Possibilities

For of all sad words of tongue or pen,

The saddest are these: `It might have been!`

—John Greenleaf Whittaker

It’s amazing how often timing drastically alters events which, in hindsight, seemed inevitable.

Take, for example, World War I. The causes of the war may be (and has been) argued at length, but were it not for the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand by the Black Hand, it is entirely possible that the events which transpired a century ago, claiming the lives of millions, may never have occurred.

Likewise, the movement of the Sonics to Oklahoma City. A couple of 20/20 hindsight observations:

- What if this economic crisis had occurred two years ago, when Howard Schultz was looking to sell the team? Do you think Aubrey McClendon would be as interested in buying a money-losing proposition when he was fresh off selling shares for which he paid $50 for the rock-bottom price of $15 or $16? I think not.

And, more importantly, as Brian Robinson points out at SonicsCentral:

- What if Greg Nickels had decided to stick his promise of not caving in to the Sonics, regardless of what they offered? Going into this summer, with natural gas prices and his stock value soaring, Aubrey McClendon was flush with cash, as were Clay Bennett and Tom Ward.

But now, after the debacle of the past three months? How likely would those Triplets of Terror be willing to stick out two years of absolutely disastrous revenues in Seattle for the promise of returning to Oklahoma City in 2010?

Granted, these recent events have not taken place in a vacuum. The hardships which affect Aubrey McClendon would also affect the city’s ability to come up with the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to build an improved KeyArena. And I can’t be certain, nor can anyone else, as to how the past three months would change PBC’s motivations. But only a fool would think it would not, at the very least, give a bit of leverage to the City of Seattle.

The Hits Keep on Comin'

Am I the only one thinking that perhaps karma exists after all?

You've read plenty on this site in the past few weeks about our friend Aubrey McClendon and the financial 3-card monty he's been playing with Chesapeake Energy. Now, it's really starting to hit the fan. From the AP:

Chesapeake Energy CEO forced to sell company stock

Aubrey K. McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Corp., has sold the bulk of his stock in the company over the past three days in order to meet margin loan calls, the company said Friday.

The company did not disclose the size of the stock sale, pending the filing of documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"I am very disappointed to have been required to sell substantially all of my shares of Chesapeake," McClendon said in a news release. "These involuntary and unexpected sales were precipitated by the extraordinary circumstances of the worldwide financial crisis."

Extraordinary is just about hitting the nail on the ol' head, I would venture. Remember how I wrote earlier that McClendon's decrease in net worth was on paper only, that the dip (or plummet) in share price did not necessarily mean he was losing money?

Yeah, well, that went out the window over the past 3 days. McClendon bought millions of shares this summer at $55 a pop, and just got finished selling them for about $17 each.

I don't speak fluent Oklahoman, but does the phrase "hurtin' for certain" apply here?

[Thanks to Alan for the tip.]

Follow Up

Before I dive into this story, let me make this point perfectly clear: I am not digging into Chesapeake Energy's misfortunes because I want the Oklahoma City Thunder to fail. As far as I (and I think Raf and Paul would agree with me) am concerned, the Thunder belongs to the people of OKC now, at least as much as any pro team belongs to any city.

I'm not interested in ragging on Oklahoma, or talking about how much more sophisticated Seattle is, or any of that nonsense. I'm putting these stories up solely because McClendon, Bennett, Tom Ward, and David Stern disgust me, and if I can poke some small holes in their swollen egos, then so much the better.

On with the story. Today's WSJ has a, well "scathing" would be putting it too strongly, so how about negative story about Chesapeake Energy, including this stirring quote from writer Ben Casselman:

"But [the land Chesapeake owns] is only valuable if companies have the money to drill it -- and a growing number of analysts are skeptical that Chesapeake and some of its peers will be able to find enough money to drill all the land before the leases expire."

Perhaps the Journal's story had a little bit to do with CHK's stock falling by more than 5 points by mid-day on Friday, a one-day drop of nearly 30%, putting it at $12.35 from a high of $70.

Peaking in on Chespeake

Perhaps I should let this go at some point, but take a gander at Chesapeake Energy's stock performance since July of this year:




In case you can't make out the figures, the stock value has gone from a high of $70.24 in early July to a low of $17.71 at closing today. That's a loss of $52/share, which, if you have 34,000,000 shares like some people do, in the last three months your net worth has declined by the sum total of $1,768,000,000.

Yes, nearly 2 billion dollars. Or, put another way, in the time it took the Sonics to relocate to Oklahoma City and play their first game, Aubrey McClendon lost the equivalent of the GDP of Zimbabwe.

Art Harris: Follow Up

Three days ago we ran a short piece about former Sonic Art Harris, a one-time All-Rookie Team member who passed away last October at the age of 60.

At the end of the story, I asked for any possible insights into Harris' life our readers might offer. Sadly, no information has been forthcoming, so I'll ask again:

Is there anyone out there who might have information about Art Harris' life? He left the NBA in 1972, 36 years ago, playing 21 games for the Suns before seeing his professional career come to an end. Between 1972 and 2007, when he died, I can't find a lick of information about the man. Here's some framework, if it helps:

-Born and raised in Los Angeles

-Attended Jordan High School in LA

-Attended Stanford University

-Drafted by Seattle in the NBA and the Oakland Oaks in the ABA in 1968

-Played in Seattle for 1 1/2 years after leaving Stanford

-Played in Phoenix from 1970 to some point in the 1972 season

And then?

SSS HOF #9: George Karl

He came to Seattle under cover of darkness, an exile returned from Elba, his final chance at making it as a professional basketball coach awaiting him on the rain-soaked runways of SeaTac Airport.

Before the jet touched down from its long journey westward from Spain, his career ledger totaled 119 wins and 176 losses, a testimony to mediocrity. He seemed destined for a Gene Shue-like career at best, or, at worst, to be the Billy Martin of the NBA, but without the championships. Suffice it to say, Sonic fans were forgiven for not throwing a parade.

By the time he left town less than a decade later, however, George Karl had rejuvenated both a city and his career.

AGGRESSIVE

He made his Sonic debut on January 23, 1992, against Portland at the Coliseum. Fittingly, Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton, the two icons of Karl’s reign in Seattle, contributed mightily. Fittingly, the Sonics lost, not because they were bad, but because that’s what the Sonics did under Karl – they lost when it mattered most.

But back to those beginnings. The year he inherited the team from KC Jones, the Sonics finished the season with 775 steals.

It would prove to be the lowest total of Karl’s tenure.

If nothing else, George Karl was aggressive. He was aggressive in the way he coached, he was aggressive in the way he dealt with others, he was aggressive in the way he lived.

There’s a humorous tale of Karl striding through the lobby at All-Star Weekend as the head coach of the Western Conference. He was at the top of his game, risen from the wilds of the CBA and Europe to the penthouse of basketball. There he strode, though, wearing horrific zubaz pants, thumbing his nose at his Armani-clad coaching brothers. He was a misfit, and he loved it.

That was Karl, though. He had no interest in doing things the way others did. You can’t play three guards in the same lineup? Why not, when you’ve got Gill, Payton, and McMillan? Who says you can’t put a 6’9” forward on your opponent’s point guard, even if that point guard is a waterbug?

Karl’s contrarian ways had placed him in trouble during his previous stops in Golden State and Cleveland, where he was unable to win often enough to forestall his firing. In Seattle, however, he had a plethora of talent and, combined with his skills as a defensive teacher (as well as his assistants Tim Grgurich and Bob Kloppenburg) he finally was given the opportunity to see what he could do.

SUCCESS AT LAST

Don’t misunderstand, Karl was not a loser before he came to Seattle. He had won frequently in the CBA, and he took both the Cavs and the Warriors to the playoffs, no mean feat considering the woeful nature of those franchises.

No, Karl’s problems stemmed from his inability to make nice with his employers. In Seattle, though, with an equally contrarian Bob Whitsitt manning the GM seat, Karl had a kindred spirit running the show. Whitsitt and Karl were in harmony, for a time at least, and they molded a winner.

In his first full season as head coach, Whitsitt took the Sonics to the Western Conference Finals, where they lost a Game 7 heartbreaker to the Phoenix Suns in one of the most bitterly remembered games in Seattle sports history.

But reflect on the accomplishment for a moment, not the frustration. In the span of 15 months Karl had taken the Seattle Sonics from an afterthought to the most exciting team in the Western Conference, if not the league. Sure, the Suns “won” the conference title, but true NBA followers knew the best team in the West was from Seattle, not Phoenix.

It was an amazing turn of events. Accompanied by a national surge of interest in Seattle music, it was an exciting time to be a sports fan in the Northwest. After years of mediocrity and anonymity, Seattle was poised to plant its flag.

TOMORROW

Rise and Fall.

SupersonicSoul Xmas Gift #1

Christmas decorations are already making an apperance at the malls in Canada (and, I assume, in the States as well), so why not get a head start on Sonic gifts for ourselves?

I hope to make this a regular feature on the site, but to kick things off, let's have a look at this fine option from zazzle.com: A "Nobody Scores on Derrick McKey" t-shirt.

Sadly, I couldn't save a copy of the photo, so you'll have to click on it yourself to experience the shirt in all its glory. But for that hard-to-shop-for friend still bemoaning his departed Sonics, how can you go wrong with a tribute to one of the most enigmatic players in team history?

Granted, it's not as cool as the "Everybody Scores on Tom Chambers" shirt, but it still makes a nice gift.

Blazer Love

Pete Treperinas at bleacherreport.com posits a increasingly common inclination for fans of the former Seattle Sonics: To become a Portland TrailBlazer fan.

He gives the standard reasons: Nate McMillan, Paul Allen, Brandon Roy, Martell Webster, proximity of city, excitement level of roster, and so forth. And while he touches on the pain and betrayal he feels in becoming a fan of the team he used to hate, I have to say he's not as anguished about his decision as I would be.

Personally, if I were to root for any team this season it would be Golden State. Even with The Baron down in LA, I'm still partial to the madcap antics of the Warriors, from their exhuberant fans to their frenetic style of play. Yes, the Warriors would definitely be my team in a Sonic-less universe. To root for the Blazers, personally, would be like cheering for the Oakland A's if the Mariners left town, and I hate the A's (okay, I like Billy Beane, but I hate the franchise).

And besides, what happens if the Sonics eventually return to Seattle? Will those who cheered for the Blazers in the interim feel a little bit guilty for abadoning their city? Won't you feel like a hypocrite booing the Blazers when the year previous you were wearing their jersey?

It begs the obvious question: Why do I have to pick another team for which to cheer? Is abstention only available to priests now? By cheering for any NBA team, am I not giving tacit approval to the disgraceful shenanigans of David Stern, Clay Bennett, and the other 27 owners who voted for relocation?

At this point, while I am somewhat inclined to cheer for Golden State, I am more inclined not to root at all. And, I believe, that's the position of a large portion of Sonic fans.

Which leads me to ask this: Which team will you support this year, if any? Have you gone cold turkey on the NBA?

Where Are They Now? Art Harris

Usually, these Where Are They Now? pieces fall together pretty easily, especially for guys that have retired within the past decade or so. For those that quit balling two or three decades in the past, though, it gets a little trickier.

Take Art Harris.

If you’re like me, the name Art Harris draws a blank. Bob Love? Check. Spencer Haywood? Duh. Tommy Kron? Foggy, but I know the name.

But Art Harris? No dice.

Well, let’s fill in a few of the blanks.

- Born Arthur Carlos Harris, Jr. in Los Angeles on January 13, 1947
- Graduated from Jordan High School, the same high school in Watts which produced Florence Griffith Joyner and Charles Mingus
- One of Stanford’s most prolific scorers, named All Pac 8 as a sophomore
- Averaged 20.7 ppg for the Cardinal in 1967-68, including a couple of 30+ point outings
- Named a member of Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame
- 17.2 ppg career average is 7th best in school history
- Drafted by Sonics in second round of 1968 draft
- Averaged 12 ppg his rookie season
- Led NBA in disqualifications
- Named to All-Rookie First Team, the only Sonic guard ever to receive that honor
- Played only 5 games for Sonics in 1969-70 before being traded on Oct. 25 to Phoenix for Dick Snyder
- Remained in Phoenix for the next three seasons, then out of the league

And, finally

- October 2007, Art Harris RIP

I came across Harris’ passing on the NBA’s Retired Player Association website a year ago, and meant to pursue a story about him for the past twelve months. Occasionally, I would dig a little bit into his past, but I never got very far. Always, I thought, there’d be time to find out more.

Now a year has passed since Art Harris died, and I still don’t know anything more about him.

Here he was, a kid from Watts, who got a scholarship to Stanford, one of the greatest academic institutions in the entire country, goes on to make the NBA’s All-Rookie team, gets traded to Phoenix, then fades from memory.
What happened to Art Harris? What did his post-NBA life entail before he died at age 60? The NBRPA doesn’t even know the exact date of death, only a vague “mid-October” with no mention, either, of the location. The Stanford University site equally draws a blank, not even reporting his death until three months later, while the Seattle Times and PI were completely silent about the event.

Look at that team photo from 1968-69. Harris is the second from the far right, right next to Lenny Wilkens. Oddly, while all the other players were staring right at the camera, Harris stares to his right, his face in profile. Was he laughing at a joke from Bob Rule? It's as if, 40 years later, he's trying to make himself even more of an enigma.
Hey, I get it, he was an obscure player on an expansion team going nowhere. But couldn’t you say the same thing about Jeff Green? Sure, it’s possible Green will go on to greatness in the NBA, but the odds are more likely that within 5-8 years he’ll be long-gone from this league. Will his death 40, 50, 60 years from now pass as quietly as Harris?

A beautiful aspect to the internet is the way it facilitates communication. Perhaps someone reading this site will unearth a kernel of information, which will blossom into a full-blown story. Hopefully, someone out there can educate me as to what happened to Art Harris. Feel free to email us (see the top of the page), or fire off a comment below.

Cheer Up ...

Sadsack Sonic fans. Yes, I know the NBA season is prepped to kick off soon, and I know the weather in Seattle could not have been more miserable today, but it could be worse.

You could have lost $82,000,000 in the stock market today.

Danger, Politics Ahead

I'm loathe to write this for fear of incurring the wrath of GOP supporters, but it occurred to me last night while watching the debates that Sarah Palin reminded of someone, but I just couldn't put my finger on it until now.

Bill Walton. Like Walton, she talks alot, is very folksy, and occasionally makes an intelligent point, but those points are so diluted by all the other garbage coming of Walton/Palin's mouth(s) that they are never heard.

Aubrey McClendon: Part III

During the course of the past week, I’ve looked closely – perhaps too closely – behind the curtain which surrounds Aubrey McClendon and his company, Chesapeake Energy.

Let me blunt – I don’t like McClendon. I don’t think anyone reading this site would struggle to understand that, any more than they would struggle to understand my reasons. He’s a cold, manipulative man who believes the government has every right to interject itself into marriage, that privacy laws are as disposable as toilet paper, and that the environment is as easily replenished as his vast wealth.

Most importantly, he has no qualms with stealing a franchise that resided in Seattle for 40 years, just because his hometown needed something to do in the winter other than watch Sooner football DVDs.

But that’s a side issue for today – this is a free nation, and the Sonics don’t belong to Seattle any more than the raindrops which fall from the sky.

Today, I want to explore the sickening relationship between McClendon’s immense wealth and his complete lack of interest in using that wealth to help whichever city his team calls home.

Let us look, first, and some of the expenses McClendon has incurred in the past two years:

1. $400 million, to state of West Virginia in damages from lawsuit
2. $1.3 billion, decrease in value of his shares of Chesapeake Energy
3. $40 million, to purchase a plot of land in Michigan, upon which he will spend hundreds of millions to build a new housing development

And now let us look at, second, how much money he has spent assisting the cities which house the Sonics/Thunder in building new stadiums:

1. $0

It is a disgraceful commentary on McClendon and Clay Bennett that they can withstand the costs listed above without so much as a blink of an eye, yet when they are asked to contribute to the very buildings in which their teams will play, they run in the other direction faster than Jerome James chasing a box of doughnuts.

Further, it is a damning tribute to David Stern that he spit upon a group of investors in Seattle which was willing to contribute hundreds of millions towards building an arena here, all the while heaping praise upon Bennett and McClendon, who have yet to spend one penny of their fortunes on building new stadiums.

Tim Keown wrote recently at espn.com about how the economic malaise facing the U.S. may spell the end of publicly financed stadiums. While his words are, in my view, wishful thinking, I pray that he is correct.

The time has come for this country to quit subsidizing billionaires on the backs of taxpayers. If stadiums were such a great investment – as owner after owner tells city after city – then why are there so few owners willing to build stadiums? They certainly have no trouble coming up with the hundreds of millions to purchase the team, so why can’t they come up with at least part of the money needed to house them?

The answer is simple – because they play us for fools.

As Keown wrote, if no other benefit arises out of this meltdown in the U.S. economy, perhaps it will be worth it if people such as McClendon are finally forced to part with some of their cash, and the government gets out of the business of stadiums.