Sonics, Sonics and more Sonics (Part II)
DALLAS — So I made the short trip to Dallas to catch the Sonics-Mavs game Tuesday night and there just happened to be a lot of news. The biggest bit is that the Seattle-based investor group pulled the plug on their bid to buy the Sonics and help the city renovate KeyArena.
I guess this news comes as no surprise, since the Gov. Chris Gregoire and House Speaker Frank Chopp have never shown any interest in the proposal. At least not publicly. Who knows where Seattle goes from here. Maybe the Fred Brown-led proposal for that $1 billion Emerald City Center will gain some steam. I doubt it. It looks like more than ever it’s a done deal that the NBA owners will approve the Sonics relocation to Oklahoma City with no arena plan out in Seattle. We’ll see in a few more weeks.
Speaking of, Mark Cuban had a lot to say about his opposition for the Sonics moving to OKC.
I also spoke with several Sonics players to get their take on the potential move now that it’s looking closer to happening. A lot of them didn’t know squat about OKC and reduced themselves to “just players.” Here’s a quote from forward Nick Collison about the potential move…..
“I like where I live. I have a lot of friends (in Seattle). I have a house there. I love the city, so yeah, I don’t want to move. But like I said, it’s part of the job. If we have to, I don’t know much about Oklahoma City but I’m sure there’s nice people there. I’m sure I’ll find a way to fit in. But for now, I like being in Seattle. That’s my home.”
After leaving the Sonics’ locker room following the game I walked away thinking, ”Boy that is a depressing place these days.” I remember covering the home opener, the second game of the season, back when they fell to 0-2. What a big difference between now and then. It was quiet. Almost silent. Players appear to have reached the point of frustration months ago. Answers to media questions are short and trite. I know a lot of people don’t like to feel bad for millionaires, but I honestly feel bad for these guys. And the reporters who have to cover them during a season like this. This can’t be fun for anyone involved.
On a personal note, if the Sonics relocate to OKC next year I’m going on record of saying we’ll get some great sound bites out of P.J. Carlesimo. Dude took 2 minutes, 40 seconds to answer the first question of the post-game press conference. A generic question at that. I love it. But then a few moments later and he answered two questions with about 13 words. So we’ll see how that goes.
I didn’t see GM Sam Presti or owner Clay Bennett at the game. Sonics officials said neither was in attendance.
Also of note, I met the team’s play-by-play announcer, Kevin Calabro. What a nice guy he is. Before the game he told me that he will remain in Seattle if the team relocates. He’s been on the team’s broadcasting team for 21 years and has four children under the age of 24, including, if I remember correctly, a 12-year-old daughter that would make it tough on him and his family to uproot. So whenever the team comes to OKC, if it comes, it’ll have a new television guy.
Not that anyone in OKC knows the current cast. Although former player Steve “Snapper” Jones, is one of the analysts, and NBA fans might know him from his 13 years as an analyst for NBC. But by the sound of it, Oklahoma City could use a guy like Calabro for its prospective NBA team. The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association named him Sportscaster of the Year for the state of Washington in 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2006. Pretty impressive.
Oh yeah, the Sonics loss, 99-83, outshot by the Mavs 50.6 percent to 38.1 percent. They’re now 18-60.
-DM-
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Comments
All is not dead yet. The Mayor called the press conference today to put the screws to the soon to be unemployed Governor who is on her Farewell Tour of the state. She will return to Seattle on Thursday to a sea of Sonics fans who are demanding she call a 1 day special session. If she does this deal will be back on in a flash.
No matter what Arena solution is chosen the fact is the owners will give conditional approval for relocation just to be sure they have the best hand possible going into the trial. Even if the league is 100% sure they will leave the Sonics in Seattle they will give this conditional approval.
The June 16th trial date is the real key date. The league will not want to have their business model hammered in a court of law especially since there is no chance that Bennett could move the team this upcoming season. Why put your neck out for him when he is going to lose no matter what happens?
You can be sure all the hot action will be happening behind the scenes while deals to get OKC a team and leave the Sonics in Seattle are cut to get themselves out of the legal bind they are in.
andy simon makes a good point. this legal battle will give, the allready limping NBA, a black eye. and its a battle the NBA will certainly lose. and there is a lot of action up here. i agree, i think in the end, the supes stay, and okc probably gets a club.
darnell, if going back to the reservation works. im all for it. but, i love this new em-city plan.
(Yeah, what I’m saying is maybe the Em City plan can be built on the Muckleshoots’ land. -DM-)
haha. a plan like this has to go somewhere downtown. no one in their right mind would invest in plan this ambitious, if it were built in the middle of nowhere. nothing against my native brothers.
now a boring, cookie cutter stadium, would do just fine on the res.
darnell, calabro is the finest play by play guy in the league! he has had many offers to go national. but, has always turned them down.
in the 90′s when the supes were usually crushing whoever they were playing. the only time i watched a game is when i went. instead i would listen to calabro’s radio broadcast. geez, he makes a game so exciting! he is the inventor of many phrases,” 3 ball corner pocket”, sportscenter stole that one, also “the sonics are on a mission in transition”, ” shawn kemp, nobody do the voodoo like you do”. and many others. im so glad he is staying no matter what.
hey sonic fans remember the mid to late 90′s, when marques johnson became the color man. calabro/johnson, that was the best radio team in the history of basketball!!
this sucks, and i am angry that i seem to be one of the very few oklahomans with trepidation about this move. if all does not go well, what’s to stop bennett from doing this to oklahoma? i don’t want to be his financial sloppy-seconds. this reeks of back-room handshakes.
i’m scared for oklahoma. so many people here are acting like we’re getting one over on seattle, like we’re winning some big war. this is ridiculous. at first i was annoyed with the ‘my city rules/your city sucks’ vibe coming out of washington, but it’s in worse taste here. this isn’t about winning, it’s about basketball and money, and that’s it. if OKC gets the sonics, i apologize in advance for the inevitable rash of “ha-ha”‘s and “in your face”‘s or whatever happy oklahomans will try to rub your nose in. it will be petty. i love my state, but some of us are being blinded by the excitement of possibly getting a team, and aren’t thinking about the big picture. BE OBJECTIVE.
donuteyes, You may be guilt ridden because the Sonics are moving here but I don’t think your viewpoint is shared by many.
The majority of the citizens in Washington would rather see the Sonics leave than have their tax dollars spent on a new arena even if private money would pay half.
It sucks for the true Sonics fans but it would be unfair to tax the majority to satisfy the wants of a small minority. It is also unfair to expect the owners of the team to continue to lose money year after year.
With that in mind, the politicians like Frank Chopp and the Governor are just following the will of the people that elected them and you certainly can’t blame them for that and the owners are moving the team to a place where they have a reasonable chance to show a profit and you really can’t blame them either.
duh, i know my viewpoint isn’t shared by many, that’s the problem. and what i am feeling isn’t guilt, it’s trepidation, like i said. i don’t care enough to feel guilty, but i care enough to say that something smells rotten in denmark. yes, i can’t blame them for doing what they’re doing, just as i won’t blame them if they do it to our city as well.
i’d like to have a team, i’m not a huge NBA fan, but it would be good for the city (i hope). but if this were such a great deal, EVERYONE would say so, not just the people trying to make it happen. but there seems to be some dissention at all levels of this deal, depending on who you ask, and that has got to be a red flag, right?
donuteyes,
You shouldn’t be surprised by the attitudes of the majority of Oklahomans. These are the same people that insult the people and city of New Orleans. And why, because they covet what other have. The same is true for Oklahomans’ view of Seattle. As if whether a person drinks a latte or brews up some Folgers has anything do with supporting an NBA franchise. The only logical arguments made against Seattle as the better place for an NBA franchise centers on “the only-game-in-town” theory. BTW…13,000 season ticket orders for Seattle’s new soccer team. Kind of blows that theory out of the water.
phillip you know nothing about what is going on. if seattle is so futile? explain how they lasted for forty+years! its all poor ownership. when you have good owners, the club thrives. when you have villains as owners, you see what happens. the vast majority of seattlites are sonics fans. and most of our hearts are breaking.
i think im starting to come to grips, with the situation. it does not look good.
and phillip, as i have said before. you will know at least some of my pain very soon.
Joey,
Damn straight any new arena must be built in Seattle. Bennett knew this, that’s why he proposed to put his pretend arena in Renton. If the Sonics owners and the NBA wanted to get an arena deal done they could. No one expects the Sonics to continue to play in Key Arena as it is or operate under the same lease terms as they currently operate after the current lease expires.
seattle has done a very good job of keeping the downtown alive and vibrant. most other american cities have let their downtown go. and most of those cities are tryng to get it back, its a huge uphill battle. having said that we still battle the sprawl. but we build up rather than out, better than any city outside of nyc,chicago,and sf.
putting the new arena anywhere other than downtown, would add to the sprawl.
you can walk in downtown seattle on a tuesday afternoon in january. and will see thousnds and thousnds of people. i recently visited a friend in kansas city. i thought it was a ghost town. it was depressing.
SEATTLE Sonics Said:
“If the Sonics owners and the NBA wanted to get an arena deal done they could. No one expects the Sonics to continue to play in Key Arena as it is or operate under the same lease terms as they currently operate after the current lease expires.”
The Sonics are being given no option but to play in the Key.
The Ballmer group offered to accept a remodel of the Key that nobody else would accept and put up half the money and the state still said no. It wasn’t even close.
You say that Stern and Bennett could have got a deal done if they wanted to. Would you tell me what that deal would have been? What would Frank Chopp have said yes to?
Joey,
Calabro loves living in the Seattle area and is raising his kids there with no intention of ever relocating. He has done Mariners and Seahawks games and if the Sonics leave town he would just go national and keep his home here.
I know this is going to sound mean, and it isn’t meant to be, but Seattle is called the Emerald City because it is green, clean, and a wonderful place to live. Mark Cuban said it all when he called it the “Dust Bowl” Division down there.
Getting, and keeping, free agents is going to be very difficult in OKC for several reasons. The small market being the biggest the desire for athletes to play on “the big stage” being another, and to want to live in a place that has the type of lifestyle they want to live is huge. OKC just can’t compete in those areas.
Andy Simon Said:
“I know this is going to sound mean, and it isn’t meant to be, but Seattle is called the Emerald City because it is green, clean, and a wonderful place to live. Mark Cuban said it all when he called it the “Dust Bowl” Division down there.”
It doesn’t sound mean, it sounds stupid, Andy.
Did you know that Oklahoma has more miles of lake shoreline than any state on the west coast? Lake Texoma is within 100 miles of both OKC and Dallas and is one of the countrys great party lakes.
Using the term “Dust Bowl” makes you sound like an “Idiot”….
Mark Cuban is pissed because it cuts into his market.
What big time free agents have signed to play in Seattle, Andy?
Seems like I remember the big name free agents leaving Seattle, not coming there.
but, we ARE the dust bowl. this part of the country has been called that for decades. not the best nickname for this area, but how does the akron/flint, ohio area enjoy being called the ‘rust belt?’ it may not sound nice, but oklahoma, kansas, texas, etc. is the dust bowl. instead of feeling insulted, own it. (and not to sound mean myself, emerald city doesn’t sound any cooler or tougher than dust bowl to me. the wizard of oz isn’t MY fave… but i really don’t care. all you need is love, america.)
The Dust bowl referred to conditions that existed over 70 years ago and has no relevance to Oklahoma today……
From Wikipedia,
The Dust Bowl was a series of dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936 (in some areas until 1940), caused by severe drought coupled with decades of extensive farming without crop rotation or other techniques that prevented erosion. The fertile soil of the Great Plains was exposed through removal of grass during plowing. During the drought, soil dried, became dust, and blew away eastwards and southwards, mostly in large black clouds. At times, the clouds blackened the sky all the way to California, and much of the soil was deposited in the Atlantic Ocean.
oh my god. yes, that is where the name comes from, good use of the internet. but you’re lying to yourself if you think people don’t still call this part of the country the dust bowl. like mark cuban, who lives in the dust bowl, and i’m sure isn’t trying to hate on where he lives…
Wow, I am really impressed, Andy must be reading his tea leaves in OKC! He already knows the Honorable Governor of Washington is on the way out .My bad, I just thought the good ole boys in OKC can only read cow pies!
As for the wisdom and character of, “Claymation” Bennett it only was a matter of time (and a court order) to uncover his real “love for the fans.
Click this you loosers! http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004339103_sonicsheds.html
Will, do you realize what a complete idiot you look like when you try to call someone a name but can’t even spell it correctly?
Cant’s wait to see the Oklahoman’s take on Bennett’s emails. DM, when can we expect the paper to cover this story?
(SS, a 577-word post has just been dedicated to it, and a story will be in Friday’s paper. Before you rush to some sort of conspiracy theory, I’ll have you know that neither the Seattle P-I or the Tacoma News Tribune have anything on their sites as I type this comment at 12:30 Central Time. It’s what you call breaking news. The Seattle Times reporter did a heck of a job and got the scoop on great bit of news. -DM-)
Why has the Oklahoma media not reported the story about Bennett and company’s emails? Would it make the ownership look bad? It is too bad that the great state of Oklahoma has rich people who would conspire and lie unrepentantly to get what they want. These people are civic leaders? Oklahoma Hall of Fame? What does that say about the leaders of Oklahoma? Unfortuantely, only badly.
(SS, one more thing. Little did I know, we’ve had this story (an AP version) on our site since 10:30 this morning. -DM-)
“I would never breach your trust. As absolutely remarkable as it may seem, Aubrey and I have NEVER discussed moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City, nor have I discussed it with ANY other member of our ownership group.”
a very classy individual.
those e-mails are hideous. the entire state of oklahoma should be ashamed!
and cleanse themselves in their hundreds of miles of lake shoreline. wow! i think we 1000s of miles of lake shoreline, and an actual coast!!! phillip, that was a cute little fun fact!!
In defense of the writer of this blog he has been pretty open about posting information both good and bad.
Yes the OKC media is going to present the news based on the point of view of their region but that doesn’t mean they are covering things up.
What they are not doing is taking any critical look at the situation. It is their responsibility to dig into this issue for the good of the people of OKC. To find out what is really happening. What did the Mayor know, when did he know it, and just how deeply does the corruption go?
Public disclosure of emails and hard hitting questions asked of those in positions to know is what good and responsible reporting is about.
Most important is to present the readers with stories that show not just the joy of pursuing an NBA team but what is a reasonable expectation for the behavior of their elected officials.
You can want the NBA, that is a good thing, but you should want it on the right terms. Taking any team you can get no matter what kind of illegal activity it takes to get it should not be allowed. The people of OKC should be demanding a full account of what is going on and asking why the City is giving Clay Bennett an open checkbook when no other city does that.
They should be demanding that the city disassociate themselves with Clay Bennett and start pursuing other options. Expansion or a team from a city that is ready to let them go. They are out there, you don’t have to rip a 41 year franchise from a market that supports it, and is fighting tooth and nail to keep it.
You can justify it anyway you want but stealing something that isn’t yours isn’t right. PERIOD.
Joey. I have to laugh at any Moron that would think being within 100 miles of a lake makes for a better setting than being a city that has its entire eastern border being Lake Washington and the entire western border being Puget Sound.
YEAH, I CAN SEE lEBRON SAYING “SHOOT, THERE ARE MILES AND MILES OF SHORELINE, WHY CANT MY AGENT GET ME A JOB WITH THEM”"!hahaha! PHILLIP, YOU NEVER CEASE TO AMAZE ME. AS FAR AS, CUTTING INTO CUBAN’S MARKET. I CAN ALMOST SEE HIM GIVE YOU THE PERSONAL FINGER. YOU CANT CUT INTO A MARKET THAT HAS HAD BACK TO BACK TO BACK TO BACK WINNING SEASONS, AND, ONE OF THE EW TEAMS MAKING MONEY. HIS BUSINESS MODEL ISNT BROKE, BECAUSE, HE THINKS ABOUT THE “BIG” PICTURE. CHRIS PAUL TOLD MORE THAN A FEW FANS, HE WOULD ASK TO BE TRADED BEFORE TRYING TO FIND A NICE RESTUARANT TO EAT AT, OR, SOME CLUBS TO TAKE HIS “POSSE” OUT TO, IF THE HORNETS WERE RELOCATED TO OKIE CITY. I REMEMBER PHILLIP SAYING ALL THE HORNETS PLAYERS HAD GOOD THINGS TO SAY. ANOTHER LIE PHILLIP, JUST LIKE CLAYBOY. I BET YOU STILL TRY THE “DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK” WITH YOUR BOSS AT 7-11. SEE YA IN JUNE. BECAUSE THIS IS GOING TO GET TRULY UGLY!!!!
MIKE U.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2008/04/11/2004343410.pdf
So, Ballmer must still have his $150 million floating around out there. I thought the proposal had a deadline of April 10th, and the mayor said it was “dead”. The mayor and Ballmer couldn’t possibly have been lying to the Governor and the legislature in an attempt to suck that $75 million out of them before April 10th could they? I’d love to see their e-mails, although they may have learned their lesson from Bennett and only talk on throw away cell phones. May God strike me dead if Gregoire, Nickels, Ballmer and Gorton have never told a lie for personal or political gain.
Gregoire is shocked that she was “lied” to. Wonder how many she’s told in her political career. This makes a great smokescreen and gets the public angry at Bennett when the fact is that Chopp, Gregoire, Nickels and the city council knew they had a year (15 months actually) to come up with an arena plan and they blew it off. All the “lies” were completely unknown to her, so they had no effect on her behavior in that 15 months and yet she still did nothing.
Well, unfortunately, Jill, you have to understand it is pretty hard for a city and state to get an arena built for a team when that team’s owner won’t even listen to their proposals.
And if you think that we blindly follow and believe everything that Gregoire says just because you do the same with Bennett, doesn’t meant that we actually do. We know far better than you do about Gregoire’s role in this and that is why she won’t be our governor next year.
from what i have read. the funding for a 1 billion dollar arena, is there. apparently investors are lining up. the site remains to be the biggest hurdle.
and of course cuban is against this move. he is a logical bussiness man!!
(Joey, you know they could always go back to the Muckleshoots. Only part of me is joking. -DM-)