SEATTLE - The vote was 28-2, the pain runs deep, and is getting deeper by the second. Now that the NBA Board of Governors approved the apparently inevitable move of the Sonics to Oklahoma City, the reality is sinking in at a fast and furious rate.

This takes me back to that empty feeling my senior year in high school when it became official that my Cincinnati Royals of 15 years were moving to Kansas City.

There were villains then - Bob Cousy, for destroying the franchise by dealing Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas for virtually nothing. Do the names Flynn Robinson, Charlie Paulk, Jim King or Bill Turner ring a bell? I didn't think so. Neither did the fans in Cincinnati. That's why Cousy still resonates 36 years later.

Maybe it will change now that there are new villains. Foremost is former owner and Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz, who betrayed the city and its fans when he sold the team to a group of Oklahoma City led by Clay Bennett - refusing to allow any local owners in the group. Now Schultz is claiming the sale was breached by bad faith. Yeah, he should know about bad faith. The only reason he's threatening a lawsuit is a publicity stunt to help his flagging persona and Starbucks stock.

Sure, Bennett is part of the bad stuff as well, but at least he did say in the opening press conference there was a year to get a new building in motion and nobody helped. There is also commissioner David Stern, who brokered the whole thing and had to know this was inevitable. And perhaps more than anybody, Washington governor Christine Gregoire and her flock with their elitist noses in the air are the reason the Sonics will be gone in just a matter of time. They've done nothing but suppress the process to improve KeyArena, let alone a new building.

Never mind the lawsuits filed by the city to have them finish the final two years of the lease, or Schultz's pathetic attempt to stir things by his attorney. We can only say thank you to Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Blazers owner Paul Allen for having the dignity to respect the local Sonics fans by voting against the move.

Having moved out here in 1986 to become a newspaper beat writer covering the Sonics, I knew all Sonics history and the championship run of 1979 as an NBA fan from afar. So when I landed, it was important to engage with Lenny Wilkens, Jack Sikma, Slick Watts and the late Dennis Johnson from the era gone by. The Sonics were the first professional franchise in the Pacific Northwest and still own the only major professional sports championship in the Seattle market.

My first year, with coach Bernie Bickerstaff, the Sonics won 39 games and came out of nowhere to march into the Western Conference finals before getting swept by the Lakers on the way to their 1987 NBA title. It was Bickerstaff, along with president Bob Whitsitt, who latched on to the leadership of Nate McMillan, and the talent of  Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp to start an explosive era that transitioned into an elite time when George Karl became coach and averaged almost 60 wins a season.

To this day, every time I hear the Nirvana song, "Smells like teen spirit," I think of the Sonics coming out of a timeout ... Payton and Kemp talking, with Payton's jaw jutted out daring anyone on the other team to encroach.  The characters that were Dale Ellis, Ricky Pierce, Eddie Johnson, Olden Polynice and Derrick McKey, linger. The workmanlike approach of Detlef Schrempf and the unflappable cool of the Big Smooth - Sam Perkins - was vital in their success. It was a special time in Seattle, one that culminated with a six-game loss in the 1996 Finals in the raucous and renovated KeyArena. They remained highly competitive for two more years, but ultimately, relationships deteriorated, Schultz bought the team and everything went downhill from that point on.

Now it has come to this. Sure, Seattle mayor Greg Nickels is clinging to the city's lawsuit to enforce the final two years of the lease. Both Schultz and a class-action suit by fans based on being misled by bad faith could stand in the way. But with the belligerence exhibited by the local politicians for so long, do you really think they'll turn down a financial settlement of, say, $80 million from Bennett to let the team go?

No way. And that's why the anger and frustration has overwhelmed me. In other words, it's time for Bob Cousy to wake up in the doghouse and make room for Schultz, Stern, Bennett, Gregoire and every member of the Washington legislature whose indifference has allowed this sad day to happen.

Sadly, the fans suffer the consequences. It just didn't have to be this way.