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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, July 6, 2008 The Sonics move, from Nooooo! to who cares? By John Sleeper Herald columnist I wondered whether anyone here cared. Between several columns and a few blog items, I'd pretty much let it be known what I thought of the Sonics settlement. Frankly, I'm sick of writing about it, which makes me think that you're sick of reading about it. But I needed to know what you thought. We know about the Queen Anne Hill restaurant owners and bar owners whose livelihood seems on their last legs because of the city's sell-out to Clay Bennett and the pseudo, former Sonics. But what about the Snohomish County sports fan, who won't be directly affected by the move? We have little financial stake in the settlement. We weren't going to pay taxes to keep the team in Seattle, if it came to that. We won't need to find another line of work because the city of Seattle is desperately trying to fill would-be Sonics game days with the Ice Capades, Huey Lewis concerts and tractor pulls. So I talked to you. I went to bars, sit-down restaurants and fast-food joints. I bugged you in malls and at the Fourth of July parade. Some of you looked at me as if I was asking you for money, but I merely wanted a piece of your mind. Hope I didn't creep you out too badly. So who here cares? A lot of you, as it turns out. And a lot of you don't. z "It just makes me want to puke," David Saenz of Everett said. "I didn't want to believe they'd move, but inside I knew they would. Yeah, I'll miss them. I went to 10 to 20 games a year. Going to games was a huge part of life." z "No effect, no feeling," said Doug Benson of Snohomish. "I didn't go to any games, ever. I can't say I'm devastated like a lot of people seem to be." z "I read where Clay didn't consider himself victorious in this," said Nate Coffer of Lynnwood. "He was pretty subdued during his news conference Wednesday. I think a lot of it is that his conscience was bothering him. He just kept lying and lying and lying. He never wanted to keep the team here. Someday he'll have to answer for it." "It's terrible, just terrible," said Margaret Schmitt of Everett. "Our whole family grew up with the Sonics, me and all my brothers and sisters. Every game, at least three or four of us would listen to Bob Blackburn broadcast the games on the radio. It was just something we did. We'd have a house full of people every game when they won the championship against the Bullets. It hasn't been the same the last few years, but I'll miss those times." z "When I think that the closest NBA team is the Portland Trailblazers, it makes me want to throw up," said Jess Landon of Everett. "I mean, do we HAVE to root for them now? If they didn't have Brandon Roy, I wouldn't even look at them." z "I don't follow basketball," said Florence Pitt of Everett. "I'm not really a sports fan. But I feel sorry for all those people who depended on the Sonics for their businesses." z "Let 'em go," Leonard Willis of Everett said. "The players are overpaid. They play a kid's game. They lost 60-something games last year, but they still wanted a new arena. Doesn't work that way in my book." z "It sucks," said John Ballinger of Lake Stevens. "The whole thing sucks. There's so many people to blame, I don't even know where to start. Clay Bennett, the politicians, Howard Schultz, everybody. It just shows that life isn't fair." z "It's not like a family member dying, but I still feel sad," Bob Knudson of Everett said. "You'd think after 41 years, the team would be pretty safe from this kind of thing. Maybe we should start worrying about the Mariners and the Seahawks." z "I met Fred Brown once," said Pete Gaines of Everett. "Nice guy. Signed a napkin for my son. That's the stuff I'll remember, not the (bleep) from the last couple years. It's hard to believe they're gone. I never would have believed it." Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. For Sleeper[`]s blog, "Dangling Participles," go to www.heraldnet.com/danglingparticiples.

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