Gone
Posted on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 5:30 am by Brian Robinson
I decided to erase this article just because I don’t want to deal with the hassles it potentially represents.
I guess I got written up today for not endorsing James Donaldson.
I like James a lot. He is a good guy and I have had some really nice conversations with him. WHen I first heard he was running I was really excited to support him. I’ve just thought about it however and decided that I want someone with more experience during these really difficult times. It wsa with a lot of hesitancy that I moved away from endorsement of James.
What I really feel bad about however is that I have not personally called James to talk to him about this decision. It is always hard to tell someone bad news and I just haven’t wanted to deal with it. Then a couple of weeks go by and I go on vacation. Now it has been more than a month and I am just flat out embarrassed. So I owe James an apology and will call him and give him one. It is a weird feeling because I really wish him well.
I should be more clear when I endorse anyone on this board it is strictly a statement of my personal opinion and not a representation of the group. Any official statements or endorsements would be clearly labeled as such.
August 4th, 2009 at 9:20 am
I hope someday I can pull that “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!” line… that would be true swagger.
August 4th, 2009 at 9:27 am
Yeah road rage is a bitch and it’s only getting worse, even here in Montana.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Sounds like he had to slam on the brakes.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Jan Drago was also one of the folks who signed off on the BS ordinance which derailed A Deal is a Deal.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I don’t know if Drago is better or worse then Nickels…but I have to agree with Brian’s view on how Nickels operates….
August 4th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
How fitting that you be endorsing Drago in an article titled “Sorry Ho”
Hehehehe. Sorry, had to.
August 4th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
You should have read “The Jordan Rules”… Ho and Micheal… not exactly best of friends.
August 4th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
It needs to be noted that this is Brian’s personal endorsement and in no way represents the views of Save Our Sonics, it’s leadership, or membership.
There are already some media reports misrepresenting this so it needs to be made very clear that Brian has made this personal decision based on many factors important to him on a personal and business level.
August 4th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
I actually have to disagree with Brian on pretty much every point of his breakdown of Drago. There was a comment in the media about Drago being Nickels in a skirt and that is a good description. The problems with Nickels isn’t just his style, but he has failed in a lot of areas, taken the city down the wrong path on many issues, and been wrong on many issues. Drago has always been “on point” for him at the council level and is trying hard to distance herself from that but it isn’t working. On the Sonics issue she can say whatever she wants but the bottom line is that when push came to shove she did what the Mayor wanted done and her actions cost us our team. There is nothing on record that indicates she would do anything proactive to bring the NBA back. The latest poll released today shows that she is tied for 4th place. More important that poll shows that in a two person race between her and Nickels in November she would lose. It also shows that James Donaldson with a heavy lead in a two person race. The bottom line is if we want the NBA back, and want a different Mayor, James Donaldson is the only option for voters.
August 4th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Your handle links to a web site that hasn’t been updated in well over a year so what’s the dif?
August 4th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/
I’d like to congratulate the Oklahoma City Thunder on their one national television matchup this year on December 11th against Dallas. KD’s agents must be thrilled.
August 4th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Excuse me, December 16th, a Wednesday night game.
August 4th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Here’s the full poll results:
http://www.washingtonpoll.org/results/080409.pdf
August 4th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
SOS has NOT decided on who to support in any races yet. We are still receiving responses from the candidates on how they would go about getting another NBA team here, for example, and will not be making a decision or rating candidates until we get all the responses or run out of time.
Of course we all have our individual views, which are not representative of SOS. Let’s hope we can get THAT message out there.
August 4th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I think Andy Simon makes some solid points above. I don’t really support JD personally, however if he is the best option to oust Nickels, then I’m all for it.
But please recall that BR is speaking on his own behalf of his own political views, which do not represent SOS. And he has every right to his own views, whether we think it would help or hurt the cause of getting a new team here.
August 4th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I endorse Mallahan and McGinn as the top two for Mayor of Seattle.
There, I said it.
Rather than send individual emails out, here is why I endorse two candidates for a primary; that is the function of the primary, to pick the top two. It is also a nice trick of presenting readers with a false sense of choice. I could live with either candidate, and by limiting the list to two you may reject all the others and vote for either of the two people on my primary list.
In the case of Mallahan and McGinn (as well as Hunter and Jarrett) I am compelled to say that I think the top two candidates should do one of two impossible things:
Job Share - they switch off at lunch time, both working 20 hours a week (yes, impossible, AND a good idea).
or
Fusion the characters like in the video game (I have to trust my son here) Dragon Z
Namekian Fusion: This fusion is exclusively for Namek’s. First, one Namek places his hand on the other, then ki is concentrated and the fusion begins to take place. The Namek’s have the ability to choose which of the two bodies they want to use. The resulting warrior is much stronger than either warrior alone. If by chance the two warriors fusing were once one being and parted for whatever reasons, the Fusion becomes twice as powerful.
Since job sharing and Fusion are out, I will pick one candidate to endorse after the primary election is over.
Mallahan’s Muni rating makes sense to Erica Barnett at Publicola. But that is not a rating of their policy choices.
http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-endorse-mallahan-and-mcginn-for.html
you’re welcome, ha, ha
Voting for Nickels running mate, Drago, is not likely for me. Her “contribution” to the tunnel was grasping at a money for a re-do of the A-line streetcar for her man-friend, Paul.
I am now leaning toward Mallahan, unless McGinn can tell me how he will use the money by not doing the tunnel using the only means the tunnel has to raise the money - tolling. Is going to toll all the more important things by tolling? Cause that is the only way he can get 900 million dollars. There is a giant break in logic in his reuse of tunnel type taxes.
August 4th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
http://www.nba.com/schedules/national_tv_schedule/index.html
Scheffler, I hardly call NBA TV National TV in the context you mean it but technically there are a few more games that the Blunder has to screw up on nationally. I hope Payton gets to talk on a few of them.
Every loss for the Blunder will make me smile. I have 29 new favorite teams to root for when they play the Blunder. I can’t wait to see Kevin Ollie and Eton Thomas blow leads and Durant will pathetically get them back in the game but just not enough to win.
I say no more then 30 wins. And that is being fair.
VOTE anyone but Nickels. Whatever dont matter, it’s like arranging deck chairs on the titanic.
August 4th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Do you really think Etan Thomas and Ollie are going to get much run? I don’t.
August 4th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
I think endorsing a new arena and getting the NBA back here is political suicide.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
For a short time, ESPN’s page on the new national TV schedule put the “Seattle Supersonics” in the Northwest Division! Bill Simmons’ work?
http://deadspin.com/5329985
August 4th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2009/08/save_our_sonics_leader_endorse.php
the power of Mike Seely
hey, maybe James can clarify the red “no” card he held up?
Maybe he was holding up a color swatch for my neighbor that (not kidding on this part) painted his house cougar colors last weekend. WTF!
August 4th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Baker, you should paint yours sonics colors.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
It is a shade of green my wife picked, my car is the closest yellow to gold as I could get.
I am a Husky, the neighbor on the other side of the street is a Husky, I offered to paint mine the gold-ish if she would paint hers purple-ish.
This could take some time to make that happen.
August 4th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
i want a photo of your street if you make that happen
August 4th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I guess J.D. lost about a dozen votes..
August 4th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
does anyone know anything about the “investors” in donaldson’s 100 point plan for seattle that he says he will “work with to create the conditions for a private remodel of the key”? are there actually investors that just aren’t public yet? or is he talking about ballmer?? i’d be interested to see what brian thinks about this.
August 5th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Now my first comment looks really out of place.
August 5th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
SeeJ Says:
August 5th, 2009 at 9:54 am e
Now my first comment looks really out of place.
ya, he coulda left that part of the story, even his Ho interaction. See, now THAT looks out of place.
August 5th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
So, in the invisible story Brian said that Seattle would not see pro ball while Nickels is mayor, so, re-electing him pushes that out four years.
Is this an opinion based on something like a declaration by an interested party, or just the choke-job Nickels pulled?
August 5th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
NICKELS: Selling Seattle to Oklahoma piece by piece
or
NICKELS: Hates pro sports, who’s next Seahawks, Mariners or Sounders?
August 5th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Below is an excerpt from the Daily Online Diary of the guy who just shot up the LA Fitness. I have second thoughts about posting this and think this guy is nutz, his actions are disgusting. 6 degrees of Sonics.
“April 24, 2009:
Early last month, we had our second general layoff. I survived. First one was in November. When I began 10 years ago, that used to be a nice place to work. I understand the need to reduce staff when times sour, but this is out of proportion to the economic problems at this time. The economy is shrinking by about 4-5%. They decided not to pay Christmas bonus - for staff that amounts to about 8% of yearly pay. Well, OK. Plus no yearly “merit” raise, another 3.5%. That totals to about 11% cut. Plus two layoffs of 5% staff in each case. Do the math. I know this firm is using this downturn as an excuse to take advanage of a bad situation and kill jobs UNNECESSARILY. The second layoff people who actually did work were let go. We all need to pick up the slack so the company can cut beyond what is necesary. Wasn’t going to mention it, because of all this shit, it is K&L Gates, the large law firm headquartered here in Pittsburgh. Just call it K&L Gates Corporation. Most people there are OK and I would never have a shoot ‘em up there. They paid me for 10 years, so far! ”
http://tiny.cc/n2lDU
August 5th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/2009/08/endorsement-filler-2009-i-have-voted.html
I have finished my endorsements, and I have voted for one of the two names in each race I have noted.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:00 am
I like James, too. Helluva nice guy (for a Coug, heh). I even did some brief hanging out with him on his Seafair campaign trail. But he’s not bringing the heat in the mayor’s race. No one is. By default I’m left with Malahan. (It would have been McGinn, until I saw his supporters stuffing Yes On Ref. 1 lit in his “reusable” promo bags. Don’t get me started.)
August 6th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I have second thoughts about posting this
If you have second thoughts, wouldn’t that mean that you decided not to post it?
August 6th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Question for SOS: What is the current mission statement?
August 6th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
I dont have a vote being out of Seattle, but I am pulling for Joe Mallahan. It’s time for some new blood in Seattle. Maybe bringing in a business sense and active past will help us here. Maybe he will have the ability to bring parties together and work towards a solution.
August 6th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4381822
August 6th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Too bad about Rashard
August 6th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
wow. i thought he looked bigger in that Magic uniform. over the counter supplements with steroid-precursors like this are being taken off the shelf right now by the FDA.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I’m not sure what to think about Rashard … for a 3-point shooting forward, is there anything to gain by deliberately using Performance Enhancing Drugs? So I’m thinking he may be telling the truth when he says he took some supplement that unbeknownst to him contained a banned substance.
He did move to PF, where he’s basically overmatched strengthwise, so there might be some incentive to take PEDs. But even being a PF in the NBA is not the same as being an NFL lineman or a slugging first baseman; NBA basketball has so many requirements as to speed, hops, stamina, shooting touch, body control, etc. that I’m still dubious that PEDs would be a net benefit to a player. Maybe for a Shaq-type player.
August 6th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
mkt - i used to think that too. “why would a basketball player want to bulk up with steroids and lose their quickness and agility?” this is also why basketball has gotten a pass from most people on the subject.
But that way of thinking is actually no longer applicable. modern ‘roids/PEDs are so scientific and precise that you can take certain cocktails and get stronger without losing your quickness and getting all freakishly bulky like McGuire or Bonds. look at Floyd Landis, dude’s skinnier than Durant. or even A-Rod… he doesn’t exactly have the typical ‘roid body type.
the other legit reason i could see doing roids as a pro hooper is to recover from injury. their living depends on them getting out there every night and accumulating stress on their bodies that would sideline most of us. if you had a nagging knee or back injury and a little HGH would help you heal quicker and get that big contract, would you do it? it’s an interesting debate.
August 6th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
BTW there’s an awesome documentary on steroids called Bigger, Faster, Stronger.
http://www.biggerstrongerfastermovie.com/
August 6th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Deadballfoul,
I guess my second thoughts ended after I made sure that nut job worked for KandL Gates. and the post happened, i can never take it back.. nooooooooo
Back to my roid sandwich. mmmmm I can feel my arms getting stronger.. I just cracked my keyboard. I will have to call Dr. Lewis back and see what he gave me.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
New Durant commercial with AI9 and Mo Will.
http://mrfactoidssportsworld.blogspot.com/2009/08/video-nikefootlocker-hyperize.html
At least when he did Nike commercials here, he was allowed to wear his Sonics jersey.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
you’re all assuming Shard is guilty - it sounds to me like an innocent mistake. There are so many stupid supplements out there, unless you’re a freakin’ chemist / nutritionist / pharmacist you wouldn’t be able to tell what’s really in them.
August 6th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Ray never needed any of that sh!t.
)
(Damn, I miss the old days
i can never take it back.. nooooooooo
Talk to Brian, he can help you out.
August 7th, 2009 at 1:13 am
I have no sympathy for that big dumb kid. Gets life handed to him on a silver platter and still can’t help but mess it up. Did he cry like when Houston didn’t pick him in the draft?
August 7th, 2009 at 7:23 am
I think that the mission statement of SOS, what is left of it, is “Keep the issue alive.”
There is no clear path right now to an NBA return and I really don’t kid myself about my ability to be a guy who can lead the way on this issue. That is going to take somebody with a lot more money and a lot more power than me. We do however think that there will be a lot of opportunities in the coming years. Seattle, relative to the bulk of the country has weathered the recession well and is poised for some substantial growth in the coming years. The NBA has real problems and some serious instability. If a scenario comes together in which those two factors collide and give us a chance for an NBA team to come back we want to be around to finish what we started and get some local energy behind it.
Short term there is a strong desire to remain politically relevant. You will see (in the next few minutes) statements from all the candidates for Mayor. We have statements on this issue from a huge assortment of candidates for mayor, county executive, and city council.
I have been out of town for a month but the rest of the gang has been working away. Adam, Deb, Jeremy, and the rest are tremendously effective at what they do and I think we continue to be as big a part of the process as can be reasonbly expected. There is some divide on whether to actually make recommendations of candidates for those positions and ultimately a group concencus will emerge.
I guess that an actual press release got sent out today confirming my personal endorsement of Jan Drago. I cannot believe people care so much about my opinion at all. It should be noted that this is my personal endorsement. It seems as if the vast bulk of SOS favors James Donaldson and they are obviously entitled to their opinions.
My selection of Jan has to do with several issues. The first is the consistent commentary I get out of Olympia that she is a much better relationship and concensus builder than Nickels. She has good relationships there and that is more important than just basketball on so many levels. There is already a natural resentment of the big city by smaller regions and the ego we have in city hall only makes it worse. We are consistently shut out of state spending patterns because there is not a strong coalition of the seattle area delegates who are willing to plead our case. Just the opposite in fact I continually find that our elected officials, who are supposed to represent the citizens of Seattle are instead so bitter against our city government that they want to prevent us from getting state dollars in order to prove their point and avoid having the mayor look good. It is a terrible situation that made me really angry with all of them.
In terms of the Sonics departure and an NBA return I believe that Jan has the best understanding of the situation that led to this, and all the various issues that need to be solved to come to a solution. While the city council had little involvement in the Seahawks and Mariners situation she was their key representative on that matter. She was perhaps the only positive involvement that the BCOS had with city government in their efforts to get a new arena and is a close friend of Anne Levingston who owns the Storm, has strong insight into this issue, and in all likelyhood could be a contributor in getting us a new team.
Now nobody who is currently in elected office deserves a free pass on the Sonics issue. I asked Jan point blank why she voted to allow the Sonics lease settlement and her answer was simply that, by the time Bennett had control over the team it was too late. She had worked hard in previous years and gotten nowhere. All the power was in the mayors office and the solutions she had the ability to influence had been exhausted. I think that is something of a cop-out but I do think that among currently elected officials she posesses both the most regret and the most realism when looking back on things. If we judge people on their actions then we could not realistically endorse any candidate who was in office the last several years.
Some of you may know that I am also involved in issues relating to industrial land use. Just over a year ago the Mayors office initiated, and essentially rammed down the throat of our city a policy that severely restricted the uses of industrially zoned land. Previously this land could be used for commercial purposes like offices and restaurants. Under the new limitations it would be heavily restricted for only hard core industrial type uses.
This downzone sounded great to union workers who felt that their land was being taken away and it made a lot of sense in certain areas. The problem was that it was applied unilaterally, with not nearly enough consideration being given to the businesses it affected. My property, sitting on Market Street in Ballard was given the same standards not only as Sodo, but also as the Port of Seattle. The mayor promised that this would be addressed in a followup action this year. He completely let us down on that one and I have just decided to sell my land. Many industrial land owners are now feeling the pinch because their property values have devalued. They can’t get loans to sustain their business during these hard times.
This vote was an easy photo-op for many members of city government who know that appealing to the union workers and saying “I stand up against rich landowners and am for the common worker” is great politics. Jan was one of two dissenting votes on the issue and did so because she understood the issue better than others.
I like talking with someone who has deep understanding of issues, listens seems to care, and most importantly is willing to build concensus. The concensus I get through the business community is that they feel she is capable of doing this and that is why I’ve chosen to offer my support to Jan Drago. I hope she gets through the primary and has a chance to demonstrate this to people more clearly. If she doesn’t make the primary then I think that either Donaldson or Mallahan will and they both offer interesting alternatives as candidates.
August 7th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Whether Shard was cheating or not……its gonna cost him $1.6 mm and 10 games. Whoops.