Death of a Sports Generation
Posted on Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 8:13 am by Brian Robinson
I truly hope that people came out for last nights Tuba Man memorial. A last minute appointment combined with the rain to make it impossible for me.
The symbolism of his tragic death is really amazing. People loved him for no particular reason other than that he was entertaining. I know that I personally have an almost subconscious association between going to a Seattle Sporting event, having a good time, and hearing that tuba in the background. If I were walking down the street to a meeting full of lawyers, accountants, and the IRS and I heard a tuba note it would take me to a better place and put a smile on my face. The association is really that strong.
As the Tuba man is laid to rest I wonder how those happy associations will continue for a sporting generation. My son is 8 years old and my daughter 5. The greatest reason for my fight to save the Sonics was a desire to develop a tradition of taking my family to the games. I wanted to know the same players, have the same memories, and really share a bond that I think is important as they grow older.
In my case it may be too late. The association my kids have with basketball are memories of dad saying “I can’t be home for dinner. I have to go meet about the Sonics.” That doesn’t fly well. Additionally my daughter, who has simply amazing insight into things for a 5 year old wanted to know the other night if the Sonics are winning in Oklahoma. She then told me that the Sonics are always bad and asked if they were good when I was a little boy. We had a stunning conversation about what makes a team good or bad, why they can’t win, and how different it is for fans when a sports team is winning.
At 8 my son suddenly has other interests, mostly in the video game world that make me as a father look hard for things we can have in common, do together, and create a bond that will carry through his childhood and into an adult relationship. Yesterday I introduced him to NBA Live on the playstation in hopes that he will find something he likes about the game. We’re also playing a little bit of ball and I have pushed rock climbing and hiking. None of those things seems as nice as just loving sports together.
So I sit back and I look at my son and daughter and I think about other children their age. In this period where the Sonics left and broke their hearts, the Seahawks, Mariners, Huskies, and Cougers all pretty well suck. What positive associations will they have? What bonds will they have with their city, other fans, and even their parents. How can we replace what is missing?
I hope this period does not last. People will say that Sports are not important but I can tell you that there is a void in my life as a parent right now that could be filled by an exciting Sonics team and a playoff run. If we went to the playoffs this year we would spend an entire offseason waiting to do that together again the year after. It would be amazing.
The tuba man is dead. I’ll never hear his music again to trigger all those great memories. I wonder who will be the tuba man for the next generation or if it’s too late. I am scared that when the next Tuba Man emerges they simply won’t care and won’t want him.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Were the Sonics good when you were a boy Brian? Try only 3 years ago, with a back from the dead season worthy of ‘77-’78 or ‘86-’87. What kind of owner guts a team while the turnstiles are spinning like that? This is all payback to OKC for taking the Hornets in and it is pre-ordained that we get a team back as well with an owner who has a son and wants to cultivate memories with him just as you do with your daughter.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:54 am
I do have some strong memories of Dale Ellis, X-Man, Eddie Johnson, etc. I was born in 73 so I was in that 6-9 range when they were a great team.
My strongest memories though are Payton and Kemp. That was a really formative time in my life and while I didn’t form a great bond with my dad over sports(he just wasn’t much of a fan) I did build a relationship with the city that has carried on.
November 13th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I was a T-Birds season ticket holder during the late 90’s and early 00’s….. Tuba man was a classic… When his story hit the papers last week, I can’t believe how many calls I received from people who had gone to T-birds games with me, asking me if I’d seen the article and expressing how outraged they were.
Another thing Brian touched on that hasn’t been thouroghly discussed (that I remember) is the impact on peoples associations with their city. This one may not jump right out at a lot of people, but it hits particulary close to home for me.
I’m 27 and was born and raised here in the Seattle area… and to be honest, I don’t really like the region or the people as much as I used too… this area has changed. I noticed it first when I moved to California and Idaho to attend college. But I returned “Home” to the place where I grew up due to the anchors in the community that gave me comfort.
In January, I am relocating full time to Panama. While Seattle will always be home for me, some of the anchors that have kept me here are disappearing. To me, winters meant Sonics and hockey at the key… this year, neither will take place.
Things that exist for an entire lifetime (atleast my lifetime) in one area are things you begin to rely on. They’re the objects and ideas that make a place “home” for you, even if you don’t live there.
Losing the Sonics makes this feel a little less like Seattle to me.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Professional sports are dead.
November 13th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Please Matt
Go back to your D & D, World of Warcraft or what ever else it is that amuses you.
November 13th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Nice article here:
http://okc.realgm.com/articles/67/20081110/seattle_supersonics_on_my_mind/
November 13th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Anyone see the Rocket’s and Sun’s brawl last night? Nash’s neck got ripped open and Shaq turned into the Hulk and threw McGrady and Alston across the court. The brawl ended up on the sidelines where the fans are lucky Artest was on the bench as we all know he likes the taste of fans. Other than the fight, the game was boring, but McGrady looked like the star KD can hope of becoming. How many rings does Tracy have? Will the Blunder ever have a winning season?
November 13th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Good one Mark S.
November 13th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
the last 10 times I went to the Seattle Center were with my sons: IMAX theater to see Speed Racer twice, the other 8 were Sonucs games.
We find other things to do, but we do not do them at the Seattle Center.
Other than IMAX, there is no good reason to take my children there.
The city either has to do something with that site, or sell it.
My son would stop on his own and listen to the Tuba Man. It was natuarally unusual and interesting. I would like my children’s lives to be full of unusual and interesting days. Those days used to be more at Seattle Center’s Key Arena watching the Sonics, now they are not. We spend more time out of the city and not in, more out of the county and not in, not much, but more.
November 13th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
My parents immigrated from Cambodia in 1979. I was born in 1980. My parents being from another country were not that aware of sports other than soccer. They worked 6 days a week to support us.
When my parents immigrated, there was an older couple that kind of “adopted” my family. I called them my grandparents. With my parents working all the time I spent most days of the week at my grandparents. My grandfather was a huge Seahawks fan. I remember I would sit down with him and he explained the game of football to me.
Between the ages of 6 & 11 we moved around four different times so it was hard for me to make friends, but one thing we all had in common was football. We would all play at reccess and we would draw the plays up in the dirt and practice our TD spikes or dances. It was an avenue for me to make friends at a time where I was unsure of how to make friends.
My first memories of the Sonics was game 7 against the houston rockets during the 92-93 season. The sonics i think scored maybe 30 points in the first half, but scored 60 in the second half to win. Dana barros was nailing threes like they were going out of style. After that game all of my friends and I were pretending to be Dana and nailing threes from all over the court.
November 13th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I was at the Tuba Man memorial. It was amazing. It was so touching and emotional how one man could touch all of these people a lot of whom he never even spoke to. I never talked to him but I saw him several times outside and at sonics and tbirds games. And everytime I saw him he put a smile on my face. I loved to watch him interact with people and its so great that all he wanted was to please people and make people happy. I am so saddened that something so horrible ended his life he did not deserve this ending. But I am glad that I went last night to celebrate his life. I will never forget that service and I will never forget him. Thumbs up.
We lost our Sonics and now we lost Tuba Man. Seattle is not the same.
November 13th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
An exerpt from another great Bill Simmons article courtesy of ESPN.com
Creations: A college football playoff system; a uniform boxing organization; a better trophy for the World Series; championship belts for the defending NBA champs that they must bring to every game; a hierarchy of alcoholic beverages for baseball celebrations (cheap beer, then good beer, then cheap champagne, then good champagne); an NBA expansion team in Seattle, effective for the 2010-11 season; a no-exception three-city rotation for the Super Bowl among New Orleans, Miami and San Diego; a full-length indoor basketball court in the White House, with all games involving Obama televised on NBA TV; a purple Masters-type sports coat for the winning March Madness coach (presented to him by last year’s coach as Jim Nantz orgasmically looks on); relegation for Major League Baseball (a 30-team league with the bottom two teams forced to move to Triple-A for a year).
November 13th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Bill Simmons is my hero. From today’s mailbag:
Q: Can we pull a Prince on the NBA and give the “team formerly called the Seattle SuperSonics” a wacky symbol with no identifiable name for all the NBA scoreboard and ESPN/FSN graphics? I don’t think this is too much to ask.
– Mark, Los Angeles
SG: I vote for the logo that Facebook uses when someone doesn’t upload a profile picture. Or, we could use a black-and-white picture of someone’s heart getting ripped out of their body.
November 13th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
I can honestly say it’s been hard since the NBA season started. Yesterday was a perfect example. It was a dark, dreary, rainy Wednesday evening last night, and I was switching around and stumbled onto the Suns-Rockets game. I looked at my wife, and said “this really sucks, these are the kinds of night I used to love relaxing on the couch watching the Sonics”. Now the Tuba man is gone, and Seattle doesn’t really feel like Seattle anymore.
My kids are getting older now, 12 & 14, and I remember all the games we watched together, and the games we saw live at the Key. I’m going to miss sharing that bond with them. They both love playing, and watching (well used to watch) the Sonics. They never cared much for the Storm, so the Sonics absence hits them to.
It’s a shame our last bit of Sonics memories together were of going to rally’s, and going to Olympia to do our part to save them, and it was all for naught. We were also there for the final Sonics game at Key Arena, screaming our lungs out to Save Our Sonics. Hope one day, we can just go to Key Arena and watch the Sonics for the pure beauty of basketball. RIP Tuba Man!
November 13th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
“While Seattle will always be home for me, some of the anchors that have kept me here are disappearing. To me, winters meant Sonics and hockey at the key… this year, neither will take place.
Things that exist for an entire lifetime (atleast my lifetime) in one area are things you begin to rely on. They’re the objects and ideas that make a place “home” for you, even if you don’t live there.
Losing the Sonics makes this feel a little less like Seattle to me.”
Man, do I ever know exactly how you feel. This town is SO different compared to what it was like in the early 90s. I know times, people and places change … that’s life … and I’m not saying I wish it was like it was back then as much as I wish I had my youthful perspective back.
Living through this situation pretty much burned me out on the NBA, Seattle, politics, lots of things.
November 13th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Xteve.. It’s a loss of whatever innocence or naivety was left for anyone on our side of the battle.
Losing someone as basic but as well-meaning and good natured as Tuba man really drives that point home right now
November 13th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
“Living through this situation pretty much burned me out on the NBA, Seattle, politics, lots of things.”
Ditto
November 13th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Ditto x 2.
Burned out and not giving a damn. Flat.
November 13th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Man, do I ever know exactly how you feel. This town is SO different compared to what it was like in the early 90s. I know times, people and places change … that’s life … and I’m not saying I wish it was like it was back then as much as I wish I had my youthful perspective back.
- Maybe in 100 years sociologists will study this area and how the influx of tons of money (dot com boom) can cause a city to collapse on itself. If you think about it…in the early 90s we were this happy little small liberal city who felt the need to fight for their ideals. The underdog if you may. Suddenly, secretaries became millionaires and they now not only had their agendas but the money to fuel their agendas…
It definately is interesting to see how different things are compared to back them. OTH, Ive mentioned this a few times before…when you DVR SNL on Saturdays you are required to record the almost live after the snl to get the full SNL broadcast. When John Keister does his monologues from the early 90s a lot of the problems that he is talking about then are the same problems (different faces) that we see today.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
That was so touching to see the tribute to Tuba Man last night on the news as well as see all the coverage about how his life impacted so many sports fans. It’s like one more stab wound after the Sonics leaving…
I too really am missing watching and going to games. The winter is just not the same! Every time I flip through the channels and see a NBA game I’m either sad, angry, or jealous of those fans who still get to go cheer their team on.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Well said luvnysupes. I feel left out watching NBA on TV. The cheers, the excitement were such a part of my life for 6 months(plus) a year. Attending the Sonics games was the most fun thing I did. I’m still emotional about our loss.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
My wife and I went to Tuba Man’s Memorial last night. I video taped the whole thing and have now posted it on youtube for those who couldn’t make it. I did very little editing however my video camera isn’t all that so forgive the video quality. I could not imagine a more painful year of sports. It has been very difficult to even stay interested. However, I am hopeful that the start of Huskies basketball on Saturday will renew my “happiness” with seattle sports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f4X_KmHLys
November 14th, 2008 at 8:40 am
I implore all of you have to take your touching statements on this site and transfer them to a letter for your local leadership. The Gov, the Mayor, your Reps. and Sen. The comments are all so good and these words should be in front of the “decision makers”
RIP TUBA MAN
RIP SONICS
November 14th, 2008 at 11:21 am
I agree with zonics.
Just because you lost something doesn’t mean you still don’t miss it.
I am not filling my sports void with the NFL, or lacrosse. I hate baseball, win or lose, it is a good lawn spoiled.
November 14th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Do I miss the Sonics - yes - but is it brutal - no
why not? Why am I not in agony about it?
I think because Stern & the NBA showed me such a level of decepetion, hypocrisy and corruption that I have lost interest in even wanting an NBA team back.
Basketball is a great game - but there are plenty of ways to create bonds with my kids and plenty of other great things to do with my life and my money.
Just me - my story - but I have no passion for NBA hoops anymore and no desire to work to get a new NBA team in Seattle. The NBA showed me what they are all about last year and it just turned me off to their whole deal.
We can blame local people & politicians for the Sonics hyjacking to OKC …. but at the heart of it all was Dave Stern giving us the middle finger and lying all the way along.
November 14th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Exactly JJ. I have already been told that my investment (heart, money, time, etc) of 16 years as a season ticket holder and 30 years as an NBA fan meant absolutely nothing to the NBA. They are no better then muggers who rob and then murder after they get the money. The NBA took my investment and shot me anyway. F them.
That being said, they could win me back but it would take a major buttkissing on their part. Since I expect no buttkissing they can not expect me back.
November 14th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Nate Robinson and Jamal Crawford standing up for the 206 and taking it to the Blunder!
November 14th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Is there someone on here who is planning a trip to the portland/sonics game (sorrry i cant say the other word)? I have something about the game that a portland fan sent me and he is trying to help us with banners and signs from the portland fans. So if were still planning on buying tix for that game together Id like to send you what he sent me just to see if youre interested.
November 14th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
The first thing I do when I get to work in the morning is open the Sports section to look at the NBA box scores. Not to see the scores, mind you, but to look below the box at the Attendance for the game. I do LOVE seeing (19,362) or something like that, and actual attendance 18,300 for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Why aren’t they filling the Ford Center? Especially after only a few home games. How did we lose this team to a bunch of in-breds?
November 14th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
guys im watching the Pistons/Lakers game on ESPN and I keep thinking to myself “This guy used to play against the Sonics IN Seattle”(like Kobe or Iverson etc…) saddens me that I don’t get to see my favorite sport and favorite athletes in person anymore(or for now..maybe in 5 years when we get a team back here)
November 14th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
NY Times article about Tuba Man.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/us/14tubaman.html?em
This is surely the worst Seattle sports year since … I don’t know when. Since at least the 1970s. It’s better to have a lousy NFL and MLB team than none at all.
But in the 1970s at least we had the Sonics. (And Sonny Sixkiller.)
November 14th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
rip tuba man and just wanted to add that Clayon Bennett has the worst team in the NBA as of tonight…
OKC Blunder
1 win 8 losses/1-4 at home/0-4 on the road/90.4 points for, 99.2 against and 6 game losing streak.
gives me pleasure to see the team doing so well in OKC
November 15th, 2008 at 1:46 am
Grizz attendance at 10,129 and 11,308 in last two games and they will continue to lose millions for the foreseeable furture. Will the commish intervene like he did in the Hornet’s case?
November 15th, 2008 at 9:24 am
has anybody been listening to kiro radio lately? someone told me they heard there that david stern was coming to seattle wed. the 26th to meet with ballmer, et al. i haven’t seen any mention on any website to comfirm this. the person who told me is pretty reliable, but i’d still like to have some confirmation.
November 15th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Ballmer must be aware of the Grizzlies situation you’d think, hopefully he is in contact with David Stern and the League.
November 15th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Ballmer is in contact with no one cuz you need an arena deal before you make that phone call. If Stern gets involved right now the Grizz would be headed to Kansas City. Lets not jump ahead of ourselves here. We lost our team because of an arena problem that has yet to be fixed!
November 15th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
That and I still dont feel right about taking another’s team…I know they aren’t getting support out there…just cant bring myself to do it right now.
November 15th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Grizz has only been in FedEx arena for 4 years and they got a long term lease with a hefty penalty for early withdrawal. It ain’t happening guys.
November 15th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
“If Stern gets involved right now the Grizz would be headed to Kansas City. ”
-Why? they already said they have pulled out of the race for an nba team and are looking for nhl instead. i think…
November 15th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
T is correct, the last time kc tried for an NBA team they failed, and started looking toward the NHL.
We are really looking at Seattle (Ballmer), San Jose, Las Vegas, Sacto is attempting to solve that problem.
I think we see two teams in the “west” actually move west, my guess.
November 15th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
what is a hefty penalty to one person might not to another.
That teams value, as in most cases, is bound to its long term financial outlook. The value is discounted by they loss of money every year there or the cost of moving early.
Leaving early is 100 million, leaving a little sooner vs taking the losses, not a good choice either way.
They will not make money where they are, in fact they will lose money every year for the known future.
November 15th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
After our fiasco I don’t think you’ll see many owners sell their teams to out of town interests. We’ll see what happens.
November 15th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
nothing makes me happier than thunder losses coupled with non sellout games. nice work, assclowns.
November 15th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I think a sale to an out-of-towner that intends to move will be up front, look at the backflips Shinn is doing in NO. He is setting clear criteria for making it there.
The Grz are losing money and the local gov is not going to rework that lease, they look at Srattle and know they can get the debt paid off for their new building.
November 15th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Didn’t the Grizz originate in the NW? If they are losing tens of millions of dollars every year in Memphis, then it seems logical and fair to return them to a NW city like Seattle. In other news, Biff’s Blunder are playing inspired ball.
November 15th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Blunder lose big tonight…
Blunder are now 1-9 i believe…
November 15th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Joshu, I understand feeling dirty going after other city’s teams. But the Grizzlies are no better than Clay’s Blunder. Memphis jacked a team and couldn’t support it. And yes, Jokelahoma city is going to be in the same situation in a few years. If their team continues to suck, they will not support it. I mean, they are in the peak of their honeymoon period and they have failed to sell out 3 of 5 home games already. Pathetic.
November 15th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Hey, I was just checking the scores after dinner. How bout them Blunders. At least Seattle isn’t having to support them any more. If I had been back I probably would have watched Boston Milwaukee for old time sake, or maybe Cleveland.
November 15th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
go to
Http://benditlikebennett.blogspot.com
and check out the learning going on.
That is some good writing.
November 15th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I went to:
Http://benditlikebennett.blogspot.com
There are a couple of mentions of crowds less than sell outs in OKC. Is that true? If true, there some egg on someone’s face.
November 15th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
I wish I was making this up: http://newsok.com/where-are-they-locally/article/3322429
November 16th, 2008 at 12:10 am
UW lost to Portland..Brockman did well but the frosh phenom Thomas scored ten before fouling out. The Seattle sports scene keeps getting worse and worse. Oh well, at least the Blunder are doing terrible.
November 16th, 2008 at 12:29 am
$100 Million-Amount Bennett Over Paid for Sonics
$60 Million-Amount Bennett Lost in Seattle in Two Seasons in Seattle.
$30 Million-Cost of Relocation to NBA
$45 Million-Buyout amount to City of Seattle
At what point does Bennett Make this money back??
November 16th, 2008 at 1:26 am
All is not well in Thunder Land…….
http://newsok.com/article/3322571
November 16th, 2008 at 2:46 am
I didn’t see this posted anywhere but Rashard was talking about the Sonics a couple days ago….
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5h2Sgi0pZRihM4Qq3YW1_SyqKIyuQ
“Lewis said he’s enjoying the warm weather and a shorter flight to his hometown in Houston now that he’s in Orlando, but he’d be interested in joining the effort to get the NBA to return to Seattle.
“If I could lend a hand and they called and asked, I wouldn’t mind helping at all because I feel like my legacy is in Seattle,” Lewis said. “
November 16th, 2008 at 9:34 am
OKC Thunder have one of the worst ever assembled teams in NBA History..
The attendance figures will go down next year for sure(they arent even selling out this year)
November 16th, 2008 at 9:36 am
I miss the NBA but it kinda makes me feel good to see the Blunder doing so terrible..the feeling I get is the team is basically an expansion team…what a disgrace to the NBA this team is.
November 16th, 2008 at 10:45 am
I secured courtside seats for the first Thunder V Blazer game in Portland next year.
Not sure what I’m going to wear yet, as the only Sonics jersey I have is a KD jersey.
I do have a nice Brandon Roy jersey I got for cheap from the team shop last season…
November 16th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
“I secured courtside seats for the first Thunder V Blazer game in Portland next year.
Not sure what I’m going to wear yet, as the only Sonics jersey I have is a KD jersey.
I do have a nice Brandon Roy jersey I got for cheap from the team shop last season…”
Go to http://www.okcplunder.com/ got some nice shirts you can wear.
November 16th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
No doubt the choice will be the Durant jersey.
November 16th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
yes, wear the Durant jersey, something for him to remember and look forward to.
Couple years of losing with pj, in okc, and he’s going to be like a rocket from a bottle shot free.
Seattle has as much of a chance as okc does in signing him to his next contract, even if we don’t have a team by then.
November 16th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
OKC Thunder 2008/2009 Final Standings: 12 Wins 70 Losses
November 16th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
didnt know if anyone had seen this, it was posted in the NYTimes, i have an account so i can read it, ill post it all here for you all to read:
Seattle Bids Tuba Man a Sad Goodbye
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By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Published: November 13, 2008
SEATTLE — He played “Itsy Bitsy Spider” when it rained and the theme from “Chariots of Fire” even when the home team lost. “Thumbs up!” he insisted when you were not so sure. “Want to be a part of it tonight?” he beseeched, a call for coins and maybe transformation.
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Tubas in Mourning Edward Scott McMichael was a busker with perfect pitch and an improbable horn whom most people in this city knew by another name, Tuba Man. He wore funny hats and said funny things, but his mission was to make money by making music in the streets. Outside the stadium. Outside the opera. Wagner? Iron Maiden? Sure, and it could cost you.
“I was like ‘Five bucks?’ ” Lorin Sandretzky recalled of the time he ordered up Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4.” “But it was worth it.”
Mr. Sandretzky has his own outsized alter ego, Big Lo, Seattle’s Biggest Sports Fan. For now, he said, he is “Seattle’s saddest sports fan.”
Last month, Mr. McMichael, 53, was bludgeoned late one night near downtown. He died several days later. He was not carrying his tuba at the time, and it appears that the three teenagers who have been arrested in the case did not know Mr. McMichael. Most of the rest of Seattle surely did.
More than 1,000 people turned out for a memorial service on Wednesday night near Qwest Field. Large men wore their favorite team’s jersey — the Seahawks, the Mariners, the departed Sonics or the Washington Huskies — and many held their wives’ hands and cried. The president of the Seattle Mariners, Chuck Armstrong, spoke through tears when he read a line he said his son had written: “It was just impossible to be sad while he was playing that tuba.”
An impromptu tuba ensemble played “Salvation is Created,” followed by “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
Some people say losing Tuba Man puts losing seasons in painful perspective. Some say he was a martyr, a victim of urban violence that must be stopped. And some say Tuba Man represented the increasingly smothered soul of this city, more substantial and strange than its clichéd sheen of coffee and computers. He was an analog mystery, they say, basso profundo.
Others say Tuba Man was just being Ed.
“He was quite proficient on the piano, and I think to get back at my mother he took up the tuba because she didn’t like it particularly,” Mr. McMichael’s sister, Joyce Baker, said in an interview. “He was 14 or 15, the rebellious years. When he got into the tuba, he never went back to the piano.”
When he practiced in the basement, she added, “the house shook.”
Mr. McMichael grew up in the Wallingford neighborhood, the son of a beautician and a city health inspector. Ms. Baker said her brother was born when she and her other brother, Kelsey McMichael, were in high school, that he was slow to talk but took quickly to music. He played in the Seattle Youth Symphony and for many years for local orchestras that did not pay. A friend in the 1980s suggested busking, and Mr. McMichael never looked back. He might play downtown all evening and then go home and stay up late, transposing pieces for a wide range of instruments, surrounded by a clutter of videos and recordings of musical performances, including some of his own. Sheet music, written in his hand, was everywhere.
“We didn’t know what to do with it,” Ms. Baker said. “We didn’t know who to refer him to or what.”
Mr. McMichael never married and rarely worked a regular job. When his sister and brother moved to Florida in 2002, he refused to leave Seattle but he had to move out of their basement. The family arranged for him to live in a small studio apartment near downtown. He paid his own way on his annual train trip to California, to Disneyland.
“I think he liked the rides,” Ms. Baker said. “He didn’t like change. He went to the same hotel and ate in the same restaurants because he was sure the girls that worked in those restaurants were waiting to see him when he went back. He gave them good tips.”
He did not take his instruments on those trips. Tuba Man’s stage was Seattle.
John Tangeman, manager of audience services for Pacific Northwest Ballet, said he and others would slip Mr. McMichael a spare ticket for a performance on the condition that he remove his Dr. Seuss hat or whatever headwear he favored that day. He said he would see Mr. McMichael watching “on the edge of his seat.”
Afterward, Tuba Man would be back outside with his horn in the rain, long after the rest of the audience had gone home.
“Ed would ask in his unmistakable baritone, ‘John, do you want to be a part of it tonight?’ ” Mr. Tangeman recalled. “This statement was part of the genius of Ed, as if contributing to Ed’s efforts, one was not only being a part of Ed’s life but being a part of something much larger, something almost unobtainable.”
November 16th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I’ll give Shard a call… He’s a good guy. He wants to help. These NBA players get into a tough position because they are hit up so often for some type of assistance that they get used to putting up real barriers. Then of course there are the agents saying “Don’t do anyting publicly…”
November 17th, 2008 at 2:06 am
Sorry if someone suggested this already, but I was just thinking it would be really great if they created a sort of memorial for Tuba Man in the EMP, and when the day comes eventually move the display inside the new Seattle bball arena.
The tuba, some of his sheet music, instruments, and the pics that are floating around of him entertaining - would be one of the few things that would get me to go back to the EMP…
November 17th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Is Durant just being a good soldier or is he serious?
DURANT ON OKC Kevin Durant told Sporting News Today he is glad the team relocated to Oklahoma City from Seattle and said he is enjoying his new host city so far.
“I’m loving the Oklahoma City,” Durant said. “I was just telling that to my teammates last night at dinner. It’s a great town. It’s quiet, the people are nice, the fans are unbelievable and that’s what we need as a team. It goes a long way with us that the fans are there every day, whether we are winning or losing. I’m glad we made the move.”
November 17th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
That means nothing. What’s he going to say. The city is boring and I hate the racist fans? No. Just media relations crap.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
On KD’s comments…
Who knows - likley he is well coached to just say the right thing and is talking positive about his new home and fans.
I like KD - He was/is caught in a tough spot. Can’t really blame him for saying this kind of stuff - he’s going to be in OKC for 2-3 years for sure anyway.
also - He may indeed enjoy playing in front of sell-outs every night - he didn’t have that experience in Seattle last year.
But the team sucks - but they have TONS of cap room to add players in the next 1-2 summers. Presti has done a good job of taking his lumps - avoiding taking on big contracts of over-valued veterans. He’s clearing cap space and positioning the team to become very good as KD & JG get into their 3rd and 4th year. Westbrook appears to be a solid young PG. JG is improving.
Everyone except JG, KD & RW can be or will be gone in 1-2 years.
Wish they were in seattle - they will continue to suck this year but in 1-2 years they could be one of the best young exciting teams in the NBA.
screw you David Stern - Clay B. - Greg Nickels and Gregoire
November 18th, 2008 at 5:07 am
Howdy Fellas,
Lifetime Laker fan here, born and raised in LA. I’ve been lurking around this site since last summer when it became obvious the Sonics might actually move. Reading some of the comments in here I felt I had to post.
I know there was no love lost between the Lakers and Sonics, but I’ve got to tell you the Laker family feels your pain. The Lakers are an old franchise that respects and honors tradition, much of the fanbase feels the same. The Sonics were a powerful, storied foe who were to supposed to battle the Lakers unceasingly into the future.
This isn’t right, we know you got screwed. Why do the Clippers get to exist but the Sonics don’t?
November 18th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Thought you guys might dig this, if you haven’t already seen it:
http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/photos?photoId=2085157&gameId=281117025
What does Robert Swift have tattooed on the inside of his right elbow?
November 22nd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Fletch, thanks for the kind thoughts. And for the pic! Nice tat.