Merry Christmas Nate McMillan
Posted on Sunday, December 21st, 2008 at 11:32 pm by Brian Robinson
As Christmas without the Sonics is coming I am taking some time to ponder my blessings of the last few years.
As are most people around the world I am thankful for my family, my job and home, the general happiness of life. Like so many people in Seattle I do of course miss my team and have regrets that this year they are not here to celebrate with me. No Sonics stocking stuffers, no 2009 team calendar, no good times in the playoffs in 2009.
One of the things that I take the most personal satisfaction in is a sense that I did everything I could do. There is a wonderful thing about looking back without regret and about knowing you took your best shot and did everything you could within your power.
What gets me somewhat worked up, and frankly what I have wanted to point out for so long is the fact that so few people can really feel that same way. I look at how many people had it within their power either with greater resources, greater fame, or in many cases a heck of a lot more ability. I look at how many of them did absolutely nothing to help retain Sonics basketball.
There is no one person who is guilty of this. The problem started with Schultz but beyond him you can look throughout the Seattle business community and see apathy that was ridiculous. You can see civic leaders who tell me in meetings that they have taken their children to games since birth, yet sat and did nothing to stop the move. I can point at the season ticket holders who spent thousands of dollars on merchandise but walked by us without even giving a dollar when we were fundraising at the KeyArena steps.
I really wonder how a lot of people associated with Sonics basketball sleep at night this Christmas. Every former Sonics employee who wanted to help but found themselves too much a part of the system to be active in fighting their boss. I look at former players across the board who were too scared of David Stern to say a single word against the move and guys who made literally millions of dollars wearing our city name across their chest but did not donate a dime to the cause or offer to help in any way. Guys who didn’t go on the radio to rally the fans or even make any effort to contact somebody to find out what they could do.
There are good people who looked the other way. I think of Brent Barry’s recent poem and I know that Brent is a wonderful guy who cares a lot about this situation. Then I think that he got traded to the Sups, took his contract money and walked away without making a single gesture on behalf of all of us who cheered him on.
There are people who were born and raised in this city and are now in the NBA who profess great sadness at the teams loss, but are so scared of David Stern that they won’t get out in public to advocate for a new team. They listen to their agents and put their careers first, scared of being blackballed by the league or losing that potential coaching job down the road.
I have been frustrated with Gary Payton at times because I wish he would do more. But at least Gary came to the rally. At least he went on record before it was too late. Gary told me that a lot of the other guys were scared and that he would tell them that they didn’t have to take the league on. They just had to get out and say that they loved Seattle and that Seattle deserved the NBA. They could not get in trouble for that. They could rally the fans with their presence alone.
I try to be a pragmatist but there is a bitter side to me. I think that there is a second battle coming up in January where we have a shot at getting a new team and it does not involve working against the league or against Clay Bennett. It is a very limited shot and we could use all the ammo we can get our hands on. I wonder why Marvin Williams or Brandon Roy do not call KJR and arrange to hold a benefit. I wonder when Detlef Schrempf will call the city and ask “What could I do to help you get a team?” or when any of the other hundreds of people who have associations with the team will call us and offer to speak to a chamber of commerce meeting or place calls for corporate support.
I hate to pick on Nate. He’s certainly not the guiltiest person in this city but for years he has been Seattle’s beloved basketball icon who can do no wrong. He’s Mr. Sonic for God’s sake. Because we have loved him so much and he has done so little he stands out as a shining example for all the people that this article talks about. The same charisma and heart that made me worship him as a player makes me notice his absence so glaringly now.
I don’t care if people support us or go their own direction. Fred Brown and I have never seen eye to eye but at least I can respect him for making the effort. At least he did what he thought was right which is always better that doing nothing.
So I want to go on record right now. Gary stood with us in the rally and I love him for it. Others at least made comments and very few made some type of donations or at least tried to see what they could do privately. Rich King is a Sonics all-star as far as I am concerned. I will just say as a fan that people who want to be associated with Sonics basketball do owe the fans and the city something. If they want to be a part of our civic identity they should step up in the next 2 months and redeem themselves. If these guys don’t do something now then they don’t deserve to have their name in the Key Arena rafters. Whether we have a team or they are just a historical footnote those damn banners are hanging. I would take them down. Don’t put them in MOHI for all I care, let their records exist in Oklahoma and Oklahoma only if they care so little. Take everything down but #20 and let the rest earn their way back in.
In the past I’ve asked you to write your letters to legislature or to the Governor. This year I think you should write your boss and ask what the company is doing. You should as your chamber of commerce if they have taken a position. You should certainly write all of the former owners of the team, ask yourselves where is the Ackerley family in this whole mess and how can they show their faces in this town anymore? And dammit you should write the Blazers and ask Paul Allen, Nate, Brandon Roy, and Marvin Williams what they are doing. Write the Knicks and ask Nate Robinson how he intends to help or Jamal Crawford with the Warriors. These people are in high profile positions of power and we should stop coddling them.
If he wants to be called Mr. Sonic ever again in his life then Nate should do something, anything. I don’t care what but take a stand and do it in public. He should host a charitable event with former Sonics to replace the holiday benefits the team offers. He should sign a thousand jerseys for gives to fans who miss their team and allow KJR to give them to former fans. He should do SOMETHING. If not he should be stripped of the title. Slick should do something. Det should do something. Rich Cho should do something. Jamal Crawford should do something. Howard should do something. Every member of the former Basketball Club of Seattle should be doing something. The business community should do something. Where are you people? You should be ashamed at your inactivity.
If it’s a business it’s a business, I’ve gotten used to that concept. If you want this city to love you then you should take a minute to love it back!
Merry Christmas.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Brian,
Thanks for taking the time to write something that has obviously been eating away at you for awhile. When I read this I think it pretty much sums up the biggest thing that happened over the last two years. Anyone involved with this whole Sonics thing has effectively lost their innocence and I think that alot of people are really struggling with this fact.
I find it hard to believe that any former Sonics fan will support any sports team with the same energy and spirit that they did before all this happend…and…well…that just sucks. It sucks that you can no longer just put your full heart behind anything anymore.
We can be mad at all of these former players (and everyone else)…but deep down what I think this writing represents is your admission that these players/people do not care about the fans nearly as much (and actually probably not at all) as they ask us to care about them. As we move into the 21st century these athletes are going to learn that without the fans there isnt any money. Unfortunately, they won’t learn this until the fans leave them…and sports will be dead.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:07 am
Merry Christmas George Karl, one of the few, ugly tie and all.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:41 am
Well said BR.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:25 am
Don’t hold your breath. If they didn’t step up before they sure won’t now. As with most everyone else in this story, ‘they got theirs’ and thats all that matters.
Maybe Clint can use some of his blazer-man-love to get in his teams ears?
What is the “second battle coming up in January”? People who aren’t in the club want to know.
And as a season ticket holder what exactly would my dollar have changed?
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 am
I’ll never understand why so few former sonic players showed up to help the cause over the last few years. They are already millionaires and many are retired, so why would they care about being put on some kind of Stern rejectlist?
I went to that last Denver game at the Key, and I thought it was so huge for Karl to where that tie. Here’s a guy who was on his way to the playoffs with another team but still showed he cared about the town and the people from his past.
The only players I remember reading decent quotes from…Ray Allen, Steve Nash, Shaq (who recently backed off his comments by saying ’someone in Seattle told him to say that’…lame). Nate had a few quotes here and there, but they were completely boring and politically correct.
How can you watch the team that you spent your career building up be thrown away and not step up to the mic? Sad.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 am
So let me say that George Karl has gone on the record.
Also in the last game that Denver faced us he did take the time to call and offer his support. He wore his Sonics tie as a show of solidarity.
Like I said I really understand that people involved in the league had their hands tied last time and couldn’t do much. Doing just a little bit is so different than nothing.
FedUp - the second battle if I’m not clear enough is the effort to fund $75M for the Ballmer group in this legislative session and bring a team back. If this happens we really will get a team.
Your dollar would have changed more than your bitching. One wouldn’t have helped but there were 14,000 people at a good game. I remember early strategizing that if there were 14,000 people who had paid for tickets then surely we could count on 20% giving a dollar on average. We thought we could raise $2,000 per game. We would go there and volunteers would come back in tears saying they had been ignored, people had walked past them, etc. The symbolic story was the guy wearing the $900 Sonics leather jacket who told a volunteer that he would never waste his money.
Would it have changed things? Who knows, but we should have found out.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:34 am
The Howard Sonics for Sale totally dissed Nate Mac in the summer of ‘05.
I’ve never blamed him for heading to Portland, and will always consider him to be Mr. Sonic. He gave the organization 19 good years, and then, like good capitalists, they turned their back on him.
Keep your fingers crossed that I can make it down to rejoice in baskebtall heaven with the good liberals of Portland for the Denver and Boston games within the next week or so. I hope Amtrak doesn’t pull any crazy cancellations on me!
Anyone Amtraking it down to root on the Seattle talent-led Trailblazers with me for the Celtics on Dec. 30th? But be warned, I’ll be rooting for Ray Allen, too, and may even be sporting my recently purchased Allen Celtics jersey.
It’ll be a GO BLAZERS AND RAY ALLEN type of night!
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:39 am
and let me add that I don’t believe that loyalty has any place in pro sports. The Sonics situation should have hammered that home for all of us.
“Loyalty” is only as good as W’s and revenue; there is no legit integrity.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:01 am
brian, you say if the $75 million does get funded in january we really will get a team…I hope you’re right but how can you be so sure?
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:21 am
I am extremely confident. Of course there is no guarantee but if you look at recent commentary from the league and combine it with comments I have heard from everybody involved it seems like there is a complete and total concensus that teams will be stuggling in the current financial market and that someone will relocate at some time. The Ballmer group would not be going through this effort if they did not have strong indications from Stern that it would result in a team somehow, some way.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:25 am
I find myself rooting for Memphis more with each passing day
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am
Your dollar would have changed more than your bitching.
How? By paying for another celebrity to attend the courthouse rally? Sorry to say this, but SOS could’ve been bankrolled by Steve Ballmer and it still wouldn’t have made a dif.
No revisionism, this is still Howie’s fault, with a big slice of blame heaped on Nickels. I would never put any of the blame on those mentioned in this blog.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:58 am
Nickels had a huge sheild of apathy to hide behind. I get mad at him sometimes but when I look at the situation in this city there was not enough push for him. The media, business leaders, everybody could have made him do more. If you think it was his fault then you have to look at the people who could have influenced him.
I’m a pretty even-blame guy. The people mentioned here get called out because they are celebrity, because they are high profile. I hope the point of the business community was made deeply enough. There were 58 owners of the BCOS. I can tell you that Wally, despite whatever you may think of him, did everything he could think of to make a difference. Stanton has totally stepped to the table. What about the rest. Can you point to a single effort you saw to take the profits of the windfall sale and done something with it. Howard is the most obvious and clearly the most guilty. That doesn’t make him alone.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:11 am
thank you brian that gives me some hope! not like we have a choice but im with the people on here who would welcome memphis with open arms.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 am
Brian is right. So many people didn’t help when they could because they “didn’t want to be on the losing side” of the effort.
You can still help in January. Brian and Speedcat have offered to help out so far, but i still feel like i’m short on volunteers for the Jan. 23 benefit show.
You can really help by just coming to the show, but i also need:
1) Flyer distribution.
2) A short highlight video (2-3 mins) OR someone who can give me the software so i can make it myself.
3) Former Sonics to guest host.
4) Prize donations for a raffle.
e-mail me: adamb83 [at] gmail.com if you can provide any assistance. thanks and happy holidays!
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:49 am
The reason I’ll only blame Howie & Nickels is because I felt they were the only two people that had the opportunity to hash something out to keep the team here before Howie got to the point of selling out. I never thought there was a chance of the legislature stepping in to help, before or after the fact.
As far as the latest fight scheduled for January…
How many folks are left that even care anymore? A few hundred maybe? And they aren’t fighting for a team called the Sonics, they’re fighting for the Grizzlies or Hornets, with the storied histories of Shareef Abdur Rahim or Larry Johnson. No need to worry about which jerseys deserve to be in the rafters, they’d all be shipped south. If it ain’t expansion, it ain’t gonna be the Sonics.
I’d like to say I care about an NBA future here but right now I don’t. As GP liked to say, “Whatever happens is gonna happen.” Maybe I’d care about another team if they came here. Cross that bridge then. But I won’t be one of the ones standing up and shouting that Seattle deserves a team. Seattle blew it. Does any city really “deserve” an NBA team though? It’s kinda like asking if anyone deserves to have leaches. The leaches will stay until the blood runs out. The other way to get rid of them is to salt their environment. The city/state accomplished that. Leach Shultz morphed into Leach Bennett and then moved on to fresh blood.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
i blame Schultz and Stern and Bennett of course. but really, the more time that goes by, the more i blame our city/state leaders for being so stubborn when dealing with Schultz.
sure, howie’s $18 million offer was bullsh*t and chump change compared to a REAL civic hero in Ballmer. (i haven’t patronized a Stabbacks coffee since July 2006). but the city/state basically dared Schultz/Stern to move the team and refused to even re-negotiate the lease. if i was losing that much money i would sell too… just not to Bennett.
and i know we’re trying to work with him now to pass the Seattle Center funding, but i really look at Nick Licata’s “no cultural value” comment as the turning point in this whole thing. sure he retracted it later, but the needle and the damage done.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:19 pm
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=cards/081222/basement
The Team Formerly Known as the Sonics (and other terrible teams) send their seasons greetings, a la ESPN Page 2.
By the way, the logo/color combo in the card is so much more awesome than the Blunder’s actual logo and color combo. I think this further proves that Bennett leaves a little something to be desired.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
A very valid point can be made that if there is going to be blame placed on Nickels it has more to do with his treatement of the Schultz regime than it does for his inactivity durign the Bennett fiasco. That story has never made it out in its entirity and likely never will.
No doubt that Schultz sold the city out. I would not want to take blame from him. I even look at Danny Barth who I consider a real traitor and I try to put myself in his shoes having been sold out by the owners and placed under Bennett. Trying to make the best of the situation and knowning that this career path had such limited opportunities. I realize that he probably hated the fact that he had to testify and it probably sickens him today. He must seriously, seriously hate Schultz and probably feels that he simply made the best of a terrible situation that was thrust upon him.
Still he was there. He did it. Danny Barth should find a way to be a part of bringing a new team back to his home. If he were to do so he could hold his head high and I would shake his hand any day.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:26 pm
A lot of people, the vast majority of people, thought it was over when Howard sold to Clay and it was. And that cast the die on their degree of willingness to “help” or “try” especially the big wigs.
A lot of people assume it is going to eventually work out to get another team in the middle future, more likely 5-7 years than 3 or less. I do not think this is as slam dunk as most think and the odds have probably slipped some due to the lack of visible activity from the Ballmer group. I think the odds of arena funding are no better than 50-50 and it won’t be in January it will by April last minute if at all.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:29 pm
You come off as a whiney, sanctimonious punk. You Sonic fans did NOTHING until it was too late. Blaming fromer Sonics shows just how pathetic you people are. If I were Nate and I read this crap, I would turn my back on you losers for good.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:42 pm
The main way it could have “worked” would have been for Seattle to roll over to Stern’s arena subsidy extortion then Clay could sell to local ownership. This is what Stern wanted or would have accepted in lieu of the relocation. There was very little chance Seattle would do this.
The other way it could have worked would have been for for the Ballmer group to offer Clay a $100+ million quick profit and then worked together to pressure Stern to allow expansion and the Ballmer group to proceed with the Key upgrade they say they supported. The Ballmer group either didn’t try hard enough to get this done or failed to convince Clay and Stern.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Glen Taylor as NBA Chairman is such a joke. The NBA owners treat Stern as Midas and let their employee dictate over the business and dictate to them. I guess he has been Midas til now but I find it odd they let his dictatorship go to such levels. Maybe that will change some day.
Stern wanted everything his way on the arena and wasn’t going to cut a lesser deal.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Has the Ballmer group spend 1/4th pursuing the new arena deal that Clay spent on his fake or half-hearted effort? Will they step it up or continue the apparent at least to the distant eye & ear bare bones effort? Where is the 5-10 person staff, the full-time office operation in preparation for the spring campaign? They appear to me to expect it to be handed to them.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Clay wasn’t going to buck Stern so that Ballmer/Bennett effort to push him was pretty unrealistic even though that is what they should have done.
So with Seattle giving in to extortion not realistic and making Stern adjust unlikely you get back to the sale being effectively being the end.
The Griz in 2013-17 might be the best shot unless the next CBA goes radical and has expansion as part of it.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Well, as an observer of public details, and a student of communication and group influence on society, I will throw out a few points.
1. There are two events in Washington, getting the funding legislation into the pool of expenditures. This is in January, it is influenced by what the fed stimulus plan looks like. We are lucky to have had our governor as the chair of that group, and the mayor of Seattle as the deputy chair of that group. Both have a greater understanding of what is likely and possible with the president.
Ross Hunter was named to a national group of legislators that will focus on state’s commerce.
Those three people are not predisposed to saying no to the funding.
The pool of money will not likely include the sales tax credit, that will get raided, there should still be enough money to make the smaller proposals happen in my opinion.
Once the legislation is out there it will be subject to the shell game, what infrastucture funds will the state really get from the Feds and can what they have in state get shuffled around to satisfy other general fund obligations. This part will go on until the legislators get a look at the next quarter’s forcast, as Crow has indentified, is April, though the end of March is when we will know one way or another. So, January and the end of March.
You will have to have another show then Adam.
2. Group beliefs influence society beliefs by the contact those groups, or its members, have with other groups and society in general.
As much as I agree with Brian on the subject of the players not talking, his point within the thread is much more meaningful to the possible influence that can be made.
The players and coaches that do not call Seattle home could only have a little effect. It is the other prior owners, it is the silent “leadership” in this town that is THE problem. This includes Paul Allentown Allen, and the people Art Theil called the landed gentry, where are the community leaders?
Where are all the groups that hope to be the public portion of the public/private partnerships that will reshape Seattle Center, and benefit from an active KeyArena with an anchor tenant?
Shamefull, that is what that is, never mind the contract workers that play basketball, or work in your office, what should you rightly expect from the citizens, or permenent workers in your company, where are those with a long-term vested interest in this town?
I understand how people can view the past as hopeless, but that past ended on July 2nd. What will be their excuse now?
But to be sure, even back then it is important for a group to participate in the society it hopes to influence, this is a political one, that requires communicating in a political method, in public, often, providing sound bites, and as with that world, in order to participate in it you need some money. Candidates for office raise money and get their message out, candidates for popular opinion must do the same thing in much the same way.
Buying an ad on the front page of all of the newspapers, and 1.30 minutes of local tv time is really, really expensive. If you gave a dollar then you got a bargain, GP still commands media attention, as does the x-man.
So, things changed last July, the people that said no or yes to trying to keep the Sonics had that effort end. Now we have a new effort, to do a similar thing with the very real possiblity of the KeyArena getting an upgrade, and an NBA team being the anchor tenant.
3. David Stern is an ass, but be clear, he speaks for the owners, and in Seattle he does speak for a potential owner that he favors when he says teams will become available. If he did not see an ownership group he that he favors he would not make such comments, he would say exactly what he said about Vancouver, (same conversation). One clearly has a future in his eyes.
There were a few franchises that were in trouble since the good old days of last year, now many more will lose money in the short run, and my guess is that the in trouble teams are in no way going to make it in the markets they are in.
We need is a KeyArena upgrade.
We need the Seattle Center Investors to state the likelihood of landing another team, and the non-NBA benefits to the Seattle Center’s other potential investors, and get them all to step up to provide public support through their lobbyists, and through the media.
Ballmer’s group needs to be more public about this situation, and participate in influencing people they do business with to be public too.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Spencer Hawes stepped up. He’s never afraid to speak his opinion, even when it’s the minority opinion… He spoke out for the Sonics in Seattle…
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
What are you saying Crow? What, you think the CEO of theclargest software company in the world might bother to have an intern put up a web page for the Seattle Center Investors?
They can not be questioned or bothered.
I sometimes wonder how people got to where they are, fair and foul, including myself, that has worked well in other parts of our lives is sometimes ignored.
Companies and people advertise for what they want, that explains the colorful boxes under my Christmas tree. But for some strnge reason SCI is hoping for 150 dollars that I completely agree is on the state and city, but they is still some
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Thing missing from the SCI side. Like an overtly expressed desire to see this happen.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I wonder how Midas is doing with the NBA China venture.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Anyone got addresses for the Nates (Mac10 & Robinson), B-Roy, Detlef, etc? It may be lame, but I feel too busy/lazy to look ‘em up but my anger is enough to motivate me to spew out a letter I can send to all of ‘em.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Brian Robinson Says: “I’m a pretty even-blame guy. The people mentioned here get called out because they are celebrity, because they are high profile.”
Except for my fellow season ticket holders who were called out. Like most of us I am non-celebrity and no-profile. Yet in your eyes we get part of the blame? Since I’m part of that group I specifically get part of the blame?
I don’t wear (or even have) Sonics jackets or shirts or toys other than the door prizes from games. I’ve been jobless (for various reasons I don’t need to go into) since Feb 2006 but even before that I struggled year after year to scrape up enough to pay for my tickets. It was a yearly issue and debate. But I’d figure it out because I loved the Sonics.
I guarantee you have more money in your back pocket than I do in my net worth and you want to call me out for not giving you a dollar? Does that make you part of the Seattle elite that many complain about?
So yeah, I bitch and complain and attend rallys and write letters and I fight and defend on message boards and I boycott the NBA. Thats what I got to give to the effort. Sorry that wasn’t enough. Sorry I cost us all our team.
Tell ya what, you get a new Sonics team here and I’ll send you my dollar. Heck I’ll send you ten. Do you take pennies?
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Nuggit: Brandon Roy can be contacted through his personal website for “endorsement and advertising opportunities”. Address is “contact@broy7.com”.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
“Except for my fellow season ticket holders who were called out. ”
Congrats, you were called out by another season ticket holder…
Boo hoo.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
The real concern is what the Ballmer group does from now rather than the last 5 months but I don’t get good vibes based on what they did and said last spring and since. But they volunteered to try to revive the Key and get a team back so do it their way and get judged on the results.
If I was Ballmer, as I said before, I would have hired Gary Locke as the campaign chief strategist or at least an advisor.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:18 pm
At what point will you former Sonic fans stop the pity party and move on with your lives??? It’s over. They are not coming back. Let it go. Game over! Good grief…
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:58 pm
If you attended rallies and made calls then you did your part. You should be calling out those who didn’t.
Money isn’t everything. George Karl wearing that tie meant the world to me. Spencer Hawes showing up at the rally is all it took for him to win me over. I don’t expect the world from everybody but I do wonder why some people give absolutely nothing.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Agreed Crow, the problem looks like their solution. They pushed for the settlement, after they have beenjust as invisible, not sure why anybody, including me, would think they would be the ones to make any kind of public effort now.
If you want public support then you must lobby the public. The public lobbies the politicos, Bob’s your uncle.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I have much more faith in the city if they sense some downside. My days in the public eye are in many ways come and gone. My only real shot would be to lead an anti-nickels deal on the courthouse step on the 1 year anniversary of the settlement if I don’t think they put enough effort behind this. There would be former players willing to participate in that.
The city is going through the motions but to get them to really, really push you have to figure out what it will cost them if they fail. Without people in the public spotlight calling attention to that failure you have to figure their incentive level. I would like it to be greater.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Tim, we are talking about the future based on people’s actions of the past.
There is a better chance today, right now, of nba basket to be played in Seattle past 2010 than there was before July 2nd.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Can I just say that Mr. Bakers analysis lately has been smoking hot? Any of you who are pissed at me should go to his blog. He’s really been on fire.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I just sent an email to the mayor telling him the he had the wrong building for the location of solar panels, Qwest Events Center, that it should be KeyArena, but that would require 75 million dollars from the state (and city, and 150 from Ballmer), and how is that going and don’t make me as Ross Hunter.
And KeyAtena should be the greenest arena anywhere.
I wished him a merry Christmas, and said I was sorry for calling him Mayor McCheese on my blog.
Poke.
Thanks for the props Brian, I am a project analyst by trade, so it is second nature to me.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I feel empathy with this whole ordeal. I understand everyones frustration level. It really wasn’t the fans that screwed this mess up, we in fact, got screwed. Please don’t bicker and pass blame, it’s so easy to generalize when it really comes down to certain individuals. That’s why so many years ago i came to this site, to escape the pi forum and support my team. Sometimes you win when you lose and lose when you win.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:27 pm
I hear your grief, Brian, and at the same time I think Nate gave everything he could to the city of Seattle and basically got dissed. IMO the people to turn to are the people who have been by our side all along like Sherman Alexi…
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Sadly, its all been over for quite a while… any team that relocates here will just be a replacement team, like the Seattle SuperSonics Kind of But Not Really 2.0 or the Former Griz/Hornets/Pistons(!?) Now Playing the Role of Your Seattle Sonics. From a basketball standpoint, it would be cool to cheer on Gay and Mayo, or Paul and West, or walk by and admire the Detroit Piston’s 3 championship trophies - but I could never claim them as “ours”.
All of this unfolded because no one of real political power or big money in Seattle or Washington - be it Balmer, Stanton, Gregoire, Nickels, Licata, Chopp, or Gorton - stood up and sincerely said “not on my watch”.
GO BLAZERS!
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:39 pm
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-yisage&prov=ap&type=lgns
LOL first the Olympics and now this
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:40 pm
BTW, Anne Levinson was on KPLU today, says she hopes to have the Storm’s 10 year lease with the city announced before the end of the year.
This is good public fodder involving basketball and KeyArena.
The Storm too could benefit from a Key remodel, Anne Levinson was a deputy mayor.
Once they ink their deal I would hope that they would encourage mutually beneficial improvements to the facility.
The timing is good.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Thank’s for the nice post yesterday Speedcat. Hopefully i’ll meet some of you guys at a game at the key. I too, feel very conflicted and even agree to a point that it will feel like 2.0. Especially after watching so many great games there in the 90’s. I think if KD bolts from Okie and Stern gets fired, i’ll feel a bit more satisfied and resolved. My mom lives in Vansterdam and feel like a bad pick in ” Big Country” and Stevie franchise ruined an up and coming NW team, so i rationalize it coming back in a whole different way than “stealing someone elses team.”
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
ps , i was at the key for that awsome playoff run to the finals in ‘96.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:49 pm
OMG you guys IT”S OVER. All the ‘he said/she said’ stuff doesn’t matter. The team is in OKC now. Why keep rehashing old news. You really, really have to accept things and move on with your lives. Really.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:51 pm
OMG you guys IT”S OVER. All the ‘he said/she said’ stuff doesn’t matter. The team is in OKC now. Why keep rehashing old news? You really, really have to accept things and move on with your lives. Really.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:47 am
“The team is in OKC now. Why keep rehashing old news? You really, really have to accept things and move on with your lives. Really.”
Ah Tim
Practice what you preach do you?
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:51 am
To put it simply Tim if we’re pathetic losers what does that make you for coming to this site and worrying about it?
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:03 am
I never said you were pathetic losers. But at some point, don’t you have to ask yourself ‘what good will it do’? What is done is done.
And I linked here from ESPN.com. That’s how I came to this site. The idea that Brandon Roy, or Nate McMillan, both active members of another NBA franchise, would hold a rally to support another franchise is a joke. If Nate was retired, maybe. But BRoy owes you nothing.
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:36 am
The very fact that I am still linked to ESPN is really pretty pathetic. Minor reality TV type celebrity is a really weird thing.
I truly appreciate Henry Abbott always being supportive of us. That said his headline that we “called upon Nate McMillan” is not the intended point of this article. I certainly would like Nate’s help. All told though he was intended to be a symbolic figurehead in this piece, one of a thousand people who can and should do more in the coming months.
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:20 am
My last comment to Tim (who’s polite dissent I don’t mind at all)
Brandon Roy is a multi-millionaire who is admittedly passionate about basketball, grew up a huge fan of the Sonics, and calls Seattle his home. What about that says that he has no obligation to help? I think anybody who fits that description should do something to bring the NBA back. He happens to have a celebrity status so that we publicly know all those things about him but there are many, many others who fit a similar bill who are just sitting back doing jack sh!t. B-Roy sets the example and standard for them. If some lawyer sitting on the street sees people like him doing nothing and thinks “If B-Roy can’t do anything, if Nate can’t do anything, then there is certainly nothing I can do.”
I’m not talking about their obligations as members of the NBA. I’m talking about their obligations as respectable members of this community. Being in the NBA is not an excuse.
I have never demanded anything from anybody. In this one case I have decided that I have the right to call attention tot he fact that people can do more if they wish. I hope they do it. If they are mad at me for writing this then they should do it with someone else. I tend to think they have pretty thick skin. The public eye toughens you up and Nate McMillan has withstood a lot tougher criticisms in his day than the ones I put up here.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:50 am
To have any chance the rework of the Key to serve its community role even better / longer and /or the return of the NBA has to be a priority to Governor Gregoire. There is no firm proof to me it really is or is enough to matter. The Governor doing the bob & weave and having no impact gives some cover for almost everybody else.
I agree with Brian that many of those who benefitted as Sonics or Seattle based NBA empolyees coulda / shoulda done more more, even in nonconfrontational or private ways. But it is ultimately in the hands of a few politicians and businessmen.
Is Ross Hunter a problem solver / consensus builder / leader? Does Gregoire really care and does she have any influence over Chopp or the rest of the legislature? Will Nickels/Ceis recognize that their presentation/strategy failed miserably and will again unless they change tactics and/or presentors? Will Ballmer/Griffin realize they need to put resources and more personal effort into this to get to work? Everything else is secondary or tertiary.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:08 am
Nickels/Ceis, Ballmer/Griffin and Gregoire need to make personal calls to a hundred some big name people & organizations to ask them to personally and publicly endorse the arena funding deal. Maybe some of the calls can be pawned off on assistants but the majority, I say no, make the call yourselves if you really mean it, want it.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:26 am
I promise I am not trying to be a hater. I honestly just don’t understand the mindset of continuing to rehash an issue that is dead. Hindsight is always 20/20. Blaming people at this point serves no productive purpose. Put it behind you and look ahead.
You know what you should do? Say to yourselves ‘Okay, we lost our team. Let’s go about getting another one’. Start strategizing and laying groundwork to get another one. This situation is almost a mirror image of the Cleveland Browns circa 1996. Look it up. They should be a model to you. The legacy of the team name, colors, and logo remains in Seattle. Just like it did in Cleveland. They got their team back and if you can get over your obsessive blaming and name calling, you have a good chance to get yours back, too.
And Brian, you and I will have to agree to disagree about BRoy and Nate. The reason BRoy is a multi-millionaire is that he is paid a lot of money to be the leader of, and for that matter the face of, the Portland Trailblazers. Supporting ANY other NBA team or potential team is an inherent conflict of interest. It would be like LeBron holding a rally in Brooklyn on the steps of City Hall to get a team there. I know he’s not from there, but maybe he has a lot of friends there and would like to play there someday. None of that matters. Can you imagine the reaction in Cleveland? Look what happened when he just wore a NY Yankees hat, for God’s sake.
When I think of Seattle and Sonic basketball, I think of people like Wally Walker, Freddie Brown, Gus Williams, Jack Sikma, Gary Payton, and yes, Shawn Kemp. These are the people you should be getting together for your next campaign. But like it or not, Nate is off limits until he is through with the Blazers.
You just have to get over the jilted lover thing and move on with your lives. The Sonics are gone, but not dead. It’s not the end of the world. Your time will come, if you can look ahead long enough to see it. Just be positive, not negative. That’s all. Good luck.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:11 am
ESPN has an article about our awful sports year.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=seattle2008&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:12 am
Wally Walker? It’d be hard not to boo when he was introduced… it’s like an instinct.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:36 am
Here’s a video to go along with the article
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3789682&categoryId=2378529&status=ok
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:40 am
Seattles best Shine in the NBA
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/jerrybrewer/2008550547_brewer23.html
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
Nickels/Ceis, Ballmer/Griffin and Gregoire need to make personal calls to a hundred some big name people & organizations to ask them to personally and publicly endorse the arena funding deal.
A little to late. They had there chance and blew it. Brian said that it is even hard for Nickels to get his act together. He should be the one out on the streets talking about this. He let the team go. It was his final say. A good Mayor would have stand up against the odds and done the right thing and that right thing was not to let Bennett out of the lease. Time will tell but I am done. I wrote more letters and made calls but that wasn’t enough. Why in the world if we do the samething now it is going to make any different. In the end it won’t be about the fans but money. I have no faith in this government. I haven’t watch the NBA and won’t until we get a team. And even then it might not happen.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:56 am
Eric E thanks for posting that article. Really good article even though it got me a little teary.
One of my favorite lines from big lo…
“And if you need a really good cup of coffee, we’ve got it. Just don’t make it Starbucks.”"
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
new thread is up.
a page turner