Silly Old Man

If a bear relieves himself in the woods, and no one is around to hear him, does he make a sound?

I wondered about that after David Stern's latest comments, disdainfully terming the Sonics' latest arena proposal a "public relations stunt."

As Tim Ceis mentions in the same article (from Greg Johns at the PI), the city has stopped listening to Stern's pronouncements. If that's the truth, and I believe it to be, then exactly who is Stern trying to bully with his words. Sonics fans? We've long stopped getting indignant about Stern's nonsense. Seattle politicians? They already can't stand him. Olympia? Please, they wouldn't give Stern a drink of water if he was perishing in the desert.

I can only conclude that Stern is trying to sway national public opinion, and that's a sorry tactic for him to take.

NBA fans, consider these the two options for the Seattle SuperSonics:

Door # 1
After 41 years in the same city, the city of Seattle and a billionaire-led ownership group contribute $300 million towards the redevelopment of one of the most crowd-pleasing arenas in the league.

Door #2
The Sonics trample over the goodwill in the only city they've ever known and move to Oklahoma City, into a new arena that is currently due to receive $100 million in refurbishments. Oh, and the ownership group is led by people with approximately 1/3 the total wealth.

Oh, there's a PR stunt all right, but it's being executed by the senile leader of the NBA, not the people in Seattle.