What do I say?
Posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 10:40 pm by Brian Robinson
Tough night to communicate to all of you. I cannot do so eloquently and feel that I have very little to add. If it were up to me I would post nothing at all but I feel obligated to you guys.
Today’s settlement was not a win. I won’t call it that. It is sugarcoating things too much to say in any fashion that I am happy with the results or even that I agree with the decision to take it. After all the emotion invested in this issue I am somewhat at a loss for words.
The decision was communicated to me by a fairly forlorn group of city officials, all of whom clearly wished this had worked out differently. They emphasized throughout the process that they truly felt that they were going to win the case but that as negotiations developed the hostility was growing and they truly did believe there was a real chance that the team would be 2 years and gone. I believe that there was also a real chance that if we got the two years we could have seen Frank Chopp fail to approve funding of the building AGAIN this year because we had two years left. We will of course never know the answer to those questions but they felt the risk of winding up with nothing was high. This settlement is largely based on the involvement of Ballmer. He is committed to the course and the NBA is committed to him. The feeling was that the terms of this deal maximize our chances of getting the building done and the building is the key to the NBA in Seattle. If you have the building and you have Ballmer then you have the NBA, maybe not this year but you will have it.
In the end they felt the long term odds were better for this deal than they were for playing out the two years. I think there is a chance of that and they were in the room to have a better sense of it than I. I also think that we should have waited until the verdict was made. I will give them some credit by saying that I don’t think the average fan or follower has really realized how close we were to getting nothing out of this deal. The league and Bennett exerted enormous resources to make this problem go away and it has been really obvious for quite some time that the battle was steeply uphill. We’ve had a fighting chance all along but it would take a perfect fight to combined with a little luck to get a victory.
I find myself in a position that I have been in a lot over the last two years. I hate where we are at. I wish our position was better, but I find myself having to say “We are where we are and there is nothing I can do about it. What can I do now, given the current situation?”
The city has asked Sonics fans to be involved in efforts to get the arena funded this session. They specifically want Save Our Sonics to lead the charge.
There is a real dilemma here as I struggle to think about what my role is. Do I let my feelings of anger towards the city dominate the day and give up hope for a Sonics team in the upcoming years? Do I try to transition my goals long term and rationalize that this is “just another battle” and I can still win the war by getting an NBA team. If I did those things would I simply be buying into an excuse that Greg Nickels sold me? Would I be letting everybody pull a fast one and tell me “you can’t be mad at me for selling out because I didn’t sell out. I took the best deal.”
I know that SOS involvement would help tremendously to pass this legislation and get an arena done. I also feel strongly that we could watchdog the city to ensure that they don’t sit on this financial settlement and lose site of the NBA. I wonder if I even care enough about the NBA to do any of that? If I don’t do it I don’t think it will get done and I wonder if I can live with that. What would Sonics fans really want me to do and can they come to terms with this to get back on track for another shot?
I ask all these questions because I do not know the answers. Yesterday I spent a good chunk of the day writing out press releases for the Judges verdict. One was an attempt to be gracious and move towards reconciliation as we celebrated a victory, the other was damn close to a complete concession.
When you write the concession speech you start to realize that there is a chance to lose everything, that tomorrow there could be a day with no hope. It is a very chilling feeling.
Because of this I am actually somewhat relieved that at least we do have hope of NBA basketball. Its a slim hope, and the hope of a new team, but it is hope nonetheless. At least we are not sitting here with nothing.
I’m taking some consolation in this but feel like I need to process the grief a little bit. Everybody will react differently and we need to work through it. Then we’ll regroup. Then we’ll figure out what to do next. That’s the plan.
Thanks so much to all the people who have helped through this.
We did what we could and need to continue to be proud of the effort.
I’ll have more to say tomorrow. God Bless.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:44 pm
I think I speak for all of us when i say that you are The Man, Brian. Without you this would have been over a long time ago. We’ll talk soon.
X
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Sweet Words BR.
Let’s do just what you said above regroup and go from there.
In the next few months there will be another Full Time Sports Radio Station in Seattle as well as the Stronger signal for the station out of Everett. FSN won’t be beholdind to anyone so we can hopefully use them.
Let’s be smart and let’s be prepared.
It’s not over while we’re here.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:52 pm
If it takes me to sit outside of Frank Chopps house everyday before he talks to me i will do it. If his huge ego gets in the way of not allowing the king county council to use the funds already there I am going to get pissed. Anyone know where the Chopper lives. At least we have a rival that will have more hatred than the Boston NYC one. Oh and everyone I dont care if you are a husky or not but buy tickets to the UW Oklahoma football game. Lets get some F*** Clay Bennett chants going!!! I am serious about waiting outside the Choppers house.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I want to retire a Brian Robinson jersey with Payton and Kemp’s. The efforts you led will go down in Seattle history and whatever your decision (working with the NBA or calling it the end of an era) you have my support 100%.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Brian, my advice to you, not that you are asking, is that you should tell the city to contact Ballmer/Griffin/Stanton and one of those guys should ask you to help them. The city got what it wanted off the backs of the fans, you owe the city nothing, they owe you, they need you, and not the other way around.
The city is looking for a 300 million dollar remodel to Key Arena, they retired the debt, and covered the losses, and all they are contributing is revenue generated from the source of something that can only exist if the fans do the heavy lifting. They owe you.
They owe you direct an honest communication fdirectly from the people that are in charge of this situation, the Griffin group.
Good luck.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Oh cmon, this is an easy one. Yep, the situation sucks. But that was started 2 years ago. You just have to take a longer term view of things. Picture this, 3 years from now, a refurbished Key is rocking for opening night. We have the best ownership group in the NBA. Basketball is back. The Seattle Supersonics are back. Tell me you don’t want to be there… My 6 year old and my 8 year old think it’s worth fighting for, and so do I. The NBA business blows. Stern is the anti-christ. But dammit, I sure had fun in those Utah series.
We need you Brian.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:56 pm
For some reason I have hope.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Thanks Brian, Steve, etc..
Gotta say though, there really is no point in fighting anymore.
Our history will soon hang in the rafters of a building that doesn’t deserve them.
The sport has been dying for years, and today was not the final dagger, but rather another reminder of how little we, as fans, matter.
I’ve been watching the Sonics since I was old enough to walk. I grew up playing sports, and I make a living today writing about them.
I’ll never come back to the NBA, and it will be a long, long, long time before I can even stomach to watch my beloved Huskies.
I don’t even want to cover the high school basketball players I will have to come next winter.
It’s dead.
And it’s time to get over it.
This settlement screams of a Mayor who was given promises from David Stern that if he took the deal, the NBA would be back.
But even if it returns, I will not.
You shouldn’t be either.
It’s like being raped, and in a few years when your attacker is released, you bend over and ask for another.
They’re dead to me.
So is the sport.
It’s not good, but it is riddance to rubbish.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Win or lose I have to say thanks for all you’ve done Brian.
Personally I haven’t felt this way since my younger brother died. Yes that sounds extreme but it’s that heavy. The realization is you lose things that are close and will probably lose more of these in the future.
Where this goes from here who knows. You realize after these losses life still goes on and you persevere. You realize there’ll still be good times but part of you is left behind.
Hope everyone pulls throught this in their own way.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I wonder if I even care enough about the NBA to do any of that? If I don’t do it I don’t think it will get done and I wonder if I can live with that. What would Sonics fans really want me to do and can they come to terms with this to get back on track for another shot?
- This is truly the question that every single person who considers themselves a Sonics fan….and I think it is one that cannot be answered for awhile..
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Why am I crying? This has no real value. My faith is most important but my faith also tells me I am human and imperfect. In my imperfection this team meant so much to me. It was a place to go with my Dad, dates with my future bride and eventually a night out with my kids. Now I can’t any of my kids to opening night. I have less to talk to my Dad about. I begged my wife to go to the Dallas game because I was worried it might be the last. We went and it was a great “date.”
Thank you Brian for fighting for me. Thank you and God bless.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:02 pm
While I wouldn’t want anybody other than Brian as leader, I think Brian should put himself and family first before ANYTHING. It’s been a long hard battle, and Brian shouldn’t feel obligated to give the city anything like Baker said. Too much big money is involved in this for one guy and some close associates picking up the slack. Thank you Brian. THANK YOU for everything you’ve sacrificed to Save the Sonics. It’s not over, but now bringing the NBA back to Seattle should not and doesn’t rest on your shoulders.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:02 pm
We won’t have the NBA back in a long time. Let’s face it, that $45,000,000 is going to public art at transfer stations and the sewer treatment plant. Nickels and company are liars and morons. Dotto Tim Ceis. He owes SOS an apology BTW.
Until we clean house, which will take a few election cycles, we are screwed. If you want a wack at the NBA ever again, start following politics closer, register to vote, don’t be a partisan, and vote the bums out if they don’t do their job! Sadly I have little faith the blind faith partisan idiots o Seattle change their voting ways. Ireland is Catholic and Seattle is stuck on stupid in the voter’s booth.
I hope cities like Bellevue, Renton, Kent, Lynnwood,
Federal Way, and Tacoma step into the fray for an NHL/NBA arena.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Does anyone know anything about hockey?
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Need an arena to get hockey. Maybe John Landenberg can spearhead an effort to turn the Tacoma Dome into a state of the art NHL/NBA arena.
NBA/NHL to Tacoma or Bellevue!
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Do not involve yourself with this damn movement Brian. DO NOT. The fans are doing all the damn work for the City. SCREW THAT. You’ve done enough. You’ve given the fans a voice and that voice was CLEARLY rejected by our state leaders.
Only after the Sonics are long gone will the city realize their blunder. By that time, no one will give a damn.
Hell, most of us probably are too pissed off to care as of now.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:08 pm
‘Does anyone know anything about hockey?’
I know it’s not run by stern
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Great little post MarkS, brought a tear to my eye because it’s so true. While I’ve never lost anybody as close as younger brother I myself have some heavy feelings of grief. I’m dreading waking up tomorrow, because I know it’s going to really sink in.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:08 pm
The city wants the fans help to get a new team here? After the city just crapped all over the fans?
That’s like asking an ex wife that wanted to stay with you but you divorced anyway to hook you up with her hot friend.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Thanks for the thoughts, Brian. My heart is broken over this loss but I can’t imagine how you must feel… Thank you so much for everything you have done. You gave everyone hope, and your leadership throughout the ordeal has been absolutely scintillating. God bless..
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Yes, we are all too pissed to care right now, that’s why we should jsut give it some time.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
the Tacoma done is reaching the end of its lifecycle.
A brand new arena would have to be a private venture.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Brian:
You are truly the reason we have a shot at NBA Basketball in Seattle and believe we will get it back!! Don’t give up!! Take a vacation now!!!
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Thanks for all you have done Brian ! But IMO you should take a step back, and let the City and the Mayor worry about what happens now. We have (mostly you and the SOS leadership) done enough! They screwed all of the fans, and now they can finish the job……..Key Arena is dead, along with the NBA.
I am saying goodbye to the NBA from now on ! Replacement team or not, I will not be back…….EVER !!
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:11 pm
I’ve been a longtime reader of this site but never really posted anything. But I think I can speak for everyone when I say that this situation sucks and that we are so grateful for everything that you have done Brian.
Thank you
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:13 pm
I am not letting the NBA and Chopp and Stern and Nickels and anyone else win.
I am in for the long haul.
Lets re group and rally and get the NBA in Seattle
At first I did not want to take another cities team. But you no what this is AMerica. Survival of the fittest. Lets go to Boston, lets go to LA lets get the knicks. PAy some rediculous amound and steal there team. THen lets see what Stern says. I dont want to steal mempis’ team but you know what lets do it. I want NBA here. Thanks Stern you made me become a thief
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I Love You Guys….
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Another thanks to Brian and the crew. I rarely ever post, maybe only have once or twice, but I’ve been checking in daily for a long, long time, and really appreciate the work you’ve put in.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Anybody up for causing havoc at the OKC home opener, say, throwing some paint balloons on to the court right before tip off? Anything to unleash this anger onto a deserving target.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:15 pm
First of all thank you Brian, Steve, and all SOS. I don’t think you should invest anymore of you lives into this fight. The politicians got us here and they can get us out of it.
This situation is like losing a lover. You may think all you have to do is change something about yourself, see your friends less, move, or get a new job. But in the end you’re not what they want. Sometimes it’s best to know when to move on.
Believe me I love basketball. I spend to much of my day on ESPN, this blog, and in the past the Sonics website.
It’s going to be hard but it’s time to find something else to do with my free time.
I will never forgive Bennett, Schultz, the City, Olympia, and mostly David Stern.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:16 pm
BRIAN—-LEVERAGE—–Make the officials—-BEG—for SOS support–We truly believe in you and get some peace and quite and hug your family–it is just a game-you always bring perspective.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Yes! Let’s steal the Knicks, it’s not any more crazy than the Sonics leaving Seattle after 41 years for some sh*thole, F*ck you OKC.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:21 pm
I started following the Sonics when I was 12 and we moved here from Denver (I remember the Nuggets and David Thompson there before that). I came just in time for the Sonics heyday and the tremendous excitement for basketball in the city. I remember sitting by the radio listening to Bob Blackburn call the games, and there has never been anyone since to touch him (love you, though, Colaboro). I feel like all I have left now is memories. Time for me to move on.
Sorry I’m not part of the bandwagon for bringing back the NBA. The city is going to be left with a (paid for) white elephant, and has missed a chance to really turn the whole Center around financially. The Howie and Wally show really sucked, and so did their so-called campaign for a new stadium. That ownership group really stuck it to us–I have never seen anything so arrogant and inept at the same time as their demand for a new arena. Everybody just blew it, no courage or foresight on anyone’s part.
David Stern’s statement is a big f-u to the city of Seattle. Basically, he said put up or shut up. The idea that the state of Washington is going to finance an arena in this economy and political climate with no team and no guarantee of one is a pipe dream (imo). Maybe my judgement is clouded by the moment, but as soon as I heard the team was sold to Claybo I thought the Sonics were gone. Brian, you did an amazing job of bringing it this far. The owners and Stern really stuck it to the city of Seattle and especially the fans. If they had had any integrity/sense in standing up to Clay Sternlicker Bennet and holding off on relocation, we might not be in this mess. We’re the losers in all of this, just pawns in the game. And Oklahoma City is going to be another failed franchise in 10 years or so after the shine wears off. The NBA is broken. I’m gonna miss my Sonics.
So long and good luck.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:23 pm
I should add to this thread the Ballmer/Griffin/Stanton’s involvement is the only bright light I see. Right now my sentiment is the rest of them can rot in hell.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:27 pm
The city has asked Sonics fans to be involved in efforts to get the arena funded this session
Are they kidding. What more can we do? We have wrote 100 of letter, rallys, calls but in the end it meant nothing. They sold us out. The NBA is gone forever and the city knows it. They all had smiles tonight at the press conference. How did we ever vote these people in? They were voted in when nobody was looking and Bennett did the samething. He stole our team. Now the Mayor will go down in history as the one that let Basketball leave and our great Governor will have that label too. I am now counting the days when she will be gone. I never watch one playoff game or even watch the draft. I will never watch another NBA game again. How many times do you need to get kick in the butt?
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:27 pm
We should have a boycott, like a sit-in to prevent the moving vans from taking this team away. I know it won’t really do anything, but at least its something
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Brian….thank you for taking time to write to us tonight. Thank you for all you have done. You and SOS are truly amazing. When I woke up this morning and began the countdown to 4pm I never thought this would how the day would end. Brian you owe the city nothing and I can see how you are torn on what to do next. I doubt I will support another team but if wether you decide to lead the fight to the legislature or you choose to back off I will support your decision and forever be greatful for all of your time and effort.thank you.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:29 pm
exactly my point MarkS, if the Ballmer/Griffin/Stanton group wants Brian’s help, then they can pick up a freaking telephone and ask.
If the city needs something done, they can spend the new Bennett blood money on a lobbyist, they can get off their collective asses and do their own work.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:35 pm
So I didn’t want to bring it up because I didn’t want to get crapped on but since somebody has already brought it up I will now!
Any new or refurbished arena in the Seattle (or metro area) needs to be a multi-purpose arena. Not saying we need an NHL team or a new NBA team but atleast with a multi-purpose arena we have options. I will also say that it doesn’t need to be a 500 million dollar arena and the funding has to come from all sides.
I never liked the NBA but I truly believe in 41 years of history and I also understand that just because I might not like something doesn’t mean that it’s not important (which is why I was at the rally and spread the word as much as I could). Hell I could care less about museums and opera houses but I understand the need to have these cultural events in a city.
Brian, though I’ve never met you I 100% respect everything that you have done for SOS, the Fans, and the community. We learned that the political system has failed us and as others said above that needs to be and will be dealt with.
Matt
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Brian, thank you for everything. This movement has been inspiring, the rally outside the courthouse was truly moving.
I agree with Matt… make sure you and your family are okay (and rested) before taking on any sort of leadership position in trying to bring the team back to Seattle.
From the beginning this has been a grand negotiation, in my opinion. Chopp won. OKC won. Bennett sort of won (he spent a lot more than he would have liked and will end up with a lower IRR than Howard et al, who is was estimated ended up with just a so-so ~10% annualized return at end of day, I believe). Stern thinks he has won (I actually believe he really wants a team in Seattle, especially with Balmer as owner… if if if we put forth the public dough, and I don’t think we will and now he has backed the situation into a horrible corner)… The ~35% of the Seattle metro that DOES care about the Sonics LOST. Keep in mind that 35% of the 13th largest is hugely significant… but I personally do not think those 35%… the “fans” can be the ones to lead the charge for a new team. Politicians know how to poll and bend with the wind. At this point, it appears Balmer is only real hope for a team over the short-medium term.
Thanks,
Ben
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:39 pm
I agree that if Balmer wants the SoS involvement, I say do it. However, I wouldn’t waste anymore time doing anything for the city. They stabbed you guys in the back. I say enough is enough, Brian. You have worked very hard and put a huge chunk of your life on hold. In return, the city gave everything away for 30 pieces of silver. You don’t need to do it.
However, if Balmer wants the SoS involvement, go for it. But not for the city.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:40 pm
I’m not angry at Oklahoma City. They have fans just like ourselves that want to see the game played in their city. They are fans, just like us. I hope they enjoy their team. I hope they support them. I hope Kevin Durant blossoms into the superstar that it seems he will be.
I’m disappointed, more than anything. Heartbroken. Disappointed. Tired. Emotionally tired.
Thank you, Brian, for all of the energy you’ve put into this fight. Now it’s time for you to rest. It’s time for all of us to rest. The NBA will go on. Our lives will go on. It’s up to people with far more power than we have to determine whether those two things will intertwine again.
But for now, for us, it’s time to rest. Re-evaluate things, and realize that we are put into this situation by no fault of our own.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Brian, i love you and appreciate everything you did for the cause. You’ve given up so much and received so little. Iwanted to let you know how much I appreciated your sanity during this entire ordeal.
That said, I don’t think I can make anymore phone calls. I was pretty flat-out insulted when Nickels said it was up to us to call Olympia to get this thing done now. I’ve called Olympia. I’ve called Seattle. I’ve called King County. I just don’t can’t care anymore.
I sent an e-mail to the Canucks asking if they were bidding on FSN’s now open winter calendar. because frankly i’d rather watch that than the Blazers. Or any NBA team. especially one where we’d have to put another city through what we just witnessed for the past two years.
Thanks,
Kyle.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:42 pm
By the way, I read a quote by Stern that maybe a team would be available for Seattle in 5 years. Maybe. Don’t put yourself out there much more, Brian. Enjoy your life. Seattle doesn’t need the NBA.
And for the rest of you, remember who let you down in November.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Brian, Thank you for your response. I have been upset and crying for sometime tonight. I am still in a disbelief that Sonics is gone. I have said that I am out of the ball game earlier today. But I read Brian’s comment just now and I am not going to give up on Sonics. It would be much better if Schultz’s lawyer to issue an injunction as I understood that it is much harder to get the team back.
Brian, I am happy that I met you. Sonics situation has bought everyone closer. But I will not forgive Nickels or Governor Gregoire. You have fought a lot harder to be the leader.
Steve, I don’t know about him but I value BR more over Steve. That is how I feel right now.
Oh boy, what is going to happen on November opening night on NBA without Seattle? I am still very angry and pissed off.
Brian, Thank you for everything…I will continue to check out with progress. But the best plan is for Howard to file an injunction to keep Sonics to stay in Key Arena. Screw the City to repay back the money to Clay Bennett.
Again, NBA does not CARE!
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Brian you say at least were not sitting here with nothing. But in fact we are. Our team has been taken we have no guarantee of replacement therefore we have nothing. A chance that maybe someday well get another team if the legislature steps up is nothing to hold onto.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Brian,
I currently have given up on the NBA, City of Seattle and the State of Washington. I will have a lot of trouble getting behind anything else. Honestly, I have trouble giving a s@*t anymore. This evening I dug up all the sonics gear and such, and put it in a box. I wanted to burn the box at first but then thought I would just put it in the closet with all the other crap I don’t use. I do want to thank you and Steven and the rest for all you have done. I could not have done it. This is one of the most horrible days of my life!…I also want to give KC my best. He was on KJR just before things hit. His voice was cracking and he had trouble getting his words out. I never thought I would hear that from KC. Thanks again.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Brian - I am going to second Mr. Baker. His reaction was identical to mine. The City is done. Only the potential new owners can restore faith in the fans and in SOS. Only a new onwer can move Olympia. Work with them NOT with the City. If Balmer calls SOS will answer..but Nickels aka Judas has his pieces of silver, and you cannot repair that.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 pm
I’d much rather watch the Canucks than the NBA. Hell…I’d watch Worldwide Cricket over the NBA these days! To me the NBA is no better than the WWE. I’m done w/ the NBA, basketball and pro/college/hs sports…..talk about poisoning the well….the NBA not only poisoned it but they pissed it in it also!
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:56 pm
I think Ballmer has enough money and resources to figure this out on his own.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:58 pm
I’ve never been an “NBA” fan- I’m a basketball fan & a home team fan. If we had a hockey team, I’d probably grow to enjoy watching hockey. So, without an NBA team, the NBA is about the same as the NHL to me.
As for me, I’ll look forward to college hoops, casually cheer for Portland (the last NW team left), but I’m mostly looking forward to when the novelty wears off in OKC, & they realize the market can’t support a major league team, & they demand a brand new $750 mil arena.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:01 am
how about the espn.com headline that says “money walks”!
these mfs from the city say clay convinced them he would never sell. bs! he would have sold as soon as stern would have promised him the grizzlies or whatever. the city folded too early.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 am
I agree I will follow 2 people or 2 groups of people.
One the Steve Balmer, Senegal, Stanton, Griffin group and I will also follow Slade Gorton.
IF one of those groups asks us to do something I will run through a wall for them. Nickels, Ceis, Gregiore can all go to hell!!
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 am
Never posted on here…
Have monitored daily for a long time….
completely pissed off….
Here is my email to the mayor:
How does it feel to be the mayor of the city of SETTLE….absolutely ridiculous what you and your cohorts did today. I, as well as many fans and citizens in this region, are absolutely disgusted.
To top it off, you tried to portray this as a good deal for Sonics fans. Did you think that you could pull the wool over everyone’s eyes because you thought, hey, if they were stupid enough to vote me in as mayor, they are stupid enough to buy anything? What a joke.
Get used to the boos you receive in public and start to prepare for your life in the private sector. Hey, maybe Clay needs a PR spin master. You could be the Charlie McCarthy to his Ed Bergen. I know that Sonics fans feel a lot like Charlie right now, taking it right up the kazoo.
Goodbye, soon to be former mayor Nickels. Tell Christine, Nick, Frank and all the others that they should start looking for new jobs as well. With Starbucks closing 600 stores, they probably aren’t hiring but I think there are plenty of jobs that require previous experience in shoveling manure.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:06 am
Bennett played to WIN from the start - and so he won.
The locals here played NOT TO LOSE - so they LOST.
The City and State got their collective asses handed to them by a bunch of redneck jackoffs from OKC.
It’s the same story every time: if you’re not willing to go all in and risk losing everything, you will lose anyway. Guaranteed. The OKC gang went all in bigtime and now they’re laughing at their success. We played scared the whole game - despite having a better team on paper - and now we’re crying.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:08 am
Thank you Brian.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:09 am
sIf Ballmer does end up getting a team here, I hope they use that $150 mil, maybe get some other investors & build an arena in Bellevue. The city of Seattle screwed this up & they don’t deserve a team. It shouldn’t matter to them anyway, because an NBA team has “zero economic impact”.
Meanwhile, I can go to games in Bellevue (much closer to my home in Redmond) & listen to Seattle leaders talk about the $500 mil they’re going put into the Seattle Center beacuse it’s losing so much money.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:09 am
I hope Gorton steps up, but let’s not let any rossi for governor silliness get into this. dino is part of the okie/big oil/drones and he would have sold the sonics to OK sooner than Gregoire.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:10 am
Because of this I am actually somewhat relieved that at least we do have hope of NBA basketball. Its a slim hope, and the hope of a new team, but it is hope nontheless. At least we are not sitting here with nothing.
You’ve given us hope, Brian. When I moved to the Bay Area awhile back I had suddenly found myself with little to no time to help maintain and contribute to SC. Needless to say, I felt empty without lending my effort and passion to the community that Kevin built here. For awhile, SC suffered and I’m so amazed that it’s become such a powerful outlet for fans around the world.
After you took the reins, I knew that this site would soon be back on track but I had little idea it could become such an awesome resource for so many. You truly have created your place in Sonics history and have done as much or more for our team than any player or coach.
You are the best spokesperson for SC and SOS. What you and so many others over the years have been able to accomplish with SC as your platform is just incredible and What we can do for basketball in Seattle with this site is really boundless. You helped us create a national voice where there was none. I am extremely proud to be associated with SC and this community.
My hope is that when the dust has settled we can all continue the momentum that we’ve built here to bring an expansion franchise home. As you say, it’s a slim hope, but it’s definitely worth it. After all these years of devotion to our Sonics, why would any of us quit at a time when it really matters? I know I won’t.
So, as we all come to our senses, we shouldn’t think of this as an end, but as the beginning of a special opportunity to continue to make a difference. The bottom line is that we all want Sonics basketball here. The city has made a decision to open its doors to us again for help. I’m optimistic that there will be NBA basketball here again soon and there isn’t any good reason why we shouldn’t be able to watch Sonics basketball in Seattle for the next 40 years.
I’ll be out at Green Lake tomorrow afternoon shooting hoops, thinking about what we’ve done here and what we can do to get the NBA back where it belongs.
Thank you, Brian. Thank you to everybody.
Julian
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:15 am
Actually, Rossi said that the legislature should have done something last year.
I think it would be wise to put a team in Bellevue. Seattle did this to itself. So be it.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:21 am
I know people are pissed but there may be reason to get more pissed. I was reading the main article on the TNT and they interviewed state legislators. It did not sound promising for this upcoming session.
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, issued a statement saying that a deal isn’t certain in 2009.
“We don’t have a replacement team ready to step into the breech. We don’t know what the KeyArena needs are. We don’t have a proposal to evaluate. Is the Legislature going to fund it? We don’t yet know what ‘it’ is,” Brown said.
Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, said he hadn’t seen the deal yet, but that financing the stadium wasn’t the top priority for the Legislature. He said city lawyer Carr’s assessment that the state would lose out on $20 million in sales tax if they didn’t ensure the city kept the stadium was inaccurate.
I don’t understand how the well there is not going to be a team playing for sure argument because they have said over and over again that it only gets built if we have a team. If we dont then they will not use the funds. Vote them all out!!!!!!
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:22 am
5vs8, what are you talking about? Dino was all over the Ballmer plan- He’d have gotten it done.
http://tinyurl.com/6dplo9
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:27 am
Well, there are 2 Dems you guys might want to target to get removed.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:27 am
I am absolutley stunned. The city has the balls to ask us to get things done in Olympia. What the hell have we been doing for the past 2 years? The sell us out and than want our help? This is completley unacceptable. While Bennett was tearing our hearts out, the mayor snuck up and kicked us in the balls. I am at a loss for words to describe how upset I am at this whole scenario. I for one am not going to wait for the NBA to return to Seattle, I will find other things to occupy my time during the winter. I do not want the city to spend the money on Key Arena, according to the city council, we have more important things to worry about, so its time they put up or shut up. All the crap that Licota and company talked about while screwing the fan base, they need to step up and get done. Education, roads, the homeless, something. This BS from the NBA about build us a new arena and we will consider stealing someone elses team and sending them to you, why would I want to be a party to that? Didn’t we just spend 2 years trying to keep that from happening here? I loved the Sonics, and I will have a hard time letting go, but the NBA is now off-limits to me. They burned me once, and I’ll be damned if I let them do it to me again, or someone else. They can keep their teams in floundering markets, and our politicians will rue the day they sold us out for a false promise. All of them should be forced to work a real job for a change instead of riding the backs of regular people and playing God with our lives. Mayor Nichols, David Stern, Governor Gregoire, you are all on notice. I don’t want the NBA back in Seattle, I don’t want Stern to get the satisfaction of knowing he can do what he wants and people will beg for more. The NBA is no longer welcome in my home, and I will no longer watch its games or purchase its products. Thank you mayor, governor and commisioner, you have ruined one of my favorite things, and no matter how you try to package it in the future, it will never be the same.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:32 am
Brian, Thank you again! I am going to the bar to get some shots. In my heart, I know we did our best with Brian’s leadership. City lied to us and hurt us big time. So screw the city and clean up everything and lets hope for howard suit to stand out….Love you Brian and SOS.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:35 am
Munsen brought up how it may of not been a good ideal for the PBC and its lawyers to drag Gorton name in the mud, when in reality Gorton did what Gorton does! If Gorton is mad enough and I think he is I see congress looking into this. Sargent Shultz is not going away. We deserve a team now! IF not we will make life hard for the nba….We are the crazy x wife and we want justice now not in 4 or 5 years…
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:35 am
Well, peace to all. Never forget today. Especially next November. Vote for and support the opponent of every person who sold all of you down the river.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:41 am
Brian,
Thanks for all of your hard work. You have done a tremendous job and through it all have stayed true to the mission. I share at least some of your pain and feeling of betrayal by the Mayor and other city officials. Like Mr. Baker and others, I don’t think you owe the city anything at this point. If they want your help, insist that they pay you like all of the other consultants they hire. The same for Balmer’s group.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:42 am
sweet jesus I hope to god there is some way SLADE can turn this mess of shit from nothing into something. I’ve had faith in B-ROB and SOS from the get go but if there can be something done on a congress level then GET IT DONE
investigate the NBA or at least threaten to rip the league apart. Give us back a team we deserve (no existing team, give us back our Sonics or at very last an expansion team. NO EXISTING TEAM)
What we’ve all just gone through is a complete and total rapage. First by Howie, even though some of us didn’t know it yet. Next by Clayton and Stern. Gregoire didn’t help much either. FINALLY, Nickels sells us out for a BJ and a steak dinner
Time to vote in new officials and get this ball rolling again.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:44 am
(last post in response to that “coffeestain” on my most favorite work dress shirt)
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 am
Barring a miracle from the Shultz lawsuit, ‘Our’ Sonics are gone. The NBA is not going to expand in the next 5 years, so the only ‘Sonics’ we would see in Seattle would be a re-branded Hornets/Grizzlies franchise. It would be a total sham to ‘take’ one of these teams and slap Sonics green/gold on them and pretend nothing ever happened.
So, let the billionaires do what the want. Build a new multi-purpose, state-of-the-art facility, or remodel the Key, steal another team, hang banners, numbers and memorabilia till it looks like a freaking Applebee’s. It may be NBA basketball, but it will never again be ‘our’ team. And that, no matter how you look at it, is a loss.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 am
First of all… thanks Brian. I checked this site everyday for news and progress you made
Second… We NEED to get another team. Please don’t give up
Today I contemplated if I wanted to be a Seattle sports fan anymore. We are constantly getting our hearts broken. Whether it be losing Griffey and A-Rod, tying an MLB wins record then losing in the second round, being cheated out of the Super Bowl, losing the Sonics, etc… sometimes it just seems like its not worth it
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 am
I just wish that Slade would pull a few strings and get the NBA and Stern investigated and use the PBC and what they did to Seattle as a prime example of the corruption in the NBA.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:47 am
hey K-man
How do you figure dino could have done it when chris couldn’t get chopp on board? dino has some special deal with the distinguished state rep? my ballard rep didn’t do nothing for me and i will voting against her. vote smart
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:54 am
Well I speak for an abnormally large crowd in Oklahoma City when I say that I’m sorry. Given the media pump by the Oklahoman there are a lot of us that feel extremely guilty after todays events.
For us in Oklahoma having the hornets was a statement. One of the last states to join the union, our history is riddled with disappointments, mistakes, and just plain bad luck. The unique history of the state runs deep, with one of the largest populations of african americans in the union and an attempt to be the country’s first “negro state”, to the land run that brought culture to the area and a city that went up literally overnight. We’ve dealt with heart aches from the Dust Bowl to the oil bust of the 80s, and then the tragic terrorist attack that killed many of my family’s friends, and many more of my friends parents. One thing always happend though, we rolled up our sleeves and made things work. Having an NBA team like the hornets and getting into the national spotlight was like a dream all of us had coveted for years. We wanted our chance to grow up like so many cities before us had. Labor Omnia Vincit is our state motto and it means hard work conquers all.
I didn’t come here to give you a history lesson, but I can’t help but feel upset you lost your team and somewhat disappointed in the response toward people you’ve never met. Regional biggotry, and hate spewing out of people saying thing I wouldn’t say to my worst enemies. I’d post it all but whats the point? Calling what I believe to be the most wonderful place I’ve ever been a “sh!thole”, then referring to the (very well educated) people of Oklahoma as white trash, rednecks, inbreds, and manure shovelers has shown an incredible lack of class, and frankly, education from the city that claims to be the most “tolerant” and educated city in the country. Oklahoma City grew up, and in a country that hates change, the claws came out in the most hateful way. Watching people condone the Oklahoma City bombing, not only brings up a lot of very very very painful wounds for me personally but our community. WE DIDN’T TAKE YOUR TEAM!!!! Some dishonest businessmen did. We dont deserve threats, insults, or cruel words. We’re just a large group of people ready to have something to be proud of after all we’ve been through and we proved we could do it.
I wish you all the best in your ventures to secure a new team. I admire your candor, and passion for the team and hope that one day we can have the same thing. I wish you all nothing but the best and hope I can touch base with some of you very soon in an effort to secure another team for you.
God bless,
-Joe Bosley
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:01 am
F*ck it, let the NBA continue to relegate itself to second-tier status. Oklahoma City, Memphis, Sacramento, San Antonio; sounds more like minor league baseball than a “big four” sport. I don’t want the NBA in Seattle until that lying little mafia piece of sh*t David Stern is poolside in Del Boca Vista.
Also, I am very interested to see what comes of Arlen Specter’s investigation.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:02 am
So this is how it ends? My parents going on a date to see the championship parade in 1979, the endless hours on the court as a kid pretending I was leading the Sonics to a championship, the hoarse voices after games at the Key, the TPing of a family friend’s house because they were rooting for the Suns when we beat them in the playoffs, the Shawn Kemp birthday cake, the Sonics posters on the walls, the thought that a Sonics championship would be the happiest day of my life. This is how it ends?
It ends by the city I call home and boast about to the world, caving in? It ends after all the promises from local politicians that this is exactly how they wouldn’t let it end? It ends with the man with money lying his way over every obstacle in his life and the most recent obstacle happened to be fans like me? It ends with the Mariners and Seahawks getting 500 million dollar stadiums but the Sonics couldn’t even get 150 million from the same hotel tax that was actually going to end early? It ends because our “leaders” would rather have 75 million dollars than preserve a local icon of 41 years? It ends with just enough money to build another 6 block trolly system downtown to serve the condo owners? It ends with the bad guys winning and the good guys limping away with a tattered white flag trying to claim it’s a victory? It ends with the city backing down when they were literally at their strongest point in the fight so far? It ends just 2 seasons after Bill Simmons of ESPN says “Seattle had the best fans in the 2005 NBA playoffs?” It ends because the commissioner of the NBA is in far over his head and can’t see past his Napoleonic Syndrome? It end because the Billionaire from Seattle was bored with his toy and was ready to make money off of it? This is really how it ends?
I have been prepared to lose this team for the last year, but no one thought this is how it would end.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:06 am
Bosley - can you appreciate that that is the last goddamn thing any of us wants to hear right now? Go celebrate Kevin Durant with your friends and leave us alone.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:06 am
Ohhh by the way Clay cried!!! At least he cried…
********
He cried because our region’s spineless leaders and fans bailed him the f*** out.
I’m embarrassed to be a Seattleite right now.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:08 am
Sam, I actually disagree. He’s being sincere and nice. I appreciate him recognizing how this is one of the darkest days ever for some of us.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:10 am
Yeah that was probably out of line. Too emotional right now.
Clay cried at his press conference?
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:10 am
Thank you for your words Bosley. Hopefully the NBA can succeed in your town.
I have faith the Sonics will return to Seattle someday.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:12 am
i already got banned from an OKC forum that I have been a member to for a year. Some 15 year old Sonic Fan was asking permission on this OKC board if it was okay if he still was a fan of the team in OKC. What a joke, so I cussed him out and the rest of the board. WOrth every second. MAn i am at the point where your parents say I am not mad at you I am just disapointed. That is so much worse. I dont know what to do right now and that sucks!!
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:12 am
Thanks Bosely, and good luck with the NBA. I hope they never do to you what they did to us.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:14 am
Sam, I did the same thing to him earlier today so I can’t really talk.
I also can’t really talk because my number one passion in life up until today is gone forever.
I can’t believe I ever cared so much.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:15 am
Sorry Bosley. Enjoy the team.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:21 am
Joe Bosley - “we didn’t take your team, some dishonest businessmen did”…..”we’re just a large group of people ready to have something to be proud of”.
That says it all, Joe. That is why people hate your city and people. You all have no scruples. You don’t care that some of your own were dishonest because in the end you got what you wanted. Pathetic.
Be proud or your “spoils”. I know I couldn’t be.
It will be sweet bliss when you all get to suffer the same fate in a few years.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:25 am
saw this posted on ESPN, think it’s how we all feel
http://img202.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=40187_IMG_2818_122_514lo.jpg
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:26 am
ohh hum… Time to vote everyone out..
Think of it this way. lets say Howard doesn’t take this to court. (until I hear otherwise I will assume he is still in play)..
We have 5 years to save the sonics. If we do not they are truly gone forever… is it worth it?? That is what we have to ask ourselves.. I think the Sonics need saving but that Stern, Clay and all our elected officials need to go.
Any SOS involvement in an arena deal would be prefaced by our active involvement in the language of the lease and creating serious checks and balances so this NEVER happens again.
As long as there are Sonics to be saving you have my cautious support.
and Joe… “negro state” , are you serious? You came on here to actually complain about the mean comments you heard on the internet and then try to cover it up with your holy comments God bless. I wish you all the best with our sloppy seconds make sure you root for Wild Bobby Ginger aka Robert Swift. OKC speaks with forked tongue.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:26 am
I still like Mayor Nickel’s words though;
“The league is on the verge of becoming nomadic.”
Well said. The NBA just took 30 steps backwards for any 1 step it might have taken forward.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:29 am
I just hope every other NBA city or future NBA city will use Seattle as a hammer to really stick it to the NBA in future deals. It can go both ways.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:30 am
FWIW Re: Ballmer/Grizzlies sale/expansion etc.:
“The report notes that the Grizzlies’ lease with Memphis is particularly tight — the franchise faces hefty fines if it slips out prior to 2021. Appeal columnist Geoff Calkins has previously done work to show the soonest the Griz could reasonably leave would be roughly 2016.”
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/03/27/something-afoot-in-griz-ownership-situation/
I don’t see how Seattle gets a new team any time soon. Grizzlies are the only realistic relocation option, and the league will not be expanding for the foreseeable future.
Would Ballmer be willing to pay millions (like Clay) to break the lease? Heisley (Grizz owner) wants to sell the team badly. We’d be doing to Memphis exactly what was done to us–which doesn’t sit right with me. The difference: Memphis doesn’t have a 40 year history with the NBA. The team has not been a success in that region.
I don’t really want to ‘take’ another city’s team.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:32 am
we need bodies to fill sonics jersey..
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:33 am
Bosley, I hope that you lose the team without it ever having more than 20 win seasons. I only wish the worst on the PBC and the team.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:36 am
Zonics–I understand that. The question is HOW to get those bodies. I don’t see how in the next 5 years.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:36 am
Guess Who, I agree.
I also hope Stern and Bennett go hopping along the sidewalk together only to be smashed by a run away semi truck.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:40 am
I have always thought it was unfair that the most corrupt win. Liars should never prosper, but as we have seen, Bennett and McClendon have shown that they do. I can only hope that somewhere down the line both of those men will find themselves in very hot water because of their propensity to lie.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:41 am
not sure. Ill I got is….One door closes another one opens… (crosses fingers)
I think about what if we to think about is if had a natural disaster.. Do we really want Nickels and other current government officials watching our backs…??
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:42 am
[edit]
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:48 am
[edit]
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:50 am
AMEN! They’ll get theirs, karma will bite those ass holes and bite them hard!
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:53 am
http://tinyurl.com/5c8d5n
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:01 am
“May a tornado hit OKC…”
It happens every year without fail…just matter of time..
No more supes..I still cannot believe the issue has come to this..
As expected, every single politicians, lawyers and businessmen sold us out..
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:08 am
Eric E… I just have to say I completely agree with everything you’ve said since 1AM. I feel like a big family is falling apart - you know? I have friends that pretty much all we do is talk about the sonics, first thing in the morning after games etc and then there is all the talk on the internet. Only now am I starting to realize just how much Sonic basketball was part of my life more than just watching the games. I almost feel guilty for feeling so sad and angry right now. I keep thinking “its only sports right.. at least now I will save some money by not going to games” yet it hurts so much and I can’t deny that no matter how much I try to tell myself it shouldn’t. Your points about the Mariners and Seahawks (which partly is what caused the huge backlash against the sonics getting a revamped building - people voted down safeco field and it happened anyway so no one would even listen about key arena when it was an extremely good deal). Your points about the city spending its money on trollies that get stuck in the same traffic as the cars and other frivolities is SOOO true. Fricking dang @%@# how much money did we spend on a monorail that never happened?!?! Honestly if I didn’t have the great job that I do I think I would move out. Just a sports team is not enough for me to move but the idiocy of our gov’t definately is.
Personally I vote for both dems and republicans - making damn sure I vote for I think who is best for the job. I think we got where we are today becuase of so many people that just vote one party without caring about who the candidate was. These politicians know it and they all pat each other on the back come election time but the rest of the year they just bicker amoung themselves (as I have seen via responses to my letters about the sonics.. responses like “I won’t support this issue becuase this other person didn’t support me on my art funding bill”). Competition makes the best candidates and we basically have none in this state or at least in this county. Next election I am voting for whoever is not currently in gov’t… if the seat is currently held by a republican I will vote democrat and vice versa. I’ve had it!
Sigh… I need to go cry myself to sleep… last thing I need to do is get fired for falling asleep on the job tomorrow.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:13 am
Not only am I done with the NBA, I’m done with T-Mobile.
I’m moving my cellphone contract somewhere else.
It’s a completely futile gesture, I know.
But I have to express my rage somehow.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:14 am
Oh and one more thing… I will NOT talk to the gov’t about funding etc in the future. I’ve had enough of them from the rude responses to the very friendly and thoughtful correspondence I have sent. I think I am done with NBA. Maybe, just maybe, Balmer and his infectious enthusiasm could drag me back into supporting it once my Sonics wounds are somewhat healed.
Heres to hoping Schultz doesn’t drop his case and he finds some way to show the world just how bad Clay/Stern/NBA/Gov’t is… at least give us that pleasure Howard.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:18 am
Screw the government! They will continue to F U C K us over and over again and again and again… it’s what they to. STOP TRUSTING THEM!!!
It’s time to embrace Fred Brown’s spaceship idea and realize that private interests are, and always were, our only hope.
I’ve drank so much my head is spinning… clocking out for tonight. I can’t quit you folks quite yet so will be back in a few days… maybe sooner or later… getting away to clear my head during the 4th with the fam - trying not to think about basketball. BLAH! PLAH! BLECH!
(oh, and have a safe & sane 4th everyone (PSA))
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 am
Thanks to the people that have the resolve to show some class, I’m very thankful that those of you that wield the ability to see past your pain and accept my condolences.
For the rest of you anger and aggression only show insecurity, but lack of education. We never wanted this team, and your incendiary replies after I not only wished you all luck this morning but also gave a very honest apology and condolence show the group of kids you all truly are. A “karma tornado”, the “fart” center?……wow you’ve got to be kidding me, sounds like a bunch of third graders on the playground.
I’ll let the people that truly represent your city speak louder than the childish.
Thanks Brian, zendoc, Sam, Steve and a few others for keeping me up to date on all the findings, I look forward to heading back out to Seattle to watch the udub/OU game to catch up with some old friends from when I lived there, and hopefully meet some more people like you all.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:24 am
i’m done with the nba.
and amsupporting ANYONE running against nickels.
on to college hoops.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:29 am
Keep fighting the fight.
We still have work to do until the day we see the Sonics return.
This is a huge bump in the road, but the road still continues.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:32 am
Buh Bye Gregoire, Buh Bye Nickels, Enjoy your flight to OKC. I know Clay will let you stay as long as you want, well, not if you start running for office though.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:34 am
Get of your f ucking soapbox Bosley. I’ll defend your presense earlier in the day but get a grip on the days events - you were not going to be treated well here today - just the way it is - you should know better. So take your psychoanalytical bullshit elsewhere and give us our day of mourning. Maybe we can show you a little more class tomorrow - maybe not, but for tonight - kindly F U C K O F F!!
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:35 am
We need to show up at the next council meeting and cause chaos. We also need to be at Gregoire rallies and hijack them like we did back in spring.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:46 am
Coop, I’m not sober so I can freely say that stuff.
It is comforting to know that you feel exactly the same. Not just upset about losing the team but in the way it happened and that it’s just evidence of the bigger problem that is our local government.
When I was younger I was a D only voter. This just nailed home forever the problem with that. There needs to be competition and a level balance of parties in our government. Otherwise we get the do nothing doofuses we have today here.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:47 am
Yeah, thanks again Brian, and SOS.
And NO THANKS for the city of Seattle, u suckers. “Gee, I hope people don’t think we sold out”. Yeah, right…
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:10 am
Bosley Says:
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 am
Thanks to the people that have the resolve to show some class, I’m very thankful that those of you that wield the ability to see past your pain and accept my condolences.
For the rest of you anger and aggression only show insecurity, but lack of education.
Bosley, you are a troll. The anger and aggression you are commenting on does not show insecurity and lack of education, those responses are out of pain and anger, and not out of clear and intelligent thought. Surprised? If you were sincere in offering your condolences, you would have enough compassion to recognize that and keep your comments to yourself. Instead, you chime in again to try to further humiliate the fans in Seattle by telling them they are insecure and uneducated. You are as transparent as the “dishonest businessmen” who represent your city.
By the way, I’ve been to OKC several times. I used to live in Dallas. All the nasty things that people on this board who have never been to OKC say are true.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:10 am
Stern is marching the NBA down the same path to irrelevance that the NHL proceeded him on. Any surprise that Gary Bettman, his former #2 is overseeing the NHL on Versus?
Move teams from traditional and passionate cities to places that don’t make sense…..Check
Run a league with a business model that is just BEGGING for another work stoppage……Check
All it’s going to take is 1 good solid labor squabble and the NBA will become as irrelevant nationally as it was in the pre-Magic/Bird/Dr. J era.
I wish all of you in Seattle the best in getting a new team. However, my team, my connection to Seattle basketball ended yesterday. I’ve enjoyed the debates with all. I hope you guys channel this frustration into a PAC that takes aim at the leaders who failed their constituents in the upcoming election.
On a bittersweet note, I finally don’t have to deal with Ridnour, Sene, Swift, Petro and Damien Wilkens on my team anymore.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:00 am
That was a painful night….Did anybody not get a wink of sleep like me? Work is going to be so painful today, hope I get through it.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:13 am
I don’t think it’ll be to hard to sell out games in OKC with the high gas prices, their fan will park their trailer around the arena with the money saved they can buy tickets.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:19 am
The deal is for $45 mil. The state will not will not participate in the funding. There will be no $30 mil in 2013. So the plan hatched by BRIAN AND steve given to the city will be wasted on the park that will now start to fall further and further into disrepair, Those goofs behind the cheif sealth logo are expecting STEVE AND jim and MATT TO GET TOGETHER WITH fred and BEAN. tOTAL sELLOT.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:24 am
brian, you’re still a hero. and in the real world — the one in which the nba plays, and we all live — this was, as you say, a bitter pill but one which could have a good affect in awhile. i agree: ballmer + arena = nba in seattle. add to that the legacy of the sonics staying, and it could have been worse.
my odd life trajectory has taken me through many cities, including baltimore during & after the colts skipped town at night. now, i study franchise relocations as part of my job.
seattle is on the outside looking in — washington, d.c. waited 33 years for a new baseball club. baltimore 13 for a new nfl team. cleveland had its guarantee but still suffered and had to wait for the new stadium. . . i predict seattle gets in again, w/ballmer, and that it’ll be w/in the next decade.
by then, passions cool, die-hards who say ‘never again’ remember that rooting for the sonics is fun, it could be okay.
but still, today, i am glum and bitter. but brian, you are a hero and i’ve never seen such a movement as the one you led.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:41 am
Vinny Says:
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:15 pm
DO SOMETHING THAT MATTERS!
everything that has been done, all of the thousands of hours of effort have resulted in zero.
I drove over 3300 miles to go to that courthouse rally.
It meant nothing.
Tonight the Key arena needs to be burned to the ground.
If I knew where nichols lived that would be torched as well.
Tell me how this post is not the most comprehensive on point comment.
Vinny is sayong what we all are feeling.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:05 am
Good morning everyone, what a night for me! I still can not believe that Sonics is gone! My hope is that Howard Schultz’s lawsuit will prevail but I am not going to hold on that. Mayor Nickels had lied to us!
I broke a law tonight but I will not say what I did. Screw the law and justice. Because they allow the rich people to get away. So I am getting away from a crime that I broke few hours ago. Screw the law and justice. NBA does not CARES! So I do not CARE about Law and Justice anymore. Governor Gregoire you are OUT of Washington State and pack your f$ck stuff and get out of here! That goes the same for Mayor Nickels too!
But my night got little better as I won $1,800 in Black Jack. I just wish that it will multiply 1 billion to become 18 Billions so I can buy the Sonics back. I am dreaming…
So today is a first day without Sonics. I don’t know how I will deal with that everyday.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:15 am
One day after..and this still sucks and hurt
KJR-AM I am sure will all over this.
So its basically all sonics all morning..
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:17 am
I appreciate everyone from SOS and give my thanks. All the fans I’m right there with you. It is hard to move forward on getting a new team, but if Ballmer would energize us with a public outreach or statement I would be on board. Otherwise I feel ambivalent.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:20 am
http://killclaybennett.com/
Something for you guys to vent play this game.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:27 am
http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/poll/index?pCat=46&sCat=82
ESPN has poll questions set up. One is which would you rather attend, NBA Game or OK Sooners football game. 82% said the Sooners game.
Also, 62% says that OK City cannot support an NBA team.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:28 am
What is everyone doing with their sonics gear?
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:31 am
Thanks to Brian and Steve for all of the great work,
I’m very sad and bitter about this. I’m some one whole seldom cries but am this morning. Slept poorly last night. Seems kind of silly.
Although I live in Montana, Seattle is my home town and all of my family is there. I’ve been an ardent Sonics fan for decades.
Since I don’t live in the Seattle area, I guess I don’t have much say in the matter. However, I don’t want to see another NBA team in the Seattle area until after Stern is no longer the commissioner. Why bow and scrape to, or be affiliated with some one who has so indifferent to your well being and so disingenuous in helping steal something that was precious to you? I also don’t want to see another NBA team in the Seattle area until after Nickels is no longer mayor. If the NBA never returns to Seattle, so be it.
I may feel differently once I’ve processed this but hope I don’t. I do still have some hope that Schultz will pull it off.
Time for breakfast and then off to a long, ugly day of trying to be cheery at work.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:33 am
this passage from the Times really sums it up:
– Seattle City Councilmember Richard McIver told The Oklahoman that lengthy settlement discussions had taken place between the city and the Sonics owners. Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr reportedly approached Schultz last week before closing arguments in the trial and asked if the Starbucks mogul would drop his lawsuit. –
So while the City kept saying they were in this fight for real, they were backroom-dealing away our team. They even did Bennett’s bidding for him, approaching Shultz like the sellout m-f’ers they all are.
Sick, sick, sick.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:38 am
J.A. Adande
Nice article about the move at ESPN, setting a bad precedent
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=sonicsmove_080702
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:41 am
Otto: I am not going to burn or throw away my Sonics memorila just because Clay just won this battle. I am going to keep them and use my energy to remind Clay Bennett that he is thief and liar when OKC comes to Portland. Let’s hope for Schultz’s lawsuit to do something good for Seattle.
If Schultz wins this lawsuit and Ballmer group and the city make sure that the lease involves: Sonics can not be sold out of Seattle!
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:47 am
Even if Schultz wins the lawsuit, I think the odds of the judge making a team that just moved to another location come back, is so small, that its not even realistic for me to even consider.
The City Railroaded Schultz plain and simple.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:51 am
Ugh.
Oklahoma City is going to share the Sonic’s history.
F**K THAT
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:22 am
Brian,
Your efforts have been amazing. Take a few days and spend it with your family. You don’t owe anybody ANYTHING. We (Sonic fans, the city) owe YOU.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:28 am
DGomez: I agree on Brian’s effort. We owe him a lot for everything he has done for Sonics.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:31 am
Stupid Editorial board from the PI:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/369391_soniced.html
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:33 am
I for one, am done with NBA. I hope the State gives the city the desired authorization, because I want Bennett to have to pay the $30M more. The NBA is not interested in bringing another team and will find a way to make Clay whole on the $30M. In a few years I may feel differently, but right now I have no interest in NBA Basketball. I can’t even imagine buying NBA Live 09…seeing an OKC team and no Seattle team would make me sick.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:35 am
John Mcgrath sipping the city’s kool-aid:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/columnists/mcgrath/story/403887.html
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:38 am
karma tornado karma tornado karma tornado..what is wrong with that.. mute me.Im gone!
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:43 am
Although I am a Blazer fan and lifelong Oregonian, I can’t tell you how crushed I am for all of you right now. You did nothing wrong, yet were failed by Schultz, Stern, Bennett, the state legislature, and finally sold out by your own city. I’m trying to think of how crushed I would be if it were the Blazers, and not the Sonics, in this situation. I cannot even fathom.
I want to take a moment to say thanks to BR and the rest of the crew. Although I was not a Sonics fan, what you did inspired and captivated me. It had me defending Sonics fans around my community, hanging on every word of the court case (which I still think you would have won). It was the biggest, most organized fan movement to keep a team ever, and in any other environment, with any reasonable ownership, it would have worked. Sadly, your ownership was anything but reasonable. I’m appreciating Paul Allen more today than I ever have.
This situation sucks, there is no other way to say it. You got hosed. It makes me glad that my true love in sports is the Oregon Ducks. At least with college sports, you know that your team is never going anywhere. Pro sports just follows the money (although, ironically, in this case you know that SEA is better long term than OKC).
Thanks for the rivalry over the last several years. The I-5 rivalry will be sorely missed. There are some who will tell you that Portland has the most to gain from this move with expanded territorial rights, fanbase, etc. I can tell you that none of us want that. Not to say that you’re not welcome to root for the Blazers, but that we would rather you still had the Sonics, and that you will have the Sonics again in the future. At least we can look at our owner’s history and BOG vote and feel confident that he had nothing to do with this. As mush as I want to stop supporting the NBA, you guys know that a passion for a team will not let me do that. I have to watch my Blazers. But I haven’t bought a Starbucks in two years, and never again will.
The question now seems, BR, where do you go from here. Only you can answer that. But I do believe that getting an arena deal done by ‘09 will mean the NBA in Seattle soon. Why do I believe Stern? Because Stern is a money man. He has one franchise that WILL move (Memphis), and another where it is very possible (New Orleans). The current options for those teams seem to be Kansas City or Las Vegas, but Stern would rather move them to Seattle in a new arena. Why? Because he knows that there is more money to be made there. With a new arena and a still enthusiastic Ballmer, the Memphis Grizzlies become the Seattle SuperSonics within five years. (I know you’re probably not keen on taking someone else’s team, given what you’ve been through, but I really think Memphis is moving no matter what in a few years. They never should have left Vancouver).
Now, the kicker is that I have no faith in the legislature to get the deal done. I know that it shouldn’t be the public’s job for sports arenas, but that’s the climate we’re in. The reason that the city lobbied the fans so hard is because they’re not going to do anything. They showed they don’t care with the half assed settlement. Even if it makes you feel like a pawn, an organization like SOS will have to do the heavy lifting on this. Just know that Nickels, etc will get their day when they are voted out of office.
BR and others–take some time to decide where to go. Nobody is going to have anything but admiration for you either way. Be fair to your families first and foremost, and do what your heart tells you to do. But I will be rooting for Seattle’s return to the NBA.
In closing, thanks for inspiring me. I hope that Oregon politicians, who are as fickle as those in Olympia, are looking at this. The RG will be around for a couple of more decades, but we need to be planning for the future now.
Be at peace with what you’ve done. You’ve fought hard and well. And you deserve to decide the next step for yourselves.
As for me, I can offer you nothing but my moral support. And the promise that I’ll be chanting “Bennet Sucks” from my seat in the Rose Garden.
Remember, every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. May the I-5 rivalry someday rise again.
Peace, my northwest brothers.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:46 am
McGrath has a good point IMO. If Bennett was willing to pay $45 now, I jsut don’t see how he wouldn’t be wiling to ride out the remaining years. He was stealing this team no matter the cost.
And lets get this straight, taking Memphis’s or Charlotte’s team is nothing compared to ripping the Sonics out of Seattle. There is ZERO history with those teams in their regions, ZERO!
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:50 am
Being edited because I said Karma tornado was just not right. yet you let trolls who have never been here spread their BS hot air and say much worse yet you let them comment. Im disgusted and hurt by your ‘edit’
I was actualy trying to corrrect the person who posted earlier.
This sucks.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:53 am
Humor me here
Could this settlement have won Schultz’s case for him?
1. From ESPN:
The settlement could become a victory for Seattle as well. In a statement, NBA commissioner David Stern reversed his previous stance and said that a renovated KeyArena could be a suitable venue for an NBA franchise in Seattle. But the time is short.
“We understand that city, county, and state officials are currently discussing a plan to substantially rebuild KeyArena for the sum of $300 million,” Stern said in a statement. “If this funding were authorized, we believe KeyArena could properly be renovated into a facility that meets NBA standards relating to revenue generation, fan amenities, team facilities, and the like.”
Hasn’t Stern, the NBA, taken from Bennett his best defense in the coming trial with Schultz? KeyArena as an inadequate solution even if renovated was the basis for Bennett’s out-of-hand rejection of the Key. If that could be sustained as fact, his intransigence on the issue could not be called an instance of bad-faith dealing. Now we have Stern saying that was totally unreasonable and he just bought him self a subpoena in the Schultz case, where his turnaround could be seen as hanging Bennett out to dry.
(If he backtracks again? What good is the settlement in the City’s suit if the NBA wouldn’t give a renovated Key a team? We’d be facing fraud again and the settlement would be compromised.)
2. Not only has the Key been a viable option all along, but as a part of the Settlement, Bennett has agreed to give to the city $75 million towards the renovation of the Key. Never did he make such an offer to the city, and it could easily be argued that if Bennett had kept the Key on the table, since the key is in fact a viable arena solution, such an offer could have been the start of fruitful talks about the Sonics future in Seattle.
The offer he should have made from the start that would have constituted a genuine, good-faith effort, is the deal that gets him out the door? Yes. Because a suit over the terms of the lease contract is indifferent to the terms of the upcoming suit concerning the sale contract. Shouldn’t this be a classic case of Pyrrhic victory for Bennett? He just got past one legal roadblock at the price of confessing his guilt at the next.
Right? Surely Schultz’s legal team is considering all of this.
And to top things off, in the event that Schultz wins the team back from Bennett the Key lease has still been broken and the City still has before it a proposal for its renovation after having defended the Sonics and NBA basketball as a valuable public asset.
Eh?
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:53 am
I wouldn’t mind a tornado ripping apart the Ford Center with Clay Bennett inside, sounds wonderful.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:55 am
Too many people are groveling, begging for an NBA team, any team, like a beaten wife crawling back to her thug husband. Masochists.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:56 am
Slick Watts on KJR.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:58 am
McGrath has a good point IMO. If Bennett was willing to pay $45 now, I jsut don’t see how he wouldn’t be wiling to ride out the remaining years. He was stealing this team no matter the cost.
We all know he wasn’t going to sell.
Keeping the team here makes it easier for schultz to get the remedy that we want.
Now they are playing in OKC
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:02 am
for those of you wondering what to do with your sonics gear, email me at timhds at hotmail. I have an idea.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:03 am
Moffet, I here ya whole heartedly! I can not believe how many people think this thing is over! The Schultz case is what we all have been waiting for! The only thing I am freaked about is Schultz backing out!
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:10 am
Hey Joe. Get a clue! A dishonest businessman who comes from OKLAHOMA CITY! Better yet his partners who LIVE in OKC!! And a dishonest Mayor Cornett who…you guessed it….LIVES IN OKC!
You say you didn’t steal the team….but you will embrace stolen goods, you’ll cheer for Clay Bennett, who is one of the biggest liars/dirt bags you will ever find.
I don’t buy your crocodile tears and the “guilt” you all feel, usually when your conscience gets pricked, it’s because something WRONG has happened.
Answer me this if you have the guts. Do you support CLay Bennett bringing the Sonics to OKC? If you stand behind Clay, you are no better than he is…you are every bit the classless, immoral, liar he is. Enjoy the stolen goods. Oh, and when you have kids someday, and you are enjoying the Sonics….I hope you can tell them the truth as to how everything went down.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:10 am
http://www.cityrescue.org/
http://www.homelessalliance.org/homelessness.htm
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:12 am
dishonest Mayor Cornett
That’s one thing Settle has in common with OKC…
DISHONEST MAYOR!!!!
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:12 am
I just called the mayors office and said I was lied to and feel betrayed. 206-684-4000. I actually cried and had to hang up as I was explaining to them that he should not have given us HOPE.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:15 am
There was a reference to wishing tornados upon Oklahoma City residents. I saw it and went in and edited all the references around it. Yours was borderline because you clearly referred to “karma tornados” but why let things go that direction. I wish no ill will on the people of OKC and wishing natural disasters on people is not something we should sink to. I’m sorry if it bugs you but what is the harm?
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:17 am
I hope David Stern, Nick Licata, Clay Bennett, Greg Nickels, Frank Chopp and everyone else involved in this situation have their family pets die so they know how it feels to have something ripped away like this. Those arrogant a-holes are so out of touch with the community. Good luck getting support for public funding now. I, for one, will not lift a finger to encourage anything that supports the NBA in any way. Those of you who know me know how many hours I’ve put in on this fight. Not as many as Brian or Steve or Griff, but many nonetheless.
F the NBA. The best we can hope for is the Donaghy scandal taking the league down in flames with it.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:21 am
With respect to Bennett’s supposed willingness and ability to ride out two lame duck years, now we will never know. The point of keeping the team for two more years was to increase leverage… against Chopp et al next spring for an arena solution… against the NBA BOG meeting when Bennett would have tried to re-apply for relocation next year, etc. I firmly believe that we had Balmer + public funding + lease thru 2010, Stern would have brokered a deal. Period. The City’s leader showed that they were more concerned with their “make us whole” goal during this negotiation, than they were with their “keep basketball in Seattle” goal. I was a huge Nickels fan before yesterday. Simply shocking that he would allow political expediency factor into the equation. Simply shocking that he would allow a city of Seattle’s stature to lose an asset of this quality.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:21 am
The problem here is the fans don’t have a uniting power behind them to prevent this from happening. We always get walked on. ZenDoc…and the rest, shoot me an email, I have some things that I have been working on and I think we should talk. live4health@gmail.com
Later
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:22 am
Will we get a chance to say goodbye to our team? Does anyone know when/where the moving vans will be? Will we have a vigil at the Key? Just as Alexi pointed out: we haven’t had time to say goodbye. This just isn’t fair.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:29 am
What is the deal with the memorabilia, intellectual property, etc…? Bennet obviously wants the team, and doesn’t care about the history. That much is painfully obvious. The settlement said that he could refer to the history, and they’re even going to have a replica championship banner hanging in the F*** Center (see what I did there?). If Seattle gets a team back in expansion, we keep all the history, records, retired jerseys, etc… What if we get a relocated team? What if the Grizzlies come back to the Northwest, what is done with the histories of the two franchises? I read and re-read the settlement trying to figure it out, and I couldn’t extract that little nugget. Anyone else figure it out?
DB
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:31 am
Boy it was hard to wake up this morning…
Why would the NBA do this to it’s fanbase? Why would it move from city to city losing fans left and right?
Soon its going to be out of cities to relocate to in my opinion.
They are just proving why they are the number three sports league.
Save our Brian Robinson! You got to stay with us!
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:33 am
Kevin Calabro on KJR right now.
Calls the city/the governor gutless.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:33 am
As a Vancouver Grizzlies fan I know how you guys feel and I’m truly sorry. I know there’s no words that will make it better at the moment.
A few thoughts from where I view it. I’m sorry but I don’t believe David Stern or your elected officials, or the team of lawyers, or anyone else in a position of power that is attempting to make it sound like this is a temporary thing. They are all just trying to make it easy on themselves and limit the controversy.
Having gone through this I know full well that it’s all BS they’re trying to sell you and to say that get an arena rebuilt and a team will come is an insult to your intelligence. Vancouver has a great arena, has an owner in place, has formally asked the league to notify Vancouver when the next team comes available, has a solid market, and has a dollar that is almost on par with the U.S. dollar. Yet we know that it is the slimmest of chances that a team will be in Vancouver in the future, and that there are probably a half dozen other markets trying to get one. Seattle now becomes one more of a number of cities and gets no special place at the head of the line.
I just don’t want you to get your hopes up. You have been lied to from pretty much every person involved. The NBA and David Stern today are smiling and saying what a great day it is. Maybe someday we can revisit the Seattle market but let’s put them behind us. Clay Bennett and his group are no doubt overjoyed and celebrating with no regards for the fans of Seattle whatsoever. All of your politicians that failed you miserably are probably huddled somehwere scheming and plotting on how to spin doctor this and turn it into votes. They will probably hold up the cash settlement and waive it at every group out there telling them that potentially there’s something in it for them if they re-elect them.
I truly feel awful for Brian Robinson and the leaders of the SOS movement. I realize he’s a big boy and he willingly entered into the long struggle and put his daily life on hold, but I can only imagine how he must feel. Having to attempt to stay cordial with the likes of the liars and schemers, crooked politicians that would sell out their mother for a vote, all the while knowing that these people couldn’t care less about the fans or Brian, but worked him when they needed to, yet he still had to maintain a relationship if he was to have any credibilty and leverage in getting the fans desires heard, it has to be eating him up inside. While the rest of us got involved(the vast majority far more than me I sheepishly admit), Brian lived this cause 24/7.
Brian, as one who has gone through this, I can say that as time goes on the hollow feeling diminishes. If I could give any advice it would be that I wouldn’t get involved anymore if asked by any politician to try and do the groundwork for a Key Arena renovation. Step aside and let someone else jump in. You’ve done your part and don’t deserve the treatment that ultimately the politicians will attempt to give you in order to make themselves look good. I’m off to my place on Kauai next month and I think you should head to your place on the island as well and get as far away from the whole stinking heap as possible.
I can say with 100% certainty that there isn’t a single person from the huge number of people who have visited sonicscentral that even though they might not agree with you on everything, doesn’t feel that you’ve given anything less than your complete devotion to the cause of keeping the Sonics in Seattle.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:34 am
Will we get a chance to say goodbye to our team? Does anyone know when/where the moving vans will be?
A friend of mine says there are already packing vans out and about.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:37 am
Brian,
Thanks for all your work. Welcome to the world of politics. We fans have been hurt by Schultz, floored by PBC, stabbed in the back by the mayor, and now the mayor tells us we have a great opportunity if we help him out.
Maybe an expansion team will come in 5-15 years. But now is not a time to decide whether you want to help make it so. Take some time and consider your priorities, consider the costs and benefits, then make your own decision.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:38 am
I expected the city to settle all along. Money makes any and every problem go away…
Screw clay.
On the bright side i will enjoy seeing OKC’s team do very bed for the next decade or so
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:39 am
Settlements SUCK! Does this finally show the pro-settlement crowd the error of your ways?
Our divided stance on that issue played a bigger part in the decision to SETTLE than most of you would probably care to admit.
Don’t believe me? Then why did the Mayor’s “people” ask if we wanted to save “this team” or just wanted “any team” when we were calling yesterday. A bunch of people said they would just be happy at the possibility of having any team here, hence the situation today.
Obviously NOBODY here wanted it to go down like this. But this was the settlement many of us wanted to avoid, and most of us feared.
Thanks Mayor. You Sold Our Sonics.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:41 am
As TK alluded to at 12:03 AM above, the City should now be renamed the city of SETTLE - it would be an easy change to just drop the “A” out. We could tell people that we had to hand over our “A’s” to OKC as part of the deal.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:41 am
I think all of those who have worked so hard to preserve his team should form a PAC and start working to get the opponent elected for every person in city and state government who worked against the Sonics. You have a good sized group here who can do it. Make sure every lie or anti-Sonics statement is published and made known to the electorate. It is a good way to get your frustrations worked out.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:42 am
paul Says:
“I am not letting the NBA and Chopp and Stern and Nickels and anyone else win.
I am in for the long haul.
Lets re group and rally and get the NBA in Seattle”
That is EXACTLY what the NBA has done, they have WON by extorting megabucks out of TWO cities once we crawl back and plead for another team.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:49 am
Is there any chance that the city got wind that Pechman’s ruling was not going to go in favor of Seattle? Could that explain why they took the money and slithered away holding a “promise” from David Stern 666?
I’m trying to figure out a rational explanation for such an about face capitulation from those elected officials who said a buyout was out of the question.
Hanging my hat on the Schultz suit now, but if we can be done like this by the city, who can say that Schultz won’t roll over also?
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:49 am
Bennett and Stern both say they acted in good faith within that time frame and that for Key Arena to be viable (meaning it is not viable as it is) it needed the renovations done and approved in that time. Today’s statements come over two years after that sale, and one year after the good faith provision expired. Any statements today still reflect that Stern thinks Key Arena is not viable as it is, and they are likely to not be admissible in court at the time of the Schultz trial.
I thought their position was that is was neither viable as is nor would be viable even after a remodel. They Key couldn’t possibly have been remodeled in that time (not especially when Bennett made no proposals to that end); certainly no arena could have been built in that time. The time frame was for securing a solution.
It was on the grounds of the Key’s unviability, current and future, that a remodel was dismissed out of hand. How did a remodel suddenly become acceptable? The terms of the settlement for the City’s trial, like much of the evidence brought out in its course, helps Schultz’s trial. Why wouldn’t Sterns’ statement be admissible? It’s a public statement by the NBA about the viability of the Key in contradiction of public statements from the NBA about the unviability of the Key.
Bennett, in a trial in which he sought to break the lease contract, helped produce evidence for his breaking of the terms of the sale contract; and in the settlement of the lease trial, he makes a financial commitment toward a Seattle arena solution he never made during the good-faith window stipulated by the sale agreement and the NBA says that a remodeled Key was a viable solution all along.
“I should get to leave on the grounds that there were no viable solutions compelling me to stay, but in compensation for my leaving, I will help set in motion what would have amounted to a viable solution compelling me to stay….”
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:54 am
Brian….
For what it is worth as an SOS supporter & Sonics Season ticket holder, almost daily soniccentral writer & loyal fan for 20+ years….
1. Thanks for all you have done and for this post - you are asking the right questions and it is good to take some time before answering - and there is no really hurry on that.
2. You need to do whatever you feel you want to do - various Sonics fans will respsond differently. We need to respect each others different responses in this.
3. If you drop out completley everyone will understand.
4. How can we work with and for Nickels etc.? I can’t see it. He stabbed us in the back. He betrayed you & us. I heard you on KJR respond 2 months ago to the question of what if Nickels settles with a comment like… “No way that will happen & if it does he will be the biggest liar in the world.” He consistently told you he was solid in his resolve not to settle. Well, he took the “Blood Money” as you have said it would be if it came. Nickels is a liar - not to be trusted or supported IMO. To work with him would be a compromise I cannot do. When I heard Ceis on KJR last night ask for Sonic fans to help support the new arena funding effort coming up I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry - but no way I will do that. No way I will give my loyalty and efforts to these guys. Others will - you might - let’s respect each others personal choice on this - but I will not have anything to do with supporting the new arena funding effort.
5. To me supporting the next arena funding effot would mean I’m lining up with what Clay and stern want and it is a form of endorsing this settlement. I can’t go there.
6. Integrity aside… I think our leaders blew it… Nickels got intimidated…. Nickels was in classic political “CMA” mode. If PBC had won the city could have still gotten a jury settlement - If the city won they would have had more leverage to settle for more money - and they would have called Clay - to see if he was bluffing. If they were intimidated by Stern saying — “If you are not nice to me now I won’t help you get a new team MAYBE in 4-5 years etc.” - They got intimidated by a guy who is not worth trusting anyway.
6. Finally, and for me this is huge in terms of not wanting to support the city any more in their current agenda…. This current vision that Nickels and Ballmer want support for sets us in a path to most likely try to steal another communities team. I cannot commit now to a path that would likely involve Seattle stealing another cities team. I just won’t be part of anything that might put another fan base through anything close to what we’ve gone through. I know it could be expansion, but it more likley would be stealing another cities team - and I would feel hypocritical to begin now to support a vision that assumes this is a likely and hoped for end result.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:56 am
For those who do not read longer posts like mine above - I offer this repeat of my last point to underline it & offer it for discussion:
Finally, and for me this is huge in terms of not wanting to support the city any more in their current agenda…. This current vision that Nickels and Ballmer want support for sets us in a path to most likely try to steal another communities team. I cannot commit now to a path that would likely involve Seattle stealing another cities team. I just won’t be part of anything that might put another fan base through anything close to what we’ve gone through. I know it could be expansion, but it more likley would be stealing another cities team - and I would feel hypocritical to begin now to support a vision that assumes this is a likely and hoped for end result.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:57 am
Will we get a chance to say goodbye to our team? Does anyone know when/where the moving vans will be? Will we have a vigil at the Key? Just as Alexi pointed out: we haven’t had time to say goodbye. This just isn’t fair.
-Thats what I want to know? Can we watch the moving vans and cry somewhere?
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:58 am
I was a Sonics fan living in Los Angeles, becoming a fan during the Dale Ellis, Tom Chambers, X Man days. I finally made my first trip to Seattle in 1988, and loved the beauty, and serenity of the Puget Sound region. I decided at that time, what better place to live than this place, it’s got everything I love including the Sonics.
It took a long 8 years to finally make that move, and arrived here 2 short months after the Sonics lost to the Bulls in the Finals. It was a great time in my life, adjusting to my first rainy Seattle winter, but having my Sonics to watch on the tube, or attend a game. I never thought in a million years, they would be stolen away. I am a die hard basketball fan, and have 2 daughters who love the game, and of course the Sonics. Now I sit here trying to explain to them why the team they have grown up watching and seen in person are gone.
I just went through my closet and put together all my Sonics gear, shirts, shooting shirts, jerseys, sweat pants and I seriously don’t know what to do with them. Part of me just wants to burn them, donate them to West Seattle Tim for his trek to OK city to disperse to the homeless, and part of me wants to hold on to them. I feel so many emotions right now. I’m pissed, I’m sad, I’m confused, I feel a void that can’t be replaced. Thanks Howard, Clay, David, Christine, Greg, and whoever had a hand in this! Thanks for nothing!
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:59 am
“Since the Storm is staying in Seattle….I’m curious what kind of market do you think there is for them, absent the Sonics?”
According to an article in today’s P-I the Storm is averaging attendance of 7,633.
No slam against Storm fans they’re quite a dedicated bunch. It’s just that there’s fewer of them than there are Sonics fans.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/virgin/369394_virgin03.html
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:59 am
This is even more sad and painful then I expected…I didnt sleep and I cant stop crying.
And we have no chance of getting a team any time soon for those of you holding out hope.
Try and have a good day everyone. Im glad I have the day off.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:02 am
Courtsense at 12:06 am… You got it right - nailed it - I agree 100%
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:03 am
[...] lloen/EnjoyTheEnjoyment/photo?authkey=-T52ZUDdZaU#5071133264124892034″>Brian Robinson, SonicsCentral and SaveOurSonics: “I am actually somewhat relieved that at least we do [...]
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:04 am
Brian, and the rest of SOS:
I do need to say thank you. I don’t know if you are aware how much you have meant to all of us fans over this whole ordeal. You are people to be admired and emulated. You stood up for what you believe in, and worked hard to make it happen. This time it didn’t happen, and that’s a bitter pill to swallow.
In fact, it looks like we all took it in the rear on this one, but when the storm clouds clear, you will be able to hold your head high again. I am going to devote my spare time toward getting Settle politicos out of office.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:05 am
Ugh… the morning after… I don’t feel so well (but my work has combined sick and vacation so no sick day for me). How fitting that there were thunderstorms yesterday starting right when we heard news of settling and rain today after a gorgeous week.
Just wanted to say thank you to the people (mostly speed right?) who organized the SOS group tickets. I am so glad I talked my wife into going to the game with me and that we cheered our hearts out - its a great final sonic memory.
My wife and I are talking about what we can do to the stuffed squatch we bought at the game… we talked about burning it but no one would see it. Think I might upset some people if I crucify it out on the front lawn?
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:06 am
Lots of buzz on the sonics on espn…
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:09 am
Did you guys hear the rumor that Steve Pyeatt was actually paid off by Clay Bennett to not obstruct his “progress” and to help put a positive spin on the Sonics leaving town? That would certainly explain a lot, but it’s hard to believe. First of all, if that’s what he was supposed to do, he blundered by going 180 degrees in the opposite direction and calling this a definite WIN FOR US. I noticed that he didn’t say who “Us” was, though. At first I thought that he must have just been in shock and not realized what he was saying, but the more I watched the video and more than one statement to the press, I realized that that was not the case at all.
He clearly knew what he was saying. He said it more than once. And he also said that the glass was not just half-full, it was almost completely full. He also didn’t say what the glass was completely full of.
I was shocked at what I was hearing. I thought that either Steve has gone completely, stark-raving mad under all the stress or maybe he really did sell out. One thing for sure - he lost credibility with the Sonics faithful immediately, whereas Brian Robinson has maintained his integrity and credibility by being genuine and admitting that we lost, that we were sold out and stabbed in the back by the Mayor and City Council, and Brian’s really emotional about it and spent as are most of the rest of us.
However Steve is whistling a happy tune and saying all is well in River City. I have a hard time believing that Clay Bennett cut him a check, unless he was actually on Clay Bennett’s payroll all along and was commissioned to kill the Sonics’ fans efforts by heading up a group called “Save Our Sonics” - that way no one would ever suspect him of being a Judas. It’s possible - I have a hard time believing it, but Bennett has enough money and IS crafty enough to do that. Maybe someone who has more info or is closer to Steve P. can offer a different explanation. Maybe one that will make as much sense.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:14 am
DJ,
You could have just kept that to yourself.
You should have. For today.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:17 am
Thanks for your words DJ, but you will NEVER see my in the stands of the Ford Center. I hold no ill will to you or other citizens of OK city, but if you can take pride in a team the way it was “acquired” more power to you!
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:19 am
Brian, your efforts are truly appreciated. The answers to your questions will be sorted out when the emotions of yesterdays events pass. My eternal optimism is being put to the test today. Again, much thanks for all of your hard work.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:20 am
Hambone said: “Settlements SUCK! Does this finally show the pro-settlement crowd the error of your ways? Our divided stance on that issue played a bigger part in the decision to SETTLE than most of you would probably care to admit.”
Hambone is absolutely right. You guys know who you are. Your intentions as basketball fans may have been good, but as Seattle Sonics fans, you did great harm. The wrong signal got sent.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:21 am
F*ck off die OKC posters.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:21 am
Moffett - the good faith provision does not specify whether or not refurbishing Key or getting a new arena was preferred. Absent some specific language, the team is Bennett’s property. Property law is such that an owner of property can do with it as he pleases.
But Bennett’s being able to do with the team as he pleases is complicated by his agreement to commit to staying in Seattle. Just because the good faith provision doesn’t specify what constitutes good faith doesn’t mean that Bennett (or anyone in similar circumstances) can simply make demands he knows could never be fulfilled and get away with having shown good faith. Is that clause legally enforceable or not? If so, you determine the standards by which Bennett was or was not faithful to it in trial. “Make me an offer that matches or exceeds the arena waiting for me in OKC” isn’t the position of someone committed to staying in Seattle, it’s the position of someone with one foot out the door.
Stern can plausibly testify, if necessary, that a refurbished arena is not viable for THIS team, that his statements are therefore not contradictory, and that a refurbished arena can be viable for a future team, if the ownership of that team is ok with that.
How does that work? How can an arena not be viable for one team and viable for another? The NBA just judged a renovated key as viable for an NBA team, not as viable for an NBA if the owner happens to agree that it’s viable. It is or it isn’t. The NBA’s economic model applies to all teams. It argued from standards that a renovated Key wasn’t viable; now they’re saying a renovated key would be viable. Which is it? Certainly some arenas are better than others, but some markets are better than others too. A retroactively viable renovated Key in the much larger, proven market offers an economic picture that proves that viability wasn’t Bennett’s concern at all.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:22 am
I would like to bring this to everyone’s attention.
According to Munson on ESPN:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=080702munsononsonicsmoveQA
Q: Is it now over? Are the Sonics now certain to make the move to Oklahoma City?
A: No. It is far from over. Howard Schultz, the Starbucks CEO who sold the Sonics to the Oklahoma City group in July 2006, is still trying to stop the move in a lawsuit he filed against Clay Bennett and his Professional Basketball Club LLC. Schultz and his attorney, Richard Yarmuth, charge that Bennett “fraudulently induced” the sale with dishonest promises to try to keep the team in Seattle. They want a court order that would undo the sale and allow a sale to an “honest buyer” who would keep the team in Seattle.
It’s an unusual legal action, but it may work. Even though Schultz and Yarmuth deliberately stayed out of the settlement discussions, the possibility of their success is important enough that it is described on the first page of the five-page settlement agreement between the city and Bennett.
The agreement makes specific provisions for what would happen if Schultz succeeds. It provides that if Schultz forces a sale that would return the team to Seattle, Bennett would be entitled to a refund of $22.5 million for each season should his investment group lose the pending lawsuit. Under such a scenario, the city must pay Bennett, the agreement provides, within five days of the “first home game played in Key Arena.”
Schultz’s lawsuit and the settlement offer the possible scenario of the Sonics playing a season in Oklahoma City and then, as the result of a court action, returning to Seattle for the 2009-10 season.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:22 am
I’m going back and forth between being completely angry and and numbly not caring today. One thing’s for sure, I’m done with the city. They stabbed us in the back, and I don’t think the business of running an arena is something the city should be doing anyway.
And I hate spending omeone else’s money, but I think whatever form the next arena takes, it’s got to be with private funds. We have plenty of private funds up here.
Thanks for everything you’ve done Brian and Steve, and everyone else.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:23 am
DJ: thats all fine and good, but damn, give us a day
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 am
To all those who worked to save our Sonics, I thank you for your hard efforts, even if mistakes were made and success was not the in the cards.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:27 am
I think Point #4 from JJ’s post at 8:54 is THE most important issue now.
4. How can we work with and for Nickels etc.? I can’t see it. He stabbed us in the back. He betrayed you & us. I heard you on KJR respond 2 months ago to the question of what if Nickels settles with a comment like… “No way that will happen & if it does he will be the biggest liar in the world.” He consistently told you he was solid in his resolve not to settle. Well, he took the “Blood Money” as you have said it would be if it came. Nickels is a liar - not to be trusted or supported IMO. To work with him would be a compromise I cannot do. When I heard Ceis on KJR last night ask for Sonic fans to help support the new arena funding effort coming up I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry - but no way I will do that. No way I will give my loyalty and efforts to these guys. Others will - you might - let’s respect each others personal choice on this - but I will not have anything to do with supporting the new arena funding effort.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:27 am
This is just a little comment among the 100+ here that will only grow as the day goes on, but I needed to say it:
Thank you. What you have done for this franchise is beyond incredible, and anyone who thinks Seattle is a city unworthy of the NBA need look no farther than you and your efforts.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:32 am
I’m a basketball fan. Have been for years. It’s not some fading interest or passing fancy. I will sit and watch two junior high girls teams play just for the sake of watching basketball. And the NBA is the best the world has to offer. I’m hurting real bad right now, just like everyone else, but I just can’t bring myself to give up on the NBA. I hate David Stern, I hate what the NBA as a business represents, but damned if I don’t love to watch the games. This city has been a great basketball city for 41 years and I want a team again. We’re on the clock. We’ve got 18 months to get an arena renovation or we get jack. No team, no money, nothing. I say let’s do it. I’m in.
A lot of people, I know, don’t want to hijack another city’s team. And while I understand that, here’s the big difference. The teams in question (NO and Memphis) are in floundering situations. Hell, NO was in the conference semis and still couldn’t sell out. Memphis Tigers sell more tickets than the Grizz. Moving one of them to Seattle would be a smart business decision. It would be moving them out of a bad market and into a great one. Not like the Sonics move. The Sonics move was bad business.
So as long as we’re not talking about moving the Celtics or Knicks (pretty sure they’re not on the table anyways), I say we go out, get this arena done, get ourselves a team, and MAKE the NBA come back here. Let’s not sit around and wait and hope the NBA comes back, let’s force the issue. We don’t need their “dibs” on if a team is available. Ballmer’s group has the cash to just go out and get one.
If you don’t want to fight, that’s fine. Sit at home, watch your hockey or whatever. But those of that still love basketball and still want professional basketball in Seattle, let’s do this thing.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:33 am
Alright, I just got off the phone with the OKC Homeless Alliance and they are getting me the contact information for clothing donations in OKC. So who is up for donating all the Sonics gear you don’t want? Freebie shirts, givaway stuff, any clothing you don’t want I will collect and take to OKC. I have an A-driver signed up (Griff) and will be spending the money I would have spent on season tickets on a U-Haul, gas money and a plane ticket home. I was thinking next weekend I will be at the Key Arena west side collecting the clothing. For those interested but not in the area, you can mail it to me and I will add it to the collection. I think we can take our frustration out on the NBA by getting rid of our Sonics stuff and at the same time helping those in need. I was going to donate it locally, but I am getting rid of it so I am not reminded of my loss on a daily basis. I think the message we would be sending is in spite of the loss of our team and the feeling of frustration and helplessness, we can take our loss and turn it into something positive for those less fortunate. Also, this is not endorsed by SOS, this is something I thought of on my own. Thanks in advance for your support; I am sure this will be a success. I will post again in the near future with definitive dates, times, and places.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:34 am
It must feel strange for Luke Ridnour. He grew up in Blaine and used to go to Canada to see Vancouver Grizzlies games, that team left and now the team he is on is leaving the Northwest Region for OKC…
No more I-5 Rivalry..we will never get to see Durant vs Oden in Seattle.
Very sad
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:35 am
To JJ and others who do not want another city’s team, you are mistaken in my opinion. If a team is leaving its city due to some failure, and it is going to relocate somewhere, I would welcome it to relocate here. Over time some markets shrink and others grow in proportion. It is the nature of capitalism to seek a profit, so teams will sometimes move.
Allow me to draw an important distinction to the current case: Bennett & company committed fraud to steal the Sonics. I would not support lying, cheating and fraud to obtain a team.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:38 am
I like your idea Tim, I’m willing to part with some of my Sonics gear, but some I have to hold on to for memories sake. I’ll look for the date, and time you will be collecting at Key Arena. It’s a travesty it’s come to this.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:40 am
Don’t donate stuff to thieving OKC please. They are a big reason why our Sonics were stolen. Donate that gear to a charity in Portland or Dallas, cities with NBA owners that care.
FOKC.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:40 am
James, I have things I am keeping as well. I am donating all the giveaway shirts I received over the years of attending games. I am keeping my Practice Makes Payton shirt, and my Danny Fortson shirt. Everything else I am sending to OKC, which is about half of my wardrobe.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:41 am
Message to Mr. Schultz:
Go Howie. It is all up to you now… you have a chance to salvage your reputation. You and the mayor destroyed basketball in this city. Until your dying days and after, your legacy will be stained if you can’t undo the incredible damage you have done.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:43 am
Kingdome, the homeless of OKC didn’t steal our team. And I hope that they can appreciate my Sonics stuff and wear it proudly, reminding the OKC people where their new team came from.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:45 am
I just wanted to say thanks to people like Brian that helped fight hard to keep the Sonics here. Looking back I wish I could’ve done something to help but in the end it was out of our hands. It’s going to be really strange come fall when I can’t talk to my family and friends about the ongoings of the Sonics like I have all my life.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:46 am
I DO hold bad will toward people of OKC. They are as guilty as their fat, dishonest owner. I’m tired of these Okies showing up here saying such shit as “we’re sorry” or “we never wanted your team”. I wish you absolutely the worst of luck. Your team WILL FAIL!
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:46 am
Rock and Hambone, I understand your anger but it is misdirected. To now attempt to blame some fans in here for doing more harm than imagined and to infer that some posters who talked about settling had some sort of hand in this outcome is just plain wrong. Do you honestly believe that what was posted in this site had any bearing on the two sides reaching a settlement? Do you think those of us that posted what we wished to see happen feel any less upset than you? Do you not think that the same people weren’t going to rallys, waving signs at games, etc.?
The fact is the settlement that was reached is no way even close to what I read in here from people. A “guarantee of a team” was all I ever saw. Just taking the cash was never an option.
We all feel betrayed and that this was a complete sellout from top to bottom. I know you’re bitter like everyone else, but please don’t even attempt to lay a fraction of guilt at the feet of those that don’t deserve it.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:47 am
I was going through my stuff earlier, and it was hard to look at knowing there’s no desire to wear any of it. I have my faves that I will hold onto forever, but the rest I’ll give to you Tim. I think this is a great idea, and I hope you acquire tons of Sonics stuff to drive to OK city. I hope most of it has the name Seattle on it in addition to Sonics..
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:47 am
with howard not filing an injunction, i expect he’s working behind the scenes to get us a new team so he can drop his suit all together.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:52 am
what’s the over/under on whether or not Durant asks to be traded?
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:53 am
What did you guys expect? You really thought the Mayor was not going to take a cash settlement? Everything is about money and nothing else. He played us and we didn’t see it coming. Everyone said that this isn’t about money. The Mayor and Ceis what a joke. Let’s look at Deal is a Deal. Didn’t you fine it odd that the counsel did this so they could do a non binding agreement so just is case a cash deal came up then they could back out of it. If it would have been a vote then it probably would have been binding. Another mistake along the way. Now I hope everyone who feels bad will remember this on election day.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:54 am
I just wanted to let everybody here know how happy I was to be somewhat affiliated with all of you, no matter how loosely. I never actually got to meet anybody personally but I was at Sonics games with many of you I’m sure and at the last Sonics game ever I was there, just not in your section. I also showed up to the rally and it was nice seeing so many people who felt the same way I did.
Thank you Brian, Steve, Jeremy and everybody else that put their effort into this. The way I’m feeling right now I don’t want another team. That’s not to say my opinion won’t change but right now, this is how I feel. I will continue to support SOS should Brian and Steve decide to put any effort into helping in getting a new team even if my feelings about the situation haven’t changed. If there are any more rally’s, if there are posts calling for phone calls and/or letters, I will continue to support this group.
As for donating my Sonics gear, I don’t think I can do that. It’s all getting packed up though. Shirts, shorts, hats, jackets, shoes….anything with a Sonics logo will be put out of sight for the time being until I can see the logo and not have these feelings come back. But I can’t get rid of the stuff forever. Thanks again to all of you.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:54 am
I thought I read somewhere that the reason Howard didn’t file an injunction is that he couldn’t because the city screwed him over too, by letting them out of the lease.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:54 am
I am so sad today…cried during the news conference last night and have been fighting back tears reading everything this morning. I have tried to stay away from other blogs because some people really know how to kick you when you’re down. I can’t believe that our own neighbors would put us fans down when we’re hurting so much….would they say something like that if someone died or a relationship ended? I know this is not the same but it really is painful. It’s a loss. I haven’t been able to listen to KJR yet. The only bright spot is so far most of the national coverage has been on our side. Not that it helps. I am still praying that Schultz will come through but not counting on it. Everyone remember what your elected officials did and use that knowledge when you vote this fall. On another note nobody can take away my Sonics memories. I have pictures, clothes, signed autograph books, etc. Supes….you will always have a special place in my heart. Love, your biggest fan!
and thank you so much Brian, Steve and all of SOS!! If you decide to be active again in this fight I will be behind you.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:55 am
i don’t get the point of burning or giving away your stuff. why destroy your memories? it’s all you’ve got left.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:56 am
Great idea Tim. The people of OKC will not forget what happened here if they constantly run into less fortunate people with SEATTLE Sonics gear on….
So angry.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:57 am
Hey Joe. Get a clue! A dishonest businessman who comes from OKLAHOMA CITY! Better yet his partners who LIVE in OKC!! And a dishonest Mayor Cornett who…you guessed it….LIVES IN OKC!
- I’m glad people finally figured out that Bosley was the worst kind of troll…the kind that pretends that he is being nice when he talks his S H I T. In all honesty, it reminds me of Stern and Bennett…they can smile at you while trying to take you in the ass.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:58 am
Folks, we gave away our beloved Sonics to OKC, don’t give up your gear to them too! Donate that stuff to a local Seattle charity. Wear your Sonics gear Show people we cared and still care, and will vote out Nickels, Gregoire, City Council, Chopp, and other bums who have sold us short.
Don’t help thieving OKC!
FOKC
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:58 am
Brian, have you considered running for Seattle City Council this fall? Or maybe a State Representative or Senator? Save Our Sonics should think seriously about who can run for public office and who we will all support this Fall and try to get elected. Maybe a few of us can run for office from different districts so we are in the thick of things when the legislature meets next January and can actually vote on funding a new arena.
I don’t think that we should be attached to Seattle at all in our efforts, though. Seattle sold us out for a few pieces of silver. They were clearly terrible negotiators and were intimidated by Clay Bennett and David Stern into backing down and taking a really crappy “deal”. Speaking of “Deals”, I guess that “A Deal is a Deal” didn’t work out so well because the entire City Council caved right along with the Mayor - without ONE dissenting vote. They are a sham. I don’t really think you should run for City Council, Brian. It would probably be too frustrating and it could destroy you.
Besides, we need to look at all of our options now. We are NOT beholden to Seattle at all. They had their chance to be the heroes and they totally blew it. In fact, we may want to work specifically AGAINST any effort to restore the NBA to Seattle proper. About 65% of Sonics’ fans live outside the city I believe, or that’s probably the number for Sonics’ Season Ticket Holders. If we’re just talking fans, I’m sure the percentage outside the City is greater than that. IF we are going to be involved in an arena solution, then we need to be open to solutions in outlying communities like Renton, Auburn, and Tacoma, and maybe even Bellevue, even though space is tighter.
Do NOT answer the Mayor’s call to mobilize Save Our Sonics to work on behalf of his efforts to get Key Arena funding and NBA back in Seattle. Let him get his own constituents to work for him. I’m sorry that I wasn’t in Seattle yesterday. I could have given the media a lot better interview than Steve Pyeatt did. I guess I should have been at Key Arena. Apparently several media people read my post about having a Sonics’ Rally or show of support at Key Arena after the decision and they had camera crews set up ready to talk to fans about the City Council decision and NO ONE SHOWED UP.
They showed crews from multiple stations there waiting for us to show up and wanting to interview fans and they just found someone walking their dog and a couple other people going to catch a bus and no one who really cared about the Sonics. That makes me angry and upset. I thought it was a great idea to be at the Key last night, but no one here answered me or showed support for the idea, so I let it go, and now I wish that I hadn’t.
If any of us showed up there last night, we would have been interviewed. We may have a second chance tonight before the Storm game at 7:00PM. I’m going early to buy Sonics merchandise anyway, so if the media is there, I’ll know then.
If you’re going to the Storm game tonight, please let me know. It might help to bring some signs telling the media your feelings about losing the Sonics and how you feel about the real culprit in all of this - David Stern. Just a thought, but I really would welcome some input on this.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:59 am
Brian, Any thoughts on running for Mayor? I know a few thousand people who would support you!
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:59 am
“I thought I read somewhere that the reason Howard didn’t file an injunction is that he couldn’t because the city screwed him over too, by letting them out of the lease.”
I read the same thing. The city just screwed everyone over. I’m not sure who I hate more Schultz, Stern, Bennet or Mayor Double Chin? I’m pretty pissed at the city of Seattle at this point….They are truly soulless individuals. Luckily, there is such a thing as karma and Greg will get his.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:00 am
K-Man, i read that too. and that makes sense. but it seems like it would give him good reason to drop it. i hope he doesn’t, but i’m not too optimistic at this point. i could just be cynical because i’m in mourning.
but like has been said before, it seems it will be much harder for schultz to move the team back than it would have been to keep the team put. although, i’m not quite sure why that would effect a fraud in the inducement case. i guess we wait and see.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:00 am
Oklahoma = thieving cheat state. They honor their cheating ways daily: THEY ARE THE SOONER STATE! Cheats from the start. Do not donate th cheat state charities. Donate to NW charities please. OKC is a big reason why we lost the Sonics. Tell those thieves to f-off, not hand those thieves more.
FOKC
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:01 am
Anyways…way up at the top I bolded what I thought was the most important part of your article Brian. The big question that every Sonics fan has to answer…
After sleeping on it…my feeling is that Sonics fans have done enough. If at this time the SOS is still needed to help lobby to get an Arena done then the government leaders really do not have a clue and will not support an effort to build the Arena. What more could be done to prove just how really, really, really bad we want a team?
As Gas said yesterday…the Sonics fans did everything right…they did everything they possibly can. If the City government really thinks this is a win for everyone then they should be the one doing the leg work.
Like someone said earlier…get on with your life Brian. For some reason I think that even if we did secure a new team the reward wouldn’t be as sweet as it should be once you watched that first game in the new Arena. The well has officially been poisoned.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:02 am
Since the election is shortly after when opening night would have been, hopefully that will refresh people’s memories when they vote.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:02 am
You don’t get it Kingdome. Donating the gear to the homeless in OKC will serve as a constant reminder to those oil baron fugs. Imagine Bennett walking down the streets of OKC and somebody begging for change wearing some SEATTLE gear. I doubt he could care less, but still, he would notice…
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:03 am
Kingdome: we get it, you don’t want to donate.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:04 am
I will not invest another minute of time and I don’t feel any of us should to be puppets for the city. If we actually have a team coming, I will do my part but until then I can’t see waisting any more emotion or time with a hope of getting a team. In 5 years I wont care and I am sure the avg fan won’t either. The NBA is dead to me.
Go Rossi
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:05 am
You are right, Myk. Even with a new team, it will never be the same.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:08 am
TB, i dont need a Comcast Soincs shirt to remind me of game 7 vs the Jazz, or game 5 against the Bulls, or even the Mavs game (my last game ever as a NBA fan, I am keeping my ticket stubs, they are right here next to my desk). And I am keeping the stuff that means something to me. But I also have about 10-15 shirts I have aquired over the years that I could part with. If I am not going to wear them anymore, someone should get some use out of them. I am sure the homeless and less fortunate of OKC could benefit from our loss, and what better reminder to the powers that be in OKC than being solicited for change on their way into the Ford center by a homeless man in a Seattle Sonics t-shirt? I say everyone wins in this scenario, unlike yesterdays debacle from our sellout, do nothing, blame everyone else politicians in this now basketball free state.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:08 am
In 5 years I wont care and I am sure the avg fan won’t either
Those of us willing to put in the effort to get a new team obviously aren’t your average fans.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:11 am
WST,
STOP IT ALREADY! If you want to give away your gear, give it to a Seattle charity or to real Sonics fans, like me.
FOKC, they took more than enough already!
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:12 am
That makes sense WST. Glad to hear you still have stuff that means something to you and you’re not giving up on that. I was hearing about people burning Gary Payton jerseys and I just thought… “what did Gary Payton have to do with this?”
I would really love to hear from Cleveland Brown fans on how supporting their team is now is different/the same as it was before.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:12 am
Mahler on KJR AM right now.
Real emotion.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:13 am
WST,
STOP IT ALREADY! If you want to give away your gear, give it to a Seattle charity or to real Sonics fans, like me.
FOKC, they took more than enough already!
You stop it, jesus.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:15 am
Otto,
I am not against donating gear to charity. I am just against donating gear to CHEAT STATE charities. They have stolen more than enough from us already. Donate to Seattle, Tacoma, Everett area charity if you want to do some good.
FOKC
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:15 am
Man this rant by Softy is intense.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:16 am
That is very interesting how much the Schultz case figures into the settlement. Now, I’m not counting on it keeping this team here, but I am looking forward to it tarnishing the teams first season in OKC. Also, looking forward to Durant signing a big contract with a team in real city when his contract is up. Good luck getting anybody good in your sh*thole town.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:18 am
Softy has expressed exactly what I’ve been feeling.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:19 am
Brian Robinson,
I am just overly sensitive. Sorry for flying off the handel. Tornados are not a good thing to talk about even if they are just tornados of karma. I wish no ill will to OKC and in the spirit of peace and love I will retract my karma tornado comment and say I am sorry if I offended anyone and did anything to make us look bad.
It is a tough day…
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:19 am
I don’t ever support NBA again until Seattle has a team and Stern is gone.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:20 am
Wow.
Great opening rant by softy this morning. jesus. It is the end.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:21 am
Kingdome, if you are insinuating that I am not a real Sonics fan, than you are sorely mistaken. I have had season tickets since 1994. I traveled to Tacoma to watch them play when I couldn’t afford gas money (at $1.50). I have attended over 400 Sonics games in 15 years, and have watched almost every away game on tv. And the reason I am not giving my stuff to a Seattle charity is I don’t want the daily reminder of my loss. I want to grieve about the Sonics on my own time, not every day that I head into downtown for work. And for the record, I already donate my time to local Seattle charities, including the Union Gospel Mission homeless shelter on 2nd. And feel free to collect sonics gear to donate locally. Don’t be one of those people that complains about things others are doing but not be willing to do something about it.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:21 am
If it takes a while then count me out now!
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:22 am
I posted this earlier, but I’m not sure people saw it.
It is a shred of hope, that I’m clinging dearly to.
I would like to bring this to everyone’s attention.
According to Munson on ESPN:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=080702munsononsonicsmoveQA
Q: Is it now over? Are the Sonics now certain to make the move to Oklahoma City?
A: No. It is far from over. Howard Schultz, the Starbucks CEO who sold the Sonics to the Oklahoma City group in July 2006, is still trying to stop the move in a lawsuit he filed against Clay Bennett and his Professional Basketball Club LLC. Schultz and his attorney, Richard Yarmuth, charge that Bennett “fraudulently induced” the sale with dishonest promises to try to keep the team in Seattle. They want a court order that would undo the sale and allow a sale to an “honest buyer” who would keep the team in Seattle.
It’s an unusual legal action, but it may work. Even though Schultz and Yarmuth deliberately stayed out of the settlement discussions, the possibility of their success is important enough that it is described on the first page of the five-page settlement agreement between the city and Bennett.
The agreement makes specific provisions for what would happen if Schultz succeeds. It provides that if Schultz forces a sale that would return the team to Seattle, Bennett would be entitled to a refund of $22.5 million for each season should his investment group lose the pending lawsuit. Under such a scenario, the city must pay Bennett, the agreement provides, within five days of the “first home game played in Key Arena.”
Schultz’s lawsuit and the settlement offer the possible scenario of the Sonics playing a season in Oklahoma City and then, as the result of a court action, returning to Seattle for the 2009-10 season.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:23 am
A funny aside,
I sent a mean email to Berry T. from the okc paper. Because I can’t stand the guy.
The following email and the response:
…..
BJ: Noted.
—–Original Message—–
From: BJ Quimba [mailto:b________________com]
Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 12:05 PM
To: Berry Tramel
Subject: you did nothing you pompous fool.
your writing is terrible.
you reek of arrogance.
If you were any good would you really be working in OK city?
Stop patting yourself on the back - you did nothing.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:23 am
You can tell Softy was close to tears.
I can’t blame him.
NBA: Where hijacking of teams happens.
NBA: Where thug mentality…from the COMMISIONER happens.
NBA: Where crapping all over the fans happens.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:24 am
West Seattle Tim, I actually think that that is a GREAT IDEA. Very creative and clever. If we don’t want all our old Sonics’ giveaway shirts or even ones we paid good money for, we can donate them to a worthy cause and help the Homeless people and other people in need of clothing in OKC, which probably gets fewer donations than Seattle, anyway, and is in greater need.
I love your reasoning that if you had donated them to a local homeless shelter, then we would be constantly reminded of the Sonics in a negative way by seeing bums and homeless people all over town wearing Sonics’ gear. And that would be more depressing to us and show us that the Sonics no longer mattered. Whereas, if we donate them to the OKC homeless, the season ticket holders there will be seeing the Seattle Sonics and Seattle SuperSonics T-shirts and jerseys all over town and be served a reminder of where and how they got their team and the history and tradition that they collectively stole.
For some of them, they would probably be thrilled - like see how badly we beat Seattle - now their fan base are homeless in OKC. They would fantasize that they had destroyed Seattle. We can give them their small pleasures. But others would probably feel somewhat guilty and be uncomfortable with the constant reminder. We are not going to just go away. IMO Most of our work now needs to be directed at supporting an investigation of the NBA and David Stern and speaking out for the removal of the Commissioner. Great idea, Tim. I’ll start rummaging through my closets and drawers, although I hate to part with anything Sonics.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:24 am
Save our Sonics is just being used as pawns at this point. If they wanted to get things done they wouldn’t have sold us out. They don’t think our votes mattered or we would still have a team.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:24 am
Dear Softy,
Here are the next steps:
- register to vote
- boycott Starbucks
- Tell the world to boycott Starbucks
- vote Rossi in Nov.
- help candidate running against liar Nickels
- vote out liar Nickels and current clown city council
- Get building in order under Rossi and have Gorton sue NBA
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:26 am
The only way the SOS should be involved any farther is if Ballmer himself is on the other end of the phone asking for it.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:27 am
And for the record, I don’t want to sound bitter or mean, I am just as hurt as everyone else. I just feel the need to cleanse myself of the stuff I have around my house, like when you break up with a girl and chuck all her stuff from under your sink. I need closure and this is how I feel I would get that. I don’t want to get in a pissing contest on how my feelings would best be resolved. And its nothing against you, please have your opinion, and let me have mine. Thanks, Tim.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:29 am
“Kingdome, if you are insinuating that I am not a real Sonics fan, than you are sorely mistaken.”
No, I am saying you are acting like Greg Nickels today and are doing nothing more than shipping more memories and dreams to the thieves of cheat state.
OKC has took enough from us already. Donate to Seattle charity.
Dude, we have both been here throughout this entire ordeal, we have no reason to question each other’s fanhood. If you love this city, donate to this city.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:29 am
WST, I’ll but your Sonics stuff off of you if you want.
I can’t bear to see them going to OKC…. We’ve already lost too much to that place.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:30 am
The whole point is to have the gear on the homeless of OKC so all those f*ckers are reminded that the team was stolen and is tainted.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:30 am
Time to change the “Site that’s Saving the Sonics” banner on this site, Brian.
The Sonics are lost.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 am
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger guys. When we get a new team, it will make us cherish it more. We will all get over it sooner or later once our anger is gone. The Seattle Sonics will return to Seattle in the next few years. I know there is more that is being said at the press conference yesterday, matter of fact; I really believe that they are working behind the scenes with the new ownership group on scenarios on getting a team here. Remember we didn’t know until the day of, when the Sonics were sold to Bennett, we didn’t know the day of a settlement. These things are leaked out to the public for certain reasons.
Keep in mind of the following leases:
Hornets need to reach at least 15,700+ average though next year, otherwise there is a way they can break the NO Arena lease. This was Plan A about a year ago, now it’s not realistic.
Grizzlies owners have publicly stated that the team is for sale. No team publicly states they are for sale, even when they are for sale, al la Howard Schultz. The grizzlies have a buyout of their lease in 2009 or 2010 where 100 million gets you out of the lease.
Don’t think the new ownership group has not looked into these possibilities.
The big hurdle is again the government, and if we can get an arena done like everyone says.
I agree with Brian, we need SOS to keep watch over them; to make sure that they do what’s needed to get the new team here.
Remain optimistic, you will live longer and happier if you have something to look forward to…
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:32 am
I think the city and Nickels made the right decisions. This morning on KJR Mitch called in from vacation and did a good job pointing out that Bennett would have absorbed all the loses and left after 2 years. The settlement was our best shot at keeping or getting the NBA in Seattle.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:32 am
“The Site that’s Saving the Spirit of the Sonics!”
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:32 am
As much as I want to quit watching the NBA, I honestly don’t know if I can quit it. Basketball as a game is just in my blood. It’s hard to quit something that runs deeply in you. I want to walk away, I just don’t know if I have the resolve.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:34 am
Matt,
That’s stupid. They are well aware they stole the team. How about we show the rat bastards in local govt. that people up here cared?
Don’t send the thieves in OKC any more of our memories! They have stolen enough!
How about donating to every NBA city’s charity, so fans everywhere remember?
There are way better ways to express your point than further rewarding the thieves in OKC. Again, they have taken more than enough from us already.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:36 am
I missed softys rant, stupid job getting in the way! I hope he podcast it, he has always been the biggest Sonics fan and Seattle homer on KJR. I bet I would have cried (again)
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:36 am
From Truehoop:
TrueHoop reader Tom e-mails: “I would like all NBA fans, no matter who their team is, to let the owners know that this was a bad decision. Yes, Stern is very much to blame, and Bennett’s actions are beyond reprehensible. But the owners all voted for this as well, except Paul Allen and Mark Cuban. I find this unbelievable. The entire league should be held accountable for this. So here is how you do it. Don’t go see the Oklahoma City whatevers when they come to your home town. Don’t watch their games on TV. Simple as that. I’m sure they will do well in OKC, at least short term. But they should not even exist anywhere else. No all star votes. No TV ratings. No visiting gate reciepts. No jersey sales outside of OK. Im serious, just boycott them, at least until Seattle has a team again. This would make the owners seriously think twice about approving the unjust move next time. Look, I agree this is not a city vs city thing. The reason it comes off that way though is that everyone seems to think this is a bad business decision. I know the people of OKC don’t want to hear it but Seattle is simply a bigger market, with a much bigger pull, including a huge chunk of the Northest U.S., Canada and some of Asia. That being the case, it seems very unlikely that a team from Oklahoma makes a ton of outside revenue. And yet, the owners approved it anyway? Why? The best explanations seem to be that the owners did it to preserve their own freedom to move when they want. Again, I understand this. After all, why wouldn’t they all return the favor? What are the repurcussions for them? The only way there could be consequences is if fans of other teams hold their own owners accountable. And although I am a Blazers fan, and I know Paul voted no, this counts for my team as well. Ignore them. Completely.”
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:38 am
Private Private Private! We better learn our lesson on this.
First - screw the politicians. We don’t need them and we better never trust them. SOS should be pissed.
Second - don’t make the same mistake twice. Why would be be talking about building an NBA only facility again? Fool me once …
Time to get the B2 project at the forefront and do it somewhere outside the city of Seattle.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:38 am
I was on a plane last night when everything broke, so I’m trying to catch up a little. Where has Schultz or his attorney said that they won’t attempt to get a preliminary injunction?
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:39 am
No ill will to OK city folks. Maybe just a gentle snow-like drift of shit flakes that land on the tongues of everyone who is happy in OK today. Is that polite enough for you thieving scum-bags(bosley, etc.)
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:40 am
How are rewarding the thieves by donating to the homeless in OK city? I have no problem with this, and if West Seattle Tim, myself, and others feel like this is something we want to do, don’t criticize us for it. If you disagree, donate locally, or wherever you feel fit, but don’t criticize something that will only benefit the homeless, and not the thieves who stole our team.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:40 am
Munson says it here:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=080702munsononsonicsmoveQA
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:41 am
Also, the city and Nickels made a terrible decision. The settlement is awful! The Sonics are worth $180,000,000 a year to this area. Basically our net in the deal is (-$315,000,000). How the heck is that a good deal?
The only way we get an NBA team was to bargain, save the Sonics, or steal another city’s team. Nickels and company are so dumb that they just wiped away 2 of the three only leaving thievery as the way to get a franchise.
They messed up big time.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:42 am
Rachit -
I know you’re trying to life spirits, but that Schultz suit will not see the courtroom.
And if it does, it won’t get the team back.
I’ve enjoyed reading what Munson has written over the past couple of months, but at this point, Munson is just enjoying the appearance fees from KJR and other Seattle media.
Seriously, the Schultz case won’t see the courtroom.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:43 am
Blame can be put wherever any of you would like to place it. I respect all opinions here.
But at the end of the day I refuse to put one ounce of blame on anyone other than David Stern. No question in my mind. He totally and unequivically facillitated this whole debacle from start to finish. All he had to do was support us fans and he absolutely turned his back on the people that helped make his league.
F^CK DAVID STERN AND MAY HE GET HIS JUST DESSERTS!
F^CK DAVID STERN
F^CK DAVID STERN
F^CK DAVID STERN
I’m sensing a horrific event soon in his life. Karma will get him big time.
I hate him as much than anything on the face of this earth. Including all terrorists.! He is a terrorist. IMO. He stripped me of part of my culture! He is a greedy lying predatory capitalist, IMO. Whatever there is that is bad in this world David Stern exemplifies. THIS IS ALL HIS FAULT!
Hey David keep bragging about YOUR league in which 12 out of 30 teams make money. NICE F^CKING MODEL YOU HAVE FORMED!!!!!Irreversible damage to the league is more like it.
Atleast it was only a 20 win team going nowhere that we lost, with PJ as coach. That softens the blow for me. Stern is even woven his way into the now stained fabric of the team.
All that said, I will embrace another Sonic team, no doubt. It’s in my blood as a sports purist.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:43 am
James,
They stole enough of our memories. Donate your gear elsewhere. OKC has taken more than enough from us already.
All you folks are doing is pissing off other Sonics fans with your efforts. If you want to remind people of Seattle’s NBA legacy, there are better ways.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:43 am
They aren’t seeking an injunction due to the fact they have no lease for them to play in Seattle thanks to our Mayor and his decision to accept a buyout. His hope his they play one season in OK city before they are returned to Seattle.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:45 am
If Schultz gives a rip about his civic integrity, he better keep up the suit.
Also, Softy, you are wrong. If Schultz act’s like Clay did, he can get his team back. Why has this area become so p—y?
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:45 am
Hey Kingdome. STFU. You are wrong and are in the minority with your BS. Stop.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:46 am
Kingdome, I see your point. I too am torn between donating my stuff at all, and where to donate it to. My opinion is that by sending it to OKC, it lets Stern know we don’t need him, he needs us. He needs to come up with a good reason we should want the NBA in Seattle instead of us just waiting and hoping the screw us again. I think it would give me some sense of empowerment to send stuff to the city that stole my team, as if I am telling them “keep it, I have no use for it anymore”. And I think it would serve as a reminder that people in Seattle care more about their homeless situatiuon than they do. They are spending money on an arena they can’t afford for a team they may or may not be able to support long term instead of helping their own. And trust me, their economy is way worse than ours. And I want them to have a reminder of where their team originated from. Sending the stuff to other NBA cities won’t have the impact that it would in OKC. And again, donating it locally would be like seeing your exgirlfreind everywhere you go. I want her as far away as possible. Think of it as sending a picture of you and your exgirlfreind to her new boyfriend. He will always be reminded he is sloppy seconds.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:47 am
….specifically, you are wrong about the charity stuff.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:48 am
Or Schultz better be deal making with midget meglomaniac Stern to get expansion Sonics.
Schultz started this mess, he needs to be in the forefront of cleaning this mess up.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:48 am
Well I respectfully disagree Kingdome. I can remind people of Seattle’s legacy in other ways. I’m capable of doing that in addition to donating my gear to the homeless in OK city.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:48 am
“Don’t go see the Oklahoma City whatevers when they come to your home town. Don’t watch their games on TV. Simple as that. I’m sure they will do well in OKC, at least short term. But they should not even exist anywhere else. No all star votes. No TV ratings. No visiting gate reciepts. No jersey sales outside of OK. Im serious, just boycott them, at least until Seattle has a team again. This would make the owners seriously think twice about approving the unjust move next time. ”
Thank You.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
“He will always be reminded he is sloppy seconds.”
Yes! This is what I’m talking about.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
Honestly, some of my focus has shifted to Sacramento. I would prefer people from the SOS group to shift focus from trying to Save the Sonics to become a group that explains to citizens from other cities who are being asked to fund Arenas just exactly what they are getting themselves into.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 am
Re: Matt’s comments on Mitch this morning –
Bennett may have been able to weather the losses for two years, sure — but to what end? The reason that Bennett was so hell bent on keeping *this* team comes down to Durant and, to a lesser extent, all the draft picks. If he had been forced to stay here for two more years, his chances of holding on to Durant for the long term would have been reduced to almost nothing. Durant would have had three years in Seattle and no connection to OKC as his rookie contract was expiring. Given that, it seems rather unlikely that he’d voluntarily remain OKC longterm, even if the franchise relocated there — if there was no team to stick with in Seattle, he’d just sign someplace else. Now, Bennett has some chance of trying to convince Durant to stick in OKC longterm because he’ll have 2-3 years to sell him on it.
And that’s what really sucks about all of this. All we had to do was find some way to make the team stick around through 2010 and Bennett would have cracked. Yes, he would have insisted on having a team, but IMO he would have been much more likely to accept some other team at that point. It would have been worth losing the settlement money to see if Judge Pechman would have given us that opportunity.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 am
in 18 months, we will know if there will be a team in Seattle…
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 am
WST,
Donate to Manhattan, NY, & NJ area charities so Stern himself can be reminded about his shady dealings each time he is shuttled in his limo to the airport.
OKC has took enough from us. Donate to Chicago, Miami, Houston, DC, Philly, Boston, Detroit, Cleveland, Dallas, Minneapolis, Denver, Oakland, Portland, Toronto, etc. But no OKC. They have stolen away too many of our memories already.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:53 am
we can’t rely on Schultz. His case doesn’t even start until spring of 2009 and we need an arena done by the end of 2009 or no team. That’s what Stern said (and i believe whole heartedly he took Schultz’s case into account when he said that). so if we wait until Schultz’s case is over, we would have passed the time frame to get an arena done and then if Schultz should lose, the best we could hope for is a renovated Key and 30 million bucks. But no one to occupy it. we need an arena now. once that’s in place, then we worry about Schultz.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:55 am
I am not a bad person. But in this moment, I find myself wishing that the Referee Scandal come out to be true, that the fixing of games comes out to be true, that Stern’s inside dealings to get the Sonics to OK are revealed, that Stern is disgraced and exposed as the dealer that he is, and that there is a new Commisioner….
*sigh*
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:55 am
this is a sad day for me personally..my first ever nba game was in 1989 at msg knicks and sonics..I sat courtside right near the sonics bench and I remember asking my dad when I was going to see a dunk just as I saw that kemp walks by and wink and said watch..within the next couple plays he throw down a reverse dunk..I instantly became a sonics fan! it was hard to follow them being from new york but my dad would take my brother and I every time they would play the knicks or nets even drive the hour to philly to see them. I would watch espn just to see the highlight of there games. and when they played on nbc back in the day it was like christmas for me. when I was old enough to come to seattle and watch them play at the key areana I tear up because it was a life long dream to watch my favorite team play live at the key. so with the announcement of them leaving a cried cause it was like a part of me apart of my childhood died yesterday..sad sad day
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:55 am
James,
Why do you want to piss off fellow Sonics fans and give thieiving OKC more of our memories? OKC is a big player in the loss of our team. Rewarding them is just kicking me and other Sonics fans in the nuts more. Please stop. Donate your gear to a NYC charity so Stern can see more Seattle Supersonics gear.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:56 am
Maybe they can call the team the OK “SwiftBoaters”!
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:56 am
I want Nickels to feel our wrath….we need to take our anger and rally at city hall. We can’t just sit back and let Mayor Gridlock get away with this……I’m feeling helpless and pissed off and want to inflict my pain on those responsible…
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:57 am
I like the idea of NY & NJ Kingdome, but this also makes me realize that no matter wear the gear ends up will anybody really care? At the end of the day, it’s not what other people think if they see Sonics gear, it’s what makes us feel better by donating it wherever it may be.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:59 am
I do understand your point of view Kingdome, you have made me think twice about it.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:00 am
We need a new thread.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:00 am
I care. I do not want OKC to get anything more from us. Don’t kick me and other Sonics fans in the balls more. I think sending it to all NBA cities sans Tornado Trailer Park, will keep the memories of the Seattle Sonics alive and remind other fans of our NBA legacy. OKC will never forget, so why give them more?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:02 am
Re: Munson on preliminary injunction — does anyone know where Munson got his information regarding Schultz not going after a preliminary injunction? Is there a quote from either Schultz or Yarmuth on this?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:02 am
Oklahoma City “Boo Hoo’s”
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:04 am
Here is where I get confused…so a new team won’t be around for 5 or more years. Why not keep the Sonics in town for the next two years so that there are only three years of no basketball?
Are we honestly going to believe that if say Memphis became available and Ballmer offered the most $$$ that the team wouldn’t move to Seattle if they had kept the Sonics here?
Nothing changes if the Sonics stay here…if a new team becomes available the team will be sold to the highest bidder…if Ballmer is the highest bidder he will get the team. This would’ve happened NO MATTER WHAT
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:04 am
Kingdome, I thought of that as well. I would love to have it in NYC, let Stern see Sonics stuff all over. I am afraid with the number of people in NYC and the limited amount of clothing we would have, it would dilute my intended message.
I just got off the phone with the director of the Salvation Army Rehab center in OKC, and he was excited about the potential large donation. Incidently, the cenetr is 2.5 miles from the Ford Center, and the clothing would go directly to the men at the shelter.
I understand your point, I just don’t agree with it. Pending someone else coming up with a better idea, I am planning on going through with this, sorry you feel I am counterproductive.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:05 am
I see your point Kingdome, like I said, your point of view has made me think twice about doing this. I’m just really crushed knowing the Sonics are gone, and am seeking ways to mourn the loss.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 am
On a brighter note:
Seattle productivity in the winter will rise since we all are going to have a lot more free time during the nba season. That way, we can pay more in federal tax that can go to prop up a little republican sh*thole state in the dustbowl, a state like, say, Oklahoma! OK, you have been leeching and stealing since you began! If not for the insane system where a state like yours gets two senators in the US congress, you would have nothing! Eat sh*t, Clay and anybody with him. To anyone who happens to have a brain in OK, come on out to Seattle, we’ll take you. Peace.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:08 am
Brian and Steve,
You two are heroes and you in some way will be raised to the rafters along with GP’s jersey. Your efforts(and ours) were not in vain. Our goals and hopes are not dead. We are like Jason from “Friday the Thirteenth”. We all may take(and need) a short sabbatical(especially you), but we’ll be back to finish what was started. Gregoire, Kessler, Chopp, Nickles, and Licata etc. had better sleep with one eye open.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:09 am
“I think the city and Nickels made the right decisions. This morning on KJR Mitch called in from vacation and did a good job pointing out that Bennett would have absorbed all the loses and left after 2 years. The settlement was our best shot at keeping or getting the NBA in Seattle. ”
You know what I respect your opinion but I completely disagree. How do we know the settlement was the best shot? What if we would have won the lawsuit we would have had even more leverage and could have still settled but maybe get a guarantee of a team at that point. Even if all we got was 2 more years to say goodbye and then he left that would satisfy me much more then this settlement of MAYBE well get another team SOMEDAY. This is a total loss and nothing less.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:11 am
I’m curious…does anyone think they’ll root for the OKC Whatevers? I hope they win 16 games and KD tears his ACL, but I’d be interested to know if anyone plans to attempt a long distance relationship.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:12 am
I think it sucks that we get MLS next year giving me three options for summer/fall sports and zero options for winter sports. I hate you David Stern. But I guess I should be happy that I save $2k a year in season ticket costs and can use that money to take a trip somewhere warm and spend it there. Contrary to legislators opinion I will spend it in Seattle, I think more people will take trips out of town and spend it there. Nice work a-holes, you have ruined my favorite sport forever.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:12 am
Here is an idea.
The lying mayor wants us to rally around him to get an arena deal done in Olympia. I have a better idea. Instead of allocating that $75,000,000 to a Key Arena remodel, let that money be allowed to go to any King County location. Let Bellevue, Kent, Renton, and other locales join the competition. For one, I will not support lying mayor Nickels in Olympia, I plan on working against him because of what happened yestorday. Last time I checked $360,000,000 is more than being -$315,000,000 in the hole, plus losing best bargaining chip. Nickles got no gurantee and did not save our history. He is a joke and failed. If you want my support, opening up the bidding to other King County cities.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:13 am
I do believe Clay was willing to bleed money for 2 more years and walk away with the Sonics at that time. But I think our best shot at keeping this team, or another team was to hold onto them for the 2 years. I would have felt better having 2 years to say goodbye, other than it just ending abruptly the way it did.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 am
I am emotionally drained currently. I am numb to this unexpected news and I have been busy watching my 85 year old dad lay in a hospital bed as his life slips slowly away.
I may feel differently later but I know Sonic Fans are being laughed at, and we used to be the town that prevented relocation of the NFL and MLB. Greg Nickels looked our leaders squarely in the eye and said we will not settle, the team will be back next year, we are going to keep fighting. So I feel very stupid that I fell for it. I also think as time goes by, Governor Gregiore and Frank Chopp will survive and stay in office for many years, which adds more rage in my heart.
I do not know what to do. Is Balmer a good guy? I suppose so. I was focused on having a great NBA season this fall, to attend several games and yell like hell, and today that is gone. I was not worried about the consequenses of “letting them bleed” and “scorched earth,” and that’s why I was involved. Right now, I don’t even like the Seahawks. I am wondering if I should relocated my family to another area and forget 41 years of pure passion and devotion.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 am
Hector - per the Schultz suit and an injuction - where would the team play? Our backstabbing politicians terminated the lease.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:17 am
Sam, West Seattle,
Guys, come on. Nobody has ruined our favorite sport. Give me a break. Let’s be more constructive here.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:17 am
“I have a better idea. Instead of allocating that $75,000,000 to a Key Arena remodel, let that money be allowed to go to any King County location.”
Why would Seattle give the money, awarded to it in the settlement of its suit against the Sonics, to an arena outside of Seattle? And remember that $30 million of that $75 million is specifically for KeyArena.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:18 am
5vs8,
Pproductivity will decline for me without a team because now I have to spend so much time fighting for new team and fighting to throw the bums; Nickels, your boss Gregoire, and the clown city council out of office.
You need to vote Rossi too.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:18 am
Kingdome, the problem with your plan is that Ballmer and Co. won’t invest 150 million into anything but KeyArena. So you would have to come up with 300 million instead of 75.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 am
“As much as I want to quit watching the NBA, I honestly don’t know if I can quit it. Basketball as a game is just in my blood. It’s hard to quit something that runs deeply in you. I want to walk away, I just don’t know if I have the resolve.”
Wait until you see Durant in Oklahoma Barons gear, and OKC scores on the crawl instead of SEA. Then tell me how much you want to watch the NBA.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 am
Thank you Brian and the gang for all your work. Even though we didn’t get what we wanted, but we got UNITED. I wish we can give you something for all you have done.
I think we should put banners on bridge and overpass to vote out those useless politians. As long as they are here, there’s no way NBA will return here.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 am
Sam, I won’t be able to bring myslef to watch them. I want KD to do well, in the 1 year he played here, he made me a fan of his, more so than Rashard ever did. But I won’t watch their games, and I will hope that they stink and no ones goes to see them play. I hope the economy in OKC continues to slump and they stop spending their money on sports and the Whatevers are the worst financialy postioned team in the NBA. I hope the owners enjoy revenue sharing when they have more fan apathy in OKC than Atlanta. Only than will I feel vindicated in this mess. Anyone want to support the CBA? The Yakama Sun Kings are for sale. I would rather support that than the NBA right now.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 am
The shultz case which has legs, can still be used to leveage the nba for that guarantee of a expansion team. The shultz case and a pissed off gorten, is a threat to the nba. I say lets bring down the NBA cause them pain. Lets see what under the curtain Mr stern! then all and powerfull OZ needs to be brought down. There no f^cking place like home.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 am
I can’t think of any true Sonics fan still supporting them in OK city. I’d be shocked!
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 am
We should start up an NHL/NBA to Seattle fansite. Let’s work up a frenzy and get our growing, competing Puget Sound area cities to join the fray and work towards an arena solution for this area that will be viable for both the Sonics and an NHL franchise.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:23 am
“I hope they win 16 games and KD tears his ACL, but I’d be interested to know if anyone plans to attempt a long distance relationship.”
Were all upset but why on earth would you wish bad upon the players? Thats sad. They dont have a choice in this and to wish a potential superstar to twar his ACL…wow.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:24 am
I would love to see that Kingdome…perhaps in Bellvue, Renton, just not at Key Arena. The Mayor should not be vindicated for his sellout!
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:24 am
Kingdome, the problem with your plan is that Ballmer and Co. won’t invest 150 million into anything but KeyArena. So you would have to come up with 300 million instead of 75.
TB, they could make more $ if they built their own arena. Giving them $75,000,000 could probably be enough to seal the deal. I bet we hear of quite a few private arena efforts in the next few years if mayor liar’s pipedream fails, which it likely will.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:25 am
James said: “I can’t think of any true Sonics fan still supporting them in OK city. I’d be shocked!”
So in the end you’re saying in order to be a sonics fan I have to be a fan of the owner and not the players that make the team?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 am
So are you saying you are going to support the OK Twisters or whatever they name themselves?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:30 am
Kingdome, we don’t have a few years. We have 18 months if we want a new team.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
I’m not sure if I’m rooting for the former sonics players (Durant, Green, Westbrook, Collison and all) or the Blazers which my friend is pussing me towards… he’s from Oregon. It sucks losing the team, but neither of my football or baseball teams are locals either. I don’t like seattle and this is just one more reason.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
41 years of devoted passion GONE! 41 years of a cities history GONE! 41 years of ups and downs GONE! Legends,playoff teams, A CHAMPIONSHIP, a series against Jordan,DURANT, its all GONE!
Its all starting to sink in now and its bringing tears to my eyes and Im not ashamed to admit it. This sucks!
How could the city betray us so bad? How can the NBA betray us so bad? When I ask us I am talking about the FAN. How can we be treated like this?
I don’t know how I will feel in a couple of weeks or a couple of years, but right now, there is no way I can accept another team. It feels like my dog died yesterday. I am truly ready to never pay attention to the NBA EVER AGAIN! How could you take another team knowing that we just lost our team after 41 years? How do you put your heart and soul into another team with full confidence that they will never leave? GO HUSKIES
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
Well it’s getting obvious that the words on the front of the jersey’s mean nothing. Might as well find some players you like and root for them….if anything.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:32 am
T-
If I had to chose between KD leading the OKC Barons to the playoffs and KD tearing his ACL, I would pick the latter. If that makes me a horrible person, so be it. KD’s not even 20 years old and he’s a multi-millionaire; don’t feel too bad for him.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:32 am
For all you OKC people reading/posting. Come on understand a little - its like losing your wife and having her new boyfriend come over to talk to you and say stuff like “I will take good care of her”. It doesn’t help… right now it makes it worse.
I doubt the people of seattle wish harm on OKC (other than on Bennet and the other new owners) but people are venting/grieving etc. Leave us alone - you can say you feel bad about the way you got the team but in the end you are celebrating and you voted to support the lieing cheating bastard Clay.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:32 am
*choose
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
Kingdome, you start an NHL to Seattle group and count me in. I would love to have the NHL, and we can start a new I-5 rivalry, us and Vancouver.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 am
Ya please don’t wish ill will on Durant. He could have been a true hero in Seattle and has been behind the fans the whole time. Wish him to leave OKC, don’t wish injuries, thats f’d up man
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 am
TB,
Our only prayer is if Stern works with us in those 18 months. Do you think that will happen? Maybe we should start a kiss David Stern’s blueberriers website, and beg for his help in the next 18 months. He got Charlotte an expansion team.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:35 am
My biggest disgust and hatred for this is knowing that the enemies won and that the lying thieves can just pay their way arond thier problems. David Stern and Bennett are lying scoundrels that got away with the biggest heist in the last 20 years, and their morals go against everything I stand for.
I love the Supes, but for now my hatred for the ethics of David Stern and Bennett supercedes any feeling I have right now.
Honestly, I wish nothing but the worst on both of them and I can’t wait for Durant to sign else where in 2 years.
It makes me sick to watch Sportscenter and see that on a national level they really don’t care. Of course they don’t care because if everyone felt our pain they would realize that their show, and network, and their jobs would be irrelevant.
So they sweep it under the rug (just like Stern wants) to pretend it didn’t happen just so they can keep selling everyone to LOVE their favorite team. I woke up this morning turned on Sportscenter, and had this eerie feeling that honestly, none of this matters anymore, because my loyalty means NOTHING to anyone who has the power to make decisions. And of course they aren’t going to go to great depths to feel sorry for us because if they do, and other viewers realize it, then ultimately that hurts them.
This (Blank) -ing sucks.
What else can you say.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:35 am
we need an arena now. whether it be the key or something new, i don’t care but we need an arena. that’s the only way we’ll see the nba again. it’ll help in every sense, even in Howard’s case.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:36 am
Sad day indeed - hope to say someday that I will be a fan of the NBA product again. Don’t know if/when that day will ever come. Certainly doesn’t look like a possiblilty now.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:36 am
Honestly, I cannot get behind a cause involving the NBA until Stern dies or is forced out of office. That guy represents all that is wrong with corporate America….and there is plenty wrong.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:37 am
I made True Hoop:
UPDATE: E-mail from TrueHoop reader Michael: “One of the saddest parts of this whole situation is that the innocence of sports has been lost on me. Going forward I will never be able to support another team (of any sport) with the dedication I once did. What I want is the perspective of a fan from another city. Doesn’t this also force you to question your allegiance to your team? Portland is just down the road from Seattle. If things fall apart and they stop drawing are you really confident that Paul Allen won’t leave for greener pastures … and even worse that David Stern won’t stop them? This story will slowly fade away … but the fact that this hasn’t impacted how people feel about their NBA teams makes me feel bad for the next group of fans that have had their head in the sand.”
- Henry didn’t address the real question I asked him, which was:
I am a Seattle native…why should I support the NBA now? If the answer to that question is: “You Shouldn’t” then why should any fan support the NBA?
I really hope that some sort of writer tackles that question…because I’d really like to see their justification.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:37 am
it’s an easier sell to the legislature now.
“Even if we don’t get a team, we get 30 million bucks! as long we renovate the Key, we’re guaranteed to get something!”
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 am
So in the end you’re saying in order to be a sonics fan I have to be a fan of the owner and not the players that make the team?
- Actually no…you are rooting for laundry. You don’t need to be a fan of the owner and you shouldn’t be a fan of the players. Considering all the players will be playing for other teams in 5 years that isn’t really a reason to support the team.
At this point…Im really questioning what the point of being a sports fan at all??
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:41 am
“Wish him to leave OKC, don’t wish injuries, thats f’d up man”
Exactly. I will at least get satisfaction if/when KD Jeff Green and anyone else on this team for that matter leaves Oklahoma.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
“Commissioner David Stern sent the city a warning Wednesday, saying officials have less than 18 months to come up with a funding plan for a KeyArena renovation if there’s hope of an NBA return within five years.”
In other words: we are not getting another team.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
can anybody tell me if it true that the sonics are sharing our history with okc?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
I understand Bigsmooth about not wanting to get involved with the NBA, I feel the same way. But it’s the game I can’t quit, I love the game. I wish Stern wasn’t the guy leading the NBA, but he is, and I don’t know how to quit the game I love over my hatred for this man.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:43 am
MYK at 10:01 - I agree - well said.
Rock at 9:35… We just differ on how we view planning now to take another cities team. I understand there can be all kinds of variables and some cities can fail to support a team - but this Seattle situation in living proof that some can support a team well and get manipulated and abandoned by the NBA.
For me - to embrace a vision now that fundamentally depends on hoping for and planning for the opportunity to take another cities team - and putting another communites fan base through anything close to what we have had to endure… that for me is hypociritcal and distasteful. I don’t want any part of it. It contradicts many of the principles SOS has been championing IMO.
BR & each of us will have to decide — can I really support something that is expecting and hoping to do to another city what clay & Stern did to us?
Sorry - not me.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:44 am
30 million is laughable. In the world these guys live in, 30 million is nothing. Gov’ts and big oil business men talk billions. 30 million isn’t incentive for much. As inefficiently as most local governments handle their business, that 30 million will most likely be burnt on studies and questionnaires about how to use it rather than actually DOING SOMETHING. It’s an old tired joke, this whole situation.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:44 am
can anybody tell me if it true that the sonics are sharing our history with okc?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:44 am
Myk, I guess I don’t agree with you. If you weren’t cheering for the players what were you cheering for?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 am
I am an avid reader of this blog, will continue to do so. I hope everyone just doesn’t check out as the forum is entertaining and educational. I am grieving at this point, but also want to look forward as I still want a team named the Sonics to play in our town. The next big date is in November. We need to show those who did not contribute to the process, that we will elect someone who will.
On another note, I want to put a website together that will state everyone up for election in the fall on their past Sonics postion and if they will support legislation on rebuilding the key in the first session or even cosponsor a bill. I know we are grieving but the more I think of this, the more that I want move of the Sonics to have influence in the future and who we elect. Anyone think that is a good or bad idea? Or is this something that might have already been thoguth of?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 am
Ok I am in Newark getting ready to fly back to Sea Tac. Three things. I said last night I will no longer post and that I have moved on. Two I need to vent one last time. Three, A strong backlash message must be sent.
No building will be built on the Eastside. Mr. Ballmer does not want to add to the congestion and frankly it probably does not need to be built on the eastside.
I was eleven when the pilots turned right and went to Milwaukee. I was a kid who thought that our city meant something and that the Pilots were our team. My consolation was the Sonics. That summer they rookies practiced at Lincoln High School and we got to play with Leaping Lee Winfield and Lucius Allen. I was hooked. I had season tickets after they won the championship in the Kingdome. They had heart and were distinctly Seattle. I have met many, many of the players over the years and one think always stuck with me. Many of the players stayed here. Why was that. Its the same reason most of us stay and live here.
Its not the politicians. We hire these folks we should fire them because we can. I argued with several of you two days ago about the bad drafts the Sonics have had and I simply said they don’t know how to draft. The players we have are bad. Our politicians are horrible. They will only do something when the have to they have no vision, no integrity, no accoutability and they are dishonest. So how do we reward them. We evidently re-elect them. We need to fire each and every one of them on this one issue alone. If all of us were serious we could turn over this group and get the extension of the taxes in the second week of November. Its that simple. Start a campaign to get an extension. Get every candidate (not an incumbent) to committ to voting for it in the very first day of the session. Anything other than that simple issue is nothing. VOTE THEM OUT. THey are sellouts, Liars and Theives. EACH AND EVERY INCUMBENT. OUT. We don’t care about cell phones while driving or performance audits that you don’t authorize or camping fees. THis one ISSUE. THIS ALONE.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 am
“Even if we don’t get a team, we get 30 million bucks! as long we renovate the Key, we’re guaranteed to get something!”
- This is what I don’t get…so lets spend $300 million to get $30 million? The City is never going to see that $30 million…never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:46 am
Jay,
They are sharnig the history. And if we don’t get a team here in 5 years, they get to keep the history all to themselves. For now they are making “replica banners and trophies”
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:46 am
Good Steve Kelly article
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/stevekelley/2008031298_kelley03.html
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:48 am
OKC folks,
Go away. You stole our team, you folks are terrible. Go start up a Tornado Trailer Park Lying Thieves website and leave us victims of your assault alone.
You killed my second father. I can’t wish you city anything but the worst.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:48 am
“At this point…Im really questioning what the point of being a sports fan at all??”
I’m in the same boat, man. Basically, I’ll follow for pure entertainment, nothing more. No attachment, no emotion. It’s better than watching network TV nowadays I guess. Hell, it’s a near guarantee that the Seahawks and M’s will be through this mess again in 15 years. So much wasted time.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:49 am
“I would say so, but then I’m a little emotional right now,” said Damien Wilkins, who has played his entire four-year NBA career with the Sonics. “I’m really, really mad. I’m disappointed for the city of Seattle. I’m disappointed for the fans and the people that supported us for the last 41 years.”-Damien Wilkins
“I’m a little shocked and a little disappointed,” he said. “First of all, I didn’t know we would be leaving Seattle this soon. I feel for the fans in Seattle.
“Even though it wasn’t a great year for our team, they always supported us. I feel for the fans. Me and my family made Seattle our new home, and it’s going to be tough getting up and moving.”-Kevin Durant
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:50 am
Go Away. For today, just F*** Off from this site!
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:50 am
nice post Myk. I feel the same, that I can’t allow myself to get too involved with a team like I did with the Sonics. I bought season tickets to the Sounders FC, but at this point i think I will remain a viewer of sport, but not a fan. I can’t be tossed aside like we were yesterday and come back for more. The whole thing makes me sick, and stupid, for allowing this to be such a big part of my life. Its men running around, tossing a ball in a hole. Why should I get so worked up over it when the owners can just take it away on a whim? Why do I care so much? It would be so much easier to not care, to be a Frank Chopp type, hate sports and think anyone who follows them are idiots. But I can’t, I love to follow sports, but I will have a tough time EVER watching the NBA without feeling bitter and angry. I don’t know how Browns fans came back for more. It just seems so pointless, to allow people to spend money, time, and emoption on something that they take away without any remorse. And why do we continue to do it? Why do we let these people sell us something, get us hooked and than take it from us. Drug dealers have more ethics, at least they are up front about their product, and they never want to take it away from you once your hooked. I hate this, and I hate the NBA.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:51 am
I meant that for DJ.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:51 am
Myk, exactly you are right on.
Why does it matter if we are sports fans at all if any determined rich guy can swoop in and buy any team and move them.
If we can’t get a new team, my biggest fream is that someone buys the New York Knicks or the Boston Celtics and moves them to South Anchorage, just as an eff you to the league.
It is tough to rally around something that can be taken away by unethical people.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:52 am
I can, and in fact did in a post above. Per the agreement, the OKC team will keep, but not use the history and colors, etc. When and if Seattle gets a team, the team will transfer ownership interests of that back to the new Seattle team. In other words, we’re not sharing it, but we are keeping it in abeyance, safe keeping if you will, until the NBA returns to Seattle.
“Sharing the History” etc. is not exactly accurate, and you needn’t fear any safe-keeping status of this part of the agreement.
If you dont have any history worth celebrating, buy another cities!
Coming to the NBA 2008. Clay raises his replica Seattle Championship banner to the rafters.
What a joke.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:54 am
BTW, don’t feel bad about stealing the Hornets or Grizzlies away, they were stolen too. With the Grizzlies, you could make the case we are stealing them back.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:56 am
DJ,
Quit kicking us in the nuts. The loss of the Sonics is like the loss of a close loved one. GO AWAY AND LEAVE US ALONE! You thieving, cheating Okies won, GO AWAY!
I wish your pathetic, small —- city the worst.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:56 am
Myk, I guess I don’t agree with you. If you weren’t cheering for the players what were you cheering for?
I will be honest and say that I have thought about this way more than I should.
In the 21st Century we do not cheer for the players and we do not cheer for the owner. We cheer for a team because it allows us to be part of a group within our society. Humans have a desire to be apart of larger groups of people who are like themselves. Since we have the abilty for rationale thought we seek out other groups who think like us and then try to share experiences with these people because we understand that an experience is generally more intense when you shared with many.
This is the PRIMARY reason this blog even exists. We all might not like/agree with each other…but for better or for worse we are a family. We have all shared same experiences and we have the ability to sit back and talk about a particular Shawn Kemp dunk or how great Luke Ridnour has been the last two years.
If you don’t agree with that idea that is fine with me. However, I just cannot see the counterargument. If we cheered for the players why is that we always support the players who come to Seattle more strongly than the when they leave? Before Ray Allen was a Sonic I doubt one person in Seattle really cared about him…but then suddenly he is a Sonic and we think he is great? We think he is great because he helps contribute to the experience. He is just a puzzle piece to create the memories we are all sharing with one another.
This is why the NBA matters…and this is why the City should not have let it leave…and this is why I believe people like Apostle on the PI boards (or CVD and Licata) is truly horrible people. It is more than OK for him to not like sports and whatnot. I have just never understood why he didn’t have the cognative ability to understand how a pro sports team creates a sense of community.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:56 am
As far it being hard to being a sports fan, it truly is. Like Bigsmooth said, it’s not about the name on the front of the jersey. I’m better off being like the fans I despise. You know the ones, the ones that pose in their Red Sox jerseys, their Patriots jerseys, but know nothing about the city of Boston, or the New England area. I should just be like them, and be a bandwagon follower. You support your team through the highs and lows, all you do is get shit on in the end.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:59 am
Going to be hard to rally around or not be bitter about the NBA as long as Stern is on board or doesn’t admit that he was wrong.
I can’t be associated with him at this point.
How can anyone honestly wish good on Clay Bennett? He made quite the deal with the devil for this one, and I can’t wait to see what his payback is.
I’m going to enjoy watching him and Stern suffer whenever they do, because people with the ethics that they have deserve every second of it.
And you can add Schultz to that as well. It is amazing what greed will do to people.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
DJ, I don’t wish the worst on OKC, but Clay Bennett deserves to rott in hell. The guy has no morals / ethics.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I really will miss Kevin Durant.
No regrets for waiting in line to get his autograph, no regrets for byuing his jersey and shoes, no regrets to going to every home game (includnig paying my whole paycheck to sit in front row right behind his mother during his first home game) and seeing him acknowledge me when I yelled at him to take the game over, no regrets for buying 5 tickets to get 5 durant bobbleheads, no regrets when I flew to golden state to see his last game as a sonic, no regrets for being a sonic fan for 24 years.
I loved them, I don’t have a single regret. I would have done everything a hundred times over.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:01 pm
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sonics/2008031154_sonireax030.html
players are pissed
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Folks, sports is broken, but if it weren’t for Howie Schultz’s rash decision, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Now let’s work towards a solution. We need David Stern’s help. The NBA needs expansion $ because half of the league is struggling. Stern works for his owners and the day Schultz sold the team is the day Stern no longer was working for us at all.
We need to demand that Stern work with us and promise us an expansion franchise. The losers in Olympia used the team is already gone excuse. If there is promise of a team, then they will be forced to act.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
“One thing about Oklahomans…we won’t accept not playing for championships. ”
I got bad news for you then my friend. Your franchise is in no position to contend even for a division championship. On the bright side, you’ll get to see Greg Oden live twice a year.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Well then DJ, why is your owner making a duplicate trophy, and banners to go along with him? Thought you were buying a team with no history? The history is ours? Sounds like Clay bought half the history to share. Pathetic DJ.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
BTW, Hard not to root for Durant, the guy is going to be a stud and he has a resolve that makes you want to rally around him and root for.
But Bennett does not deserve to have the rights to him. I’m praying that Durant takes a stand and doesn’t resign in Oklahoma, he is too good for Clay.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
T, I completely agree with you on Sam K’s comment about HOPING THAT KEVIN DURANT TEARS HIS ACL NEXT YEAR. That is so totally inappropriate to wish harm to Durant who loves Seattle and bought a $2.8 Million home on Mercer Island and wanted to stay here and is really disappointed with this. He said he never thought that the Sonics would be leaving Seattle this early even if they did leave. Talk about misdirected and misguided anger.
I will not be able to give up my love for these players that have left the area through no fault of their own. I can’t stop loving my team, even though someone stole them from me. I will be very torn emotionally this coming year. I will probably follow the Blazers closer because of Brandon Roy and Nate McMillan and Jerryd Bayless - all guys I wanted Seattle to get or keep and Greg Oden who should be exciting - and the Paul Allen and Martell Webster connections help, too. Maybe we could make the Blazers a regional team and eventually play half the home games in Seattle and half in Portland. That would certainly be thinking outside the box.
Everyone will say no, but I don’t know why it couldn’t be done if the owner (A Seattle resident) wanted to do it. It’s a creative solution, but Portland would have to have motivation to do it - to lose half their home games. It would take some money and commitment. I have no idea if this would be possible at all, but I’d like to find out more about the feasability.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
DJ, you say you aren’t buying history but your scumbag owner is making replicas banners and championship trophies? Actions speak louder than words, Clay is using the history. If he didnt care, the rafters would be empty.
Buying an NBA championship is the closest an OKC team will ever get.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Trust me BoozeRob….no one in OKC is that enamored with the “history” of the sonics. One championship team in 41 years and a bunch of rather meaningless regularseason and first and second round playoff games are not anything Oklahoma sports fans are going to value. One thing about Oklahomans…we won’t accept not playing for championships. And if the team has a similar history here, the team may lose support. My point is we’re not buying a history because we don’t have one. We’re buying a team with no history so that we can build one here. Oklahoma football will be the precedent and the model for the mindset. We’ll see if it works. But the history will be yours.
- God…give me a break. What exactly possesses someone to take the time out of their day to try and interject their poorly constructed opinions to a group of people who don’t care what they have to say?
Should I float around the Internet and try and find some Molecular Biology blogs and try and tell them what to think and do? Or expect them to care what I think or do?
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Slade Gorton=willing to get things done.
Christine G. = Letter writer, Liar and fool.
P Murray=Letter writer, fool, stupid fool, not employable stupid fool and former legislator stupid fool.
M Cantwell = Letter writer, fool bought election, do nothing to stupid to be a liar fool.
Mayor of Seattle (will not type his name) = does not even have a college degree (not even from Evergreen State College), know nothing, is a Liar and a major (palyed us all like) Fool(s).
Fans = victims of hiring the incompetent bunch above because they seemed to be liberal enough to keep the nut jobs in Seattle happy.
Our mistake in hiring each of the above will be dealt with. Our friends Mr. Ballmer, Mr. Senegal, Mr. Stanton and Mr. Griffith. Do not listen to this bunch. Build your own building south of Safeco and walk from any meeting that is not related to this. Force the City to streamline a building through.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Myk said: We think he is great because he helps contribute to the experience.
That was my point. It’s the players that make the team and creates the experience.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
One thing about Oklahomans…we won’t accept not playing for championships. And if the team has a similar history here, the team may lose support.
- Ive already said this many times…Clay Bennett will be the Howard Schultz of OKC in 5 years. In 2013 he will be asking for a brand new state of the art Arena…and suddenly the OKC fans will realize what it is like to be an NBA fan.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Kyle I will root for Durant when he bolts for a major market, we all know he doesnt like clay to begin with.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:05 pm
“We’re buying a team with no history so that we can build one here.”
Uh, pardon me … but you didn’t buy a team with no history. That would be called an expansion team.
You bought a team with 41 years of history and an NBA championship in this market.
If this team had no history Bennett would not demand as part of the settlement the copying of banners, individual records, and the championship trophy to claim as his own. Yet he did, with the help of our City “leadership” - I use the term loosely.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I love how DJ says they don’t care about our history, but the damn owner wants to hang onto SEATTLE’S HISTORY to make his shiny new toy look better than it is!
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Yes, PLEASE emulate Oklahoma football.
LOSE big bowl games to underdog teams not given a chance in hell to beat.
That team will not be good in awhile. You better hope you can schmooze the everloving crap out of Kevin Durant because odds are he leaves. I don’t care HOW nice your town is, it’s chicken scratch as far as marketing goes. Durant’s star power has MUCH more cred in a bigger market. That’s the reality you have to face. Good luck with that.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I loved watching Kevin Durant, but I can’t root for the kid until he bolts out of OK city after his contract is up. Until then, he’s part of the poisoned well…sad, but true.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:10 pm
let the countdown begin.. 18 months
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I’m so angry right now I can’t even focus on work.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:11 pm
DJ, I don’t wish anything against you or the people of OKC, you are innocent by-standers in this just as we are.
It’s just that your state is represented by some rich prick who married into money, has no morals, no ethics, and only thinks of himself (So basically he has been given everything and takes advantage of everyone with what he was given…seems like a real winner to me). People with those traits don’t sit real well with me.
I agree it doens’t paint a very good picture, and if I was in your position I would be doing all I can to say that you do not agree with what Clay Bennett stands for.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Again if our history isnt stellar, than why does OKC need to hang our banners and display the trophy? Is clay going to cross Seattle off with marker and write OKC too? You’re pathetic DJ. Do us all a favor and vanish.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
DJ, you wondered why you have been asked to F*** Off from this site (by me; FWIW I have no authority whatsoever, and have been threatened with banning, myself) is because of crap like this:
no one in OKC is that enamored with the “history” of the sonics. One championship team in 41 years and a bunch of rather meaningless regularseason and first and second round playoff games are not anything
First your City-hole is stealing our team, AND history. Now you’re saying it doesn’t even matter. Since that’s the case, can you please remind Mrs. Bennett, and have her return the team please. Jerk.
BTW, F*** Off is just a rude way of saying GO AWAY. Not me personally wishing tornadoes on your Lame State.
So, again, f*** off. Please.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I don’t blame Steve for not being on this board right now since his “This is a win” soundbite, and I don’t want to jump on him for it either. I would just really like to hear his thoughts on that statement. I guess it could be as easy as the, “we just need to be on Herr Stern’s good graces to get basketball back,” argument. I just wonder if there was some more information we’re not hearing right now…
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
“As for replica trophies (Um….is there more than ONE?), etc., I haven’t seen that report, and I don’t know that it’s founded.”
Honest information does seem to be in short supply in your town.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Well–shall we attempt to clean up the poisoned well???????
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:14 pm
The Sonics hired PJ Calisimo as coach. Why do we need a lawsuit regarding good faith efforts. This was obviously a cruel joke (but just not obvious enought to be accused of such) to offend the fans and push them away. How do I know this. His record the worst (hard to do given some of our coachs Nisalke, Bob Hopkins, Westfall) in 41 years.
The Sonics fired Lenny. They insulted him and they embarrassed him and they paraded him to Olympia to legitmize a phony request for funding “the most expensive building in the NBA”.
They got rid of Ray Allen and Lewis. They hired a terrible play by play off of NPR on a station from Nathan Hale HS to broadcast games.
Now they are “sharing” our banners and trophy.
Sounds like a reach around to me.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:14 pm
DJ,
GO AWAY. Go start the Okie Moonshiners or Okies Prairie Fires message board and hang out with your cousins.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:14 pm
“As for replica trophies (Um….is there more than ONE?),”
one is more then you will ever have.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
BoozeRob, that is a good point.
I guess I just want to hope that someone in the world of professional sports can stand up for something.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
You won’t accept not playing for championships DJ? All you’ve had until now is college football. Sorry our history isn’t good enough for you. You are shallow to come here and complain about our lack of history, not enough championships, yada yada yada. Come back in 41 years, and see how many championships your small market NBA team has won. I’m betting on a big zero! If they are even there in 41 years!
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I hope nothing but the worst for this team in OKC and nothing but the worst for its OKC fans. F*ck off. Here’s hoping to complete and utter disaster for you and your newly stolen NBA franchise. F*CK YOU!
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:16 pm
That was my point. It’s the players that make the team and creates the experience.
- But there is nothing unique about the players. The players are all just moveable parts. We root for the team because they represent our collective memories.
Like I said if the players were the important part then it doesn’t make sense that we’d all be so supportive of players that only play in Seattle. We’d all just support our favorite player. I wouldn’t be a Sonics fan I’d be a Michael Jordan fan or a Chris Paul fan. It is entirely possible to be a fan of particular players…but it is never the same as being a fan of a particular team.
Were you as happy when Ray Allen (Gary Payton..wheover) won a title as you would’ve been if the Sonics had won a title…not even close. That is because you didn’t get to share that personal experience with your peers. You only got a small amount of personal satisfaction (really if any…). If the players were important then there would’ve been a big rally the day after the championship to support Ray Allen and we would’ve all been happy…we weren’t
Therefore, i stand by my stance that we support our sports teams to be apart of a larger community group…not because of the players.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:16 pm
DJ coming in here and trying to equate NBA basketball with College football kind of illistrates why “The Oklahoma Robber Barons” will fail doesn’t it?
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:17 pm
So when will we change the name of S.O.S. (save our Sonics) to K.D.S.A.S.W.C.G.T.S.B.A. (Kiss David Stern’s A– so we can get the Sonics back again).
The NBA needs expansion $. They are willing to deal. We just need to get that arena deal done!
NHL/NBA arena now! David Stern, we need your help!
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Hang your banners, polish your trophys. Just because you take Seattle off of them doesn’t mean they are yours. Do you really think it means that you won them? If I bought Tony Stewarts car, does that make me a NASCAR Champion? That logic is skewed and sad. If it didn’t happen on your watch, you don’t get to lay claim to it.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:19 pm
So when is howard filing that lawsuit haha god please I cant believe this is happening. I live in Montana and was born in Chicago so my brothers always ripped me apart in the 90’s when i was 7 the finals were that year and i litterly cried for two days straight because my teenaged brothers wouldnt get off me about it. I havent felt this lost since breaking my ankle my senior year in football. SOS Someone please
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:19 pm
The “Deal or NO Deal Nightmare” has enfolded—-we may have blundered by not flooding the mayors office all during the trial(and ESP after the trial) with—NO SETTLEMENT CALLS-hindsight is always right though. He wouldn’t have listened anyway–we did what we could
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Good grief, city is blaming Gorton? That a bunch of bull. Nickels is a liar, which we already know. Now he is trying to cover his a–. What a fat, pathetic chump.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:21 pm
History doesn’t mean how many championships we’ve accumulated in 41 years! History is following your team through great seasons, horrible seasons, going to games, having children and taking your kids to games, sharing bonds within your community. History is living, breathing, everything that goes with the game. Not how many championships we managed to win.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I’m still wanting anyone to elucidate this “history” for me. If I have a 50 year old home….does it have history, or is it just old.
One forgettable title (1979)? Ok, fine. What else? The OU football team won 10 or 11 games in 2003, lost a bowl and lost a championship, and frankly here that’s a forgettable season. But you want to complain that we’re losing big bowl games, etc. Seems to me that emulating that would mean 7 champsionships in 40 years, not one, a number of HUGE bowl wins, not losing them all, and playing in championship games, not having your season repeatedly end before the finals. It’s just a different mindset. 41 years of playing basketball is one thing. 41 years of meaningful accomplishment is something else.
- LOL…seriously…this is what I have come to expect from OKC citizens. They simply don’t understand what being a professional sports fan means and will be in for a big shock after the one or two year grace period wears off.
You do realize that College Football titles…especially ones before the BCS (and scholorship limits) are more or less pointless, right?
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
DJ,
GO AWAY YOU PIECE OF CRAP. You are a lowlife jerk, go away and stop reveling in our grief. I wish YOU, you jerk, and your small d— city the very worst. NOW GO THE HECK AWAY!!
Sooners are cheats and jerks. DJ is nothing but a typical cheat state POS Okie from Muskokee punk.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Actually DJ thinking that your new NBA team is going to “emulate” a college football program and automatically start on some title run is pretty skewed logic.
Again NBA stars have these things called “agents.” These “agents” try to get the best dollars for their clients. That doesn’t just include contracts. That also includes endorsement deals. A lot of time thise “agents” like to have their clients in high profile markets to help get thier clients image across easily.
OKC will NEVER be one of those markets. Have fun signing and keeping all those NBA stars.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:25 pm
OK DJ, since you keep hanging around, I have to ask, did you get your money from swindling the indians or from the petroleum swindle of modern times? Go Sooners! You disgust me.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
No…I said the team matters. Having the team allows us to build this city, and building a history will do that as we go along. I said the prior history doesn’t matter. You have one more title than the Toronto Raptors. I wouldn’t say that they have an “x-number of years history.” History isn’t merely a bunch of mediocre or losing seasons filled with regular season games.
- Wait…is this the team that Clay Bennett says has no cutural or economic value to a City? How insecure about your city do you have to be to basically put all your eggs into a basket and say a pro sports team is what you need to help build this city??
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
DJ, you really are an idiot and obviously know nothing about the Supes beyond the 79 team. Guess what? The NBA is not College Football and the OKC Fanny Bandits are not the Sooners. OKC will not attract the free agents you need to win at this level because no one wants to be stuck in a media black hole. Endorsement deals in OKC? Get real. Clay is in for a future of signing second tier players to max contracts because first tier guys will hit the ground laughing when clay comes calling with his money and acre of dirt. His “Boo Hoo” mentality for his players wont help either.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Good luck with that 1 title happening in your lifetime DJ.I know if I was a hotshot free agent, OK city would be the first place I look..
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I don’t think anyone is suddenly thinking OKC has any titles or history. In fact, I said you can keep them…we don’t need them, and hailing one title in 41 years isn’t something to be proud of…that’s a pretty futile record. “We’re number 1! In 1979!” THAT logic is skewed.
- Hmm, well considering that in that time period only:
Houston (2)
Detroit (3)
Chicago (6)
Lakers (8)
Boston (4)
Philadelphia (1)
San Antonio (4)
Miami (1)
Have won a title I would say you have basically put way too much faith in the NBA and its history…
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
DJ,
We losing the Sonics is like your momsister getting beat to death by your drunk, child molesting father. Feel our pain anf GTF away you jerk. Better water your landscape to avoid the coming prairie fire season.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:29 pm
And THAT’S why the team is now gone, because of that attitude. Seattle proved that no one will support a losing franchise, and the mindset of it being a nice place to go with your family won’t make a successful franchise in the NBA
- LOL…didn’t you just say that OKC wouldn’t support a losing team. Thanks for proving our point buddy. And you wonder why we think so lowly about the intellect level of OKC citizens??
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Guys, guys, guys.
Their NBA team is going to magically become the OU Sooners but in NBA form. Haven’t you heard? It’s all preordained.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Were you as happy when Ray Allen (Gary Payton..wheover) won a title as you would’ve been if the Sonics had won a title…not even close.
True. I was happy for Gary, but I’ve been indifferent for Ray. He is good and I definitely respected him.
On the flip side of that, that same logic says you shouldn’t be upset when Gary/Ray/whoever is traded or leaves. Yet some people here and the old espn board were livid when we traded gary and ray. Some even said they wouldn’t be sonics fans anymore. I don’t know if they held to that or not. Perhaps it was just in the heat of the moment.
I agree with you for the most part, but I think it may be some combination of the two sides a little bit of players and a little bit of team… and right now 0% owner.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
When I say troph(ies) its not championship trophies, it’s the rights to the ‘79 NBA finals trophy, ‘08 ROY, things of that nature. That history will be OKC in 5 years if nothing happens. Is pretty obvious that there is only one championship trophy dumbfucl
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Yes, because a “mindset” is all it takes!!
One college football program proves that, and proves that’s all that Bennett and company need!
I think I’ll pass on the watching.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
DJ:
leave, dude, just leave. It’s a big internet, let us fans have our small corner to mourn.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Actually…I never said that. Of course it will be years before we compete for anything. But the attitude and the mindset will be that the team must compete to win, not merely be a nice place to take the kids. And it’s that attitude that has translated brilliantly for the one big-time program already in place, the Oklahoma Sooners. Just watch.
- OKC where contradicting yourself in one paragraph and thinking your are logical…happens.
Oh well, it will be nice to be Clay Bennett…they team can lose and lose and lose according to DJ just as long as he says they are “competing for a title”.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
DJ-
The NBA will only help build OKC if your team wins. And it’s unlikely you’ll being doing that any time soon. Durant and Green will be gone after three more seasons.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
“And THAT’S why the team is now gone, because of that attitude. Seattle proved that no one will support a losing franchise
Reading the Joklahoman will truly make you dumber.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I meant to say ‘79 MVP NBA finals trophy
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Hey DJ, take a step outside and get hit by car will ya? F*ck off.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
DJ:
leave, dude, just leave. It’s a big internet, let us fans have our small corner to mourn.
Seconded.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
dude im so angry i can’t think
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
OK I got one for you DJ…lets talk about history. Since 1985 guess who has as many National Championships as Oklahoma? the University of Washington…
Sure sounds like you have a lot of history with this program you talk about…at least the Regents decided they were going to build an ultra successful Championship powerhouse.
LOL…this actually makes me laugh. Heck, if you give UW the 1982 title that 90% of college fans believe they deserve you can say our storied program has done just as well as Oklahoma’s program since the Sonics won their title.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
FOLKS LEAVE THE OKIES JERK ALONE! WE GOT 18 MONTHS TO GET THE SONICS, OR LOSE THE HISTORY TO SMALL D–K CITY!
Let’s get it done. Vote Rossi. Organize a “Help us now David stern” effort. Keep interst alive! Let’s get the NHL too! Sinegal and Ballmer have explored that option. Costco and Microsoft need NHL/NBA to help attract and retain employees and entertain business clients.
LET’S GET THINGS DONE!
Rossi ‘08! Be sure to register to vote!
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
I can’t believe its over(losing the current team) but I have hope that Seattle will get a new team within 5 years so I can buy tickets and travel down to Seattle a dozen times a year to see NBA Basketball.
Question: What will happen to this website?? will it survive?
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
“Sure football and NBA don’t translate. But the expectation of winning does. ”
DJ, just stop. You should listen to yourself, because I’m pretty sure every city expects to suck as a professional sports town. Give me a break.
I didn’t know that Oklahoma is the only place where they “expect to win” championships. Does your OU Men’s basketball program “expect” to win championships? Last time I checked they haven’t won anything recently, so clearly using your logic they expect to be mediocre.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
“Economics 101″
DJ, you have to be new to the NBA right? Anyone will tell you conventional economics don’t apply to the NBA business model.
Duh.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Can someone put DJ’s posts in moderation.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:38 pm
DJ, you just don’t get it. We had very good seasons, with one of the best tandems to ever play in the NBA. And the Sonics don’t play Baylor, Texas Tech and Kansas State, they play real teams with real players. It is not easy to win a championship if your not the Lakers or the Celtics, who have won half the titles in the NBA. So kid yourself about how competative you will be, and hope that the players don’t realize that being 23 and single in OKC after a game isn’t the same as being in LA or NY, or even Seattle. Good luck hanging on to them, you don’t get cornfeed homegrown NBA players, you only get them for college football.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
DJ,
You are an idiot and a jerk. GO AWAY. $180,000,000 a year was what they are worth. NOW GO AWAY! I didn’t cheer when when your momsister was beaten to death by your daughter raping father, so don’t taunt us when we are grieving a loss.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
“I wouldn’t expect you to know the difference between competing for a title and not, since the Sonics haven’t since 1979. Things will change now”
Again, you’re an idiot. The Sonics were in the finals in ‘96.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:40 pm
This is a fun complaint that I hear a lot of, but it’s also a lie. An NBA team in the largest city in the Pacific Northwest, with one of the largest economies in the nation likely has no economic benefit. Take the same team and plant it in a middle sized city in the Southwest and it’s a boon. That said, you clearly don’t understand the recent history of OKC. We’ve overhauled the infrastructure and have boomed for 20 years without a team. It just so happens we have one now.
Economics 101. Duh.
- LOL…does it hurt your mind to contradict yourself so much? BTW, don’t quote Economics 101 if you are going to fail so miserably at it. Here is the argument:
An NBA Team doesn’t provide economic benefit because the fans will spend that money they’d spend on the team somewhere else.
So, are you saying that for the last 20 years all citizens of OKC have been sitting on their money and it has just been piling up in savings accounts just waiting to be used on an NBA team?
Like I said…OKC does have one ability and that is to lie to themselves…but with logic like DJs it can’t be too hard. Thanks for at least admitting to how much larger and important the market in Seattle is then in OKC though…
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I wouldn’t expect you to know the difference between competing for a title and not, since the Sonics haven’t since 1979. Things will change now.
- LOL well I wouldn’t expect you to know any different in College Football since my team has won just as many as your team in the since 1979.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I actually believed we’d somehow keep this team. I followed this draft with the same excitement of the future as always. This is crushing; even if to be expected in hindsight. I’ll still follow the boys in O city. Hard to completely break the ties. But it does feel very strange to approach fall without that build up of excitement.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I cannot understand how someone like DJ can come here of all days, and just let us mourn, vent, whatever we need to help cope with this loss. Instead, we’re bickering with this idiot.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:44 pm
And “Championships” mean conference titles….OU has something like 38 or 39. So please.
- Hmmm..well then I guess the Sonics have more than one championship because they’ve won their conference more than once…and really a conference title is just a term for a division title which the Sonics have won even more of…
You can keep going…unlike most people I actually enjoy arguing with stupid people….makes me laugh.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:44 pm
If Schultz wins, who will pay the huge penalties on the OKC lease for leaving early? It’s a poison pill, just like the deal made between PBC and the city that penalizes them if the team does not move now, or does not get an arena deal.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:44 pm
The only way ANYONE from OKC has any chance of getting any sympathy on this site is to flat out say that you will not support (with your dollars) Clay Bennett and his team until Seattle has a new team.
Anything short of that right now, you are going to get hammered, just so you know up front.
So please, spare us all about how we should feel, since people of OKC are the experts on having a team taken from them.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
There is another thread up
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
“You can keep going…unlike most people I actually enjoy arguing with stupid people….makes me laugh. ”
10-4 on that.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
DJ, get out of here already. you said yourself that if in 5 years the team doesn’t start winning then you expect attendance to drop. then later you say that we’re proving seattle won’t support a loser. you’re contradicting yourself.
as for okc wanting to use the sonics history, you said you didn’t see anything that stated this, here you go http://assets.espn.go.com/media/pdf/080702/0033_001.pdf. from espn. look on pg 3.
“PBC further agrees that if an expansion team is approved by the NBA within the next five years to play in a renovated Key Arena, then the owner of such team and the PBC are each free to use and refer to the Sonics’ history (e.g., statistics, player histories and records) during the NBA seasons prior to the date of this MOU that the Sonics played in Seattle.”
then it says that PBC will transfer the banners, trophies and retired jerseys to a new Seattle owner “provided that such owner acknowledges that the memorabilia relates to a ’shared history’ between PBC and the team and that PBC retains the right to creat and display duplicate copes of such memorabilia.”
so you’re wrong. obviously our history means something to okc if your owners want to be able to display the banners and trophies and mention statistics, awards and players and have them acknowledged as shared history.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:48 pm
F*ck you DJ.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:48 pm
DJ- You are entitled to your opinion but you are acting like your team is gonna win several championships. Good luck with that…
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Good luck DJ. Im not bitter at you at all…I feel sorry for stupid pepole not bitter twoards them. I don’t even think that it is necessary to be stupid and support the new team. It just seems like those are the only ones who try and show their face around here.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I am afraid the $30M is worthless. The community must commit to another building costing $300M or more. That is like a drug dealer giving you the first five hits for free until you are an addict. Then you need to pay up. How do we know the NBA will stay in any building until the lease is up? Bennett can keep his blood money.
If we did put up another arena I would only support it if it is not owned by the city of Seattle. It can be in SODO, but it needs to be a Washington State property. The city politicians have shown themselves to be unworthy of our trust. I went to Olympia once to lobby for Key Arena. The Olympia politicians are no better. They assured us the NBA would never leave the 12th largest market for the 41st largest market. In any event, it would be foolish to put $300M into Key Arena when it will not be able to handle NHL or AFL competition.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
DJ- You are entitled to your opinion but you are acting like you know what you are talking about. Good luck with that…
- Fixed that for you…
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Can somebody PLEASE put DJ in moderation.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:55 pm
PJ would never play OKC after this. They have morals, and Jeff Ament is a big Seattle Supersonics fan.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:57 pm
DJ Please Go Away
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:57 pm
DJ Please Go Away
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:58 pm
hey dj-
i doubt pearl jam ever plays in your sh*thole ever again. and what is your dance team going to look like? are there more than 10 women in your forlorn crapile? GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:04 pm
I’m not going to engage you DJ, I just hope you understand that there IS a lucrative out clause for Bennett in that Ford Center lease. Stern made sure it was in there, ever noticed the timeline? Kind of convenient that the PBC will be asking for a megaplex, which in reality the folks of OKC 1. Won’t want to pay and 2. Won’t have the ability to pay.
Plus, Kevin Durant despises Clay Bennett and would rather play in Seattle. He will leave as soon as he can….so hope you have another star in the wings that you guys are going to win Championships.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Hey DJ, stop ranting about OKC, the armpit of America…I got an invitation for you…take a trip up to Seattle in September and get a front row seat to see Jake Locker run over the Sooners like a Mack Truck…Feliz Navidad #$@%
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I’ve been one of the most “negative” posters because I truly felt this was a loser - we “had” to lose because the big money didn’t want to be here. There were so many pseudo-lawyers on here saying this was a can’t lose.
that being said, SOS has been heroic, and I contributed funds. This is just another battle to bringing sports back into this land. We MUST, however, insure that every politician involved does not stay in office, that is the only way to make the city and state “remember” so it doesn’t happen again.
Seattle and SOS should not give up.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Please be sure to to f*ck off and die DJ, PLEASE, f*cking die.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
JonSundvold? Haven’t seen your name in a long time, brings back memories of better days talking about the Sonics before all this gloom.
The internet always brings out guys like DJ; though it’s pretty low even for his type, to come on this board today of all days. Best not to feed him.
Can’t believe I don’t get to root for the Sonics anymore, that’s going to be a real hard habit to break after all these years.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I can’t believe this… I’ve been crying all night and morning.
Yeah….call me a loser, because I loved my team so much it hurts. But it is what it is. I’m devistated.
A part of me has died forever.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Oklahoma people much love every WWE Best than NBA not
suppet dislike Sport Clay Bennett are odd no brain go next Fall Season hell cold. Jim Ross Chaireman forume Raw move Smackdown that year befor Draft.Jim Ross From Oklahoma.
http://www.wwe.com
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I understand your feelings because I feel the same way. You motivated me to get involve in the movement. I was a season ticket holder. I hope we push forward and keep putting the pressure on them to meet this 18 month deadline. I wrote my state legislatures, governor, mayor and city council…expressing my displeasure of the outcome, I expect them to undo the wrong here and they will not receive my vote until they are out of office or resolution is in place. Mourn but keep the face, we hav a new battle ahead. Thanks again.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Where are your seats DJ so I can find you.
July 4th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
We have all learned a lot from you Brian: how to communicate clearly, without bitterness or immaturity; how to fight on in the face of defeat; how to lead and how to follow. Thank you for assembling the infinite small details into a visible big picture - on a daily basis - and thank you for reaching out to all of us and making us feel like we’re still in this together, as a team.
July 7th, 2008 at 2:26 am
Hey, did anyone else notice HOW CLOSE this thread is to 500 posts? If a couple more people chip in and do their parts, we can retire this thread with 500 comments on it. I don’t know if that’s a record or not, but it’s the most I’ve ever seen. Does anyone know what the record for posts is? It would be appropriate if the thread that was the longest ever occurred (mostly) on the day we lost the Sonics - the saddest day in Seattle’s Sports history. Of course, we still may get them back …
July 8th, 2008 at 10:06 am
[...] ey are, I can only that the players with those retired jerseys publicly protest it.” Brian Robinson of Save Our Sonics, on SonicsCentral: “The decision was c [...]
July 8th, 2008 at 10:06 am
[...] ey are, I can only that the players with those retired jerseys publicly protest it.” Brian Robinson of Save Our Sonics, on SonicsCentral: “The decision was c [...]