I must confess that I had forgotten the new regime's first birthday (okay, they didn't get officially approved until March, but let's not split hairs) until I thought about it for this column. The actual date was January 11, so be prepared to attach some 'belated' cards with your gifts. I give the gift of my analysis in a column, and for everyone else I hear that backup big men never go out of style. . . .

The first thing that was obvious about the new ownership group was that it would be quite a different situation in terms of passion. Barry Ackerley was in the background by the time I became a Sonics fan; I can't say that in over 11 years of being a diehard Sonic supporter that I once heard an interview with Ackerley, let alone spoke to him myself.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. In recent years, we've seen a shift towards younger team owners in professional team sports, with mixed results. Daniel Snyder's performance as hands-on Washington Redskin owner has to be considered a qualified failure. From charging fans to attend practices to wreaking cap havoc with the ill-fated signing of Deion Sanders to musical head coaches -- four in three years -- Snyder seems to have the Redskins worse off now than they were when he bought them. On the other hand, Mark Cuban's year and a half-long turn as owner of the Dallas Mavericks has been a qualified success. Though Cuban has fought bitterly with the league, at the expense -- literally -- of his wallet, the Mavs have seen a huge upswing in their fortunes under him. I don't know to what extent it was unavoidable that the development of Dirk Nowitzki would have made Dallas a contender, but I think the increased fan support that has came largely because of Cuban's larger-than-life personality has clearly helped the team. Cuban has opened his wallet in a positive way, making Dallas a desirable free agent stop because of the gifts he lavishes on the team and his willingness to exceed the NBA's luxury tax.

I can't ever recall, again, one time where I said to myself, "Gee, I wish the Sonics had a more active owner. That would be just swell." The focus was on the players for me. In fact, I'd say that's generally the case with regards to the entire organization. While there are others amongst are columnists for whom Wally-hating is almost sport, I've never been concerned with what the GM has been up to, if only because I've almost always generally agreed with it. To summarize my viewpoint, which I rarely do, I think Walker is an average GM. He's been here almost eight years now as GM, and I think the team's success/failure can be judged without regard to what Bob Whitsitt put together as his predecessor. The team is about average now; therefore Wally is about an average GM. I think he's a good evaluator of young talent who had a hard time pushing that through with George Karl as coach, and a fairly shrewd trader, but unskilled at signing free agents that are pursued by other teams. Since Jim McIlvaine, have the Sonics signed a player in a bargaining war? I can't really recall anyone. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is a question for another time. In terms of unheralded talent, Walker has found a number of contributors who he's never quite received credit for -- Ruben Patterson, Shammond Williams, Emanual Davis, Art Long.

Last year, I read a guest column by baseball sabermatician king Bill James at ESPN.com in which he spoke about fans who couldn't accept anything their team did. Of course, you should ignore the first part of the article, where he talks about evaluating decisions by what you would do (noting that this is the method I frequently use) and note the part about how these continual critics overlook the positive things the team does and harp on the negative ones. Actually, there's a digression at the end about overactive owners which kinda fits here, but the important point is that judging a GM only by his worst decisions, his McIlvaines and McLeans, is always going to make them look bad and is unfair. With that I wholeheartedly concur.

However, I have digressed myself. I was supposed to be talking about the ownership. The first thing I'm sure everyone noticed was passion; Howard Schultz jumping up and down as the Sonics beat up on some hapless foe I can't remember the next day. I can't say if Schultz was so unabashed in his courtside celebration before he bought the team, but I for one never noticed it.

However, after the end of the season, I started to question the direction of the organization. The main catalyst in this was Schultz's public commentary on three members of the team in particular: Gary Payton, Vin Baker, and Ruben Patterson.

We all remember Schultz's now-infamous criticisms of Baker which came out in a P-I article the day of the regular season finale against San Antonio. "Look at Gary! Unlike Vin, I admire his work ethic," was the most damning of the quotes, to which Baker unsurprisingly reacted with anger. It seemed at the time that it would be impossible for Baker to return to the Sonics, while they faced an uphill battle to trade him.

A week later, Walker and Schultz held a press conference in which they labeled no one on the team as untouchable for trades, allowing Payton to dangle and become the subject of myriad trade rumors. Given Schultz's appreciation of Payton's play in the article, it was rather surprising that he would not be considered the rock around which the 'new' Sonics would continue to build.

When Patterson was charged with third-degree attempted rape in connection with an incident involving his children's nanny, it represented the first test of Schultz's new focus on fan friendliness and players of character. Schultz stuck to his principles, and the team did not stand behind Patterson, so to speak. With Patterson a free agent, the organization's lack of support played a key role in his decision to not even consider returning.

In all three of these cases, it's my opinion that Schultz's comments hurt the Sonics' bargaining power. With his words -- and, in Patterson's case, his silence -- Schultz failed to support his players, which reflected poorly upon them when it came time for the Sonics to attempt to make a deal. If the Sonics would not have these players, why would anyone else want them? It seems to me that Schultz would have been better off to remember mother's old adage, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." (Please note: This admonishment does not extend to journalists, who are supposed to deliver the truth even if it's unkind. I have to say something. . . .)

If the start of Schultz's tenure as owner was rocky, I think it's important to again keep in mind that he was a rookie as an owner (I keep bringing up people besides players also being rookies at times. This is not a coincidence). It seems to me that he's learned from his mistakes, and improved his attitude, at least in public. From what we are told by the media, Schultz has rekindled relationships with Baker and Payton, and he has been extremely supportive of all members of the Sonics this year.

The new ownership's attempts to make the team fan-friendly have, too, been somewhat of a mixed bag. Of course, I come from an admittedly somewhat jaded position. I try to maintain a journalistic objectivity and not get too carried away in hero-worship, and autographs aren't really my thing. So the fact that ex-players have been signing autographs at games or that kids can shoot free throws after them doesn't mean much to me. That said, some of the organization's new practices have been met by the Candid Corner with strong support.

I humbly would guess that I've probably attended as many Sonic events over the past year or so as any member of the organization, and for the most part they have been both fun and excellent opportunities to find out more about the team. My favorite events, by far, have been the open practices held last summer for the group of players the Sonics were sending to the summer league, and this fall when regular practices were held around the area. Obviously, fans don't get to attend practice too frequently, and I know I learned a lot -- which I was hopefully able to pass along -- from these events.

There has also been increased access to the organization. The community forums held last May where the Sonics invited fans to share their vision for the Sonics were excellent opportunities, with the notable problem that they were both on the north end -- will the Sonics ever head south of the Kingdome? I've also attended two season ticket holder Q and A sessions in the last year which have been extremely informative about the direction of the franchise. One held the day after the draft was really great, as an informal chance to speak with members of the front office which I obviously loved.

Perhaps the event I've enjoyed the most came last Sunday. The Sonics offered season-ticket holders a chance to attend a fan 'training camp' if they paid their account in full by a certain date. Though it took a while for this to be held, it was more than worth the wait. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I arrived at the training facility, but I was pleasantly surprised.

We fans were put through a simulation of what the Sonics do at practice (no, running lines and layup drills was not the pleasant surprise). This was improved by the fact that members of the coaching staff, assistants Dwane Casey and Dean Demopoulos, and ex-players like Slick Watts and Jack Sikma ran the drills.

For all my effort to maintain journalistic detachedness, there is definitely something cool about shooting at the same basket as Watts while Sikma is rebounding for you. Later on, we had a fullcourt game announced by "The Voice," Bob Blackburn, while I was being coached by Casey, who two nights earlier was in charge of the Sonics.

Afterwards, there was a raffle with quality prizes (I won a sweater-vest which was comandeered by my mother), and we received gift bags with our own player 'contracts' signed by Walker, who attended part of the function.

All in all, it was an excellent event that probably has received no publicity whatsoever beyond those who attended. It's something like this that shows how far the Sonics have come as an organization. Not only are they organizing such excellent events, but they are doing them for their own sake instead of trying to come off a little better in the morning's paper. I only feel it fair that I ought return the favor by giving the event some limited publicity.

None of this is to say that the organization has perfected things. Although having old players at the games gives the team more of a 'family' atmosphere -- I think some good opportunities were missed when four ex-Sonic players' sons were together on the UW basketball team three years back -- it becomes considerably less valuable when the players are Dean Tolson and Talvin Skinner (with no disrespect to these gentlemen, but they are not who I connect with the Sonics of the '70's) as opposed to Watts and Sikma. Some of the promotions the team runs remain unpolished, and Payton still hasn't received an extension.

That all said, after a rocky start, the new Sonic ownership has had an excellent last six months. I commend them on their success in making the Sonics a first-class organization, and hope optimistically that they can sustain the effort.

Oh, yes, one last thing . . . do you guys need any loud-mouthed amateur journalists in the player personnel department?