NBA history is full of teams whose nicknames said everything about who they were. The "Showtime" Los Angeles Lakers. The "Bad Boys" Detroit Pistons. The "We Believe" Golden State Warriors.
Then there were the Portland Trail Blazers of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Known as the "Jail Blazers," that Portland team became infamous for off-court incidents that made the nickname impossible to shake.
And one former Portland flight attendant had a firsthand look at why they earned it.
Jail Blazers travel chaos
Every NBA team has certain expectations for its players. A lot of it comes down to what he does on the court. But their behavior away from the game matters, too. That includes team trips.
The Jail Blazers? Those rules didn't mean much to them. Or maybe they didn't have many to begin with. Either way, there are plenty of stories that show it.
A former flight attendant later recalled a few of her own.
For almost a decade, Stephanie Smith-Leckness worked for Paul Allen. Eventually, she even worked on the same plane the team he owned traveled on. Did she see it as a privilege? Or more of a burden? Her answer becomes pretty clear when you hear how bluntly she described the notorious tea...