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27 Responses to “3/14/08 Box Score: Sonics 116 Wolves 121”

1. Kyle Says:
   March 15th, 2008 at 7:15 am

   I hate Clay Bennett.

2. Kyle from Mukilteo Says:
   March 15th, 2008 at 8:12 am

   I read the posts from the last thread, and JJ had some great thoughts on taxes through Sonics fans to help come up with the $75MM.

   I still struggle with the concept that someone so evil (Bennett) can get so rewarded. This just boggles my mind and I can’t get around it. This has to catch up to him at some point.

   We can’t throw in the towel yet. If we can get some plan in place for the additional $75MM, the local investors WILL have meaningful coversations with the NBA. The deadline for the financing place is Apri 10; the vote is April 17. This gives them a week to summarize and get thier points across, which is more than enough time.

   Assuming financing, the investors in addition to the Mayor and Slade Gordon WILL sit down and talk with Stern and Co. and I am extremely confident in their ability to outline / summarize all the issues / benefits of keeping the team in Seattle.

   While I completely dispise Stern’s recent tone against Seattle, I am starting to believe that a lot of his comments have been said to try to create a sense of urgency in our city / state / local investors to take action, and if that was his motive, I would have to say it is working. With him challenging our pride which has resulted in eveyone coming together to despise him and try to accomplish things in spite of him, maybe we are accomplishing what he had hoped for all along. If somehow it was in his plan to mouth off and challenge Seattle’s pride in an effort to create a new arena plan with a viable lease in place even if I am made out to be the villan, then I would have to commend him.

   Remember the language of any private organization including the NBA is profitability, and we can’t forget that. No owner of a business would willingly choose to make less money. So in Seattle’s defense, I can guarantee you there will be data on the market size and median income of Seattle compared to Oklahoma City, and how in the log run swapping a market like Seattle for Oklahoma City will generate less revenue.

   I am unsure how the relocation committee vote works, but I have a difficult time believing that it is as simple as Clay Bennett giving a speech about how great this deal is and then they vote; I would think that the owners HAVE to hear the opposing argument of why the Sonics should stay in Seattle. But then again, this is the NBA, “Where amazing happens” (Does anyone else see those commercials and the only thought that comes to mind is that someone needs to run one of those piano commercials with the whole Seattle - OKC situation?)

   Also, while I know that many do not want this team particular team to leave, if somehow a deal were brokered that we were guaranteed a team before this one left, I would be in favor of that and consider all our efforts to be a success. The more I think about it, I believe that if we get a financing plan in place before April 10th, the outcome will either be we keep the Sonics or we are guaranteed an expansion “Sonics” very shortly after the team leaves.

   Just a random thought, but could you think of any bigger rivalry in the NBA than Oklahoma City and Seattle?

3. Dick Tate Says:
   March 15th, 2008 at 8:40 am

   I am unsure how the relocation committee vote works, but I have a difficult time believing that it is as simple as Clay Bennett giving a speech about how great this deal is and then they vote; I would think that the owners HAVE to hear the opposing argument of why the Sonics should stay in Seattle.

   I’m not sure they do. The vote might be a simple rubber stamping of OK City as a viable market. Seattle might not even be part of the equation anymore.

4. splifton Says:
   March 15th, 2008 at 8:42 am

   Once the Sonics Leave, the game of NBA basketball will be dead to me forever. I will not root for a new (expansion or a relocated hornets/griz) Sonics team.

   What gives us the right to take existing teams history/tradition and somehow mesh it with OUR 41 years and call it Supersonics? EFF that!

   I believe the cards have been dealt. Sonics are going to sign a 15 year lease with OKC with an out clause after 6 years. That means it would take them at lease until after 2015 before then could come back. But by then I will not have wanted them back as there legacy will be tarnished by Bennet.

5. mrcysco Says:
   March 15th, 2008 at 8:50 am

   Off topic - does anyone have the mp3 for Supersonics Oh Yea! by the Presidents of the USA? I’ve been looking everywhere for it

6. EJ Says:
   March 15th, 2008 at 8:54 am

   “Does anyone else see those commercials and the only thought that comes to mind is that someone needs to run one of those piano commercials with the whole Seattle - OKC situation?”

   http://tinyurl.com/35stkq

   http://tinyurl.com/33t84w

7. EJ Says:
   March 15th, 2008 at 8:56 am

   “does anyone have the mp3 for Supersonics Oh Yea! by the Presidents of the USA? I’ve been looking everywhere for it”

   http://www.sendspace.com/file/1ygkof

   Enjoy.

8. EJ Says:
   March 15th, 2008 at 8:56 am

   “Does anyone else see those commercials and the only thought that comes to mind is that someone needs to run one of those piano commercials with the whole Seattle - OKC situation?”

   http://youtube.com/watch?v=25UrxYZc1Ew

9. EJ Says:
   March 15th, 2008 at 8:57 am

   http://youtube.com/watch?v=_L8TS1H4R34

10. splifton Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 9:10 am

    One more thing:

    EFF Howard Shultz- I don’t support you, your product, or even any charitable organization that StarF*cks is involved
    EFF Wally Walker- You RUINED my team with your ineptness
    EFF Gregoir for her inability to lead. (That won’t be a problem after november)
    EFF Ron Simms for his suggestion to let the existing team leave quietly in hopes of landing a new team. GET A LIFE!
    EFF the City Lawyers who put a confidentiality agreement in place for the trial.

    As a Seattle Supersonics Support for my ENTIRE three decades on this planet and tens of thousands of my dollars to supporting the team:

    I DEMAND THE SATISFACTION OF EXPOSING THE NBA BROKEN BUSINESS MODEL THROUGH COURT ACTION. I WANT TO KNOW THE EXACT DETAILS OF HOW THIS TEAM GOT SOLD TO BENNETT WITHOUT EVEN ATTEMPTING TO PUT TOGETHER LOCAL OWNERSHIP. I WANT TO KNOW HOW OTHER LOSING TEAMS COMPARABLE TO THE SUPERSONICS FAIRED IN THERE PERSPECTIVE MARKETS. FINALLY, I WANT TESTIMONY FROM DAVID STERN TELLING ME WHY I DO NOT DESERVE MY TEAM.

11. courtsense Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 10:11 am

    Worst.

    Season.

    Ever.

12. Sonicsman Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 10:18 am

    I think the Tim Ceis Interview on KJR was very encouraging. I liked when he said if their is a way to get it done it will. If it does not get done than it is because their was no other way. He also says the city will come up with the additional 75 mill if thier is a way and that it is likely the state will NOT allow the county to refund the city for $75 mill. That makes this a big investment for Seattle with the likely hood of the state not jumping in ever to help. That is sad because KeyArena and Seattle Center are Regional event centers.

13. kba Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 10:27 am

    Metropolitan King County Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer agreed, and suggested Friday that Seattle officials and fans should lay off the criticism of Bennett and the NBA.

    Brian what do you think of these comments? I am just so disappointed with this attutude. Do they know something more than we do? What is our chance to keep this team?

14. Brian Robinson Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 10:50 am

    I agree with PVR that a ton of criticism to Clay gets us nowwhere. This isn’t personal.

    Our group, and as fans has to be somewhat respectful of this situation, but not necessarily bound by it. PVR deals with Clay 1 on 1 frequently and is a guy who is expected to have a positive relationship with Bennett. It makes sense for him to publicly be advocating that we be respectful. As aways we rely on some people to have the ability to go back and in good faith deal with Clay. PVR I would think will fill some of that role.

    We on the other hand don’t have to be bound by the requests. Being loud an letting them know he next 2 years could be ugly is important. I’ll give you an analogy that last year we spent a lot of energy telling our members not to let this get into an OKC bashing session. We told Bennett continually that there was a ton of Anti-OKC energy that we were mitigating and he had to work with us or else it would boil out of control.

    Now our public sentiment was that this sentiment was really bad, but we knew damn well that if it ever tapered off completely we would lose a chunk of whatever small leverage we already had. We needed it there as a backdrop to our other discussions.

    I think PVR’s office is right about on the level of SOS when it comes to trust/confidentiality issues. There have been accusations of leaks coming from that office. I could guess, but have to advise that this is mostly speculation, that he has been shut out of a lot of the conversations. So I don’t know how much he knows, I also don’t know how much he resents that.

    We have not spoken

15. Crow Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 10:52 am

    Following up on what you said Splifton it would indeed be very important if the lawyers working the legal case could expose whether or nor the NBA indeed has a bylaw that forbids sale of team to a local group when the lease is nearly up without “an arena solution” acceptable to NBA.

    Maybe they can get away with that in their partnership but I too would like that dirty secret exposed more widely if true as stated by several before.

    Do the folks monitoring the legal case know if this evidence is already in hand or is specifically being sought?

16. Seafan Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 10:53 am

    Reichbauer is a part of the problem. Perhaps we should send most of our criticism his way. I’d like to see all the incumbent King County councilmembers, Governor, Seattle City council and West side state legistlators booted and for them to KNOW why it happened.

17. Laporbo Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 1:14 pm

    Tried posting this in the other thread but it keeps failing. Maybe the thread is too long?? Anyway…

    I went to the Minnesota game by myself and got there an hour early so I had time to just sit and think about things.

    Part 1 - Can I support another team called the Sonics?

    I think I may have to back off my previous statement just a little bit. I do think that THIS Sonics team is gone but I will back off a little on my feelings of a replacement team that comes with the Sonics history, colors, records, etc.

    I was looking over the roster and it really hit me that when it comes down to it I really don’t have any attachment to this team. Of course I like the future of Durant and Green but really the only person that comes close to an emotional/sentimental attachment right now is Collison and even he is not that much. If this had happened during the Payton/Kemp years I would have been sick. I liked Ray a lot but he wasn’t really an anchor for me.

    I couldn’t care less about the coaches, staff, ownership of the team.

    So taking all of the above into consideration why do I care about this team? The only thing about this team that MEANS something to me is the history.

    What do we lose if we get another team but keep our history?

    - the future of Durant and Green
    - at least one high lottery pick
    - gobs of good draft pics
    - Kevin Calabro
    - Clay Bennett
    - Presti

    All of that sucks except the Bennett thing. Presti remains to be seen but so far so good.

    What do we keep if we get a new team and our history?

    - GP in the rafters along with the others
    - 1979 Championship trophy/banner
    - Colors, logos, records, banners
    - the thieving, black mailing NBA and Stern

    All of that is great except for the NBA and Stern.

    Will we get a new team? I doubt it. We’d still have to do an arena deal and if these “leaders” wouldn’t do one for the team we already had do you really think they would do one for NO team in the hopes of luring another team? I don’t think they will. Do you see this states leaders and voters approving a new/renewed arena just to sit there for years like Kansas City or OKC did? As it is now, they kept saying ” doesn’t even have a team so why do this?”

    In the end it comes down to supporting the NBA again after they heartlessly ripped away OUR Sonics. I’m not sure I can or will be able to do it but I do hope that I have a chance to either re-up with the team or flip a large bird to the NBA.

    Part 2 - My wish list (remember I’m bitter and I hate to lose)

    Assuming THESE Sonics are gone this is my wish list.

    - Durant/Green walk away from OKC at the first contractural opportunity -or- they are major busts

    - Presti gets Wally Walker disease and blows all the draft picks coming up

    - OKC loses out on every big named or big gamed free agent because nobody wants to go there

    - OKC never has a winning season and becomes the old-time Clippers (the punch line of many jokes)

    - They get their 15 year ROCK SOLID lease and within 3-5 years can’t draw squat for crowds. Then they can be stuck in their lease and get BLED by their own people.

    - There is a massive sweep out of Seattle/WA “leaders” who failed this issue. For every election day until this task is complete I’d like all voters to wear they Sonics green and gold to go vote.

    - A mass of people do boycott the NBA, advertisers, etc. May it be like MLB and those people never come back.

    - The rest I must keep to myself as they aren’t very kind at best.

    Assuming the NEW Sonics come to Seattle and I care.

    - Colors, logos, history, etc. all come with it

    - Somehow they keep the season ticket holder list so that the season ticket holders of today get to come back with at least their current priority number so we don’t have to start all over again (assuming they would want to come back). Would be nice to get our seats back too.

    - The new owners ban all those who failed from attending games. If they can ban a rowdy fan from the games they can ban anyone. (hey, like I said, my WISH list)

    - New Sonics never lose a game to OKC

18. EJ Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

    Laporbo, I’m with you on all of that.

    In my dream scenario, Durant would bolt to return to Seattle. And would spend his entire career murdering Clay Bennett’s team.

    But that’s a bit much.

    The one thing on your list of things we’d be losing that I don’t think belongs is Calabro. I remember when the team was first sold, KC was on KJR and said, “I’m not going to Oklahoma.” I don’t think it would be too tough for him to get out of his deal, whatever it is.

19. EJ Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 1:35 pm

    While I would have a really hard time supporting the NBA as long as Stern is in charge, I would welcome a new team named the Sonics. I mean, look at the Cleveland Browns. Their fans were in the same boat as us. They didn’t like how it went down, and I’m sure they weren’t happy about having to wait to get their team back and have to start from scratch. But they now have a team that they can be passionate about and it still looks like their team. If the Supes returned in a different form, but same look, I would be ok. I still would hate Stern, Clay, the NBA, etc. But I would support and welcome MY team. I cannot say exactly what I would think if Seattle got a new team and it wasn’t called the Sonics. That might be a bit too much.

20. Laporbo Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 1:35 pm

    Whether Calabro gets out of his OKC deal or not, what is he going to do here? He won’t put his career on hold waiting for a MAYBE new Seattle team YEARS in the future. He will move on and be in some other city if/when we ever got a new team.

21. SeeJ Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 2:05 pm

    Put him on Storm games!

    …

    I wish…

22. SeeJ Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 2:07 pm

    Honestly, Calabro would probably go to a new market… I mean, I think it was last year, he was doing a playoff series in Cleveland for one of the big networks. He’s known around the league as one of the top play-by-play guys in the business, so if he’s available, I have no doubts that someone will try to pick him up.

23. courtsense Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 2:54 pm

    Calabro will not move to OKC. If the Sonics left, he’d probably stay here and pick up more national broadcasts.

24. EJ Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    I don’t see KC going to another market. He’d go national before doing that. He has fairly solid roots in the area. And he is enough of a commodity that he can do whatever he wants. Be it go national full time, part time, whatever KC is a big deal. Unless it was an ideal job for him or huge market, I don’t see him just taking up any job.

25. montanasupesfan Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    Laporo- i’m with you on mostly everything. This wouldn’t happen during the payton/kemp years. Not many people care because this team Supersucks now. Yeah I remember KC saying there is no way he’s going to OK city, he’ll probably get a gig with the seahawks or mariners. Ok city will be the new clippers because NOBODY wants to go there especially the players, the only talent they could get is in the draft before everyone bolts.

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