ESPN Anchor Says Save Sonics
I just happened to be checking in on this blog while watching SportsCenter tonight, and anchor Neil Everett just slipped in a quick “Save the Sonics” while introducing the team’s highlights from tonight’s Celtics game.
Everett didn’t say anything else about the franchise’s potential relocation, and the reference came at an odd time. So odd in fact that, excluding Washington and Oklahoma, I’m not sure many of the program’s millions of viewers got the reference. Or at least they might have thought he was talking about the team’s poor season. But since the reference seemed to be adlibbed on the show’s earliest night version which is live, there is no telling whether the reference will make it into the final cut that’s recorded and replayed throughout the morning.
Don’t know if it was Bill Simmons’ recent two-part piece on ESPN.com where he dumped hundred of e-mails from disgruntled Sonics fans on the Web site’s pages or what, but one thing’s for sure, the Sonics fans’ fight to keep their team in Seattle is definitely starting to get some national exposure.
On another note, SportsCenter doesn’t have a better anchor tandem than Neil Everett and Scott Van Pelt. Or is that just me?
-DM-
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Comments
KEEP ‘EM COMING NEIL!! AND BELIEVE ME, NATIOANL EXPOSURE IS JUST BEGINNING! WAIT UNTIL ALL THE SONICS OWNERSHIP GROUPS DIRTY LAUNDRY COMES OUT IN COURT, IN THOSE EMAILS THEY ARE TRYING TO HIDE. I FOR ONE CANNOT WAIT. YOU OKIES SHOULD OF DID A LIL RESEARCH BEFORE SIGNING OFF ON THAT 120 MIL. HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TELL YOU GUYS, WE ARE UNDEFEATED WHEN TAKING ON OTHER CITIES THAT TRY AND STEAL ANOTHER CITIES RICH HISTORY. YOU SHOULD BE BUILDING YOUR OWN, INSTEAD OF TRYING TO BUY OURS. AND NOW WE HAVE MICROSOFT’S BALLMER INVOLVED. CLAY MEET REAL MONEY, NOT HIS WIFE’S, AND 10 TIMES THE AMOUNT SHE HAS. HERE WE COME OKIES!! SEE YA IN JUNE!!
MIKE U.
It seams that the pity party for Seattle fans has started. But most of these people don’t even know the facts. There is a small group of hard core Sonics fans in Seattle but no one else even cares about the NBA. A small group can make a lot of noise you know. If they took a vote today in Seattle to approve funding an Arena to save the sonics it would be a landslide defeat.
I am sick and tired of hearing the whining from that small group of fans. It’s not their money tied up in the team. Bennett has every right to move to OKC if that’s what he choses to do. The best thing Seattle can do now is negotiate to try and keep the sonics name.
Why didn’t someone step up and buy the Sonics from the previous ownership group? I can tell you why. Because of the lease and the arena they play in.Hands done bar none the worst in the NBA.
But please,lets show pity for that small group of diehards.
Funny how the 1% of people in favor of this potential relocation all come from Oklahoma….AMAZING, I’m SHOCKED!….nevermind Bill Walton, Bill Simmons, Larry Miller (Jazz Owner), Henry Abbott, David Aldridge, Ray Allen, and all of the other journalists, experts, players and people NOT FROM SEATTLE, who aren’t shy about acknowledging how wrong this whole situation is, and how big of a liar Clay Bennett is.
It’s not a pity party. It’s calling a guy out on his word, and holding him to it. OUR local business people are willing to pay $150 Million (That’s 50%) toward an arena to keep the team here. That’s on top of the inflated $350 Million they’re willing to pay Bennett to buy the team back. That’s what real business owners do…they become a primary investor in their OWN BUSINESS. They don’t dupe a whole city into covering the whole thing for them, then keep all the revenue. That city would be OKC. But remember…he HAD to have a $500 million arena in Seattle, or nothing. Yet, an upgrade of less than $200 million will suffice in OKC…yeah…makes a LOT of sense.
OKC should get an NBA team. Period. I’m in favor of that, in fact most Seattle people are, and acknowledge that the citizens of OKC have nothing to do with Bennett’s dishonesty. However, hi-jacking a team with the history that the Sonics have in Seattle, and doing it all on the back of a lie and complete deception, should be addressed and many people in the industry are addressing it. The forementioned are just a few.
we are the majority! and rt your the first okie ive seen on this oklahoman web site, in days! all seattlites!
Bunch of seattle trolls.
Have a cup of jo and hug a tree. More important things to worry about than the sonics.
THE SALE OF THE SONICS WAS DONE BACK DOOR TO BENNETT. THE TEAM WAS NEVER, NEVER OFFERED TO LOCAL OWNERSHIP BECAUSE BENNETT WAS DESPERATE FOR A TEAM AND OVERPAID WITH STERNS APPROVAL.. YOU CANNOT COMPARE THIS TO ANY PROFESSIONAL FRANCHISE MOVE, IT WAS DONE FOR SPITE TO THE CITY AND FANS OF SEATTLE. THE PENDING TRAIL WILL PROVE ALL OF THIS….WATCHING FROM THE BAY AREA THIS IS GOING TO BE EXCITING.. CANT WAIT…
yes, im a proud tree hugger, and i love coffee. but no starbucks!!!
and rt, once again your wrong. nothing is more important than civic pride
It seams that the pity party for Seattle fans has started. But most of these people don’t even know the facts. There is a small group of hard core Sonics fans in Seattle but no one else even cares about the NBA. A small group can make a lot of noise you know. If they took a vote today in Seattle to approve funding an Arena to save the sonics it would be a landslide defeat.
- What is amusing about this quote is that the “small group of hard core Seattle fans”….still out numbers the amount of OKC fans (both hard core and fair weather fans). That is what doesn’t make any sense about the move. While a larger percentage of the population might support an NBA team in OKC there are still a significantly greater number of potential cutomers available in Seattle to make money off of…
OKC is only considered a great sports town because it appears that a larger percentage of people will support the team. One must say “appears” because using the novelty of two years with NO as a basis of anything is one of the silliest ideas ever. Of course people are going to go out and watch a team with one of the best young PGs ever when they know it is a limited engagement. It is like when Broadway shows are about to close…people are forced to go ASAP or else they know they will never attend again.
What any true honest OKC citizen (and NBA fan) must admit is that while there is a chance of the team being widely successful in the city (San Antonio may be used as a model…although it is strange that they’ve had to redo their Arena three times in 15 years) there is a much greater chance we will just have another Memphis/New Orleans/Charlotte situation on our hands.
As the old saying goes…be careful what you wish for.
A small group of hardcore fans? Let’s not mistake the fan base of the Sonics refusal to bow down to Clay Bennett and give him a half a billion dollar arena with their tax dollars as a sign they don’t care about their team.
Are you serious that your going to love this team in Oklahoma as much as we do in Seattle. You get the Sonics, and it’s not really your team. This team was born here in 1967, and you think your going to find some civic pride in your team knowing it was stolen from another city? I don’t know about anybody else, but if someone gave me a stolen tv, I sure as hell wouldn’t take pride in having it.
AND SMALL GROUP. OVER 300 MADE THE JOURNEY TO THE CAPITAL (1 HOUR DRIVE EACH WAY) TO PUT SOME PRESSURE ON THE LEGISLATURE. BUT, THEY RAN OUT OF TIME. WHICH MEANS OUR LOVELY MAYOR (YES, THE SAME MAYOR YOUR MAYOR COMES TO OUR LOVELY CITY TO VACATION WITH), WILL GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD, AND WE THE CITY WILL PAY THE $75,000,000 ASKED OF THE LEGISLATURE. I GUESS R.T. DOESNT KNOW WHAT REAL MONEY CAN DO. WE HEARD ALL OKLAHOMA LIVES OFF THIER WIVES LIKE CLAY BOY!!!! SEE YA IN JUNE R.T!!!
LOVE,
MIKE U.
I found this amusing in today’s Sports Illustrated article:
The deal calls for the SuperSonics to pay the city $1.6 million annually for use of the building and reimburse $409,000 a year to replace revenue from naming rights for the arena. The 15-year agreement has an exit clause if attendance falls after the first two years.
- Looks like Clay “Hometown Boy Done Good” Bennett…will still negotiate a CYA clause even in his home town. Again…careful what you wish for guys.
“They don’t dupe a whole city into covering the whole thing for them, then keep all the revenue. That city would be OKC”
Your prediction was a little off
thats interesting. neil everett has got to be from seattle, ive heard him say other pro seattle comments. when he covers the university of washington, he says u-dub. usually only locals say that.
oh, darnell nice job. but im very cautious to praise you, the last time i did it, you bit me in the ass!!
(Joey, you are correct in your assumption, sir. One quick google search of Everett tells us that he grew up in Spokane. -DM-)