What Can We Do?

Undoubtedly, there are many out there who look at this whole Bennett-McClendon-Carpetbagger scenario and just throw up their hands in dismay. The folks who never really liked basketball to begin with, or pro sports at all, they could care less, and this situation just confirms their pre-existing beliefs.

But for the rest of us, the obvious question is this: What do we do now? There are a number of practical answers:

1. Support A Deal is a Deal. Brian Robinson's efforts to force the Sonics/Storm ownership to honor their lease with the city is something everyone can get behind (sorry, was that too homo-erotic for you, Mr. McClendon?). Hate the Sonics' owners? Then stick it to them by forcing them to play basketball in Seattle for 3 more years. Love the Sonics? Then help ensure the team remains here for at least 3 more years. It's win-win. If you don't have any money because you spent it all on that sweet X-Man replice jersey, then volunteer your time/services.

2. Don't buy tickets. This is a tough one. On the one hand, poor attendance hurts Bennett's pocketbook, which is nice. On the other, it makes Seattle look apathetic. Perhaps an alternative is to buy tickets, and then bring your own food to the games. I suggest tomatoes, just in case Bennett makes an appearance.

3. Write to the Mayor. Let Nickels know the pressure is still on he and his associates to force Bennett to honor the lease.

Any other ideas out there? And, no, we're not interested in your plots to injure Bennett & Co. After all, they're much likely better-armed than we are.

Take a Letter, Clay

Dear Clay Bennett,

I have never met you personally, so I am hesitant to write this letter because I am making assumptions about someone whose hand I have never shook and whose eyes I have never looked into. That said, I feel confident in saying I have a fairly good impression of you.

I know, for example, that you donate heavily to Republican campaigns, that you associate yourself with people who oppose gay marriage, that you heartily endorse the Bush administration. Knowing these facts, I can deduce that you are a Christian man, and I would imagine that you try to follow the tenets of the Bible in your daily life.

Mr. Bennett, I am also trying to be a Christian man. I know that doing so is a path filled with pitfalls, that there are many missteps we make along the way that leave us ripe for picking by those who do not believe. I understand how difficult it may be to be a 1) public figure and 2) a Christian.

But what I don’t understand is how you look at yourself in the mirror, knowing that you have conned an entire region with your lies. There are many misconceptions of Christianity – people will argue until the end of time about whether Jesus was a fan of gays – but no one argues that telling lies is The Christian Way.

So I ask you: Do you feel guilty about lying to us? Do you say prayers for forgiveness every night for your deceptions? Do you have an anchor of guilt the size of an oil derrick hanging upon your neck because of the way you got the City of Renton so riled up to help you? All that time you wasted in Olympia, all that taxpayer money you frittered away on endless meetings, all those volunteers who gave so much of their time and of their pocketbooks to help your business, all on the precept that you were “committed” to keeping the Sonics in Seattle – do you feel any guilt at all about that?

Mr. Bennett, there are two stories out there right now: The one you have told us for the past year, and the one Aubrey McClendon is telling us now.

Two stories, one truth. Which is yours?

Sincerely,

A Sonic Fan

Bombshell: Sonics minority owner admits they are lying bastards

Seattle's own Axis of Evil laughs it up at our expense.

When Clay Bennett and his team of investors said last year they were going to make every effort to keep the team in Seattle, I really wanted to believe them. Really.

But something just didn't smell right. Maybe it was Bennett's crooked, shark-like "smile", or the fact that he'd been trying to bring an NBA team to Oklahoma City for years, but he just didn't seem to be telling the truth.

For once, I was right.

In a stunning display of candor, minority owner Aubrey McClendon finally admitted that Bennett and his boys never had any intension of keeping the team in Seattle:

"But we didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle; we hoped to come here," he said. "We know it's a little more difficult financially here in Oklahoma City, but we think it's great for the community and if we could break even, we'd be thrilled."

Read the rest in today's Seattle P.I.

I guess I should be glad someone in that swarm of vultures finally came clean, but the fact that he did so in such a casual manner really shows the arrogance of this group.

They are so proud of their fleece-job, they don't even care if we're on to them anymore. It's a giant, foam middle-finger to the people of Seattle.

I'm not surprised, of course, that the head of an Enron-type energy company might lie, cheat and steal to get whatever he wanted, but it seems like the city of Seattle could have a real argument here:

Is it legal to lie about your intentions before buying a business?

If you bought the Space Needle, let's say, and told the previous owner you would do everything you could to preserve it's place in the city, but later admitted you planned on moving it to China all along, could you be sued by the previous owner?

I'm no lawyer, so I don't know the legality of all of this, but one thing is now crystal clear: these guys are real bastards.