I haven't posted here for a while. Spending two days in deposition returned my brain to the game. I want to thank the people at S2 for keeping the Sonics forum alive despite the obliteration of the team by the league that created them. We don't have a team. We still have our memories. I don't know if there is an NBA future here in Seattle, though, as a fan, I hope there Is a future. The freely given support of fans from all around the world with regard to the value of an NBA team in the city of Seattle has made me feel good about my personal battle to make the league treat its fans like more than just anonymous revenue streams. It is a silly world where phantasmogoric narratives by highly compensated lawyers pretend to replace the value of consumer protections instituted in national law. I take heart in the passion and loyalty of fans of the teams in this league. They get the big picture even if the people with money and power are happy to simply piss on the concepts that empowered our nation in its earliest days in order to protect their future abilities to maximize their profits.
You still have your team. They go by a different name, and have moved away, but the team is the same.
You are quite welcome. I never saw a reason to take away a spot for discussing the franchise from the fans
You are simply wrong. You can be a fan of a team in another town, but that isn't the same of being a fan of the team in YOUR town. I grew up a fan of the Celtics while living in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. I became a fan of Seattle while living in Florida. I became a Seattle SuperSonic when I moved to Seattle and became a season ticket holder. While I might go see an NBA game in OKC, they will never be my team unless I move to Oklahoma. In the interval I am a fan of the Phoenix Suns.
While I am hard pressed to energize my NBA fandom, I can already feel a surge of support for Steve Nash, Amare Stoudamire, Leandro Barbosa and the rest in my bloodstream. My Seattle basketball (with the 1st round loss of the Storm) may be limited to Husky Basketball (hmm..regardless of gender I am not feeling overly optimistics) but I suspect a few ESPN/TNT Suns games may earn my Nielson points this year. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the Sonics here. The OKC Thunder deserve their fans, and I hope that they fill my expectations as fans worthy of the legacy. I sincerely hope that the people of OKC, and Tulsa embrace their new team, and represent them in Ford Center and here at S2 in a manner equivalent or better than that demonstrated by the fans of the Seattle Sonics at Key Arena. The NBA and the PBC (including Clay Bennett) let us keep the Sonics name and a share of their history (whatever the heck that means) so we have to get a team here to take up that mantle. The people of Oklahoma need to embrace and support the team that they have there. We each have our jobs as fans. Thanks to you and to your peers for not letting our job disappear while we wait for the politicians to do their part.
I wanna keep posted on the odds of another team coming back... Seattle and Vancouver - sad at this mess.
It sucks for the Seattle fans. If Bill Gates was a real man, he'd create a new team right away. (he has the dough for it)
I actually foresee the Clippers moving to Seattle....I have no reasons or evidence, just a gut feeling. IF (BIG IF) this were to happen, how would you feel?
Seattle can't support a franchise? They seemed to do fine, up until they had owners that didn't want to be there.
Seattle supported a franchise for what, 40 years? I wouldn't confuse that another city might give the owner better incentives to move, or that someone might buy a team with the full intention of moving it come hell or high water.
I really would have a hard time supporting a franchise stolen from another city. LA still would have a franchise, but that may not matter in the end. I think that the whole business of teams/leagues holding city and state governments hostage over arena deals while trampling over the rights and respect of the fans is just not right. There is a very public ownership group led by Bill Gates' successor at Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, who are willing to buy either an expansion team or a relocated franchise. The fans supported the team for 40 years, it was a breakdown between the team and two ownership groups that was the issue. Good luck to ANY team right now trying to get money out of public funds for a stadium during the worst financial crisis in 70 years. The Sonics were trying to play the wrong game at the wrong time and it didn't work in their favor. The only ones REALLY hurt in the process are the fans who spend the money to go to the games. Seattle got millions from their lawsuit settlement, Bennett got to move his team to his home town, and the NBA got to send a message that you pony up the stadium or we bail. They are all happy, it is the fans who have been lied to and cheated by the owners, the league and their public officials that suffer in the end. While I, personally, may be questionable to be a fan of a relocated team, I have no doubt there will be fans willing to do so in significant numbers.
Oh sweet guys. Well I'm sure the Clippers are pleased to know that they can move the team to Seattle successfully once they get a FUCKING TIME MACHINE.
