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 #@(%*$*.

Hot on the heels of Daniel Stern's latest anti-Seattle diatribe comes this little piece of information.

Major League Soccer is on the verge of announcing an expansion team into Seattle in time for the 2009 season.  Now, I am not a soccer fan per se, though I find it interesting to watch as a change of pace when the other local sports are not going well, and worked the Sounders games at the Q when it was first opened.  This team will also share playing space at the Q with the Seahawks and the concerts and other events that take place there.

Seahawks owner Paul Allen will also own part of the MLS team, as well, garnering more income (does he really need it??) for both the venue and himself; making him a three sport owner (NBA, NFL and MLS).

This cannot be BAD for Seattle, as there is quite a lively soccer community here, what with our very diverse population.

There is also talk of trying to lure an NHL team into town to become natural rivals with the Canucks a few hours north, be it an expansion team or one that already exists and is struggling in its current venue.  Few people know that the Seattle Metropolitans won the Stanley Cup some seventy-ish years ago, and that we have two good WHL hockey teams within 30 miles of each other in the Seattle Metro area now, both of which enjoy good fan support, and both of which usually  make it into the playoffs at season's end. The T-Birds will be playing in their new arena next season, as well, down in Kent (south of Seattle).

In short, will we miss the Sonics when "Cash Us Clay" (copyright Jim Caple of ESPN's Second Page....) and the commish drag them off to Oklahoma City?  Well, yes, at least I and some of my friends will, but.......don't write Seattle off as a sports town just because they go to a smaller venue where Herr Bennett already says that the Ford Center needs to be refurbished and/or another new arena built Sooner than later (pun intended.

In the immortal words of Gloria ####nor from the disco era "I (We) Will Survive.  And quite nicely, too.

OK, so now everyone knows that the Sonics will be packing up their moving vans and heading down the road to Oklahoma City, it's just a matter of when.  And the timing is just a matter of how much money Clay Bennett and his fellow investors want to pay in legal fees and other expenses to get out of their arena lease with the City of Seattle (if they want to leave now or at the end of the 2007-2008 season as they have announced, that amount of money is likely be considerable, since the lease runs until the end of the 2010 season, and the city stands nearly zero chance of replacing the revenues that they get from having the Sonics in residence).

But, as if that weren't enough, there are rumors circulating in the city now (and, as far as I am concerned, that is ALL that they are, unfounded rumors) that the Mariners now four year run of abysmal play, and refusal to terminate the contracts of underperforming Bill Bavasi and Michael Hargrove,  has been a carefully constructed (a la the movie Major League) ploy to get the team onto the sales block.  And that sale to be with a stipulation that the team be moved out of Seattle, with the concurrence of Major League Baseball. 

 It seems, the rumorists/conspiracy theorists surmise, that all professional sports leagues (not just David Stern, who has gone on public record as feeling this way) have determined that Seattle is not a viable market for any type of professional teams, and the time has come to cut their losses and get out of town while the getting is good, leaving their mostly new stadia to stand empty and silent for decades to come, much like old Tigers Stadium in Detroit.

Never mind that QWest Field has been pretty much sold out/standing room only since shortly after the day it opened, or that Safeco Field is still sold out during major series (Yankees, Red Sox and such) even with the team's current woes.

There are plenty of bandwagon, fair weather fans around here, just like there are everywhere else, but they pretty much don't spend their money on personal visits to the ballpark or stadium.  They stay home and watch on TV because of the terrific media contracts that the Mariners and Seahawks have that guarantee a televised game whether the game is sold out or not (even when the game is blacked out by the national media).  (Though the Sonics lost their television contract this last season when Fox Sports Northwest chose to televise the Blazers' games rather than the Sonics, but the games were still broadcast on radio locally).

So, do I think that this mass exodus of professional sports from Seattle is likely to happen?   No, not really, though the sale of the  Mariners could potentially become an issue in the future if Nintendo America decides to move more than just one of their sales divisions out of Seattle soon (since they are the majority owners of the team, and might not want to own a team in a city that their headquarters was no longer in, but that is not happening right now, so far as anyone has been able to tell for certain).

Paul Allen owns the Seahawks (and the reason that he owns them is that his predecessor as owner tried to pack the vans and sneak the team out of town to LA--failing miserably, I might add), and he is firmly entrenched in both Seattle and the rest of the Pacific Northwest with his many business ventures; so I find it pretty much laughable that he would cooperate too much with any effort to end Seattle's tenure as an NFL city. (He did have the Blazers on the market a year or so ago, but has recently repurchased the Rose Garden, so I don't think even that team is heading south (or east) any time in the near future, either).

Still, it gives one pause to reflect on why someone would even think that this might happen (the old where there is smoke, there is fire saying?) and then spread it as a rumor around the town.  Bitter Sonics fan?  "Professional agitator" trying to stir up support for the failed new Sonics' arena? Or just some poor, bored soul who needs to liven up his/her life?  Who knows.  What do you all think out there?

Will it go on? Yes, I'm sure it will.  Will everyone be happy with the status quo after the new owners pack the teams up and take them to Oklahoma City? No, I'm sure they won't--there are too many people who are already roundly criticizing Howard Schultz, Woody, and their friends for making the sale, even if--in their heart of hearts--they (like me) knew that it was bound to happen.

Right now the new owners say that they plan on keeping the teams in Seattle. That is, however, if--and only if--the city caves in on a deall for a NEW arena (read no renovations to the Key Arena) within the next twelve months, starting as soon as the sale closes in October 2006.

Commissioner Stern was firmly on record during the 2005-2006 season that he was not at all happy with the city of Seattle for disrespecting the current ownership group and not providing them with the same new facilities that had been provided for the Mariners and the Seahawks.  What he failed to mention, of course, is that the Safe was built over the objections of the voters, and Paul Allen paid almost a full 50% of the cost of the Q himself and with privately raised monies.

Howard Schultz is the founder and Chairman of Starbuck's coffee. He, and the rest of the owners could afford to put up a greater portion of the renovation or construction costs than they offered to.  When the city declined to foot the bill for the majority of the $220 million, the ownership group started looking for other venues or buyers for the teams.

The teams were sold for a reported $350MM, which is $150MM more than they were bought for.

One wonders if the current ownership group didn't sort of "make out like bandits" with a nearly 200% return on their investment. 

The Sonics and the  Storm are the only two teams in Seattle history to have actually won their league championships. Yes, the Hawks were close last year, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. The Mariners have made it as far as the ALCS, but they don't look to repeat even that feat any time soon (though the Hawks could make it back to the NFC championships and/or the SB this year, barring any of the relevant curses kicking in too strongly).

Let us not forget the WHL Seattle Thunderbirds, too. What will happen to them when the Sonics leave, since they share the Key with them. This is a minor league hockey team, folks, they can't afford a huge lease on that arena. Will we lose hockey, too?

Yes, I am an angry woman right now, and I'm sure that it shows. I want to believe that something will happen to keep the teams in Seattle, but that's just my heart. My head knows that there is a brand new arena waiting in OKC, and a city that is desperate for a pro sports team or two to call it home. And my head also knows that, though we might like to think that the 'Blazers might move in and take over the Sonics place, that might happen only if Paul Allen is still the owner when the Sonics leave (and they are, likewise, for sale or rent just now), and only if the Commish will let another NBA team come here, something he has indicated he would likely not do.

In short, grrrrrrrrrr!

How many of you remember the old childhood game where you would take a daisy or other flower with petals, pull the petals off one at a time, alternately reciting "S/he loves me", "S/he loves me not", "S/he loves me" and so on?  A good many of you, I imagine.

This is about the stage to which Seattle's whole love/hate relationship with the Sonics has devolved.  Howard Schultz and his fellow owners want the City/County/State and/or taxpayers to pony up $220 million to either completely refurbish the Key Arena AGAIN or build them a new arena down near Safeco and QWest Fields, and they want to put up little or none of their own money to do it (Hello, Howard.....you are the founder and CEO of Starbucks....don't tell me you can't afford to help out a little. Paul Allen did when QWest was built!).

Governor Christine Gregoire has been on the record as saying she is in favor of extending the hotel tax that had benefitted the M's and the Hawks in this situation, in order to help the Sonics out.  The Legislature, on the other hand, was NOT in favor of doing this.

The team has apparently been in discussions with the cities of Bellevue WA, Kansas City, Las Vegas, and OK City about moving the team to one of these locations.  Commissioner Stern lambasted the City of Seattle and said that Seattle does not deserve an NBA team.

Lo and behold, today the City (which is the owner of the Key Arena) says that they are willing to "do a deal" to keep the Sonics in town, and all the team has to do is kick in just $18 million. Also, the City of Renton has offered the team a home there (Renton? Give me a break! Renton?)

The Trailblazers and owner Paul Allen are in a similar pickle down in Portland. If both of these teams pack up and leave, there will not be an NBA team in the Great Northwest again. 

Pittsburgh? Still wanna give up your Penguins? I'll trade you the Sonics straight up. Let me know......