FAIR GAME: Another Zach attack

Ex-Blazer involved in 'barroom brawl' at Portland nightclub

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, Jun 13, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (20 Reader comments)

NATHANIEL S. BUTLER / GETTY IMAGES

Portland Police say former Trail Blazer forward Zach Randolph was involved in a recent "disagreement" at a nightclub that led to the place being "trashed" and shut down for the night.

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Zach Randolph has been clubbing again in our fair city, and darned if another melee didn’t occur.

You’ll remember that the former Trail Blazer forward was on the scene at the Greek Cusina on Jan. 31, at the center of an incident in which more than 100 people spilled out from the nightclub to the street. The police report said Randolph was involved in an argument that resulted in a fight involving 50-plus people on the second floor of the club.

Randolph, now with the New York Knicks, was back in Portland on May 30 for a deposition in a $300,000 lawsuit alleging he and ex-teammate Qyntel Woods battered and harassed a man they thought snitched to police about Woods’ treatment of his pit bulls. That suit was settled out of court, with Randolph evidently paying the victim an undisclosed amount of money.

The following night, Zach was out enjoying himself at Ohm nightclub when, at 1:30 a.m., police responded to a 911 call about a disturbance.

“We were told Zach showed up with an entourage and got into a disagreement with a known gang member and drug dealer,” Mike Reese, central precinct commander for the Portland Police Bureau, tells the Portland Tribune’s Nick Budnick.

When police arrived, the scene at Ohm “looked like an old western barroom brawl, with chairs and tables being thrown around ... the bar was trashed,” Reese says. Police emptied out the remaining patrons and shut down the club.

No one at the scene was willing to lodge a formal complaint, so police did not write a report or pursue the case.

• One NBA referee says Tim Donaghy is full of it with his recent court-filed allegations that league officials affected the outcomes of two playoff series for the sake of boosting revenue and TV ratings.

Donaghy awaits July 14 sentencing after pleading guilty to federal crimes of assisting gamblers and betting on NBA games. Donaghy charged that fellow refs manipulated the outcomes of games in the 2002 Western Conference finals (the L.A. Lakers-Sacramento) and in Dallas’ 2005 playoff series win over Houston.

“It’s the same stuff he said a year ago when he was being investigated,” says the NBA referee, who asks for anonymity. “The NBA predicted a couple of months ago that, during the finals, his attorneys would come up with something like this.”

Why would Donaghy lie, if he faces a greater prison sentence if found guilty of perjury?

“I can’t answer that,” the referee says. “All I know is, he’s not above lying or making stuff up. He’s not a good guy. When you’re a dirt bag, maybe you try to throw some mud against the wall to deflect attention from (yourself) and stir up the pot.

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