Links: Saving The Sonics
As they announce they’re ready to leave Seattle…
I know we’re only a few days into the NBA season, but I’ve already found an NBA team that probably won’t be very good but that I really enjoy watching. Ladies and gentlemen, the Seattle SuperSonics! Why? Three superficial reasons…
1. Linkstigator Nick Collison plays for them.
2. Kevin Durant plays for them.
3. Their coach once yelled at a player so much that the player snapped and tried to choke the life out of him.
But there’s more than that: There’s a city at stake here. The Sonics announced today that they’re applying to move to Oklahoma City. It’s been rumored forever, but now it’s official.
You guys know I’m an Atlanta Hawks fan, and the Hawks have been terrible for a really long time. But somehow, they’ve managed to stay in Atlanta. When the franchise went up for sale a few years ago, my biggest fear was that someone from out of town would buy the Hawks and move them. Luckily some guys from Atlanta were able to put some investors together and keep the team in The A. Unluckily, the investors have spent most of the time since then battling the ownership out in court. Still, the team has stayed in Atlanta.
Seattle hasn’t been so lucky. Howard Schultz sold the team to some guys from Oklahoma City, and many Sonics fans have held that against Schultz, but I find it hard to fault him. He’s a businessman who can make a mean cup of coffee, and it’s his right to sell whatever he wants to sell to whomever he wants to peddle it to. And who knows, maybe Clay Bennett and his Oklahoma crew promised Schultz they’d keep the team in Seattle?
Whatever happened, it happened, and now the Sonics look like a lock to be moving on. On TNT last night during the Sonics/Suns game, they showed a series of people-on-the-street interviews with the citizens of Seattle, who almost all said they hoped the team stayed in Seattle. I have no particular affiliation with the Sonics, but out of respect for the people of Seattle and hoops history, I’m not sure what the fans of Seattle have done to deserve losing their team. They won’t come out in droves and pay a lot of money to support a team that has had no chance of winning an NBA title for over a decade now?
The sad thing is, a lot of owners would rather move their franchise than move the money required to build a winner (George Shinn, stand up!). I guess they think the fans don’t notice that they’re just after the cash. If the Sonics move to Oklahoma City, maybe the fans will come out in droves for a while due to the novelty of it all, but eventually they’ll tire of losing, too. The only way to ensure you sell out your building night after night, year after year, is to win games.
The Sonics, as presently constructed, probably won’t win a lot of games this season. They have a good core of guys, but they are very young and they aren’t very deep. For this team to win a lot of games in the East, it’s going to take time and patience, which is the one thing the Sonics fans aren’t being afforded the luxury of having.
But there’s still one way the Sonics might be able to stay in Seattle: What if they came out and just played really hard, every single night. They won’t win every night, but they’ll make games close, at least through three quarters before all the vets on the other teams start getting all the calls. Most importantly, if the Sonics can play all season with the same energy and passion they’ve shown in their first two games, I think they’ll create at the very least some appreciation from the people in Seattle.
Will that translate into buzz, which could translate into attendance, which should translate into cash, which might translate into the Sonics ownership keeping their promise and doing everything in their power to keep the Sonics around Seattle?
I don’t know, but it’s sure going to be fun to watch. I’m pulling for ya, Seattle.
43 Responses to “Links: Saving The Sonics”
Nov.2 at 4:50 pm
Adrian Zapata says:
hopefully Durant can drive attendance
Nov.2 at 4:51 pm
Tarzan's Jane says:
I wish the Sonic would move to Kansas City…Would love an NBA tema here. But to the fans in Seattle I feel ya, cause we had a team, the KINGS, and we lost them. So I feel your pain.
Nov.2 at 4:52 pm
Tarzan's Jane says:
Ok it was supposed to be the Sonics with an s and team instead of tema…..TYPO’S!!!
Nov.2 at 4:53 pm
Tom says:
i thought the big issue for the sonics was the arena…..apparently the city doesn’t want to help out and i guess the team won’t shell out the cash…..I love the grassroots approach Lang..takin it to streets baby!!
Nov.2 at 4:53 pm
Myles Brown says:
This makes me sad.
Nov.2 at 5:00 pm
Captain America says:
We are talking about priceless NBA heritage here folks. Stern should not allow this to happen.
Nov.2 at 5:11 pm
Young Chris #3 says:
They should sign Shawn Kemp for Seattle’s swan song
Nov.2 at 5:16 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Any team that won a championship in a particular city should NEVER be allowed to leave that city. And I will never understand why billionaire owners and multi-millionaire players expect the public to pay for their arenas and stadiums. That said, I’d love to see Bill Gates or Horace Ballmer step up and get a stadium built. I saw the Hornets play in OKC, and fully believe that there should be an NBA team in Oklahoma City. But not the Sonics.
Nov.2 at 5:26 pm
jbn74sb says:
If that were the case, the Lakers wouldn’t be in L.A. And that might be a good thing at this very moment.
Nov.2 at 5:26 pm
Tarzan Cooper says:
if they do go there, what division would they be in?
Nov.2 at 5:36 pm
Myles Brown says:
If they do move can they please change the name? Im tired of this. Utah Jazz? Los Angeles Lakers? Oklahoma Sonics? Eventually some expansion teams name is just gonna be the Oxymorons. Or lets move the Suns to Anchorage!
Nov.2 at 5:57 pm
davidR says:
the sonics are pretty fun to watch these days with their uptempo play. sure, they lost two games, but they were pretty close and exciting to watch
Nov.2 at 6:00 pm
Phil B says:
if the sonics move, i will hate oklahoma for the rest of my life. i lived in seattle for many years and it’s a great town. i never really had all that much love for the sonics cause i’m a portland guy and there’s the whole rivalry, but when they were in the playoffs a few years ago i was pulling for them. but they absolutely cannot be allowed to move. this just makes me hate stern all that much more. i’m gonna be caling for stern and bennett’s heads pretty soon. and i’m gonna mount them on posts in my front yard.
Nov.2 at 6:32 pm
Rubens says:
sure lang wouldn’t say a bad thing about the owner of starbuck’s… lol
Nov.2 at 6:35 pm
H to the izzo says:
This is why I don’t like the Franchise system.
Nov.2 at 6:36 pm
H to the izzo says:
The Pittsburgh Paradoox’s.Make it happen Emperor Stern
Nov.2 at 6:36 pm
H to the izzo says:
Paradox’s
Nov.2 at 6:52 pm
Phil B says:
more franchises = less gooder teams
Nov.2 at 9:26 pm
RV says:
Lang, now that the season has started, can you post the remaining season previews with Gilbert? Unless I missed something there was only 3
Nov.3 at 1:47 am
John E. Sanford says:
Utah Mormons is diffently what the team should have been named.
Nov.3 at 3:21 am
Justin Adler says:
As a huge fan an potential resident of Seattle, I am gonna be real pissed when they move. It will also take Seattle off my list of places I want to live, because I can’t live in a city without an NBA team
Nov.3 at 4:30 am
dma says:
The OK Teamsters… The Oklahoma City OC’s, sponsored by MTV. it’s not sterns fault. he wants the sonics to stay. he’s tried stepping in already i think.
Nov.3 at 8:02 am
David says:
The whole thing of applying to move the team - does that mean the NBA has to approve it? Do the owners have to all agree? It seems like, even with a currently bad arena deal, that it’s a bad move financially for the league to have one of it’s franchises move to a smaller market.
Nov.3 at 10:51 am
Joel O's says:
I agree with Russ. Think about all the history the Sonics had in Seattle. They can’t just move like that. Imagine if some dumbass owner tried to do the same to the Lakers or the Celtics or the Bulls a decade from now, just cuz their team is losing and the franchise is losing money. It’s sacrilege. Gah.
Nov.3 at 2:22 pm
f says:
“… won’t win every night, but they’ll make games close, at least through three quarters before all the vets on the other teams start getting all the calls.” i don’t understand this type of renunciation of the game. that’s like saying “I believe in G-d”, and then making fun of dumbasses who believe in G-d. The game is not dead. Have a long week or something, Lang? That’s straight up hate. Because it isn’t real. You sound like a college basketball lover/nba hater with that kind of comment. what up?
Nov.3 at 4:56 pm
Justin Slotman says:
What are the chances of somebody in Seattle suing to keep the Sonics name and records (and the championship) in Seattle? I know there isn’t any precedent for that in the NBA, but there wasn’t any precedent for it in the NFL until the Browns moved.
Nov.3 at 5:30 pm
white hot eboy says:
Lang, conrgrats on the first big Hawks win of the season.
Nov.3 at 6:43 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Jim Caple wrote a pretty good column on ESPN.com about this. To sum it up, Clay Bennett is a two-faced scumbag.
Nov.3 at 7:33 pm
mike arena says:
ya losing a team is rough im from buffalo,…the braves big bob mcadoo but at least i dont have to deal with the clippers
Nov.4 at 3:02 pm
atmosfear says:
yeah it s freakin bad to move the sonics… seattle is not a big market thats true but theres a history and its only the second season they are an unsuccessful team…
its a shame!
a fan from france
Nov.4 at 9:50 pm
kobe says:
i wan em to come to vancouver we aredi lost the grizzlies
Nov.5 at 1:56 am
Mos says:
Nice work Lang - thanks for pulling for us. It’s definitely hard to be a Sonics fan these days. Do I support the team to try and keep them there, or stay away because Clay Bennett sucks? Either way I agree that they will be fun to watch.
Nov.5 at 10:45 am
Jared says:
F…have you watched the playoffs the last few years, Lang isn’t wrong…it is pessimistic, but the nba is a superstar-driven game
Nov.5 at 1:36 pm
SLAM ONLINE | » Ray Allen Got Out Just in Time says:
[…] With the success in Boston and the situation in Seattle deteriorating in the most public fashion, I think it’s fair to say that Ray-Ray is quite happy now with the way things turned out. […]
Nov.5 at 3:38 pm
Khalid Salaam says:
It should be noted that Lang spends a 1000 dollars a year at Starbucks so of course he would side with Schultz
Nov.5 at 4:38 pm
Mendel says:
OH Great links today keep up the good work
Nov.5 at 11:13 pm
Cars-10 says:
We really appreciate it Lang. It’s nice knowing somebody else sees through Bennett and doesn’t believe Seattle should lose the Sonics because attendence has been low under $&*% management.
Nov.6 at 6:19 pm
Bleeder says:
This is kind of misleading: “They won’t come out in droves and pay a lot of money to support a team that has had no chance of winning an NBA title for over a decade now?” Truth is, we do go out in droves! Even when the Supes STINK. Over the last two 30-win years, the Key has been running at 95% capacity. Seattle LOVES the Sonics.
Clay Clay’s and Stern’s lie that the Sonics don’t have a fan base in Seattle would be laughable if people weren’t actually believing it.
Nov.6 at 7:27 pm
Hoodoo says:
Of course the people in Seattle hope the Sonics stay, as long as they don’t have to pay for it. By building stadiums for the Seahawks and the Mariners and refusing to do the same for the Sonics, they’ve basically showed how much they care and where the NBA ranks there. The owners wanted a team for OKC, not necessarily the Sonics. So blame the NBA for letting the owners buy the team and allowing them to put a deadline out there for a new arena. I’d do the same if I owned the team. Why stay where you’re not that badly wanted.
Nov.7 at 12:24 pm
Lenny says:
I belong to the Tribe that offered up over 30 acres of free land to start up talks of a new arena location in south King County. 30 minutes from Seattle, but owners have not responded. They have and never had any intention of keeping Supersonics in Seattle. The NBA, Stern, and owners have serious issues. They make it hard to be a true NBA fan, with so many issues every year on and off the court.
Seattle true Sonics fans are behind their team 100 per cent. That being said will watch and cheer our team, win, lose, until they are forced to play in yoklahoma. So Sonics!
Nov.7 at 5:27 pm
glennpdx says:
Don’t be a bootlicking moron. Of course, Howard Schultz is culpable in this. To say otherwise is simply ignorant…
And losing lasts as ‘fun’ for about a month. Then it’s a ghost town at the Key. People will not pay NBA prices to see their team kicked in the head every night. This is a stripped-down cheap roster of rookies, retreads and underachievers, a roster that’s geared for a tiny, low-overhead market (OKC). Stop expecting it to be something it isn’t…
I want the Sonics to stay in Seattle like everyone else (I’ve been a fan since ‘69), but let’s not get stupid and expect miracles where there aren’t any. This gets decided in the courts and by powerful people in backrooms…
Nov.7 at 6:54 pm
GoSonics says:
I really like this article. I grew up in Seattle-been a Sonics fan from the days of Payton and Kemp. It breaks my heart that this is happening. I can’t believe that image of taking my kids to Sonics games like my paren ts did to me are slowing slipping away. Bennett is heartless. He had no intention to keep the team here-when one of his minority owners reported that in some OK paper, I knew he was speaking for all the owners. I’m pissed off at Howard Schultz but Bennett being the lying, coniving rat that he is said he was buying the team with good faith to keep them here. But he set unrealistic standards, demands and deadlines. Not to mention that he did everything he could to detach the team emotionally from every Sonics fan (trading ray, losing rashard, forcing Lenny to resign). He says he wants to keep the team here but his actions show otherwise. He did not waste any time to file for relocation did he? Us fans here feel utterly insulted. Someone said earlier that a team that has won a championship should never have to leave! I agree. The Oklahoma Sonics did not win a championship or go to the NBA finals or have players such at slick, kemp, payton, wilkens, schremp, perkins, etc. play for them. That is our HISTORY. I urge all of you out that to -please support the Sonics-write letters, send emails. If Stern lets Bennett get away with this, think what he can do to your team? Some buyer can just take a huge part of the city away.
Nov.9 at 2:41 am
SuperSonics says:
I love the Sonics, been a Seattle resident and fan all of my life. Watching all of this unfold is ripping my heart out. This is Seattle’s team, and we have supported this team for 41 years. To hear Clay and Stern say that this team is not supported, and nobody cares is absurd and a complete insult. Just because we will not let a hillbilly like Clay walk into our town, make outrageous demands, and then not bend over for him does not mean this city does not want the Sonics to stay. He is being unreasonable, and he has been from day 1. The fight is on, and we will not let Clay take our team. This is not over, not even close.