Clay Bennett, June 18, 2008, in Federal District Court:
Players can choose where they want to play, and we are in uncertainty and that is a very difficult element in developing a team. Players want to know where they are going to play. They want to know where they're families are going to be. ... The team is their second home and their life.
Clay Bennett, 2007, via email to Brent Gooden, in response to Gooden’s comments that he had heard certain players were upset about the possibility of relocating to Oklahoma City:
Boo hoo.
Wednesday, June 18
48 Hours
Let me sum up. In the past 48 hours:
-Tiger Woods wins the US Open on a broken leg on the 91st hole
-The Celtics knock off the Lakers and make Kobe cry
-My ancestral home of Italy knocks off France, gets a must-lose from Romania, and moves on
-4,000 people shout "Save Our Sonics!" at the top of their lungs in downtown Seattle
-One of my best friends gets to meet our childhood hero, Xavier McDaniel
That's a lot for one man to digest in 48 hours, wouldn't you say?
In all seriousness, my sincere congratulations to Ray Allen. I don't think Sonic fans ever completed wrapped their arms around and accepted Allen as one of their own, and I can't quite put my finger on why. Perhaps it was because of the miserable teams on which he played; a fan favorite almost always comes part and parcel with a playoff-caliber team.
Or perhaps it was Allen's personality. Perfectionists are always difficult to love, and Allen's smooth exterior never provided a handhold for Sonic fans to grab onto. Always admired, seldom beloved, that was Ray Allen's tenure in Seattle from my perspective.
Regardless, he is/was one of the greatest players in Sonic history, and one of the classiest men as well. To see that combination be rewarded for his efforts — and to see his one-time enemy suffer on national television simultaneously — well, that was a pleasure to watch.
And, for those keeping track at home:
NUMBER OF SHAQ-LESS TITLES
Ray Allen: 1
Kobe Bryant: 0
-Tiger Woods wins the US Open on a broken leg on the 91st hole
-The Celtics knock off the Lakers and make Kobe cry
-My ancestral home of Italy knocks off France, gets a must-lose from Romania, and moves on
-4,000 people shout "Save Our Sonics!" at the top of their lungs in downtown Seattle
-One of my best friends gets to meet our childhood hero, Xavier McDaniel
That's a lot for one man to digest in 48 hours, wouldn't you say?
In all seriousness, my sincere congratulations to Ray Allen. I don't think Sonic fans ever completed wrapped their arms around and accepted Allen as one of their own, and I can't quite put my finger on why. Perhaps it was because of the miserable teams on which he played; a fan favorite almost always comes part and parcel with a playoff-caliber team.
Or perhaps it was Allen's personality. Perfectionists are always difficult to love, and Allen's smooth exterior never provided a handhold for Sonic fans to grab onto. Always admired, seldom beloved, that was Ray Allen's tenure in Seattle from my perspective.
Regardless, he is/was one of the greatest players in Sonic history, and one of the classiest men as well. To see that combination be rewarded for his efforts — and to see his one-time enemy suffer on national television simultaneously — well, that was a pleasure to watch.
And, for those keeping track at home:
NUMBER OF SHAQ-LESS TITLES
Ray Allen: 1
Kobe Bryant: 0
Tuesday, June 17
Only Fair
Recently, we had a piece on Chris Wilcox' concealed weapons arrest near his home in North Carolina. To be fair to Wilcox, it's only right that we link to a piece about Big Weezy hosting a basketball camp in Whiteville, North Carolina, including this quote:
Lawrence Flemming, a grandparent, said, "I think the world of Chris, and a man with that type of money, I mean riding around the way things are today, I'd have had one too."
Now that's the saddest statement of all.
Lawrence Flemming, a grandparent, said, "I think the world of Chris, and a man with that type of money, I mean riding around the way things are today, I'd have had one too."
Now that's the saddest statement of all.
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