As expected, NBA owners approved moving the Sonics from Seattle to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season. I’ve got nothing really to add at the moment, I just liked the headline.
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Is there a way to start a nationwide online petition to oust David Stern?
The 3 evils, Shultz, Bennett and Stern need to get out of professional sports….what a joke they have made this all!
And what’s Bennett gonna do when OKC fans refuse a new $500 million arena after the 1st season? Oh nevermind, Stern will make that happen for him!
Good riddance.
Actually, it’s not truly over ’til the fat lady sings.
Some would say “good riddance”
Some would say, “Alas”
I will put it this way
“The NBA can stick it up their ass”
The gall of the NBA astounds me. To get pissed that taxpayers refuse to pay for the costs of a private entity? Unbelievable.
Especially when those dollars would be used to pay to build businesses which would compete directly with other local business?
Screw you NBA, thankfully you’ve made the games boring enough that saying good bye will be easy.
@3,4
Right on.
It’s one down and two to go as far as I’m concerned.
Pore Jud is dead.
It will be sad to see Seattle lose a team that the City has so strongly supported through good times and bad. But the NBA is hell bent on teaching us a lesson. Unfortunately for the NBA this is all bound collapse in on them someday in the future when they run out of cities willing to cave to their extortion attempts.
The Grizzlies moved from Vancouver (metro population 2.25 Million) to Memphis (metro population 1.2 Million). The attendance in Memphis has never reached the highs achieved in Vancouver. The Hornets left Charlotte (metro pop 2.5 Million) for New Orleans (metro pop less than 1 Million). Attendance in New Orleans has consistently ranked near the bottom of the league, and the owners have talked about moving yet again. Now the Sonics will depart Seattle (metro pop 3.25 Million) for the metropolis of Oklahoma City (metro pop 1.2 Million). And you can bet that it won’t be long before Bennett demands the 6 year old Ford Center be replaced by a brand new arena or else he’ll have to move the team. To where? Fargo ND doesn’t have a team.
LYRICS TO BASKETBALL JONES BY CHEECH AND CHONG
Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones
Got a Basketball Jones, oh baby, oo-oo-ooo
Yes, I am the victim of a Basketball Jones
Ever since I was a little baby, I always be dribblin’
In fac’, I was de baddest dribbler in the whole neighborhood
Then one day, my mama bought me a basketball
And I loved that basketball
I took that basketball with me everywhere I went
That basketball was like a basketball to me
I even put that basketball underneath my pillow
Maybe that’s why I can’t sleep at night
I need help, ladies and gentlemens
I need someone to stand beside me
I need, I need someone to set a pick for me at the free-throw line of life
Someone I can pass to
Someone to hit the open man on the give-and-go
And not end up in the popcorn machine
So cheerleaders, help me out
{cheerleaders sing repeatedly…}
(Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones)
(I got a Basketball Jones, oh baby, oo-oo-ooo)
{while Tyrone Shoelaces sings/speaks…}
Oh, that sounds so sweet
Sing it out
C’mon Coach Booty, Red Blazer, sing along with me
That be bad, honky
Yeah
I want everybody in the whole stadium to stand up and sing with us
Oh yeah, sing it out like you’re proud
All right, everybody watchin’ coast-to-coast, sing along with us
Bill Russell, sing along with us
Chick Hearn, sing along with us
Chris Schenkel, don’t sing nothin’
Oh, it feels so good
Gimme the ball
I’ll go one-on-one against the world, left-handed
I could stuff it from center court with my toes
I could jump on top of the backboard, take off a quarter, leave fifteen cents change I
could, I could dribble behind my back I got more moves than Ex-Lax I’m bad I could
dribble with my tongue Here I go down court, try to stop me You can’t stop me ’cause I
got a Basketball Jones Here I come That’s my hook shot with my eyebrow Yeah, I could
dunk it with my nose I’m, I’m bad as King Kong, gimme the ball I’m hot, I’m hot as…,
I’m hot as…, I’m hot as… uh Uh, uh, uh, uh
(Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones, Basketball Jones)
(Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones, Basketball Jones)
(Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones, Basketball Jones)
(Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones, Basketball Jones)
{fade}
re 8: I can’t wait to see how the ‘family values’ state relates to NBA basketball. Bill Bennet may be entering the field of battle in the culture wars inadvertently on the wrong side.
Not that I’m accusing Oklahomans of being racist. From what I hear, they’re OK!
How did Paul Allen vote?
Having lived about 40 miles from Oklahoma for 2 years, I say with absolute metaphysical certitude: no, they are not okay. Poor devils.
And even this very week Bennett got another $60M in welfare via some reduction in payroll taxes or something.
There’s the door, Clay.
Assuming the team is stuck here next year, a boycott might do wonders.
@ 10 Paul Allen and Maverick’s owner Mark Cuban were the only owners to vote no on moving the team. Cuban has rightly stated that moving teams out of large markets into small markets won’t be good for the future of the NBA.
Read the OKC paper online this morning. It actually reported, with a straight face, the “Oklahoma taxpayers approved a 1.25 million stadium improvement, … a committment the Seattle voters refused to make, even before the ownership change”.
No, that wasn’t the editorial pages, that was supposedly “news reporting”. They must be a Fox News affiliate.
And the comment threads just dismissed Seattle as “not caring enough to support the team”, and otherwise repeating the Bennett/Stern line, hook, line, and sinker.
I hope the NBA goes the way of the NHL – dying due to their own poor marketing decisions.
A little known fact is that OKC passed a sales tax increase to fund the upgrade of the OKC basketball arena so the Sonics can move there. This sales tax includes groceries.
So Bennett, a billionaire, is taxing poor people’s groceries to improve a venue that most poor people will never set a foot inside of.
How Christian.
Give me an address where I can mail a check.
Off Topic:
At the end of the Friday news cycle, McCain releases his tax returns. As expected, McCain’s wife made a lot more money than he did from her share of her family fortune (non-earned income, taxed at the more favorable lower rate per Republican tax strategy. Earned income is taxed higher).
But one thing had me puzzled. McCain’s income included his Senate salary, his Navy pension, social security income, and royalties on books. I haven’t been keeping up on Social Security law, but can you really draw Social Security while working full time for a significant salary?
Now where will all the Seattle parole officers go when they’re looking for their clients? Since about half the NBA seems to be comprised of thugs – the crime rate should go down in the city.
rhp @ 17
I believe all of McCain’s book royalties go to charity. Also, he donates to charity the amount of the Congressional pay increase that he opposed.
I’m all for not funding public facilities that also house sports teams (Key Arena is multi-purpose, BTW). By the same token, I expect that not one thin dime of public money is spent on public “art” or any facilities used by the arts community where they do not pay full market rates and provide a direct, positive financial return on the public’s investment comparable to that of any commercial entity using the facility. In fact, if you want to block off some streets for a fair or fesitival, expect to pay whatever a private company would have to pay if they were doing the same thing. I don’t want my transpo tax dollars supporting some Lefty’s need to buy more tie-dyed T-shirts.
The NBA is a house of prostitution. Team owners are pimps and David Stern is their whore.
I’m happy to see Nickels do the right thing. I have loved watching the Sonics since I was a kid, but we’re much better off not spending more tax dollars on corporate welfare.
The only people getting hurt here are the NBA fans and the taxpayers in OKC. Nothing against OKC, but they just their win will ultimately be their loss.
Expect to see more teams move out of their cities into C markets. This move makes Stern look like the idiot he is.
Now that your pockets have been picked clean by the oil companies, get ready for your natural gas bills to double.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....b_page_one
Roger Rabbit Commentary: But hey, to every dark cloud there’s a silver lining — I got my gas drilling stock dirt cheap.
@19
Oh yea, McCain’s a real saint. Maybe the Pope will sprinkle on him to make it official. C’mon do the math..if your wife makes a hundred million a year your income would be $400k in a 4% CD, taxed at 15%. That’s a net of $340k while your wad doesn’t get touched. And don’t forget, he has the best employee health care in the country. St. John the fuckin’ Benevolent.
I found a free petition site where I can create a petition to oust Sterns….think I could get enough signatures or would it be a waste of time? Thoughts?
17.
I am not an expert in any way, but I’m pretty sure Social Security starts automatically at a certain age.
re 20: What if ‘private’ live sex shows in Key Arena hit all the benchmarks you propose? Would you still be in favor?
Why?
Why not?
But well we do have Gregoire, and Nichols, and Sims, and Cantwell, and Murray in this state now a finally rootin for those lost Sonics
Bye Bye!
Who’s next
We can now fill these auditoriums up with sewage and save Trillions over Bright(Dumb)water!
We’ll even throw in a few pennies for ART
How bout that!
What is the point of your question? That seems to be more of a zoning issue.
I’m merely saying that if you don’t want your tax dollars helping to pay for a facility that is SOMETIMES used by the Sonics, among other events, I don’t want my tax dollars going toward public “art” or for any facility or resources that are used by the “arts” at less than full market rates.
The Cultural Development Authority of King County? $12 MILLION in PUBLIC MONEY in 2006… How many hungry kids could you feed for that money? How many teachers could you hire? How many potholes could you fix? Instead, that money goes to “artists” who simply take $50 worth of junkyard finds, weld it together, spray paint it and call it a $50,000 “installation” of “art.”
29 TRM
I guess then if the city and county were to come to you first to ask which spending you approve of, that everything would be all right.
You’re certainly entitled to your opinion.
My opinion is that you wouldn’t know art if it fell on you. And that this makes you not qualified to pass judgment. Just my opinion.
26 – right, SS is not means tested. It is marketed by the government as a retirement plan that you pay into while working and collect when you reach 65 (or sooner depending on how you want to collect).
Warren Buffet collects SS. Bill Gates III will too in a decade or so.
31
It is marketed by the government as a retirement plan that you pay into while working and collect when you reach 65 (or sooner depending on how you want to collect)
Wrong. It simply is a retirement security plan that you pay into while working and collect when you reach or exceed the legal age limit. It is not “marketed” in any way.
Maybe Queen Gregoire, King Simms and Bosshog Nickels could move with the team to Oklahoma City.
@26 Social Security doesn’t start automatically at any age. You have to apply for it. If you don’t ask for it, you won’t get it.
Dear Mr. Real Mark:
You mean you don’t think the Bergen Place “trees” are pretty? What about the statue of Leif Ericson at Shilshole?
What about the Washington monument?
What about Monument Park, Utah? Isn’t it all art?
Don’t you realize that other people are smarter than you so when we spend %40 milion on the opera or the symphony you are supposed to get your ass down there and learn how to appreciate that smarter-person music, instead of listening to JAy Z or Chery Crow or the Doors in your car? Or playing video games?
Btw I challenge you to find public art that is only $50,000. I think that proposed jet fighter art thingy in the proposed light rail station was only $550,000. Peanuts.
I did like how Freddy Brown at the last minute stepped up with a proposal for a Privately-Financed Arena, that represents a part of the SuperSonics I wished was still around. The team that brought the city it’s first Professional Title since the 1917 Seattle Metropolitans won the Stanley Cup.(That’s right, the Stanley Cup, now the championship trophy of the National Hockey League).
DL @ 30
I will write verrrry slowwwwly so that you understand. The issue is the use of public money for ANY non-essential services — whether they are sports or “art” or whatever. Furthermore, many of these “art” pieces give the “artist” quite a hefty payday.
A lot of the “art” that goes up in Seattle makes me think of a prank that Spy Magazine pulled many years ago. They rented a fancy New York gallery and asked schoolkids to crank out some quick “art.” They then invited the typical know-it-all art crowd to an exclusive show (without revealing the artists) and secretly recorded their comments. It was amazing that these art critics and others saw how “the artist shows a skillful mastery of color and space” or “the artist demonstrates the deep pains and joys of a life richly-lived.” Those weren’t the exact comments, but I think you can get the picture.
Montana @ 35
The Bergen Place trees? Uhhh… no. My kids could’ve come up with those.
As for the Opera or Symphony, when was the last time YOU were at Benaroya? Personally, I was there a couple of weeks ago for Nadja Salerno-Sonenberg and will be going again in June to hear Mahler’s 6th. Admittedly, the last opera I attended was the Ring cycle some years ago. Usually not my cup of tea.
And, Mr/Ms Smartass, I don’t care for ANY of the performers you mention and I rarely play video games.
I used the conservative $50K simply to keep someone from saying “not every sculpture is a half-million dollars.” But while we’re on the topic… a HALF MILLION DOLLARS for a sculputure that THE NEIGHBORHOOD DOESN’T WANT. At least a multi-millionaire NBA player can do something few in the world can do as well. The Cap Hill jet “artist” is merely doing what a common thug can do — grand theft.
re 37: Why is art non-essential? Define non-essential.
Non-essential is not defined as something you don’t care for. Some might find medical services for injured vets non-essential — and I will say this verry sloooooowly — they wil all be Republicans (perhaps diaper-wearing whoremonger Republicans).
@ 39
I’d be willing to bet that TRM would piss and moan if the city stopped mowing the grass on boulevards. Some aesthetic improvements are considered “essential,” but others are not. Don’t expect a reasonable distinction.
Of course, the discussion on aesthetics completely ignores the difference between buying a few pieces of art from artists and using taxes to fund a private enterprise run by someone who is already rich enough to own a professional sports franchise. The two are very different, and it’s quite reasonable to have a different stance on both.
@24 Do the math again.
HP @ 39
“Non-essential” is something the public can reasonably do without. Public art is nowhere near the same category as roads, police, etc.
I was almost tempted to engage you in a reasonable debate of “essential” government services, but your BS comment about injured vets quickly put an end to that idea. Remember that it was YOUR side of the aisle that spit on them after Vietnam and it IS your side of the aisle that I have personally heard taunt (“baby killer,” etc.) and boo soldiers in a 4th of July parade.
The only other thing I’ll add is that I think vets don’t get good enough care — and there are plenty of Republicans that DO agree with me.
DJ @ 40
Mowing the grass is at least partially a safety concern.
The taxes, BTW, aren’t to fund a private enterprise (unless, of course, you’re talking about the king’s ransom they pay to “artists” that weld and spray-paint garbage and call it “art”). The taxes are to upgrade a PUBLIC, MULTI-PURPOSE facility. Do I think team owners cry too much about facilities? Sure. (Well, other than maybe the crumbling Kingdome).
I would have FAR fewer issues with the government buying art if we weren’t talking about half-million-dollar expenditures for something the public DOESN’T WANT. It sure seems to me like these “artists” are just biding their time until they can strike it rich with some public “installation.” They spend $5K on materials and spend a couple of months of labor and… BINGO! Instant wealth! Perhaps they should be paid based on the “prevailing wage” for construction workers.
NOBODY in any of these examples is poor — the Sonics’ owners, the players, performers in the Symphony, rock bands at Bumbershoot, and the “artists” who make $500K sculputures and laugh all the way to the bank.
@ 43
And these artists attempt to extort funding from the citizenry by threatening to take their art elsewhere?
The issues are different. We can debate them if you’d like, but your attempt to equate them is ludicrous in the extreme.