Sonics will move to OKC for 2008-09 season. Sonics name stays with Seattle

[RainierBeachPoet]

I hope Howard Schultz's lawsuit derails this move.
The fans in Seattle deserve to keep the Sonics.
The NBA is abandoning 41 years of tradition for Okieland

ll100-- long time no see-- you just been lurking? how is that baron davis rumor evolving?


shultz' lawsuit is a longshot but we'll see. my heart is moving on right now and dont want to get my hopes too high

we just consider his lawsuit a p.r. move to improve his name in the seattle area so

we are still

boycotting starfu(ks

[Meticode]

Payton and Kemp were on The Best Damn Sports Show and they totally disagree with the move. The mentioned whenever they get their numbers retired they don't want them to get retired in OKC in front of fans they didn't play for.

[lawlerslaw100]

Shaun Kemp needs child support $$ for those kids so watch him show
up in Ok. Too bad for the fans of Seattle again including those
on the board.

Hey Rainier Poet, I dont drink starbarfs anyway. There is better
coffee out there especially in LA.

[JordanL]

Hey Rainier Poet, I dont drink starbarfs anyway. There is better
coffee out there especially in LA.

Speaking as a Northwest native, I just about puked the coffee I was drinking back up in LA. Californian's don't know how to do coffee at all.

EDIT:

RBP, I have two season seats at the Rose Garden for the Blazers next season. During the OKC games, I will be wearing Seattle colors, booing the Barons, and holding signs. If you want a free seat to those games, let me know. You can take the second seat I have to both enjoy a game of basketball, and help me protest the move.

[RainierBeachPoet]

from ron judd of the seattle times!!

Things Ahead of "Finding a New Team for Seattle" on David Stern's To-Do List:

[RainierBeachPoet]

Payton and Kemp were on The Best Damn Sports Show and they totally disagree with the move. The mentioned whenever they get their numbers retired they don't want them to get retired in OKC in front of fans they didn't play for.

they might be waiting awhile...as owner of the "basketball club", bennett has the rights to a "shared history"

from todays seattle times:

According to the agreement, if Seattle is granted an expansion team in the next five years, that franchise will share the Sonics' history with the Oklahoma City team.

If Seattle lands a team through relocation of an existing franchise, most likely the Oklahoma City team will retain sole possession of the Sonics history.



read the article:



http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...31_soni06.html






given the reluctance for expansion, gp might be waiting awhile to see that jersey raised

[RainierBeachPoet]

Speaking as a Northwest native, I just about puked the coffee I was drinking back up in LA. Californian's don't know how to do coffee at all.

EDIT:

RBP, I have two season seats at the Rose Garden for the Blazers next season. During the OKC games, I will be wearing Seattle colors, booing the Barons, and holding signs. If you want a free seat to those games, let me know. You can take the second seat I have to both enjoy a game of basketball, and help me protest the move.

peets coffee in berkeley can compeet (pardon the pun) with anyone

man--- what an offer regarding the seat at the blazers game. i always thought you portland folk were some of the most generous in the country! remind me once the season schedule comes out and we can see the dates. i may or may not be able to make the drive down

if i do, pick your favorite restaurant-- dinner beforehand is on me--- drinks included!!

your offer moved me a step closer to adopt the blazers!

[RainierBeachPoet]

Shaun Kemp needs child support $$ for those kids so watch him show
up in Ok. Too bad for the fans of Seattle again including those
on the board.

Hey Rainier Poet, I dont drink starbarfs anyway. There is better
coffee out there especially in LA.

hahaa

shawn might even get a new market of baby-mamas out there!!

[RainierBeachPoet]

they might be waiting awhile...as owner of the "basketball club", bennett has the rights to a "shared history"

from todays seattle times:

According to the agreement, if Seattle is granted an expansion team in the next five years, that franchise will share the Sonics' history with the Oklahoma City team.

If Seattle lands a team through relocation of an existing franchise, most likely the Oklahoma City team will retain sole possession of the Sonics history.



read the article:



http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...31_soni06.html






given the reluctance for expansion, gp might be waiting awhile to see that jersey raised

also from ron judd:

There's Slimy, and Then There's Just Pathetic:

As part of the deal, Clay Bennett and his Oklahoma henchmen got approval to make duplicate KeyArena championship banners to display in OKC.

It's another textbook case of rich American guys mistaking wealth for achievement.

Maybe if they cough up another 500 mil, they can get forged copies of all those Celtics banners, too.

[RainierBeachPoet]

a decent summary: from jim brunner

Sonics settlement: winners and losers

Clay Bennett and his attorneys got what they wanted, while Mayor Greg Nickels embarrassed himself — and Howard Schultz became even more unpopular.


WINNER: Clay Bennett
It may have been painful and embarrassing, but the "man possessed" got what he wanted in the end.
WINNER: Byrnes & Keller The Seattle law firm — with Brad Keller as lead attorney in the case — took an unpopular client in Bennett and skillfully defended him, even coming close to painting him as the victim.
LOSER?: Greg Nickels Seattle's mayor looked dodgy on the witness stand and gave up on enforcing the KeyArena lease. But hizzoner could find sweet redemption if his plan to get a replacement team pays off in a few years.
LOSER: Slade Gorton The former U.S. senator, an attorney for K&L Gates, the firm hired by the city, violated a confidentiality agreement with the NBA. A day after a supposedly secret meeting in New York, Gorton blabbed about it in an e-mail to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and others.
LOSER: Howard Schultz Mr. Coffee sold the Sonics for a cool $350 million, and his belated lawsuit against Bennett may now only be a hindrance to Seattle's chances of getting a new NBA team.
LOSER: David Stern The NBA commissioner loved KeyArena, then hated it, and now he says it can be great again. This guy — "just one of my favorite people on earth," as Bennett cooed in an e-mail — will say anything.
LOSER: Sonics fans Do they even want a replacement team after this fiasco?

[Lamar Doom]

i'm an NBA fan at heart, i can count on one hand the number of teams i outright don't like. probably two hands (maybe 3 :) ) for the players i outright don't like. I've always liked the sonics. i haven't been super involved in this process aside from reading the infuriating updates from bill simmons. I think i'm going to hate OKC, i think that's what needs to happen. chris wilcox is the only "sonic" consider myself a "fan" of (respect to KD, cool hand luke, day wilkens, and a few others) so the transition to hatred won't be too hard. clay bennett, take a flying f*ck into traffic. long live the supersonics.

[Lakers Legend#32]

From the front page of the Daily Oklahoman (the newspaper that Clay Bennett's wife's family owns).

Welkom Home Our Oklihomi Sooopersonicks! Mishun Uhcomplished!

What the citizens of Oklahoma are saying:

Bubba: "Starbucks sure makes crappy moonshine."

Billy Bob: "Eat that you Seaddle liburul *******."

Jethro: "So how do we get rid of the darkies?"

Daisy Mae: "We's don't needs no fancy book lurnums or skools or vaxeenations, we needs the NBA."

[RainierBeachPoet]

i'm an NBA fan at heart, i can count on one hand the number of teams i outright don't like. probably two hands (maybe 3 :) ) for the players i outright don't like. I've always liked the sonics. i haven't been super involved in this process aside from reading the infuriating updates from bill simmons. I think i'm going to hate OKC, i think that's what needs to happen. chris wilcox is the only "sonic" consider myself a "fan" of (respect to KD, cool hand luke, day wilkens, and a few others) so the transition to hatred won't be too hard. clay bennett, take a flying f*ck into traffic. long live the supersonics.

the enemy of my enemy is my friend

[RainierBeachPoet]

From the front page of the Daily Oklahoman (the newspaper that Clay Bennett's wife's family owns).

Welkom Home Our Oklihomi Sooopersonicks! Mishun Uhcomplished!

What the citizens of Oklahoma are saying:

Bubba: "Starbucks sure makes crappy moonshine."

Billy Bob: "Eat that you Seaddle liburul *******."

Jethro: "So how do we get rid of the darkies?"

Daisy Mae: "We's don't needs no fancy book lurnums or skools or vaxeenations, we needs the NBA."

ouch!!

i read in their paper, that one sportswriter argues against having the sonic memorabilia there and that the retired numbers from freddie, spencer, gus nate, lenny and sikma should not be put up and that those numbers should be "unretired"

http://newsok.com/article/3266507

clay cant have it both ways-- if he wants to own the memorabilia/trophy form 79-- you have to give them the honor they deserve

[Lakers Legend#32]

It's just pizzing me off no end that Bennett now makes a claim to a "Shared History" with the Sonics when he had absolutely nothing to do with the them for the first 39 years of it's existence, and has only been involved in the last two years, which not coincedentally were the worst two seasons in franchise history.