From the Sports DeskIt's over. Kaput. The Kirstie Allie has sung.
My beloved Seattle Supersonics have been high-jacked from the Emerald City by corporate scum and are moving to Oklahoma City.
Even though the theft has been in the works for quite some time, I still didn't think it would happen. How could it? How could Seattle, a bustling metropolis with a history of being a great sports city, lose a team to a three horse village in Oklahoma?!?
This shocking and embarrassing decision does feel like a significant part of my childhood has been stolen.
There is no point in rehashing a point by point timeline of how this travesty occurred. It's been written about ad nauseam. Here's the Cliff Notes version. Schmuck on wheels Howard Schultz, who owns Evil Empire Starbucks, bought the Sonics like a spoiled brat buys a new toy. He was jealous that the Seahawks and Mariners had new stadiums built and threw a petulant tantrum that he didn't have one. Then, Schultz decided that he wasn't enough of a multi-billionaire and was going to sell the Supes to the highest bidder. This turned out to be some jackasses from Oklahoma led by rotten Clay Bennett. Bennett is a dishonest snake who said he was going to make a "good faith" effort to keep the Sonics in Seattle. This was what we call a lie. (Numerous emails show this.) There was no real effort, just a few smokescreens that the discerning people in Seattle saw through immediately. Then there was a few lawsuits, some court proceedings, we lost, and now the Sonics are going to Oklahoma. Caught up? Good.
Now, here is why this relocation will not work. Once the novelty of a new sports franchise wears off, the Oklahoma City community is not big enough to support a losing team. The team will continue to lose. Sonics players have already expressed they don't want to go there. Some are keeping their kids in Seattle so they can go to schools with running water. You think Kevin Durant will sign a contract extension in Oklahoma? Please. Good luck luring free agents there.
That hobbit-like NBA Commissioner David Stern allowed this to happen is shameful. This will be his Watergate. His Monica Lewinsky. His "Cop Rock."
Going to Sonics games is one of my fondest childhood memories. Not only did I follow the team since I could talk - maybe a little before that - but I had 12 game ticket packages through high school. It was all I could afford. I would head to the park and ride and hop on the bus to downtown Seattle. How I conned my folks into letting me do this as a 15-year-old, I still don't know. In my backpack I had whatever book I was reading, the latest Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated - had a subscription to S.I. since I was 13 - a hand-held radio with headphones to listen to the pre-game with Kevin Calabro, a 17 pound Discman and about a dozen CD's to listen to on the way home. From the bus station I would hop on the Monorail into Seattle Center. Usually I would grab a chili dog at Orange Julius in the Center House, then I would meet my older cousin Mark and his buddies that have driven down from Bellingham. It was a magical teenage experience. For me, not having the Supes to root for is like being told you can no longer watch "The Empire Strikes Back" or eat Lik-A-Maid. It makes me sick.
(Man, I could really go for a Lik-A-Maid right now.)
I hope you, dear readers, will do the right thing and boycott Starbucks as a result of this injustice. Especially those of you in the Northwest. Walk across the street the Seattle's Best or Tully's. If you see Howard Schultz in the street, express your First Amendment rights and let him know how you feel. Kid you not, if I saw the bum I would spit at him. That would make me feel better than the venom I am spewing in this rambling, incoherent diatribe. He sold out the great city that made him obscenely rich and screwed the community with their pants on.
Sending the Sonics to Oklahoma is a fools errand. It cannot work. It will not work.
Rot in hell Howard Schultz.
Rot in hell Clay Bennett.
Selah.
JW
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You are a jackstick. Really. I normally like your posts, but as someone who has lived in both Washington state and Oklahoma I think this post is a joke.
Oklahoma City is not a "three-horse village." There are well over a million people in the metro area, which is not a terribly small city, guy. Have you ever even been here? How ignorant of you. Now, I will agree that Seattle is a much larger area, but they have been lagging in their support of the Sonics for YEARS. And you know it too. Relax, buddy, you'll get an extension team at some point.
Also, yeah, I have to agree with you that Bennett and Co. have been slightly shady in some respects, but even the city of Seattle's lawyers made it pretty clear that they were trying to force a sale of the team, which is in and of itself probably worse.
One more thing: "Some are keeping their kids in Seattle so they can go to schools with running water." Are you freakin' kidding me? What the hell kind of city do you think we live in? Give me a break; I understand that you don't want to lose your team, but to make a statement like that pretty much automatically voids whatever valid argument you might have had.
Bummer bro. This sort of thing hurts the league in the long run. Does Stern think fans don't care? Move all the teams around, see if anyone wants to watch anymore.
Thank you for your sympathies E.
J.A. Adande wrote a good piece where he said that the NBA should stop using the "NBA Cares" slogan. Damn right.
Recognize the sarcasm, Suzanne. Recognize the sarcasm...
Enjoy your lame duck franchise in a three horse town.
See, like that.
Love,
Johnny Wright
Oof! I saw the OK comments getting taken wrong. FWIW I live in Colorado and alot of my friends are from OK (literally). I like the place quite a bit.
Sports commentary gets, uh, that way. Long time ago I recall seeing a Bronco's Seahawks game. I was watching it at a bar in CO and some dude was a Seattle fan and we were about to strangle him for his obnoxiousness.
Sports is just that way. Love/hate.
Getchou a soccer team Johnny! If it looks like fun for you people will jump on the bandwagon.
Cheers.
Of course it is, E. It's love and hate. It's one of the great things about sports; there is rarely a right or wrong. Each individual gets to choose who wears the white hat and who wears the black hat. Part of the fun.
Yeah, the column is venomous. I wrote it that way on purpose. Obviously. Because I had read a few of the diplomatic thoughtful pieces and wanted to do something different for general amusement. It's sardonic, not literal. Even one of my best friends thought it was too much. Which is fine with me.
I do hate Schultz and Bennett with the heat of a nova, though.
We are getting an MLS team. That doesn't help at all.
If you're planning on boycotting Starbucks, you're better off sticking to Folger's crystals. Seattle's Best is owned by the Starbuck's Corporation.
Will do, Monk. Cheers.
Rat bastards..
Hey Suzanne,
I think you mean an "expansion" team, but I guess you're a recepient of the Okalahoma City public education system.
Hilarious. Atta kid JPL.
J-dub my friend, I've been boycotting Starbucks since the moment I first heard of them. There's just something evil about their whole setup. Did you happen to hear that they are closing 600 stores this summer?
At any rate, sorry for your loss.
Curly,
You are the MVP of the Loyal 77 today. The place really does give the willies. I reveled in the announcement that 600 stores were shutting down.
I wrote a small entry on my personal blog about it:
http://johnnywright-chilledmonkeybrains.blogspot.com/2008/07/corporate-swine-takes-hit.html
Thank you for your condolences.
Sorry to read this news, Johnny.
Johnny, sorry to hear of your loss.
To be honest, I think that losing Seattle's basketball team is a bit like a death row execution. Only a few loyal supporters really feel bad about it, and the reality is, the world is better off without them.
Johnny, look at the bright side, now you can finally switch teams to a good team without being a hypocrite.
So dry your eyes, grab your wallet, head to foot locker and buy that Kobe Bryant jersey that you have always wanted.
The Sonics have been making you and Seattle look like jack asses for years. You deserve better.
Think of the beauty of finally being able to make an educated decision on who your new team will be. No longer will you be bound by a foolish childhood decision. No longer will you be bound to silly Sonic colors.
You can take a lot into perspective, look at who will be good the next few years, look at who has a cool colors that you look good in. Man you have a lot to look forward too.
If you play your cards right you may even be able to pick a winning team that you can throw in others faces. You can look good during the playoffs.
Finally Johnny, you can have some pride in a winning program, not just be another supporter of the Starbucks program.
We just had independence day, and you my friend can finally have an independence of your own.
Dave just kicked me when I'm down, put salt in the wound and was funny at the same time.
No easy feat ya cheeky bugger.
Bro, I didn't mean it as a kick you when you were down. I meant it as a pick-me up. It's kind of like when you break up with a chick and your buddy tells you that he always thought she was a whore and that you could do better.
I know it stings a little, but it helps feel better about the loss and you move on to bigger an better things.
I wrote what I wrote, as a caring friend.
Johnny, I have always thought that she was a whore. You can do better.
Don't follow that slut to Oklahoma.
Start fresh, find someone you know is good and will always be good. Find someone that will be fulfilling, not someone that will use you and abuse you and make you look bad.
You can do much much better.
Love your friend,
Dave
*wipes away a tear*
Thank you Dave. *sniff*
I'm fine. I'm fine now.
Even though it might suck sometimes..teams normally move to whereever more money is being offered
www BehindTheLateShow com
Stop the presses! Seattle has a basketball team? Oh, had?
I never knew the NBA D-League had such passionate fans. I think that's really great. Now, what is this so-called "starbucks" of which you write? Isn't that Luke Skywalker's name from the original script?
How dare you Swayze. How dare you.
NBA is all fixed anyway ;)
We will get another team, Seattle has already promised 75 mil to refurbish Key Arena, just may take a couple years.
Yeah, the NBA has been fixed since David Stern had the lottery envelope in dry ice so the Knicks got Patrick Ewing.
Yeah, JPL, that was funny.... Be fair, though, I was pissed off. I know better. I did, indeed, mean expansion.... Also, tough to rip on someone's education when you spelled "recipient" wrong. So there.
Also, and this probably wouldn't make me look any better, I went to private school. The OKC public school system IS terrible, but some of the suburbs aren't bad.
Finally, yeah, Johnny, I got your point. I just thought you were a bit over the top. I do understand your hate for Schultz and Bennett, though. Truce?
You bet, love. Truce.
Thanks for being a good sport. Thanks for reading.
JW