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UPDATED AT 12:01 PDT Monday: Where Were YOU Last Night, Mr. Stern, When the Joint Was Jumpin'?
Apr 14, 2008 | 7:32AM | report this

Don't tell me, let me guess.  Somewhere in a dark room, with sunglasses and ear plugs firmly affixed, so that you could not see or hear what was happening on your satellite TV NBA channel in the city of Seattle.  So that you could not see and hear that your oft touted remarks that the city of Seattle doesn't care are far from the truth.

So that you couldn't see Mark Cuban rise from his seat behind the Mavericks' bench to join in the standing ovation for former Sonics greats Gary Payton and Downtown Freddy Brown, when they were introduced from the stands, sitting in support of the team and the city.

So that you couldn't see this year's likely Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant spurring the near sell out crowd on in their chants of "Save Our Sonics" and "Bennett Sucks" at the end of the game.

So that you couldn't hear Fox Sports Southwest's announcers questioning the sanity of moving a team with a 41 year history from a larger media market to a smaller one (unfortunately, the FSN announcers are on the Sonics' payroll, so they made not mention one of the situation--likely because they were told not to).

So that you couldn't see this:

So that you couldn't read/hear that more than one current Sonics player has followed in WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson's footsteps and said that they may have to go to OKC, but they don't have to stay when their contracts are done. Or how much they are going to miss the fans and the city of Seattle.

So that you didn't have to read what one insensitive OKC resident, seen trolling in a Seattle Times Sonics fan forum, said about the fans of Seattle being so desparate that they would do this as an attempted human sacrifice, in order to implore the basketball gods to keep the team in town.

And so that you didn't have to think, at least for a few hours, about the principals of the Professional Basketball Club, LLC's gaffes in committing their plans to get the team out of town before the good faith period was even one-quarter over to black and white for all to see, thanks to Slade Gorton and his fellow attorneys.

Yes, and so that you didn't have to see and hear the tears and high emotion, both inside Key Arena and in the states of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and Hawaii (which are the Sonics primary market now), not to mention those of displaced Sonics fans all over the US and the rest of the world.

What do you have to say for yourself and the NBA,  Mr. Stern?  We would like to hear it.

(In a side note, I personally (and I'm sure many of  my fellow fans) would like to let Mark Cuban and (most likely) Paul Allen, who may be the only two owners to vote against this relocation at the Board of Governors' meeting later this week know just how much your sentiments are appreciated, even if it is mostly for business reasons)).

See what Mr. Stern has to say about this today.  What an #@(%*$*.

14 Comments | Add a comment   categories: NBA, Seattle SuperSonics, Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, Clayton Bennett, Paul Allen, Gary Payton, Freddy Brown, Other
 
As the Stomach Turns...You Can Lie, But Can You Get Away Wiith It?
Apr 10, 2008 | 5:09AM | report this

In today's episode of "As the Stomach Turns," dear readers, we will debate the issue of whether or not lies were told,, to whom and when, and whether or not there will be consequences for the prevaricators who spun the whoppers.

I'm sure most of you are aware that there will be TWO sideshows going on in the National Basketball League in June. 

One of them, the NBA Championship Finals, is an event that the league most fervently hopes that you will watch, enjoy, participate in, and increase their coffers thereby.

The other, the case of the City of Seattle versus the Professional Basketball Club (AKA the Seattle SuperSonics), is one that they would rather no one were aware of, much less interested in, for fear it might take away from sideshow number one, as mentioned above.

In the latest round of pre-trial discovery, it has been determined that at least three members of the current ownership group--Clayton Bennett, Aubrey McClendon, and Tom Ward--were openly exchanging e-mail messages planning to move the team from Seattle to Oklahoma City during the time period that had been established for the city to come up with a viable plan to keep them here, and that, in fact, there was NEVER any intent to keep the team in Seattle, despite all of Bennett's public comments to the contrary.

From the article referenced above, it appears that Bennett not only lied to the citizens of Seattle and our local and state lawmakers, but he also lied to his good buddy, Commissioner David Stern, in this e-mail, when he said that McClendon had strayed from the farm (more or less) when he made his comments that there was never any intention to keep the Sonics in Seattle. Comments for which the commish later fined him $250K.

If the city's team of attorneys, of whom the lead is former Republican Senator from the state of Washington Slade Gorton, are able to prevail in their subpoena for league records, including records of all teams within the leagues (financial and otherwise), one or more of the league's "dirty little secrets" is likely to become a matter of public record in just over two months from now.

Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is the only member of the NBA Board of Governors to have come out publically to say that he will vote against the request by Bennett to relocate the team to OKC next week.  I wonder, though, how many others of the 30 owners might be inclined to rethink their votes in light of these developments.

Mayor Greg Nickles of Seattle has already said that the city fully intends to pursue this litigation to its logical conclusion, that any further buyout offers will be as summarily rejected as the first (and last) one for $26.5MM, a figure that  looks to be increased as the owners and the league attempt to avoid the potential embarrassment coming their way in court.

My only regret at this stage is that Court TV doesn't exist any more.  This could be a good one, and it would certainly show other NBA cities that they don't have to lie down and take the league's ever increasing demands for public money without a whimper of complaint.

Stay tuned, my friends, for the next episode of As the Stomach Turns, coming soon to a blog near you.

 

15 Comments | Add a comment   categories: NBA, Basketball, David Stern, Mark Cuban, Seattle SuperSonics, Dallas Mavericks, Clayton Bennett, Aubrey McClendon, Professional Basketball Club, Oklahoma City, Seattle, Other
 
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ABOUT ME


sleeplessinseattle
I am a 50 something health care professional transplanted to Seattle from SoCal in 2001 (and, before you ask, no, I don't want to go back). My tastes in sports are pretty eclectic, but in order of preference, I guess they would be baseball, hockey, basketball, football--col
lege and pro/men and women alike. Teams I "HATE": USC (I went to UCLA); University of Michigan (born and raised in Columbus OH to a large family of OSU alumni/alumna
e), and--probably
most of all--the d***ed Yankees. I have worked in a variety of capacities at the MLB, NBA and NFL venues here in Seattle and at UW (hey, what true sports fan could pass up the possibility of getting paid to do something you would have done anyway (and had to pay for it)?)
MY FAVORITE BLOGS
The Official FOXSports Blog
ShooterB's Blog
SportsDude's Blog
The NFL Chick!
SoCalSportsFan'
s Blog
CowboysFanForev
er
NGS judges' blog
Drum Beater
Stamps's Blog
Siddfinch's Grammatically Incorrect Musings
KP's Blog
Norcalfella Unfiltered
The Clean Sheet
Bread and Circuses
thesportsgurl's
Blog
Morisato's Blog
Fatmaw's Blog
Half-Baked Ravings
Shots from the Dark Side
Nothin' but the Truth!
Reverend Rhythm's Thoughts and Opinions
What in the Wide World of Sports is Going on Here?
FOX Blog of Fame
Time stamping is done in Pacific Time.