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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   ADDITIONAL ITEMS • Seattle SuperSonics (External Link) • Schedule (External Link) • Stats (External Link)   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, April 20, 2008 With the NBA votes in and counted, anger turns to acceptance By John Sleeper Herald columnist How many millions of us in the past 41 years paid good money to bequeath our love on the Seattle SuperSonics? How many of us grew up revering names such as Bob Rule, Tom Meschery, Walt Hazzard, Al Bianchi? Later, we welcomed Fred Brown, Bill Russell, Slick Watts. Is Kennedy McIntosh the greatest Sonic name ever? Or Plummer Lott? Or Olumide Oyedeji? The fun reached its zenith with the 1979 NBA Championship season, with Brown, Jack Sikma, Dennis Johnson, Gus Williams. The area came alive again, when George Karl, Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp battled Michael Jordan and the Bulls for the NBA title in 1996. Are they just names, now that the NBA Board of Governors approved the team's move to Oklahoma City by a vote of 28-2? So much history. So many thrills. Does this mean the end? Do the names mean nothing now? All because Clay Bennett's lies? David Stern's smugness? Howard Schultz's gullibility and desperation to sell to, well, anybody? I don't know about you, but Friday's vote felt like a slap in the face. It felt like the last 41 years never happened. It felt easy; erased by bad people. Too easy -- too easy to be done to a fan base that loved this team for 41 years. Remember, none of this happened because of anything the fans did or didn't do. It's because of an outdated building neglected by those in a position to help but didn't. Why does this feel like it has a finality to it? Oh yes, we'll know in June whether Bennett will be forced to honor the last two years of the team's lease at KeyArena. But will the area powers that be take the time to finally take positive action to either keep the Sonics here? Do they have it in them to yank one of the many financially ailing NBA franchises out of its city? Or will it be business as usual: too few moves made too late and too half-heartedly, if any moves are made at all? I'm trying to find someone who actually looked good through this fiasco. I can't. Not House Speaker Frank Chopp, who cut down every proposal. Not City Councilman Nick Licata, who said the Sonics carried no cultural value. Not Bennett, who now says the "I am a man possessed" passage in an incriminating e-mail meant he was a man possessed to keep the team in Seattle. If you believe that, I have a bridge in Fremont you can have on the cheap. Not Gov. Chris Gregoire, who always seemed two steps behind. Not Stern, who must be the subject of embarrassing photos that Bennett has in his possession. That's the only reason I can think of that explains Stern's blind support of Bennett's fraudulent tactics. Not the Oklahoma City basketball fans who have a conscience. How can they feel proud of the way Bennett's theft of the Sonics came down? How can they avoid feeling the same will be done to them when the franchise bleeds red ink? It will take a miracle now. Of course, we've seen miracles happen in the past with the Mariners and the Seahawks. But then, are there any more Paul Allens out there? The M's are here primarily because of an extraordinary 1995 season. Does this area have a third miracle in it? It doesn't if it first doesn't see a favorable ruling by a federal judge in the litigation that begins June 16. If the ruling forces Bennett to honor the lease until 2010, it buys local powers some time to formulate a palatable proposal. Yet, we've had 10 years to put together plans to keep the team here, and look where we are now. Another possibility: In the event the ruling anchors his team here, Bennett throws another buyout offer to the city that contains too many crooked numbers to refuse. The city already has turned down $26 million. Is it beneath Bennett, who overpaid terribly to land the team at $350 million, to toss in another $40 million or $50 million to ditch the lease? Answer: If forced to, it is fully within Bennett to make an offer the city can't refuse. And everyone, especially a city government, has a price. Sometimes, the bad guys win. Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. For Sleeper[`]s blog, "Dangling Participles," go to www.heraldnet.com/danglingparticiples.

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