Achive

On a recent trip to Seattle, I came face to face with an NBA relic. There was Key Arena, former home of the Seattle Supersonics, standing no more than a block from our hotel in an unassuming area of downtown.

Arena staff were preparing the concourse for a WNBA game that night between the hometown Storm and the Phoenix Mercury. Posters of Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson lined the windows and walls of the pro shop. A few young girls loitered the area, donning Seattle Storm jerseys that featured the ridiculous Bing logo across the chest.

If it weren't for the faded paint on the wall where the Seattle Supersonics logo was once perched, you'd never know that this was a building steeped in NBA history.

That Supersonics logo—and the history that comes with it—is currently the property of Clay Bennett and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Seattle is a city stuck in basketball purgatory.

As I walked around Key Arena towards the Space Needle, it became depressingly obvious why the NBA had to move on. The building was charming and quaint, designed with a nod to the culture of the Pacific Northwest, but it was noticeably small.

It was set right on the edge of a beautiful entertainment complex lined with trees, an art gallery, a science center, large parks and the aforementioned Space Needle. The path led to a monorail station that looked and felt every bit of the 50 years old that it was. The train was something straight out of The Jetsons, complete with a futuristic hiss from the doors as they opened and closed. It was fun, but honestly it felt like I was walking through a museum.

Seattle seems intent on preserving this antiquated part of the city exactly as it was conceived, but the fiscal landscape of the NBA has evolved past the limitations of Key Arena. And so I came to understand why the NBA had to move on. The value of history and nostalgia have no weight in David Stern's grand global scheme. The hipsters will tell you that basketball is an intimate game that is best viewed in an intimate setting, but the NBA needs to appeal to the one percent just as much as it does the 99.

When Seattle erected two behemoth-sized stadiums for baseball and football and completely neglected basketball, the NBA took note. It is a jealous league, and it would not sit idly by as a city so brazenly slighted it. Seattle took its NBA team for granted, and now it is paying the ultimate penance for sins committed.

But life goes on at Key Arena. The area is still alive and bustling with people, even on an average weekday. While any physical trace of the Sonics' legacy has been removed for the exterior of the building (that I could see), the spirit lives on through its people.

Everywhere, there are reminders of the former NBA franchise. We spoke to a couple of local sports merchants, and they were eager to plead their case. They were spitefully gracious to the people of Oklahoma City and admitted that they have attended many rallies for the 'Save Our Sonics' movement. As I listened to these two locals rant about the arena upgrade clause in the CBA and cursed the name of Bennett, I realized that, sooner or later, a team would have to come back to this city. They care too much.

Former Sonics guard Gary Payton predicts that Seattle will have an NBA team as early as next season in an interview with SLAM:

The NBA has already given us an OK to go look for a team. So the pieces are in place to make moves now, and we’re working on having a team for next season. In 2015, the new arena is gonna be ready. So if everything goes as planned, we’re going to revamp Key Arena and play there for one year, while the new arena is being finished.

So when news of plans for a downtown Seattle arena officially broke, I was excited. I was excited because I understand that these people want their damn team back. They understand the error of their ways, and they intend to make amends. And this new deal is Seattle's way of standing on Stern's front lawn with a boombox over its head, seeking forgiveness.

Now entering the twilight of his tenure as commissioner, there are reports that David Stern intends his swan song to be the reuniting of Seattle with its beloved Sonics.

Even Bennett and the Thunder have declared that they intend to return the history, the banners, the records, the colors, the name and everything Sonics when (and if) Seattle has a team again.

All of the pieces are in place for a happy ending.

Perhaps what Seattle needed to truly appreciate what it had was to lose it for a moment. You can bet that the city will never take it for granted again.

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I grew up watching the Seattle SuperSonics. 

I cheered when Jack Sikma, Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson led the team to a championship in 1979.  The original pennant still hangs in my garage.

My friends openly mocked me when the Sonics lost in 1994 to the Nuggets.  Granted, I spent that whole year talking about the greatness of the team, so I probably deserved the scorn.

When Clay Bennett moved the team to Oklahoma City, it was a bitter pill to swallow.  What kind of person takes your team?

Since then, people have assumed that I will root for the Thunder. 

Uh, no.

Now, Chris Hansen is doing his best to bring a team back to Seattle.  The arena appears to be a reality, and all we need now is a team. 

Of course, that is easier said than done.

How do we get a team back?

The NBA has stated that they do not intend to expand anytime soon, and given the diluted talent in the league, that is probably a wise business decision.   

If the NBA does not expand to include more cities, the only way to get a team in Seattle is to get one from another city.  As much as I would like to see the Sonics return, I don’t necessarily want another city to get robbed the way fans have in the Emerald City.

Still, that may be exactly how Seattle gets a team to play in the new arena. 

Of course, David Stern has suggested that there are not really any teams available at the moment.  Why do I have the feeling that the same guy who stood by and let Seattle lose their team will not put much effort into putting a franchise back in the Pacific Northwest?

I still haven’t figured out why he let them leave for Oklahoma City.  Then again, plenty of people are confused by Stern’s decisions these days. 

Perhaps the city of Seattle will get a hockey team before they get a basketball team.  That remains a possibility, as the NBA situation may not produce a franchise anytime soon. 

In the meantime, the basketball fans in Seattle will have to be patient.  The team colors, records and franchise name are waiting to be awoken by a new group of players.

Give the city a team, Mr. Stern.  You owe the fans that much. 

This won't be a popular opinion in my hometown of Seattle, but I stick by it. Seattle having any part in relocating the Sacramento Kings to replace the Supersonics is exactly the same as siding with  ownership in the Sonics' move to Oklahoma City. All of the rabid Sonic fans who cried foul when their team was hijacked to OKC have no leg to stand on if they now are eager to help rob Sacramento of their team.

I moved to Seattle in early 1977, a golden time for local sports. The town had a strong NBA team, the NASL Seattle Sounders, the Mariners and Seahawks were new, and even the Huskies were going to Rose Bowls under Don James. The sports honeymoon was not going to last though.

Historically, Seattle is not a city of takers. Instead we are the city who either gets taken or acquiesces to corporate blackmail, committing more and more taxpayer dollars for newer and newer stadiums.

The Mariners almost become the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1992. The M's were at it again three years later in 1995, needing a miracle and getting it in the form of their first playoff appearance to keep Major League Baseball in Seattle. A year later, more threats to leave the city came from Mariners CEO John Ellis. The Seahawks took their turn in 1996, packing up and literally moving to Los Angeles before the league told them they had to go back north.

Even our original MLB team, the Seattle Pilots, moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers after only one year. Seattle had to sue MLB to become one of the expansion cities in 1977 to get the Mariners.

It's always been a struggle here.

So it wasn't a surprise when less than 10 years after renovating Key Arena, the city was presented with new ransom demands. "Build a new stadium, or else." The surprise was that they actually took their forty-one year history and left.

After the initial shock, Seattle fans were justifiably upset. Cries of foul play and robbery rang out across the city. I'm pretty sure Howard Schultz, Clay Bennett and David Stern still wear disguises whenever they come here to visit.

Yet these same hardcore Sonic fans have no problem taking Sacramento's NBA team, slapping a new paint job on them and calling them the Supersonics. It's as if your house got robbed and you use that as an excuse to break into your neighbors house.

Seattle should hold out for an expansion team, or none at all. I'd prefer it if the NBA never allowed another sale of a team ever again. Dissolve franchises that need to vanish and run expansion drafts for every new team. No more moving teams period.

Seattle, we are not takers, why start now?

Can you believe that the Sonics are going to the NBA Finals?

Funny to think just a few years earlier the franchise was on the cusp of leaving town.  Now Sonics tickets are the hottest, not to mention the toughest, to get in town.

The Mariners "quiet" start and the anticipation of a playoff year for the Seahawks has been muted the better part of the spring by the rebirth of the city's oldest franchise.   The Sonics roared through the Western Conference playoffs in this abbreviated season to get the team back to the finals for the first time in over 15 years.

Meanwhile thanks to the other-worldly play of star forward Kevin Durant, the Sonics have a real shot at winning their first title in over 30 years. 

It's like a dream almost come true...except it's actually a nightmare.

With the Zombie Sonics now set to face the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, it makes watching the series for any red-blooded basketball fan living in Seattle nearly impossible.  

Had the Celtics won the series against Miami, one could have considered supporting former Sonic Ray Allen in his quest for a second ring in Boston.

Instead Seattle fans are basically stuck choosing between rooting for their ex-girlfriend or the school yard bully.

The easy choice would be to simply refuse to partake, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that both teams are wildly entertaining to watch in terms of their play and the drama. 

So what do Sonics fans who can't look away do?

Right now I'm not even sure. 

Seattle Times writer Steve Kelley in his column Friday morning offered his thoughts on the situation with the following...

"We can be victims. We can throw things at the flat screen as we watch in sadness the beaming Bennett bask in the love he feels from his people. We can sink into a deep depression and ignore The Finals.

"Or we can become activists.

"We can employ our anger to lobby the city and county councils, to rally in Occidental Square on June 14, to push for this once-in-a-lifetime arena deal. Chris Hansen's deal is the best privately funded arena deal ever. If it doesn't get passed, Seattle doesn't deserve a team."

Honestly I'm not fond of Option #1 and highly skeptical of Option #2.

The reality of it all is far more gray than the black and white choices Kelley offers.   

Until now for anyone fiercely in denial, the Zombies were somewhat innocent of being an up-and-coming team situated halfway across the country.  With a trip to the Finals, we are left with the harsh truth of potentially seeing this team crowned champions, thus giving Seattle one final and validating kick to the gut.  Like it or not, the Oklahoma City Thunder will be in the record books for all eternity. 

Personally, though, I have nothing against the Zombies actual players.  For those few players who were here at the time, they dealt with an impossible situation in Seattle as best they could while facing an uncertain future.  With the way the world works, you follow the paycheck, especially in an occupation like professional sports.

Most people would argue that the players who were here in Seattle are mostly gone now, which is true except for one not so small exception...Kevin Durant. 

When the Sonics selected him No. 2 in the 2007 draft, there was a shred of hope that in time he would not only save the franchise but take it to the promised land.  Unfortunately the prophecy fell apart for the fans of Seattle, yet it's hard not to admire how far Durant has come in such short time.  It's that odd push and pull that makes what we are seeing now hurt that much more.  

Right now Durant would own Seattle.

Had Greg Oden fallen to the Sonics instead of Durant in 2007 and his career had taken a similar trajectory to how things played out in Portland, I don't think I'd feel the same way I do right now.  Don't get me wrong, it would still be quite awful, but the sting wouldn't be the same.  

Durant by all indications is a once-in-a-lifetime talent who seems destined to do great things.  He was here, he was real, he was ours. 

Instead we are left missing a piece of ourselves and not sure if we will ever get that back or for that matter if we even want it. 

The reality is that we are on the cusp of another summer in Seattle left wondering if the Mariners will ever compete again and who Pete Carroll is going to start at quarterback for the Seahawks come September.  All nice and good, but certainly far from ideal. 

So who do I choose if forced to make a decision?

I suppose I will pull for Durant simply because of the old saying, "If you love something, let it go."

Sorry if that's too cliche, but it's hard not to get a bit sentimental, especially when you consider the alternative that Jay Caspian Kang at Grantland brilliantly penned in his article on Kevin Durant... 

"It's almost impossible to pull for something that feels preordained, especially if the face of the movement seems a bit too entitled, a bit too young, and a bit too threatening. LeBron's haters root against him for the same reason Facebook haters root against Facebook stock."

Impossible indeed and with that I will reluctantly stick with my choice.  The sad truth is that no matter how things shake out, we've already lost.   

An impressive second half and the dazzling play of Kevin Durant fueled the Oklahoma City Thunder to an 107-99 victory Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs, which advanced the Thunder to the NBA Finals.

While jubilant Thunder fans swarmed various sporting goods stores to scoop up any remaining Western Conference Championship gear, roughly 2,000 miles northwest there's a city who is in mourning and angry. A city where some people still don a jersey that consists of colors of green, gold and white. A city which holds a life-less, sound-less KeyArena. A city that lost their team. I'm referring to the "Emerald City." Seattle.

The Seattle Super Sonics (also referred to as the Sonics) were the heart and soul of Seattle. Forty-one years, 1,745-1,585 (.524), six Division titles, three Conference titles and an NBA Championship (1979).

In the 90's the Sonics were a powerhouse in the NBA. The Sonics best season came in the 1995-96 season when they had an 64-18 record and made it to the NBA Finals only to lose to the best team in NBA history, the Chicago Bulls, who won an NBA record 72 games and had the most talented roster of all-time.

The Sonics fell off the radar a bit after the 90's as they only made it to the playoffs three times from 2000-2008. Prior to the 2005-06 NBA season, Clayton Bennett, an Oklahoma businessman and head of the Professional Basketball Club LLC (PBC) bought the Super Sonics from Howard Schultz for approximately $350 million. Bennett assured Seattle that his intent was to keep the Super Sonics in Seattle. 

Bennett tried to persuade local governments to help fund a $500 million arena complex that would be the new home of the Super Sonics due to the low capacity of seating in KeyArena. Bennett's feeble attempt failed. After the failure of securing funds from the local government, Bennett's group informed the NBA that they intend to move the franchise to Oklahoma City and wanted arbitration from Seattle to be released from the lease KeyArena had on the Sonics which was valid through 2010.

After a lawsuit, a settlement was made on July 2, 2008. Eventually emails were uncovered that Bennett, as well as some other members, planned all along to relocate the team to Oklahoma City. Despite many protests and rallies, the Super Sonics were relocated leaving the city of Seattle heartbroken. 

Now look, the Super Sonics drafted the talented forward out of Texas and NBA Superstar Kevin Durant, Nick Collison and superstars Serge Ibaka and Russell Westbrook. These guys have put the Thunder on their backs and have made them the next Western Conference powerhouse. I

t must be frustrating waking up today in a gloomy Seattle looking at a poster of a young Durant in green, white and gold and then turn on the tube to see the guys you rooted for all wearing blue surrounded by 19,000+ fans and a Western Conference trophy many miles away.

The fact of the matter is that the Super Sonics deserved to stay in Seattle. I have nothing but sympathy for the City of Seattle today and for the rest of my life. Even if the NBA grants Seattle with another team it won't be the same. If the Thunder win the Championship this year they should all remember where their history began and acknowledge the City of Seattle and the Super Sonics.

All the information provided above is from the award winning sports documentary "Sonicgate" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Dp20ydm1E 

There have been a lot of rumors, reported here by The Sacramento Bee, swirling around that Seattle has a good chance at getting the Sacramento Kings in 2013.

Even if it happens, it won't be enough to make the memories go away.

We, as Seattle fans, know very well what it's like to get "robbed," and we would never want to see another city go through the heartbreak that Seattle fans had to experience.

We would almost feel guilty if we took another city's team, because over the last few years we have been complaining non-stop that Oklahoma City "robbed" us of our team.  It doesn't make a lot of sense.

Even if we did manage to get the Kings to move here, it just wouldn't be easy to root for a team that isn't our old, beloved Sonics.

In order for the fanbase to truly get behind a franchise, it would have to be an expansion franchise.  This way, you can follow the team from the very beginning and feel like you grew up with the team.

Oh sure the first few years might be rough, but when you finally get that NBA championship, you will feel so proud for the team.

If the Kings moved here and won a championship, it wouldn't be the same because it'd be hard to develop an emotional connection with the team.  You can get that emotional connection with an expansion team.

An expansion team is what you want as a Seattle sports fan, even though it probably won't happen because it would make the conferences uneven.

Sadly, basketball will simply never be the same in the Northwest because of the team's move to OKC.  It's that feeling of what could've been that drives us nuts.

Every time you see OKC taking on Miami or Boston in a primetime spot on TV, you get a little bit upset because you know that it could've been Seattle vs. Miami in a primetime spot.

The Seattle Supersonics would be socially relevant in the NBA. 

Basketball in Seattle will never be the same, and we very well may never recover from the day we lost the most historic team in Seattle sports.

Image: http://media.giantbomb.com

I recently stumbled across a documentary online called, “Sonicsgate, Reqium for a Team.” I went into it expecting to see poorly constructed arguments and bias edits constructed by an impassioned few who still wished the team was in the rainy city, but who were not overall representative of the people of Seattle. Instead what I found was an incredibly moving piece that should strike to the heart of any sports fan who loves the bond between city and team.

In the closing minutes of this film however I am struck by a theme that is rather haunting. Sherman Alexie, an Author, filmmaker and poet from Seattle talks about the opportunity of receiving a new NBA franchise in his fair city in the coming years and how he would reject it. Despite previously comparing the cold damp basketball-less winters to a daily funeral, he says that he would never want a new team in the city because it would be at the cost of stealing another town’s love. He simply could not take revelry in what the same thing that happened to him.

“If we get a team it’s going to be somebody else’s team," Alexie said. "To get a team I’m going to have to break the hearts of people just like me.”

This thought, of course, reminds me as a Nationals fan that our beloved team came at the expense of other baseball fans hearts. While baseball in Montreal may have been failing, and the fans may have been scarce, there was still a 35-year history and livelihood to those fans that remained.

Despite the result and the effects it may have had on our brethren baseball fans in Montreal, I do not regret Major League Baseball’s decision to bring baseball to the Washington D.C. I do not regret it because I believe that it was a crime for baseball to be the only professional sport not represented in the capitol of our nation, and I do not regret it because I believe our city can do a service to greater the baseball community as a whole by having a loving and supportive fan base that provides great baseball on the field.

I have not seen any of the above in Washington during the teams young tenure. The organization has been poorly run, the on the field baseball has been abysmal, and the overall fan attendance (not us dedicated few) has been dreadful.

The Nationals and the city of Washington owe more than that to the city of Montreal. There are fans who grew up with the Expos, fans who laid their emotions on a limb at the success or failure of the Expos, and fans who communicate through friends and family based on their bond surrounding the Expos. Washington took all of that in order to try and create a better situation for baseball everywhere.

So far, we have failed.

Washingtonians I implore you to give baseball a chance. Yes the team may not be great now but the experiences you gain along the way will far outweigh the bragging rights of being a winning franchise. Being a fan is about community, about people, about uniting each other over one goal.  Let’s do this together.