LEFTOVERS: Beat writer quick to sour on NBA life

In speaking on the record about his reasons for asking off the Portland Trailblazers’ beat, Jason Quick of The Oregonian offered the kind of insight fans rarely see from a media member.

There’s more to the job of covering a team than the sky-high salary, first-class fights and luxurious lifestyle everyone associates with newspaper reporters.

Sometimes there can be frustration, as Quick admitted to Ben Golliver of Blazeredge in discussing why he requested his bosses remove him from his role of covering Portland’s only major league sports franchise after 13 years on the beat.

“I think it had become stale to me a little bit in a way,” he said. “I think I just lost faith in a lot of the NBA. I’ve seen a lot of (expletive). From putting your heart and soul into a player and believing him when he talks about kissing his kids at night and all that, then you write that, and the next road trip you see him with somebody that’s not his wife, basically getting it on. That’s disheartening to me.

“There’s a lot of times where you hear a bunch of (expletive) from these guys, it’s hard to believe anything.”

Quick added that there were high points. Quick raved about coach Terry Stotts and former Blazers guard Brandon Roy, among others.

He says he enjoyed covering the 2007-08 and 2008-09 teams but believes that probably was because those rosters were loaded with players on their rookie contracts.

“I’ve seen how money changes players, changes their attitudes,” Quick said, “so I think over time it eroded the good will that I had, pursuing stories because you want to believe what you’re writing, you know? There’s just too many instances where I would buy into it and down the road realize it was all (expletive).”

Fortunately he won’t have to deal with the infiltration of money into sports on his new beat. Quick has been assigned to cover the Oregon football team.

■ SLEEP TIGHT — Drama always seems to surround Tiger Woods, and this week was no different.

Despite his failure to win a major again this season, Woods entered the first PGA Tour playoff event as the favorite to win the tournament and the season championship.

His week didn’t get off to an ideal start, however, as he was forced to limit his swings during a Wednesday pro-am event because of stiffness and soreness in his back.

He blamed the injury on the bed in his hotel room being too soft.

Seems like a strange excuse, though.

With all the strange beds he has been in over the years, you would figure he’d be able to deal with any type of mattress.

■ GO TO YOUR ROOM — New York Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie offered advice in the locker room for starting center Nick Mangold, who was upset with a practice field skirmish.

Cromartie was confronted about a hit by Mangold, but Mangold quickly was rebuffed, according to Michael J. Fensom of the Newark Star-Ledger.

“Don’t cry; play ball,” Cromartie yelled.

It’s the kind of thing you would expect him to say to one of his 12 kids, you know, if he could remember any of their names.

COMPILED BY ADAM HILL LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL