Not Being a Douche: Sonics 2.0 Fan Edition

I won’t speculate on what will be announced later today (or next month, or next year, or… ever) regarding a professional basketball team returning to Seattle. I can say that whatever it is will have to factor in these two certainties:

1. They aren’t making any new basketball teams.
2. Meaning if we are going to get a team here, it’s coming from another town.

Better writers than I have examined the dilemma this creates for Supes fans. On the one hand, you’re still mad that your team got took. On the other hand, you know that to have a team again, you have to take one from someone else.

If you’ll forgive another awful sports analogy, it’s like needing a heart transplant. You hope you get one, but it is beyond macabre to actively root for another person to die. But if one does become available, it’s not like you would say “No thanks, I’ll wait until science is able to clone hearts and sell them at Costco.” (note to self: a cartoon might have worked better here)

So what can we do? We are constantly assured that Seattle will get a team back, from somewhere, sometime. What we can do, when/if that day comes, is steer clear of gloating douchebag territory. Having been the recipients of scorn from Other Klassy Citizens these past 4 years, I’ve been mentally compiling a list of tips for avoiding their habits when the situations are reversed.

• Don’t leave taunting comments on the aggrieved fanbase’s blogs and forums. Just… don’t be like those guys.
• Don’t perpetuate the meme that it was “the fans’ fault” for not supporting the team enough. I don’t know how many times I’ve read an OKC fan parrot the “You guys didn’t support your team” excuse. WE guys absolutely did support our team. The mayor, commissioner, the coffee tycoon—THOSE are the guys that didn’t support US. The same kind of crap likely contributed to the other team’s demise.
• Don’t talk about which city “deserves” a team or not. Deserve ain’t got nothing to do with it. It has everything to do with revenue streams and public subsidies.
• Don’t tell grieving fans to “stop whining” or “get over it already.” You just come across as classless winners when you get the team AND act like you can lecture the old fans on how to cope with loss.
• Don’t boast about how much better your city is than the old city, or how much better off the team is in your town.
• Don’t say that it’s okay for us to steal because we were stolen from. It’s still not okay. At minimum, acknowledge the feelings of the other fans. There were a miniscule number of OKC fans who expressed sympathy on comments here and at other Sonics sites who redeemed their fanbase a tiny bit.

Non-douchey additions/suggestions welcome.

Dear Mr. Shinn

You could really just use this article from Hornets Hype as a template for all NBA fans who are facing an uncertain future for their favorite teams.

And while the article is enjoyable in and of itself (providing a nice insight into the oft-ignored passion of Hornet fans), I found this tidbit from the comments as, if not more, interesting:

"[The Hornets] can’t [leave] because the lease is now ironclad thru 2014, with only a practice facility as a potential sticking point. As I understand it, the state of Louisiana could be stuck with giving bonuses to the Hornets in some of these upcoming years on the lease should attendance drop below thresholds (however, the early out clause no longer applies)."
-commenter chefcdb

Certainly a different take on things than what we've grown accustomed to with the Hornets and their possible relocation to other cities (such as, well, Seattle). When you take what is happening to Sacramento, add it to New Orleans, and multiply it times New Jersey, at what point do you, as a Sonic fan, start to feel just a twinge of guilt about coveting these franchises?

I hate to slit the throat of NBA basketball in Seattle, and I know this goes against the league's current franchise-go-round method of economic stability, but I'm growing less and less enamored with the idea of swiping someone else's club.