Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

[thaima1shu]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

It would kind of suck to have your cities only championship technically not be yours. All the great players that can't have their numbers retired would be awful too. The Sonics were the best franchise in Seattle by far and probably most well-known. It would suck not to be able to acknowledge that.

I've been trying to think of a way to explain it, but couldn't really put it into words. This does a damn good job of it.

[WazzuRC]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

Figured today would be an appropriate day to post these:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vCyWv_vexYc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8fGnwvkumTQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[thaima1shu]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

So many great memories.

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

So many great memories.

Yep, I'll submit two things:

Mid-90's Sonics were the most exciting team in the league to watch.

Shawn Kemp should be in the Top 5 of all time greatest dunkers. Such speed and power...anybody tries to block they get their wrists broken! And his alley-oops from Payton (a lot of them just past half-court line!) blew the roof off the joint, and wow'ed the home audiences on the road.

*sigh*

[12]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

okstate19

Thank you for the kind words. I was a huge Sonics fan growing up and loved Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton. It crushed me when they left and my love for the NBA has died as a result of the team leaving.

I don't care either way on whether Seattle secures another NBA franchise. I guess for the sake of the people in my state who want a team back, I could get on board with it but I could never foresee having more than a passing interest in another team.

That could change when David Stern leaves, but who knows? A lot of damage has been done. To see your team ripped from you while the entire state is held hostage and "good faith efforts" to keep your team home are comical at best, it makes it tough to trust again. Stern was in on it and the way it went down was some of the most corruption I've ever seen in sports. It took a lot of innocence away from the way I viewed sports.

My blame is lies with Howard Schultz, David Stern, Clay Bennett, and our state politicians who let the Sonics leave. It is not with the people of Oklahoma or their team. I am genuinely happy for the fans of the Thunder and think the success that they are experiencing is a great thing. I was originally wanting the team to crash and burn, which was irrational at best.

It's still tough to swallow but I am happy for the people of Oklahoma - no one deserved an NBA team more, but I will always be sad that it had to be my Sonics.

Again, thanks for the classy post and kind words.

[12]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

Also... Maybe it's just me, but if the original team name, colors and history are not part of a new franchise, I don't see the point. I wish all of that was ironed out before the team left - and maybe it has been. I'm just not in the loop anymore.

[12]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

I'm not trying to upset anybody here, but does it really matter if the "new" Sonics get their history back or not? I've never been tied emotionally to a team that has moved/moved in, so I don't really see why it matters all that much. History will always show that guys like Kemp and Payton played for the Seattle Supersonics in the 90s, what team gets to claim "hey that was our franchise" seems kind of, well, irrelevant to me.

So serious question, why does anybody really care who gets to keep the history?

Please note, I could understand not getting back the colors and the name, that would be complete BS, but as far as the history is concerned, I just don't understand why it really matters.

It's not irrelevant. Maybe the reasons are not logical to you and maybe I can't explain it eloquently enough, but a team without the name and history returning with it just makes little sense to me.

You're a Florida Gators fan - imagine if their history was taken from them. All of the National Championships, banners, records... It's part of the fabric that makes up the team and maybe there isn't a better explanation than that.

[WazzuRC]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

5000+ in attendance at the Sonics rally today.

[Rasco11]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

5000+ in attendance at the Sonics rally today.

Awesome to hear!!!

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

5000+ in attendance at the Sonics rally today.

That's a real solid turnout for this kind of thing on a workday, great to hear!

[Coug00]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

I gotta admit, the turnout for that rally in the middle of the workday is pretty damn impressive. Its a shame they're going to eventually poach someone else's team, but Seattle is more than ready for the Sonics to return.

[kdurantmvp]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

wait wait wait.... if Seattle take another city team and bring back the supersonics... Isnt that the same thing that happened to them in a twisted kind of way?

[SteelersFreak]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

wait wait wait.... if Seattle take another city team and bring back the supersonics... Isnt that the same thing that happened to them in a twisted kind of way?

No because I don't believe there are any Seattle businessmen aggressively seeking to buy another NBA franchise, telling that city that they don't intend to move the team, and then move the team anyways.

[thaima1shu]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

wait wait wait.... if Seattle take another city team and bring back the supersonics... Isnt that the same thing that happened to them in a twisted kind of way?

Yeah, it would be exactly the same ... if Chris Hansen and his investment group were to do the following:

- Go to a city (for example, Sacramento) and buy the team
- Then tell the city that they intend to keep the team there and will exhaust every possibility and put forth a good faith effort before considering alternatives.
- The good faith effort is a proposal for an arena that is the most expensive arena in the entire league, and it must be 100% publicly financed. Plus it wouldn't even be located in Sacramento, it'd be somewhere outside of the city
- All the while Chris Hansen will be exchanging emails and correspondence with Steve Ballmer and the Nordstroms talking about how he's going to be a man possessed and going to do everything in his power to move the team to Seattle.




So yeah, I just watched the 2 hour cut of the Sonicsgate documentary. I'm obviously not in a good mood.

[Amoo316]

Re: Agreement for new Seattle arena reached

It's not irrelevant. Maybe the reasons are not logical to you and maybe I can't explain it eloquently enough, but a team without the name and history returning with it just makes little sense to me.

You're a Florida Gators fan - imagine if their history was taken from them. All of the National Championships, banners, records... It's part of the fabric that makes up the team and maybe there isn't a better explanation than that.

I feel for the Sonics fans in the way everything went down, but even in the scenario you described I guess I would just have to live through it. They could move the Gators to Canada and call them the Ballerinas and it wouldn't really effect the way I felt when they brought "The Gators" back. We all know where the NCs were won, we all know who played on the teams.

I know it would suck to go into The Swamp and not see the retired numbers and NC banners, but realistically, is there a reason Seattle can't put up a "Seattle Sports History Museum" and put that kind of stuff in there? To me it's like stripping Reggie Bush of the Heisman, Bobby Bowden of Wins or any team of a NC. We all know what happened on the field, I just don't get worried about the politics of where the trophy gets displayed.

To me and many others, we all know the Seattle Supersonics won an NBA title. We all know and remember the great Sonics of the past. Where their jerseys or accomplishments are displayed just doesn't mean much to me. Not saying anybody is wrong for caring, I'm just trying to get insight on why it matters to others. Like others, I would really love to see a team back in Seattle. In a way I hope it's not the Kings, that arena used to rock when they put a good product on the floor. Either way though, I'm looking forward to seeing the green and yellow back in the NBA.