In 1993, the Seattle Mariners were trying to create a new identity for themselves. In 1991, the team had its most successful season ever, posting a winning record for the first time in franchise history. However, 1992 had seen that success go down the drain, with the team playing miserably -- they were the worst team in the AL, giving them the number one draft pick they would use on Alex Rodriguez -- rumors of a move to Tampa Bay, and ultimately a sale to a group of investors that included the Japanese head of Nintendo.

These new investors broke the M's ties to the past by changing the team's logo and uniforms to the blue and teal style we are familiar with today, hiring a successful manager in former World Series champion Lou Piniella, and bringing in name free agents, including starter Chris Bosio.

Just to emphasize that things would be different, the M's started an ad campaign that I'm sure no one else but me remembers. The ads featured an elderly fan named 'Skippy Nordquist' who was purportedly from the future, and had been a small boy during the 1993 season. He talked about things like hoping during the Mariners' season opener that they, "kicked some butt." Most importantly, he would repeatedly refer to the 1993 season as, "The year it all began."

In hindsight, the prescience displayed by the ads is uncanny, though probably just luck. 1993 really was the year it all began for the M's in my mind, with Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey, Jr. establishing themselves as superstars, Piniella bringing the team a new winning attitude in the manager's seat, and the team generally showing signs that optomistic Mariner fans believed were evidence that soon the team would be winning division championships (though they probably couldn't have imagined the Wild Card before it happened). Indeed, two years later the Mariners won their first AL West title, another two years later, and a third last season, all under the steady hand of Piniella.

But I'm not here to talk about the Seattle Mariners, big of a fan as I was through that time (I actually have reverse fair-weather fan syndrome; the better the Mariners play, the less interested in them I am).

When did it all begin for the Seattle Supersonics' mid-1990's run? To me, the answer is obvious.

On January 15, 1992, the Sonics woke up an 18-18 team despite all the hype about their young talent and the veterans acquired in trade the previous season. That morning, K.C. Jones was fired. Eight days later, after the team had gone 2-2 under interim coach Bob Kloppenberg, the Sonics hired a brash young coach who had gone to Europe after two failed NBA trials by the name of George Karl.

Now I don't know where you stand on Karl -- and I am not as big of a Karl supporter as are many of you, I'm quite sure -- but there's no doubt in my mnd that this move was the turning point for the franchise.

Karl came in and the team went 27-15 down the stretch, moving into the sixth seed in the Western conference. On the season's final day, the team played the Golden State Warriors to a standoff, losing 108-106; it was a taste of things to come. As I recall it, the Sonics wanted to stay in the sixth seed and play the Warriors in the first round instead of the fourth seeded Phoenix Suns. In hindsight, I'm not really sure why, as the Sonics were 2-3 against both teams, but with that as the goal, playing Golden State tough but still losing was the best possible scenario.

Four days after that finale, on a Thursday night, the Sonics shocked the Warriors by taking game one in Oakland, 117-109. They dropped the next 115-101 (you can tell just by the scores we're talking about a far different era of NBA basketball), but had still stolen the home court advantage and came back to Seattle knowing they could take the series if they won both games at the Coliseum.

In game three, the Sonics won a tight game down the stretch, hanging on for a 129-128 victory that put them one win away from the second round. More memorable for fans was a spectacular dunk by Shawn Kemp, as the Reignman went over Alton Lister to throw down and bring down the house. The playoff series was a coming out party for Kemp, who averaged 22 points and better than 16 rebounds during the four games and dominated the soft Golden State interior.

Two nights later, the Sonics won another close high-scoring affair, 119-116. For the first time since 1989, they were headed to the second round to take on the Utah Jazz. They were no match for the experienced Jazz, who won the Midwest division in 1992, and were swept.

After that, of course, the Sonics would win 50 games or better for the next six seasons, with 1992 as the launching pad. Shawn Kemp emerged as a superstar and the George Karl system that would be so successful was entrenched.

Could the same thing be happening now?

The parallels are numerous as 10 years later a young Sonic team looks to take a loaded Western conference by storm.

After 40 games in 1992, the Sonics were a mediocre 20-20. This season, they were barely over .500, 21-19 after that stretch. In 1992, they followed up the slow start with a strong finish, going 27-15 (.643) to ascend in the conference standings. So far this season, they've been outstanding after the season's midpoint, running off an even better mark of 15-8 (.652).

A new offensive strategy was a key part of both teams' turnarounds. In 1992, Karl scrapped the slow style that Jones had brought with him from his days with the Boston Celtics in favor of a fast break style that fit better with the team's young talent. Last month, Nate McMillan responded to the injury to Vin Baker by changing the team's offense from one that was conventional and based on the post-up to one that revolved around the pick-and-roll. The throwback look created more ball movement and allowed the team's offense to improve despite the loss of one of their best individual scorers.

Both teams were fairly dependent on young players. The 1992 Sonics had Kemp and Payton in particular, both starters under age 25. This year's team may not have the potential superstar talent that those two players possessed, but has more young players than the 1992 team. Only Kemp, Payton, and Dana Barros were really young players 10 years ago, whereas this year's team has three rookies -- Vladimir Radmanovic, Earl Watson, and Peja Drobnjak -- playing key roles, second-year players Desmond Mason, Art Long, and Jerome James, and Calvin Booth (if he ever plays again) in his third year. Long isn't really a part of the team's future, but the other six should be part of this organization for years to come.

Both teams get strong contributions from players who never played a minute of college ball, entering the NBA after high school. Kemp, as noted, served notice to the NBA world that he would be a force to be reckoned with in the 1992 playoffs. Rashard Lewis has a year more experience than Kemp, but is the same age as he continues to establish himself as one of the NBA's best young players. Could his playoff run be as loud as Kemp's?

Of course, the book hasn't yet been closed on the 2001-02 Seattle Supersonics, and there remains plenty of season left for them to make up the four and a half games that separate them for the Minnesota Timberwolves or give up the same number of games that they lead the Los Angeles Clippers by and miss the playoffs. As well, most of the fond memories of the 1991-92 Sonics are due to their playoff performance more than anything they did during the regular season . . . and who knows how the Sonics may fare in May, if they get there at all.

Nevertheless, I'm optomistic that someday, a decade from now, we can sit down with our fellow Sonics fans and look back wistfully on the 2001-02 season as the year it all began.