Hornets whip Sonics, then support them. Sort of.

"Listen, you fool! We're trying to LOSE games! Don't you understand?"

After the WhatCityDoWePlayInAgain? Hornets beat the crap out of our Seattle Supersonics last night, their owner weighed in on the whole "destroying the hopes and dreams of basketball fans" deal:

“I think it’s a great market,” Shinn said of the Sonics, whose ownership group filed an application with the NBA to relocate the franchise to Oklahoma City. “I don’t know the circumstances. I’ve been in the arena, but it’s had to have been years ago.

“I just would hope that a team could stay in Seattle. I think it’s a good market. And being an owner, I’d hate to lose that market. But that’s a decision to be made by whoever is affected. I’ll have one vote if it ever comes to that, and we’ll usually follow the lead of the commissioner.”

Read the rest in the News Tribune

Well, it sounded pretty supportive until that "follow the lead of the commissioner" line. That's democracy in action, folks! Why even bother having a "vote", if you just parrot whatever crap that spews from Stern's mouth?

Sonics do the right thing

The P.I.'s Gary Washburn writes about the Sonics helping out folks in tent city in New Orleans (via Seattlest):

A city that's nearing Mardi Gras and just weeks from hosting the NBA All-Star Game still has major, bleeding and exposed wounds from Katrina, and Tent City is one of them. Two homeless men from Tent City point out an abandoned hotel just across Canal Street that could house the disadvantaged with plenty of space to spare. A state that has set aside $6 million for the New Orleans Hornets practice facility is uncertain what to do with its homeless issue.

"When Mardi Gras comes, they want us out of here," said Luther Davis, 55, who shook hands with several Sonics. "They don't know what to do with us, and the rent is so high here that we can't afford it. So we're here."

But their gratitude toward the Sonics was apparent. The players and coaches lined up outside the bus, each with a food item. Assistant coach Ralph Lewis had sandwiches. Delonte West had dinners in a Styrofoam container. Durant had rolls.

"Man, this is great," Davis said. "The Hornets don't even come over here. Seattle is going to be my favorite team now. Nobody comes over here to help us. And this was one of those days where people were hungry, so we needed this."

(Read the rest here.)

We here at Supersonicsoul heap a lot of abuse on the current owners of the Sonics, but this story is a reminder of why we still love the team.

More Secret Sonics Stuff

Now this is just getting silly (via SonicsCentral):

On the surface, it appeared Seattle leaders and the NBA hadn't even been trying to make peace with regard to the Sonics' lease at KeyArena.

With the city suing team owner Clay Bennett to stop him from breaking the lease and moving to Oklahoma, the past several months have been marked by a public war of rhetoric.

But now it turns out Seattle officials have made at least one effort to smooth relations: In mid-October, they made a secret trip to meet with NBA executives.

(Read the rest in the Seattle Times)

After yesterday's news (or non-news as it may turn out), it's hard to figure out fact from fiction in this saga.