OKC (Not) Sonics!
Posted by msgpdr on July 3, 2008
For those of you not from the North East, you may not be aware that the city of Seattle, as well as the state of Washington, just went minor league. Actually worse. The Sonics will be leaving Seattle — home of Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks (we will get to that), beautiful water, two mountain ranges, etc., for Oklahoma City — Okla-f’ing-home City.
Now before I rip OKC and the whole deal, I will turn the blog over to my man, GB, who has family ties to Oklahoma and is a Sooner through and through. GB’s take:
Don’t rip OKC…here’s my take:
Of course Bennett never wanted to keep the team here…That’s the whole reason they had the “best efforts for 1 year clause” in the contract. That clause was window dressing to try to salvage Schultz’s local image. But Schultz had tried for years. Local business icon couldn’t get the City or State to move an inch….so you’d have to be insane to believe for a minute that even the most heroic efforts by the out of town group were going to make any difference whatsoever…and Bennett dutifully went through the motions he was required to go through, ran into the same brick wall that Schultz ran into and got their team.
The villains here are
1. Schultz, who took the money the Okies were offering and then tried to feign surprise when they wanted to leave. He knew exactly what was happening but wanted the extra $$ they were offering. He sold his reputation in this city for a few extra million.
2. Gregoire, who basically demonstrated zero leadership and just washed her hands of the whole matter. Her quote yesterday:”Now it’s time for the state Legislature to get to work.” Huh? NOW? How about two years ago? Great work, Christine.
3. Nickels, who acted like he had the upper hand throughout and that the Sonics staying or leaving made no difference to the City
4. Licata and his ilk in the City Council that thinks investing in the city is a bad thing since it might actually help someone who isn’t homeless (or god forbid, provide a job selling peanuts to a homeless person)
The short sighted politicians (and much of the voting public in Seattle) will soon realize that spending money on a building that would benefit the city far beyond the cost of the building is just a good investment. It actually pays for itself and enables spending on their precious projects to run streetcars to nowhere, house drunks, and ensure that city parks can be peacefully used to shoot heroin.
But when Seattle Center is a ghost town next winter, and business receipts are down all around that area, and Key Arena is a giant crack den, they’ll discover it cost more than the investment in the building would have been. It’s not “tax $$ for millionaires”. It’s a business partnership with millionaires. The millionaires make money, the city makes money, everyone is happy… Could have been.
So rip OKC because their voters are stupid to vote for money for their arena to help the fat cat millionaires? Are they stupid, or do they understand investment a lot better than Seattle. Seems like Seattle is only getting it too late. Though I doubt they get it yet. Nothing will happen. The contingent money will never come and Key Arena will look like the viaduct in a few years.
I think that says it all, or at least most of it. Agree that the blame STARTS with Howard Schultz. Howie, you are already a billionaire; you cannot wait for a local offer even if less money? And how can anyone be surprised that Clay Bennett, who had brought the Hornets to OKC after Katrina, wanted to bring the Sonics to OKC.
Unlike GB, I don’t forgive Bennett. He is a carpetbagger and a disreputable bum, but it is not like his motives were not obvious to Schultz, the city of Seattle and the State legislature. But seeing that most of this was covered by my midwest correspondent, I will go on to the more pressing topic of comparing the current NBA cities.
So I am a free agent, and can play anywhere, where do I go? (Yes, I know that money, division, where I went to college all plays a part, but this is a blog read by fewer than 50 people, give me some artistic license.)
Eastern Conference
- Boston: Hmm, 17 titles, KG — I would play there
- Detroit: Ummm, ok, well, nice suburbs
- Orlando: No state tax, golf, and Disney
- Cleveland: LeBron
- Washington: Other than the President and Politicians, great city
- Toronto: Multi cultural and much better than OKC, but you know NBA players are afraid of going ‘overseas’
- Philadelphia: Close to NY and DC
- Atlanta: Two words — Cheetah III
- Indiana: This is actually OKC east
- New Jersey: Close to NY
- Chicago: Great city — MJ’s town
- Charlotte: North Carolina co-ed graduates
- New York: New York
- Milwaukee: Brats and Beer and not far from Chicago
- Miami: South Beach, unbelievable babes, sun and no state tax — should be a top 2 destination
Western Conference
- Los Angeles: California, beach, history, etc
- New Orleans: Beads and Hurricanes
- San Antonio: More charming than you might think, and has Texas babes
- Utah: Hmmm, skiing?
- Houston: Absolute dump, but has the ‘clubs’ NBA guys like and no state tax
- Phoenix: Like Atlanta west
- Dallas: Bimbo babes and Mark Cuban - perfect for NBA types
- Denver: Kind of a non descript city in some ways, but nicer than OKC
- Golden State: Bay Area, and one hour flight from LA
- Portland: 2 hour flight from LA
- Sacramento: 45 minute flight from SF
- LA Clippers: Second class citizen, but still LA
- Minnnesota: Underrated city with lots of cultural events and tons of formerly scandinavian immigration, so has to be an upgrade on OKC
- Memphis: Music and southern hotties
- OKC: So it is flat, windy, super hot or super cold. Oh, and it is a football state. I figure OKC has an advantage on a) Detroit if the player is worried about getting shot; b) Cleveland once LeBron leaves; c) Toronto as NBA guys are geographically challenged; and d) Utah unless the playa went to BYU. It is equally as desirable as a) Sacto; b) Indiana
So I figure that by the time the honeymoon wears off in OKC, Durant will be gone, along with the others, and Clay Clay will be a loser. At least I can dream!
Now we just have to hope the Hornets come to Seattle, as I would be psyched to jump on the CP3 bandwagon!
Posted in Hoop | Tagged: Clay Bennett, Sonics | No Comments »