After laboring through the long drawn out trial between the City of Seattle vs. Clay Bennett's PBC hoping for more basketball in Seattle. Just to see my dreams shot down by my own cities elected officials in the final hours before the judges announcement. Quite frankly it reminded me of the #1 seeded SuperSonics stunning loss to the #8 seeded Denver Nuggets in round one of the NBA Playoffs in 1994.

So now the next round for the fans of the Seattle SuperSonics lay's in the hands of the guy who originally sold the team, Howard Schultz. Now many people laugh at him and say his case has no merit. That Mr. Schultz is only doing this to save face. I use to believe that as well. But it's the actions of the NBA towards this case that has me stepping back.

The NBA last week filed a motion to intervene in the former principal owner’s Howard Schultz's lawsuit in U.S. Western District Court in Seattle. This was after the announcement from Howard Schultz's Attorney Richard Yarmuth that said they were going to proceed with the lawsuit vigorously. David Stern in his Jimmy Hoffa way's, told the Federal Courts that they have no juristiction in the NBA By-Laws.

So why all of a sudden does the NBA have an interest in this matter? David Stern and the NBA hardly winked at the City of Seattle's case. The NBA claims that it's only interest is who if Howard Schultz win's gets the team. Understandable...I guess?

But I think their is some pretty damaging evidence in Schult'z case that could implicate David Stern in a conspiracy to remove the NBA team from Seattle. Schultz's attorney has said they will seek justice to the full extent of the law. Schultz’s lawsuit cites breach of contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation. Which if Stern was tied into this in any way, he could possibly see jail time.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketball/37013
5_trial10.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?id
=3362659

With all that being said, what is really going on in the NBA? With the whole Donaghy and fixed games scandal happening, the integrity of the league is in question now.

For those of you unfamiliar with the mayor of Las Vegas. His name is Oscar Goodman and he is the real life defense attorney for the Mafia. Most notably,  Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro who Joe Pesci played in the true story, "Casino".  Mayor Oscar Goodman is sponsored by Bombay Saphire Gin, which they have given the Mayor an annual salary of $100,000 for the Mayor's advertising of their Gin. Advertising that even included a Las Vegas 4th grade class room. Look it up, it's sad and kinda funny.

February 2007, Las Vegas became the first none NBA city to host the NBA All-Star Game. This was Mayor Oscar Goodman's opportunity to sell his city to the NBA as Vegas has been bidding for a pro-team for years now. But David Stern, the NBA commissioner, has made "integrity of the game" his battle cry and says that local gambling on the league, though regulated, would violate that tenet. Really? You the reader can ponder the Commish's battle cry. Keep in mind when you ponder this, that the NBA Summer League is taken place in Las Vagas right now. The Summer League? The youngest and most influential players in Vegas when integrity is the NBA battle cry?

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/15/sports/
nba.php

So to my conspiracy theory. After David Stern told the Mayor of Las Vegas, "No NBA team in Las Vegas, it's bad for our integrity"(my words) back in February 2007. The organized crime wheels started spinning. Enter, veteran NBA referee and fall-out guy, Tim Donaghy and his betting scandal in June of 2007. Just four months after Sterns integrity statement to Las Vegas.

How this has anything to do with Howard Schultz case, I don't know? Is there really organized crime involved, I don't know? Did my post make sense, I don't know? What I do know, is that David Stern has no integrity.

Howard Schultz's case is more about him saving face in the corporate world than the Sonics fans in my opinion. Howard does not want to be known as the guy who got swindled in a business deal. And despite Stern's battle cry about integrity, he's sends the youngest of the NBA to Las Vegas for fun and games. Why? Maybe Mayor Oscar Goodman could explain?

David Stern is a crook!

Sorry for my babbling, it all makes sense when I think it.........LOL.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20080423/
SCHULTZsuit.pdf

Do to the recent Seattle SuperSonics situation, animosity has developed between citizens of Seattle and Oklahoma City. The past year or so alot of derogatory terms have been thrown at each other. Which both sides have childishly pointed fingers each others way saying, "You started it!". Well I thought I'd go ahead and define some of these terms and clear the air in some other areas while I'm here.

First, let's look at the definition of a "Red*neck".

RED*NECK: This was the name used by a gang of coal miners. The West Virginia Coal Miners March or the Battle of Blair Mountain when coal miners wore red bandanas around their necks to identify themselves as seeking the opportunity to unionize. (Nothing Oklahoman there.)

Second, we'll take a look at what a "Hillbilly" is.

HILLBILLY: The term hillbilly in the United States was conferred during the early 18th century by the occupying British soldiers as a carry over from the Irish term, in referring to Scots-Irish immigrants of mainly Presbyterian origin, dwelling in the frontier areas of the  Appalachian Mountains. (Nothing Oklahoman there either, but I'm a Scottish-American that lives the shadows of the Cascade and Olympic Mountain ranges here in Seattle. Does that make me a hillbilly?)

Third, we'll look at the term, "Treehugger".

TREEHUGGER:  An environmentalist, especially one who supports the preservation of forested land and the restriction of logging. (Hold your breath fellow Pacific Northwest Treehuggers. Located in Federal Way, Washington, Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world; the world's largest private owner of softwood timberland; and the second largest owner in the United States, behind International Paper. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified Weyerhaeuser as the 42nd-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 17 million pounds of toxic chemicals released annually into the air. Major pollutants indicated by the study include formaldehyde, sulfuric acid, acetaldehyde, manganese compounds, and chlorine dioxide.  The Environmental Protection Agency has named it a potentially responsible party for at least 18 Superfund toxic waste sites. So much for being a treehugger!)

So with all that aside, let's talk about this current situation. I see many folks from Oklahoma like "ThePurplePrincess4u" and "OKCGirl" acting as if they are victims of some kind of identity theft because of some outraged Seattle fans. I currently tried to post facts on "ThePurplePrinces4u's" blog post's, but she has screened the comments and denied my comments. I understand some people from Seattle have said some disrespectful things, but my comments on her blog was nothing more than facts.

Many people seem to think that the folks in Seattle don't support our teams. Seattle taxpayers are currently paying for:

Kingdome: Does not even exist anymore

Coliseum: 1995 renovation, now Key Arena

Safeco Field: I still believe this is the most exspensive ball park in baseball.

Qwest Field: Quite possibly the loudest football stadium in the NFL.

Now, things Seattle taxpayers have avoided paying for.

Highway 99 Viaduct: This thing is routinely shut down for earthquake inspections, as it is sinking an inch almost yearly. This highway supports at least 100,000 automobiles daily.

Highway 520 Floating Bridge: Now the funding is finally coming for this bridge, but it has been too long for this funding to take place. But roughly 115,000 people use this bridge daily.

Monorail: Though this is now terminated, the Seattle taxpayers were being charged for this mess while Howard Schultz was demanding funding.

Seattle Public Schools: No matter where you're from, public schools are always an issue. So spare us your jokes.

University Of Washington: 300 million dollars in renovations to Husky Stadium.

These are just a few issues Seattle taxpayers were facing while Clay Bennett was asking us for the 500 million dollar "Taj Mahal" of NBA arenas. We in Seattle learned that our State Legislators were not going to have last minute arena proposals rammed down their throats by Clay Bennett because he couldn't come up with anything in a reasonable amount of time for Legislation to review. And Seattle elected officials lied to the fans in the end and did nothing to guarantee any kind of future.

A couple other facts people seem to forget.

-The City of Seattle proposed a 230 million dollar renovation plan for Key Arena to Howard Schultz, but he wanted 300 million.

-Muckleshoot Indian Reservation offered Clay Bennett 23 acres of free land for an arena, but Bennett quickly dismissed this plan and never had his lobbyists look into it.

-Howard Schultz sold to the HIGHEST bidder, not the lowest. The 350 million dollar price tag on the Sonics was inflated and deferred many buyers. Clay Bennett bit though and the Seattle fans suffered. Howard Schultz made a 69 million dollar profit from the sale of the Sonics.

In the end, Seattle SuperSonic fan's could do nothing to prevent this from happening, thus making us the victims. If you're to naive to see this, just wait when your team needs a new facility and you have other pressing issues to contend with.

My list of who is at fault in my opinion, from greatest to blame, to least.

1. Money-The root of all evil.

2. Howard Schultz-Horrible coffee and for making a profit off the fans loss.

3. The NBA-Allowing such ransoms to accure. "We'll move, if you don't build it!"

4. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels-Giving me false hope that he actually cared about the fans.

5. Clay Bennett-Hard for me to blame him totally, but he did lie and he made it virtually impossible for any kind of deals to be struck with his GINORMOUS demands.

 

I'm done for now...........let the Seattle bashing begin again.