I haven’t read the terms of the original sale contract and have to admit that proving Mr. Bennett did not act in good faith while negotiating for a new arena will be a difficult endeavor. What bothers me most about this whole thing, is Mr. Bennett’s insistence that he genuinely made a good faith effort, even in light of all the emails that have been surfaced. Not once has he admitted that any of his actions and communications were disingenuous. He totally believes that he is squeaky clean in the whole matter. He’s probably a hell of a poker player too, but in this instance it’s quite clear to me that Mr. Bennett is lying about his true intentions.

Mr. Bennett has been good for the league, really helped out with New Orleans and deserves some special treatment when it comes to league matters. But Commissioner Stern has gone way overboard in his love affair with Mr. Bennett. The commissioner has basically threatened the City of Seattle with never getting a franchise again.

I think Seattle has done a fairly good job in keeping any hope alive during the course of the new ownership. The State has done absolutely nothng, but that is how they operate, they take their time, are fiscally conservative and won’t be bullied into making a decision.

Some of the posts I’ve read have suggested that Seattle be nice, humble and let the NBA have their way, then the league would be more apt to give us a franchise. It’s ironic that we initially had a good faith clause in the sale contract to keep the team in Seattle, yet now we’re left with a non-binding empty promise to be nice to Commissioner Stern in hopes the league will throw us a bone. Listening to the Commissioner the past week, I can assure you that will not happen in the near future. Unfortunately with their strategy fully implemented, Mr. Bennett and Commissioner Stern are no longer talking to anyone in Seattle. When they were talking I have never heard Commissioner Stern say one positive word about granting a franchise to Seattle.

Seattle is certainly open to other creative suggestions, unfortunately the way things have progressed, the only viable option remaining is litigation. Seattle doesn’t hold any ill will towards the good people of Oklahoma, our concern is directed towards Mr. Bennett’s ownership group and the two-faced way we were dealt with.

Best Regards,
John

Are you going to cover the Sooners football game in Seattle in September? The prospect of the atmosphere in that game is more than a little scary…

All Seattle has left is lawyers and insults.

Good columns and blogs lately as usual. I liked your idea for a new name for the Sonics, T-birds.

The day before yesterday it was so windy I thought Wind might be a good name, but could’t dream up a mascot outfit, so how about this one?

OKC Americans – We’re proud of who we are here, and it might play alright with the Native Americans, too. And since the Dems in Seattle are so anti-American anyway, they would enjoy cheering against the Americans, wouldn’t they. This IS a bit tongue in cheek, but I’ve given up trying to come up with anything OK related except for your suggestion. I like the name Chiefs but we know that’s out. We’re left with animals , PC incorrect cowboy and Indian names, the weather, or an attitude, or something as meaningless as Raptors or Memphis Grizzlies.

Allow me to ramble a bit -
OKC is the little guy who gets no respect. Seattle is behaving like a jilted husband who wants to kill, insult or sue his ex-wife’s new lover.

Please save us from anything like the YardDawgz or River Kings or Golden Spikes or Mudbugs. I preferred 89ers to Redhawks, still do. May be we could buy the NAME Hornets from Shinn and let him rename New Orleans. Maybe they could get the name Jazz back from Utah (Utah Jazz? what is that?) and then Utah could figure something better out for them than Jazz.

We all know everyone here really wants the Hornets back anyway, not this mess with Seattle. Cliff Hudson might like the name Sonics, I suppose.

Hornets
Thunderbirds
Americans
Plainsmen?
Cougars?
Frontier
Spirit, isn’t bad, same mascot question.
Eagles? Maybe… Ponies? Mustangs?

Maybe we could get an Indian tribe or tribes to let us use their name for a fee like the FSU Seminoles? Nope, Congress might pass a law against it…

Stars? Might upset Cuban & that would be nice
Nirvana, with a Kirk Cobain zombie mascot, JK!!!

By george I think I’ve got it!!

The Flaming Lips!!!!!!

First, calling the lawsuit by Schultz, and the ownership group led by Ballmer, “P.R. Stunts” shows either ignorance or dishonesty. Both of these people have kept a very low profile through all of this because they did not want public attention. The group, worth $35 Billion, has much better things to do than get involved in a P.R. Stunt. Those stunts are reserved for David Stern who will do anything for his bromance buddy Bennett.

The lawsuit by the old ownership group has legs. It is not because Bennett violated the “Good faith, best effort” agreement. There is no doubt that he broke that deal (and for the record the Senate DID NOT vote out a bill last year). It is because Bennett was operating in bad faith from the begining. The emails clearly show that there was NEVER an intention to keep the team in Seattle. Because of that there was fraud at the time of signing the contract. This is a very clear violation of the law and grounds to recind the deal. Since the team was not for sale to any group that intended to move it, and the league required every member of the ownership group to “expressly affirm” that they had no intent to relocate the team before approving the sale, Bennett had to defraud Schultz in order to buy the team.

The key here is that without the emails that document the bad faith Schultz could not sue because Bennett could always claim he made an effort and the situation changed allowing him to try and move the team. With the emails he can have no defense and on THAT basis is likely to lose that suit.

The one thing that the suit will do is prevent the move of the team if the city should somehow lose the lawsuit. No court will allow a situation to get out of hand while a case is pending. To allow a move when the team may be given back to the old owners, would create a legal nightmare. OKC would be on the hook for the remodel of Ford Center and the team would have to leave giving them an empty building and zero chance of getting another team.

Until this suit came out the relocation vote had a little meaning only because of the slim chance Bennett could break the lease but now it has no meaning whatsoever because the Schultz case can drag on for years keeping the Sonics in Seattle the entire time.

This deal is getting so messy that Sonicsgate might just cost Stern his job and OKC any chance of getting a team. The smart move would be for OKC to put the brakes on this deal and not make any commitment to Bennett until he has a team that is free to move. To do otherwise would lock up your market and prevent any other team (Hornets or expansion) from coming to OKC.

This is what happens when you covet something that belongs to someone else so much that you fail to look at the big picture.