Flip

"Hi, I'm Ronald 'Flip' Murray. Remember me?"

Judging by this news out of Portland, it appears even more likely that Flip Murray will be re-signing with the Sonics. Juan Dixon, who would have fit nicely as the backup to Ridnour and Allen, appears headed to SonicSouth with a 3-year-, $8 mil. contract.

With Dixon and Keyan Dooling seemingly off the market, Flip has moved towards the top of the list. Another new possibilty emerging is Eddie House, late of Sacramento. At 6'1", House would pose a problem when paired with Ridnour, but considering that Sugar Ray's going to be playing between 35 and 40 minutes a game, he won't be in the lineup all that much.

In other news, according to the Times, the Sonics will meet with Radman early next week to discuss how he fits into their '05-'06 plans. According to Percy Allen, the Sonics will likely ink him to a one-year deal, allowing Vlade to become a FA next year.

What the hell's an FTP?!

Supersonicsoul's technical expert Tor Johnson.

Hey kiddies - The Soul is undergoing a little construction this week, so some of the links may be out of date as we move some files onto the new server (whatever the hell that means!). We'll still have new stories - just some of the old ones might not work yet. In the meantime, enjoy a new story by Nuss (below), or just feast your eyes on the lovely Tor Johnson (above).

Thanks!

Truth

This is a bit of a sidebar to the usual hoop hysteria you encounter here, but it's in a way it's tied into what bothers me most about sports reporting.

You'd have to be either deaf or blind not to have heard the wailings from experts on Hollywood's poor showing at the box office this year. Thousands of reasons have emanated from the mouths of pundits to explain this disaster, all of them misguided guesses. Last night on PBS, my wife saw me scream at the talking head who explained that the reason for Hollywood's struggles is a lack of original programming. That's right, "The Dukes of Hazzard" are to blame.

The sad thing is, Hollywood is not losing money, not even relative to last year. As this article in slate.com explains (and as the same site explained a month ago), the movie industry - at least the six largest studios - are all up over last year's numbers. In other words, the moaning about what's gone wrong is all a bunch of crap. Ironically, the public loves all these remakes - it's the original programming from independent studios that's causing them to stay home.

This lack of thought from experts drives me absolutely insane. Rather than spend five minutes studying an issue, reporters just regurgitate incorrect facts and cater their opinions to fit the falsities.

Which brings me back to supersonicsoul. The most wonderful aspect of this site, at least to me, is that as soon as I offer my opinion, 20 people write in, explaining why I was right, or - more likely - giving me a 100 examples of why I'm wrong. Can the Sonics re-sign everyone and still maintain cap integrity? I'm pretty sure they could, but I've got plenty of experts who will write in with well thought-out evidence to either agree or contradict my belief.

So, let me be the first to say thank-you to all the readers who criticized me during the past year for being wrong. Without your support, I'd be even more in the dark.