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Sports fans should not forget what the NBA is doing to Seattle By Jim Krencik For everything that is going well in the NBA, there is one thing that takes all the enjoyment and all the goodwill and knocks it out of the picture like a blocked shot flying into the stands. The Seattle SuperSonics have been a part of the league for 40 years. More importantly, they’ve been a part of the community, something that’s always been there, a bond between generations and neighbors. But it looks like the Emerald City will soon lose its jewel. Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and the rest of the Sonics are being painfully ripped from Washington, picked up and whisked away to Oklahoma City. The moving vans haven’t left yet, but the horrible truth has been looming ever since Clay Bennett bought the team in 2006. Bennett’s been focused on bringing basketball back to Oklahoma City, a city that embraced the relocated New Orleans Hornets after Hurricane Katrina. No doubt about it, Oklahoma City deserves a team — but not the Sonics. And if David Stern and the NBA can steal Seattle’s soul then we should all be prepared for what follows. Bennett claimed he needed a new arena to stay profitable in Seattle, but the city poured more than $70 million into renovations just 13 years ago. If owners across the country can claim that stadiums built less than two decades ago aren’t worthy, then there are numerous cities that could be held hostage. It doesn’t help that David Stern, who did a great deal to help New Orleans by hosting the All-Star Game there this season, is letting this all happen. Stern has done a greatdeal of work trying to expand the game’s reach in Europe and Asia, but his actions with Bennett are a slap in the face to those who have supported the team. Locally, we know that pain. It’s been a generation since the Braves shuffled away from Buffalo and even more since Syracuse and Rochester had teams, but the Bills have a lot in common with the Sonics. If we as fans don’t stand up to owners like Bennett, our team could be next. The NBA is notorious for moving teams, with Charlotte being one of the more recent slaps to the collective face of the fan. They got another team, and so could Seattle, but to jerk away a team with the connection the Sonics had, forcing the fans to be sports widowers for a few years before getting an expansion team, is reprehensible. |
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