<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>For one, perhaps final, night, optimism trumped doom in Seattle. If this really was the last time the SuperSonics played in this city, nobody convinced the more than 15,000 fans who showed up to watch their beloved team play the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night. They chanted "Save our Sonics!" and had a far less gracious chant for Sonics owner Clay Bennett. They roared "GP!" when Gary Payton, the star point guard during Seattle's last heyday in the mid-1990s, took a seat near the Dallas Mavericks' bench early in the second quarter. They carried signs. One read, "E-mail Clay: C.U. in court!" Another called Bennett, who intends to move the team to Oklahoma City, "a liar" and "a thief." And they just kept roaring, inspiring the Sonics to beat the Mavericks, 99-95. When the public address announcer introduced Payton during the next time out, it was like 1996 again. Every one -- fans, police officers, equipment men, ushers, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban -- stood and delivered the loudest, most sustained joy KeyArena has heard in years. Bennett has said the place isn't viable, but at that moment, it was rocking. "It will be a disaster if they move them after 41 years," Payton said before halftime. "I don't think these fans deserve that. "But anything is possible. Everybody just needs to keep their hopes up and it will work out." Unless a Seattle judge rules in June that the Sonics must occupy the arena for the final two seasons of their lease, Bennett will take them to his hometown of Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season. But nobody's convinced Sonics forward Nick Collison this was the end, either. "I'm still optimistic something will happen to keep us here," Collison said an hour before the game. Collison just bought a house up the hill from KeyArena. The former star at Kansas is married and wants the family he is just starting to grow up in Seattle.</div> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/soni..._websoni13.html Wow. That's pretty cool that they won. This makes me a lil sad. The Sonics used to be my favorite team, when Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton were on the team back in the day...well, mostly because of them. Still my 2nd favorite team. I'd be extremely disappointed if they left.
I agree, there is no reason why they can't stay in Seattle. Its a great city, (rich as well) and it has the fans it needs, its not like the arena is empty every game. I hope Stern and the other owners make the team stay where they are. And if they want a team in OK, then start a new one up down there.
I went to the game, even though came only for the second half...it was amazing...everything just had me emotional and it was like we were never gonna leave the Key Arena...
