I've been flooded with emails and comments about Wednesday's game in Portland featuring The Team That Shall Remain Nameless. Here's my answer to everyone who has asked about it: I'm not going. I'm still serving my one-man boycott of the NBA (which I am certain will cause the league to crumble any minute now). For me, supporting the NBA in any way is like "staying friends" with a girlfriend/boyfriend that cheated on you, stole your money and burned down your house. But hey, that's just me.In all seriousness, though, KIRO/MyNorthwest.com has asked me for some pictures from the game (especially of Supersonics fans, getting ready for the trip, holding your "Bennett Blows" signs, drunken sobbing, etc.). If you go, please take lots of pictures and send them to us (see contact info in upper right corner) and I'll post them here and forward them to KIRO.
So, who's going down to P-Town? Is there going to be a meet-up somewhere? Are you going to color coordinate? Discuss, whilst I sit in the corner clutching my Starting Lineup Xavier McDaniel figure and silently weep.
15 comments:
Your one-man crusade is at least an Army of Two. I can't stomach more than 30 seconds of NBA coverage on TV, I've sworn off SportsCenter and I'm not renewing my subscription to SLAM. Oh yes, I can feel the League is shaking in its loafers.
So no, I'm not going down to P-land either.
Well, I certainly respect your sentiments and stand of not supporting any David Stern-run organization, but I just had to get my (ex-)Sonics fix, so I am headed down to P-town today. I have heard from "Phonatic" and "FriedrichNietzsche" on the ESPN OKC Thunder-board that a group of their friends are going down (6 of them) and meeting at a beer joint attached to the Rose Garden at 5:00PM and partying afterwards at "Duff's Garage". "Phonatic" got word of these plans from Andy who makes the "Screw Clay" T-shirts. Andy will be hawking his T-shirts at the game. There will be a few Sonics signs there. I do have some extra tickets (at least 1 -maybe as many as 3, ranging from $22 to $33). If you're interested, you can em me at zendoc1@gmail.com. I'll take my camera with me and see what I can get. Who else from here is going?
- ZenDoc David
I respect your commitment ZenDoc David! I hope you give 'em hell, and enjoy your time in one of my favorite cities. I recommend getting a bacon maple bar at Voodoo Doughnut and a late night hotdog at Zach's Shack (open 'till 3AM!).
I admire anyone who has the heart to drive 200+ miles out of spite. For me, though, the team was pretty much dead to me once Big Boy Bennett bought the team. It was pretty clear early on that the fix was in, and I tried my best to emotionally detach myself from the team.
For the sake of our collective sanities, at some point we must all let go of our former team, lest we become creepy Seattle SuperStalkers.
I'm heading out now and it's snowing in Gig Harbor. I'm going to Canon Beach first. I'm really not going out of spite. I really want to see Russell Westbrook, Jerryd Bayless, Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, and my old buddies Nick Collison, K.D., & Jeff Green, & hopefully some SOS people. Em me if you're coming down.
- ZenDoc
I'm heading out now and it's snowing in Gig Harbor. I'm going to Canon Beach first. I'm really not going out of spite. I want to see Russell Westbrook, Jerryd Bayless, Greg Oden, & Brandon Roy in person, and my old buddies Nick Collison, K.D., & Jeff Green, & hopefully some SOS people. Em me if you're coming down.
- ZenDoc
This effort Sonics fans have planned to show your displeasure with the Sonics moving to OKC will do nothing but show the country what little class you have and kill any sympathy the SaveOurSonics folks might have had. Should be a great display of hatred, intolerance and bitterness.
Remember though that at the end of the game, the Sonics will still be a thing of the past and the Thunder will roll on.
Kevin-
Do you really think that the rest of the nation will think less of Seattle fans for expressing their displeasure?!? LOL!
I have news for ya: 99% of the nation outside of OKC either is neutral (does not care) or dislikes what Bennett and Stern did. No one will think less of Seattle fans than they already do of the OKC franchise thanks to your lying, cheating dirtbag owners.
Kevin- up yours!
Montana's immature and vindictive response makes my case. Those ex-Sonics fans that choose make a fool of themselves tonight will spoil any goodwill your group might have had. The Sonics are a thing of the past, kind of like 8-tracks. There's a few of you that will hold on for posterity's sake but the rest of the world, and the NBA, is getting along just fine without the Sonics. Whether or not the Thunder win tonight and regardless of your plans to disrupt the game, the Sonics will still be dead. Long live the Thunder!
And Anonymous, our "lying, cheating dirtbag owners" gave Seattle as many chances to keep the team as Shultz if not more. It was the Washington taxpayers and legislature that decided the Sonics were not important enough to keep. How's that Key Arena deal looking? Yea, thought so. Even without our "lying, cheating dirtbag owners", Washingtonians are still not willing to pony up. It seems they would rather take the 'better than thou' road and try to strong arm team owners into subsidizing the deal rather than work with the team like every other community does. Go pay for your roads and bridges. Help you growing homeless population. Feed your hungry and pay for those living among you without work. That's the decent thing to do. We'll do the same, as we always do, but we'll also support the Thunder to the tune of 18k+ per game.
Kevin,
I'll tell you how many chances Bennett's group gave Seattle to keep the Sonics, exactly 1, and that was to build a $500 million dollar arena that was fully paid for by the public, and the arena wasn't even going to be built in Seattle. Thanks for all your chances Bennett. Seattle asked him if we could remodel Keyarena but that wasn't good enough, although it was good enough for OKC, so Bennett moves the team because the play in a inferior arena, just to move it to another arena that doesn't comply to "NBA standards", as stated by Bennett and Stern that the Ford does not. How come a remodel of the Ford Center is ok for the "Thunder" to play in, but a remodel of the Key wasn't good enough for the Sonics to stay??? And how come a remodel of the Key is ok now to attract a new team to Seattle. Give me a break Kevin, we never had a chance.
Groovy,
I think Bennett and company was willing to pay for some of it but not all and maybe even not most of the cost.
It's probably not productive to go through all this again but I will say that the Sonic fans that showed up for games were not numerous enough to show your politicians the value of the team. Had Seattlites packed the house the last couple seasons night in and night out as we do here in OKC, your state legislature would have had a much harder time rejecting the numerous bills to remodel the Key that both Shultz and Bennett asked for. And I can't speak to the remodel of the Key vs. the Ford Center but will say that the Ford center was built just a few years ago. It's infrastructure, plumbing, electrical, hvac, etc... was pretty much new as opposed to the Key that was built decades ago. Maybe that had something to do with it.
Anyway, I thought this whole 'SaveOurSonics' thing was a great idea, just horribly mishandled. When they could have encouraged local Seattle folks to attend games, when they could have used what press they got to plead for better support and butts in the seats, they were too busy making childish signs and coordinating insult parties. They should have worked to rebuild the fan base in order to show that Seattle folks can support basketball in this century, and convince your politicians to fund the key for either Shultz or Bennett.
Kevin, you'll notice that I had your back when the conversation was regarding making nasty comments at the Blazers' game tonight.
However, Kevin, if, 40 years from now, Oklahoma City is still averaging 18,500 per game and if, 40 years from now, your team is bought by a group of investors who make no bones about moving the team, and when, 40 years from now, those same investors offer $0 towards building a $500 million new stadium or else they'll leave and despite all of that Oklahoma City continues to average 18,500 per game, please, by all means, come here and insult us.
Until that has happened, though, Kevin, thank you kindly for visiting, but please go away.
Kevin,
It's the first year, and you guys don't even sell out the joint, here's a link from just the first 2 weeks of the season...http://nba.fanhouse.com/2008/11/09/already-thunder-isnt-selling-out-in-okc/...So give me a break, you guys don't sell out and it's the first year, sheesh. KeyArena wasn't built "Decades ago" it was built in 1996, and 6 years after it was built they wanted a new arena...please...As for attendance the last 2 years in Seattle, it's kind of hard to generate fan interest when the new owners gut the team, don't allow players on the local sports radio stations, and make it hard to even find the games on the radio by moving the broadcasts to different stations. And yes, Bennett offered $0 dollars for a "new" arena that he wanted built OUTSIDE of Seattle. And nobody in our government said no way to a remodel for Schultz, they said not now, as he came asking a mere 6 years after the arena was TOTALLY rebuilt from the floor up.
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I was just informed that the Sonics-Thunder are back in Portland tomorrow. I was hoping to find some people here who were going down to the game, but I guess not. My son and I are going and there are lots of tickets as low as $15 each including all fees. I wonder how many other people we'll see in Sonics uniforms? Last year was a blast and we were well received by Portland fans for the most part and by the Blazers organization who let us go down on the court after the game and shoot hoops and take pictures. ~ David
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