It’s the duty of every newspaper to tell its readers something they didn’t know. So here’s something you didn’t know: The Seattle SuperSonics are still playing professional basketball.

The Supes close out yet another desultory season tonight at home against Dallas. Buh-bye, Sonics.

(If you also don’t know what “desultory” means, here’s the definition: (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/desultory). We had to wait until everyone else went to dinner so we could look it up without taking any flak.)

Great white sharks. Salt-water crocodiles. Brown box jellyfish. Now you can add sea lions to the list of Australian creatures that can kill you while you swim (http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/07/04/18/100wir_a2sealion001.cfm).

Luckily, 13-year-old Ella Murphy is a fighter. The girl says she fended off an attacking sea lion with an assortment of kicks and punches.

The Buzz normally advocates adventurous travel, but if we ever make it to Australia, we’re sticking to the hotel swimming pool.

While we digest the Everett Silvertips’ collapse (http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/07/04/18/100spo_c1tipswrap001.cfm), here are a few other famous fades:

The 1964 Phillies: They led the National League by 6 1/2 games with 12 games to play — and then lost 10 in a row.

The 2000 Trail Blazers: They led the Lakers by 15 points in the fourth quarter of Game 7 — and then missed 13 straight shots.

The 1995 California Angels: They led the AL West by 12 in early August — and then the Mariners refused to lose.

— Mark Carlson, Herald staff