Let's Go Shoppin'

The best way to deal with overwhelming guilt, anxiety and uncertainty?

Go shopping!

At least, that’s what we’ve been taught since grade school, anyways. So, with that in mind, here’s some fantastic and not-so-fantastic items currently available to the discerning Sonic shopper.

Seattle Sonic Starline Poster: $15

Featuring Det, Reignman, and the Glove, it’s a classic piece of mid-90s nostalgia. At $15, it’s a decent deal for a 22” x 34” poster you know would look great in any rec room.

Sonic Warmup Jersey: $50

Oh, my. Just … I’m not sure what to say about this one. Set aside the value – it’s $50 for a warm-up jersey, so you can’t quibble too much about the price – but, that picture? Why that expression? Why do I get the feeling that the poser is a TrailBlazer fan that lost a bet? Why does he feel the need to show us all of his chins? And why is he looking at his feet in the reverse picture? What’s down there, Joe? Did you step in something? Or are you just wondering how you got to this point in your life?

 

Sonic/Kings Jersey: Do not buy this

To the seller(s) of this piece of annoyance, on behalf of every citizen of Sacramento and Seattle, and anyone who has ever been a fan of either team: Go to Hell, just go. In all honesty,  can anyone fathom who the target market is for this obscenity? No one in Seattle or Sacramento would ever wear this in public, so I'm struggling to figure out who they expect to buy it.

Autographed Hat: $10

So, you’ve got a corduroy hat signed by Michael Cage, Rich King, and a mystery Sonic. The question you’ve got to ask yourself: Would it be worth more if Rich King hadn’t signed it? And who is the mystery Sonic? Could it be Bart Kofoed? Would that make it worth even less than $10?

X, Tommy, Dale 8 x 10: $5

I sometimes wonder about the process that goes into making these staged photos. For example, in an ordinary circumstance with another set of three great NBA players, where none of the three is truly superior to the other two, you’d think there might be some awkwardness as to who gets to stand in the middle, right? I’m guessing this did not happen with Xavier McDaniel, Tom Chambes, and Dale Ellis:

Photog: Okay, who wants to stand in the middle?

Tom: Well, I’m the tallest, so how about me?

X: Looks at Tom.

Tom: Yeah, I think I’ll stand on the side.

Dale: Coughs.

Playoff Ticket - Sonics/Nuggets: $5

Yes, it's from that game. The ticket doesn't say Game Five, but it does say Game C, which makes it painfully obvious that this is an unused ticket from the most horrific game in Sonic history. I think it's worth $5 just to buy it and perform an exorcism. Maybe you could get Dikembe Mutombo to perform part of the ceremony.

Seattle City Council Approves 30-year Deal with Sonics

Got ya!

Actually, it's another in our series on This Date in Sonic History, and this time we're going back to 1988, an innocent time when million-dollar salaries were crazy talk, and tens of millions of dollars were plenty when you were talking arena construction.

And so it was on Monday, February 29, 1988 when the Seattle City Council approved a 30-year agreement with the Sonics for the construction of a new arena located a few blocks south of the Kingdome. The pact called for the city to contribute $1 million a year in admission taxes to go towards paying off the construction debt of the $45(!) million arena. The deal was contingent on the Sonics sticking around for all 30 of those years. At the time, the hope was that the arena would be ready for the 1991-92 season.

According to the UPI, the deal had been held up for a period of time due to some councilors' objection to the level of municipal involvement in the otherwise private project and because of the impact the new arena would have on the Coliseum (sound familiar, gang?), but that rancor was subdued when the terms were adjusted to be more favorable to the city should the Coliseum be forced to close its doors.

The arena, which was to hold between 18,000 and 19,000 fans (various reports had it pegged at various numbers), was, of course, never built, but the what ifs will ring in perpetuity. Ackerley claimed he would honor the 30-year agreement, and it's possible that he would have honored that promise, meaning the team would only now be looking at renovating the facility. Of course, America's cemeteries are full of dead arenas (Charlotte, Orlando, Cleveland, etc.) that were built in Bush the Elder's presidency, only to be rendered obsolete by the time his son took office. Is that what would have happened in Seattle, too?

Impossible to say, but worth thinking about on another cold winter day in Seattle.

(Gathered from here and here).

Whew!

The only good thing Seattle sports ever did, now on display at MOHAI. 

Don't worry guys, it's safe. But if you want to see the trophy for your 1979 NBA World Champion Seattle Supersonics, you can drool all over it at Seattle's new Museum of History & Industry.