From Fark.com: "Paul Allen says Trail Blazers need public partnership to survive. Locals confused; the local jail has already been expanded once." Allen has still not personally addressed Portland city officials on the matter, and based on the recent photo below, I think I know why:

He’s been busy brushing up on a reprise of Lon Chaney’s role as Phantom of the Opera - as he takes the baton from Dodger broadcaster Rick Monday.

From Fark.com: "Paul Allen says Trail Blazers need public partnership to survive. Locals confused; the local jail has already been expanded once." Allen has still not personally addressed Portland city officials on the matter, and based on the recent photo below, I think I know why:

He’s been busy brushing up on a reprise of Lon Chaney’s role as Phantom of the Opera - as he takes the baton from Dodger broadcaster Rick Monday.

Paul Allen, who is worth 21 billion dollars, is asking the city of Portland for money to keep the Blazers in town. It’s time to re-gift my BBQ sauce-stained Citizen Kane DVD to Paul Allen: "I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars *next* year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I’ll have to close this place in… 60 years."

A cash-powered kook (no, not Paul Allen) is launching something called the Rocket Racing League, which will supposedly feature F-16s racing against each other at 5,000 feet. The league recently held a press conference to announce that it had added a new team, bringing the total number to, you guessed it, one.

I’m still holding out hope the concept will get off the ground, which will provide us another "Iceman" and "Goose" on the pro sports landscape.

CLIP AND SAVE: Charlotte Bobcats Owner Robert Johnson to WSOC-TV on how he’ll deal with potential problem players: "I want a sign out front that says, ‘Players: if you want to play in the NBA but you don’t like Bobcat culture, go play for somebody else.’ That’s sort of the filter. Those who come through the filter I believe will understand."

Easy for someone to say when they’ve only run companies with interchangeable employees. Good luck "filtering" NBA players, where you’re only as strong (see Paul Allen) as your weakest ownership link.

The NEW YORK POST reports that at a club called the Pink Elephant in NYC, Paul Allen recently requested and received the phone number of actress Shannen Doherty. NYP source: "She gave it to him, after joking that she’d trade it for some Microsoft stock."

Doherty (unintentionally) made a very cogent observation. The only way Allen will ever get to swap spit with hottie actresses is through his bank account.

Now if only that formula held true for the respective win columns of the Trail Blazers and Seahawks.

USA TODAY reports sports figures donated over $36M to the tsunami relief effort in January, including $10M from F1 driver Michael Schumacher, the single largest donation among athletes.

Seahawks & Trail Blazers Owner Paul Allen gave $1.5M, the largest by a sports team owner.

The NEW YORK POST reports Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc. has hired Allen & Co. (no relation) to shop the SPORTING NEWS to potential buyers.