wafer and Brooks did last year, Go Blazers, good luck Channing!
Well done Casey! I’m sad to see him go too, although he probably saw this coming as he alluded to in the cover story you did. I wish him the best wherever he ends up, and will always cheer for him @ the Rose Garden regardless of what jersey he’s wearing. Class act all the way.
Good luck, Channing! We’ll miss you, but you really deserve to get more minutes and show the league what you’ve got. I hope that you can get traded back here some day and rejoin the Blazers and get the time on the court that you deserve. Thanks for becoming an actual citizen of Portland and not just a visitor.
I will gladly admit that I have intentionally walked around waterfront in hopes of running into Channing just to say hi. Saying he is the ambassador for the team is an understatement.
Channing’s game is much like Shasta cola. Both are cheap, generic, second-rate products that have strangely developed a following of middle-America. You can’t explain their cult status popularity. While he might get more burn on a team like Sacramento, I hope he goes to Toronto. The fans up there don’t expect much, so a guy who can’t box out a free throw shooter would fit in perfectly. Good luck Channing, I will pour out some cheap, second-rate Shasta in your honor!
I’m sure he’s a great guy, but he needs to spend more time on his game rather than throwing back beer & fries in the offseason. Seems like alot of Blazer fans are more interested in Nice Guys than Championships…
@Lucas
Quit spamming all the Channing articles. You’ve said the same thing every time. You have a lame sense of humor, if you want to call it that. STFU and GTFO –>
Boy George, is that you hiding behind the name “Daniel”? Here’s a new one…wherever he lands, the local tweezer company should hire Frye as a spokesperson, since he will be adept at picking splinters out of his rear, with so much sitting on the bench. Ah, but don’t let that tarnish his “intagibles” of 4 pts, 3 boards a game.
[...] already lamented the loss of Channing Frye’s Portland-perfect personality (if not his inside game). So it gives us great pleasure to report that Frye may be finding a new [...]
Nice Article. Channing is a really good guy. He’s going home to Phx which is a really good thing for him in my opinion. He will have a lot of support there, and since phx is very thin at forward/center he should see a lot of playing time.