Vote for Kemp!

The folks at ESPN are voting on the best "in-your-face" dunk of all-time, and of course, Shawn Kemp's infamous "Lister Blister" (see above) is one of the nominees. So go vote already!

UPDATE: Kemp is in the semi-finals . . . but is losing to Pippen (oh the irony!). So go vote NOW!

Tender Juicy Fans Rejoice!

Supersonicsoul's new favorite basketball team, the Tender Juicy Giants, now have their own official Facebook page. Sign up to become a fan of the squad that Alton Lister calls "the deepest team in the league". Plus, they're named after processed meat!

1979: Good year for Sonics, bad year for robot-related deaths

For most of us here at Supersonicsoul, 1979 will always be remembered for one thing: the year the greatest basketball team of all-time won Seattle's first championship.

For those with robot-phobia, however, this date back in 1979 marks a far different kind of anniversary:

January 25, 1979: A 25-year-old Ford Motor assembly line worker is killed on the job in a Flint, Michigan, casting plant. It’s the first recorded human death by robot.

Robert Williams’ death came on the 58th anniversary of the premiere of Karel Capek’s play about Rossum’s Universal Robots. R.U.R gave the world the first use of the word robot to describe an artificial person. Capek invented the term, basing it on the Czech word for “forced labor.” (Robot entered the English language in 1923.)

Williams died instantly in 1979 when the robot’s arm slammed him as he was gathering parts in a storage facility, where the robot also retrieved parts. Williams’ family was later awarded $10 million in damages. The jury agreed the robot struck him in the head because of a lack of safety measures, including one that would sound an alarm if the robot was near.

Read More http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/01/0125robot-kills-worker#ixzz0dfe3y6P3

So the next time you're watching those '79 highlight reels, be sure to raise a glass to the first victim of the Robot Apocalypse.

The Voice of the Sonics

R.I.P Bob.

Great White Dopes?

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2010 Seattle Super Honkies!

Please let this be a joke.

According to the Augusta Chronicle, someone is starting an all-white basketball league:

Don "Moose" Lewis, the commissioner of the AABA, said the reasoning behind the league's roster restrictions is not racism.

"There's nothing hatred about what we're doing," he said. "I don't hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here's a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like."

Lewis said he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of "street-ball" played by "people of color." He pointed out recent incidents in the NBA, including Gilbert Arenas' indefinite suspension after bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room, as examples of fans' dissatisfaction with the way current professional sports are run.

"Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch?" he said. "That's the culture today, and in a free country we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction."

(found via Huff Post).

White, American-born citizens are in the minority now? Really? I had no idea 75 percent was a minority. Then again, math was never my best subject.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to strap on my Chuck's and get down to the gym for my tryout with the Albuquerque All-Whites.

Nenad Now!

The folks behind the Sonicsgate documentary have come up with a great prank to play on The Team That Must Not Be Named.

EA is bringing back NBA Jam and letting the fans pick the rosters. Now, suppose instead of Durant, Green and Westbrook, the Sonix were represented by Thabo, Nenad and Harden?

If you'd like to help make this Dream Team a reality, just head over to the NBA Jam website. Voting ends January 18th, so make every click count!

R.I.P. Bob Blackburn

Bob Blackburn, the original voice of the Seattle Supersonics, passed away Friday at the age of 85.

For many of us, Blackburn's friendly voice welcomed us into the world of Sonics fandom. He was the voice of the '79 champs and along with Wayne Cody, Ivar Haglund and J.P. Patches, represented the best of Old Seattle, a town that was on the rise, but never took itself too seriously.

He will be missed, but never forgotten.

Danny Fortson: Cyborg Smasher!

In 2006, cartoonist extraordinaire Rafael Calonzo, Jr. and writer/comedian Paul Merrill created "Danny Fortson: Cyborg Smasher", a two-part comic series based on former Seattle Supersonics forward Danny Fortson.

(Originally published in 2006 on Supersonicsoul.com)

"Danny Fortson: Cyborg Smasher"
Issue #1

(Click on pictures for larger images.)

"Danny Fortson: Cyborg Smasher"
Issue #2

To Ponder

A short follow-up on the ridiculousness of LeBron James' quasi-demand that the NBA retire Michael Jordan's #23:

What about the four guys who have had #23 retired in their honor by their teams? I'm speaking of Lou Hudson (Atlanta), Calvin Murphy (Houston), Frank Ramsey (Boston), and John Williamson (New Jersey).

Of course, Williamson died of kidney disease due to diabetes 13 years ago, so I guess he won't complain much, and Murphy's had all sorts of off-court problems that help to keep him quiet, Hudson might have scored 18,000 points but LeBron never saw him play, so it didn't really count, right, and, sure, Ramsey made the Hall of Fame, but he was just a sixth man, really, and besides, the Celtics have too many retired jerseys anyways (okay, that last one actually makes some sense).

Can you tell that I'm bugged about this whole thing? Normally, it wouldn't be worth mentioning, but James has such power in the league right now, this idea might take off, regardless of how stupid it is. Retiring Jackie Robinson's jersey made sense, somewhat, because it was a way for baseball to atone for its past sins.

But why do we need to honor Jordan any more than Wilt, or Kareem, or Magic, or Bird, or Mikan, or anybody else in the upper echelons of greatness? Because LeBron watched Jordan as a kid, now the Warriors have to retire his jersey? Should the NFL retire Jim Brown's jersey league-wide because he was the best player ever?

To me, a better way of accomplishing this would be to go the way of the NHL and rename the trophies the league hands out at the end of the year. Call it the Chamberlain Award (MVP), or the Russell Award (defense), or the Jordan Award (offensive player of the year), or whatever. Keep those ideas on a league-wide basis, and leave the jersey retirements to the teams.

It was stupid enough for the Heat to retire Jordan's jersey a few years ago. Don't compound that idiocy on a league-wide scale.

Foyle: No More 31

Saying he wants to honor those who have gone before him, Orlando Magic center Adonal Foyle announced today that he will no longer wear number 31 in memory of Portland Trail Blazers' legend player Sam Bowie.

“When I think of Sam Bowie, I think of a guy like me – someone who was drafted high but never was able to fully demonstrate his gifts to the world,” Foyle told reporters in a Taco Bell parking lot near the team’s practice facility.

“I mean, without Sam Bowie, there would never have been an Alaa Abdelnaby, or a Duane Causwell, or an Adam Keefe,” Foyle said. “I’m starting a petition around the league to get other guys on board with this. Mikki Moore, Darko, Jerome James – hey, those guys all know the importance Bowie had to this league. We're all #31's little kids, you know? Growing up in the Grenadines, I had a huge poster of Sam on my wall – and I’m just living his dream now.”

While picking through the remains of a gordita supreme, Foyle dismissed questions about the meaningfulness of a player who has yet to get off the bench issuing edicts on uniform numbers.

“Hey, Sam didn’t get off the bench in the late 80s, either, but that doesn’t change how he impacted this league,” Foyle claimed. “When you think of guys with wrapped knees sitting on the end of the bench, you think of Sam Bowie, right? When you think of teams regretting wasted picks on useless big men, you think of Sam Bowie. I’d like to think I’m part of that tradition as well.”

NBA officials declined to comment when reached by email, and Orlando officials expressed surprise at both Foyle’s petition and the fact he’s still on the team’s roster.

“Honestly, I thought we had waived him during the summer,” a baffled GM Otis Smith told reporters. “I thought I saw him at the end of the bench last week, but I wasn’t really paying close enough attention. It’s nice to have Adonal around, I guess.”

NBA Attendance: Brief Notes

I'll have some graphs and such on Monday (too few games to generate anything worth looking at thus far), but here's some short notes, Harper's Index style of what's happened so far.

Number of times the Jazz failed to sell out the Delta Center in their last 164 regular season games: 1
Number of times it happened in their first four games this season: 2

Average attendance at the first four Pistons games in last two seasons: 22,076
Average attendance at the first four from this year: 17,541

Change in overall attendance in the first two games of this NBA season compared to the first two games of last season: -22,462

Number of teams who have seen attendance decreases: 19
Number who have increased or remained the same: 11

Action

I suppose there are a few ways to look at the election of Seattle’s new mayor, Mike McGinn, at least as to how his election affects the reintroduction of the NBA to the city:

McGinn is, on the surface, less of a supporter of the NBA than his opponent, Joe Mallahan. This fact is troubling to those who support a revamped KeyArena, and McGinn’s left-leaning ways – he’s a former leader at the Sierra Club, he’s a “neighborhood activist,” his campaign was almost all volunteers – certainly don’t reinforce the negative opinions some may have of him.

On the other hand, though, I found one interesting aspect of his campaign that may indicate a willingness on McGinn’s part to be open to the NBA: His complete reversal on the Alaskan Way/Tunnel situation.

In the months after the run-off election, McGinn made considerable noise about his absolute opposition to a tunnel, and repeatedly stated he would oppose the tunnel regardless of what the state said.

Then, on October 19th, McGinn made a complete about-face, saying he would not oppose the tunnel if he was elected.

This, to me, signals one of two things:

1. McGinn is a political opportunist who realized the majority of voters supported the tunnel, and if he wanted to be their mayor, he’d better get on board.

2. McGinn tasted his tunnel soup, found it to be a little bland, and added some more salt. In other words, he looked at both sides of the issue and decided that maybe his opinion wasn’t the best one.

To many observers, McGinn’s flip-flop was a disgrace. How dare he change his mind! the opponents charged, with images of Bill Clinton pulsing in their minds.

To me, though, it was a blessing. Honestly, as someone who doesn’t live in the state, let alone Seattle, the future mayor of the city is really none of my business.

But consider it from this vantage: If you support an issue (oh, I don’t know, say an improved KeyArena), would you rather have as a mayor a man who staked out positions and refused to budge, regardless of what the populace said, or would you rather have as a mayor a man who listened to public opinion and did what he thought his voters thought was best.

I suppose, in a perfect world, our elected officials would do what was right and just, even if opinion was against them, the whole Atticus Finch ideal. And, in the instance of racial injustice or human rights abuses, that would be great. But KeyArena does not resemble one of those scenarios in the slightest. Rather, it is a public works project which, while its economic benefits are arguable, is certainly popular among some portion of the population.

Essentially, the election of Mike McGinn comes down to this point:

For the past half-decade, Seattle has been run by someone who was repeatedly accused of inaction when action was desperately needed. Snow removal, the Sonics leaving … Greg Nickels’ legacy will forever be one of what he didn’t do rather than what he did do. The fact his replacement is an activist?

Well, it certainly can’t hurt.