The True Test, version 8

"It's early."

There should be a way to bet on when it is officially okay to stop saying that.

Each time the Sonics win, everyone has to revise their "True Test" criteria ("The True Test of this team's character will be apparent when they...")

Witness the team's past performance in previous True Tests:

• ...Play a team they should beat at home. Pass: Win 106-85 vs. ATL
• ...Play the San Antonio Spurs. Pass: Win 113-94
• ...Play the Sacramento Kings. Pass: Win 108-78
• ...Play on the road. Pass: Win 108-88 @ DEN. Double bonus points for winning in the second of a back-to-back!
  
• ...Have a close/poor shooting game. Pass: Win 88-87
• ...Get down big/early. Pass: Win 118-113 vs. MEM

and so on...

Tomorrow's True Test: Go On The Long-Ass East Coast Road Trip. SURELY this six-games-in-10-days stretch will expose the Sonics as pretenders, eh, doubters? Everyone's got their "I told you so's" in their back pockets, ready to whip out when the Sonics streak ends in Philly or Toronto.

And if by some miracle the Sonics pass this test, we've got these Future True Tests ready to go:

• Do the Texas Three-Step
• Hit the January Dog Days
• Lose a star to injury
• Get their team bus bombarded by radioactive meteors
• Are featured on a Sports Illustrated cover (won't happen)
  

The beauty of the True Test is you can just keep coming up with more and no one, our Supersonicsoulselves included, ever, ever has to go on record saying the Sonics are any good and risk having to retract some ludicrous statement like...

"Seattle SuperSonics: NBA Champs 2004-2005!"

I bet Pistons fans would have been pegged as crazy if they said anything like that about their team this time last year. Just sayin'...