According to ESPN, AP and that David Stern guy, the Chris Hansen/Steve Ballmer group (or HAN-BALL, as I like to call them) has officially filed to relocate the Sacramento Kings to Seattle.
As a Sonics fan, I should be ecstatic right now. But I can't help but remember the sickening gut punch we all received back in 2008 when the same thing happened to us. My sincere best wishes to our friends in Sacramento and here's hoping all this drama will lead to new, less crazy owners for the Kings and a shiny new expansion team for Seattle.
Expansion may not be an option and from what we heard it isn't. As much as it hurt losing the Sonics, if the only way we get them back is to take another franchise, then so be it. Sonics fans will need to be okay doing that. If it helps, it's not like the Kings were born in Sacramento--they relocated there.
ReplyDelete"From what we heard" - you mean, other than David Stern that it was a possibility at a press conference in Europe a few months ago?
ReplyDeletewhoops- forgot the "said" after David Stern.
ReplyDelete"Sonics fans will need to be okay doing that"
ReplyDeleteUm, no? As someone who spent his youth obsessively studying the lay-up style of Vincent Askew, you'll be hard pressed to find a bigger Sonics fan than me, and I will never be okay with the NBA holding loyal fans/customers hostage over and over again.
Sadly, the NBA is a monopoly, so if I want to watch basketball played at the highest level, it's the only game in town. That doesn't mean I have to be "okay" with how the sausage is made, though, and certainly doesn't mean we should be clamoring to kiss Stern's ring like a lot of other Seattle basketball fans seem intent on doing.
As Pete pointed out a few weeks ago, there is no reason the NBA can't expand, especially if it means two new, incredibly wealthy owner groups will be joining the club.