Good Riddance NBA?

You've no doubt heard that the NBA owners have scoffed at the Seattle offer for the Sacramento Kings. Oddly enough, the relocation committee is headed by Oklahoma City turncoat Clay Bennett and this Sacramento ownership group is more flimsy then a homeless person's cardboard hut.

It looks as if the Sonics won't be coming back for the moment, and don't start talking about expansion because it isn't going to happen. Seattle fans are shocked and understandably bummed, after shops had started expanding their Gold and Green gear collections and people signed up for season tickets, this is a pretty big letdown. 

But you know what? Let em go. This shows more than anything that the NBA just loves to hold cities hostage  Seattle was used as a bargaining chip to force Sacramento to scramble for a new arena. Why? Because the NBA is greedy, plain and simple. 

Both cities were fighting for the right to spend public funds for a privately-owner team. That doesn't seem right, but that feels like the standard nowadays in professional sports. What I really hope happens is that cities, with cash-strapped budgets, realize what a bunch of smoke and mirrors these owners are pulling on people, and make a stand. Take your team elsewhere, we don't need you and your high ticket prices. The day of the everyman going to an NBA game is over unless you want to sit in the back row. Look around at games and the people sitting there either got the tickets from work or are loaded with cash. They're always on their phone, telling everyone at the game. They're certainly not all sports fans. 

It's no wonder that attendance in the NBA has dropped off. It's a flawed business model and I don't think Seattle needs to be a part of it. Go buy affordable Seattle Sounders tickets instead. 

David Stern saved the league back in the 1980s, but his ego has gotten in the way. What other sport do you have the commissioner vetoing trades and helping relocate franchises that have been in a city for over 40 years? He's become meddling, out-of-touch and hurtful to the league.

And Seattle, you don't need to be a part of it. 

(If you still miss the Sonics, buy a hat. ) 

Why I hope the Kings don't come to Seattle

"NBA is back in Seattle! Well, maybe it is. Ok, it might not be now."

Those are the emotions that have gone through the Emerald City since it was announced a few months ago that Chris Hansen was buying the Sacramento Kings.

At first the city exploded with excitement and then the NBA stepped in and said the sale wasn't final and it was still up to the league if they grant the sale and relocation of the franchise.

The owners met today and it appears that a decision may still be a few weeks away from being made about the fate of the team.

And I must say, I hope they don't come to Seattle.

Now calm down. Before you burn me at the stake, hear me out.

I've grown up near Seattle and lived near the city almost my entire life. I love Seattle sports. I was a Seahawks fan before it was "cool", I root for the Mariners through all their highs and lows (and mainly they have lows) and I was a HUGE Sonics fan. When I was growing up I would stay up past my bedtime just to find out how the game ended.

So don't call me a Seattle hater.

(Get an early start on the Seattle Sonics bandwagon HERE)

However, being a Sonics fan I was here when the team was ripped away from the city and taken to Oklahoma City and rebranded as the Thunder. It plain sucked. And as a fan there was nothing I could do because I wasn't a multi-billionaire. I was just a fan. A poor fan watching the NBA team I grew up watching being taken away.

And now Seattle wants to do that to another city and that fanbase.

Sure it'd be easy for me to say "Screw them! Give us a team!" But I can't bring myself to do that. Mainly because I cringe everytime I turn on the TV and OKC is playing. I hope they lose every game and it makes me sick to see them with the number one seed in the West.

And that's how Sacramento would feel toward Seattle. The only difference is that I live in Seattle and can drown my NBA sorrows in professional football (Seahawks), professional baseball (Mariners), professional soccer (Sounders FC), college sports (University of Washington) and a plethora of minor league teams.

Take the Kings from Sacramento and those fans have...well...paying high taxes of California. I feel bad for them.

And to top it off, if Seattle gets the Kings they're just going to erase almost 70 years of history and re-name them the "Sonics" and pretend the team just took a six year hiatus. Which from a sports history point I think is lame. The Sonics are in Oklahoma City. Enough.

So as much as I'd love to see Seattle get an NBA team, I don't want it to come at the expense of another city. I'd like to think the NBA could make an exception and give Seattle an expansion team. That way both cities win. However, if the Kings do move to Seattle, I will support the Sonics version 2.0.

And here's how I see it going down. The NBA wants their money, so the NBA lets Hansen buy the Kings and move them. Then the NBA allows Sacramento to buy an expansion team. That way the league gets more money! Makes sense to me. (rolls eyes)

Anyway, when I want my NBA fix I'll watch a young, talented and growing team in that city down South of here. They're building something in the Rose City. And I don't mind watching it while I wait for OKC to give us our team back.

 (Buy your Seattle Sonics gear HERE)

Seattle getting the Key Arena ready for the Sonics

While Sacramento and Seattle are still kind of battling over the fate of the Kings, the Emerald City has already decided to roll out the red carpet. Sacramento keeps coming up with these mysterious owners that still are $350 million short of the Kings' asking price, which is quite laughable, but Seattle is now scheduling Key Arena for the Sonics.

Seattle officials are blocking out space for the Sonics to play at KeyArena in the 2013-14 National Basketball Association season, now that a legal challenge to the deal for a new arena has been dismissed.

Scheduling the Sonics includes working around the seasons of current tenants at the Key, including the Seattle Storm and the Seattle University Redhawks.

Those prospective schedules also depend on the NBA Board of Governors voting to approve a sale of the Sacramento Kings to the Seattle investment group headed by Chris Hansen and to move the team to Seattle. Both decisions could come at the Board of Governors meeting April 18.

Mayor Mike McGinn, who was approached by Hansen 18 months ago about a potential public-private partnership to build a new arena, expressed excitement that a team could be playing at KeyArena in a matter of months.

“We’re working hard to get Key ready by this fall,” he said. “We’re negotiating with Hansen’s people now about physical improvements. It could all happen relatively soon.”

That's about as real as you can get when people start talking about the Sonics actually coming back. I personally think that this is a done deal and there will be NBA basketball next season in the Emerald City. I will, no doubt, be buying  tickets.

(Get your Sonics hat now)

Things aren't going so well for Robert Swift

Remember the Sonics' former savior Robert Swift? He was Seattle's first round draft pick in 2004 right out of college (Back when the NBA Draft had morphed into a weird "pick any kid you want from high school" phase) and had his best year in 2005 when he averaged 5 rebounds and 6 rebounds a game.

Now? Not so good. The Thunder renounced their rights to Swift in 2009, and he joined the NBDL Bakersfield Jam but played only two games and left because of personal reasons. He played in Japan between 2010-11 but has since run into even more trouble.

Swift's house was recently foreclosed despite him making an estimated $20 million during his NBA career. He refuses to leave, however, and the new home owner has had to deal with it.

"And it seems like a very sad story and I definitely feel for him," said the new owner, who wanted to hide her identity.

She thought she knew what she was getting when she bought the foreclosed home in January.

Cans of beer dot the grass outside the home. A bullet hole pierced the garage window at some point.

"Cars that don't look like they've moved in a long time," she noted.

Water festers in buckets outside of what was once a million dollar home in a wealthy Eastside suburb.

Well I guess the new Sonics won't be needing him for any more savior duties...

(Here's a Robert Swift autographed card, worth all of the 13 dollars)

New Orleans Pelicans logo

 The New Orleans Hornets have been rumored to be changing their name to the Pelicans for a while now. Today their new logo was unveiled.

Here's the video that leaked. It's actually pretty interesting.

Here are the official logos from the Pelicans new site. And if you're a fan you can buy some gear there too.

Personally I think the logo is pretty cool. I don't really care for the colors but I guess they have meaning to the city.
Blue, gold and red are the colors of the city flag of New Orleans. But I don't think they are a very great combo. We'll have to see what they uniforms look like.

Shawn Kemp thinks Sonics fans are better than Kings fans

Naturally, Kemp was on Seattle Radio when he said that, but hey! The man is one of the greatest NBA Jam players ever so how can you question him? Kemp feels bad that the people of Sacramento are losing their NBA team, but thinks that the Sonics have better fans. So go eff yourself Kings fans.

I think we should have sympathy for some of the Sacramento Kings fans, because they have some good fans in that area. We just have bigger and better fans in this northwest area.

Kemp also made a valid point that the Sacramento situation just reeks of the Seattle situation just a few years ago. That doesn't bode well for Kings fans. He does have a ton of respect (as I think most people do) for Sac. mayor Kevin Johnson.

As we saw the Sonics go through this a few years ago, lose their team, and the fans were hurting. … You'll probably see the same thing in Sacramento. He's not trying to have that on his record, so he's going to try to do everything possible to get a deal done and try to change some things. But I just think it's a little bit too late.

There are some serious ethical questions for Sonics fans at the thought of stealing another city's team, but in this current climate of the NBA - is this the only way? Maybe.

(To buy some Kings gear before its gone, click here.)

Could the Sonics be back?

Could it be? Are the Sonics coming back?

News broke yesterday that a possible deal by the Chris Hanson investment group to buy the Sacramento Kings is in the works. The Kings have had their own arena problems, have royally sucked the past few years and the Maloof brothers are ready to sell. So much so that the Sonics could be back in the Key Arena for the 2013-14 season.

There is, however, the old business of stealing another cities team that Sonics' fans will have on their minds.

In Seattle, there was excitement that the NBA might return after its exit five years ago. In Sacramento, there was despair among fans and defiance from public officials, punctuated by Mayor Kevin Johnson vowing to fight to keep the team in town.

"It's a significant day for the community because it appears it's the first day that the Sacramento Kings are for sale," Johnson said at a news conference.

Johnson, a former NBA player, said that if the report is true, it marks an opportunity for his city to find local buyers to keep the team in Sacramento. Indeed, the team's owners, the Maloof family, have never stated publicly the team is for sale, instead pursuing options in the past to secure a new arena or move the team themselves.

Keep in mind that a new arena in Seattle hasn't even started to be built, and that it will suck up $200 million in public funds. There is also several groups in the city opposing it being built (including the Mariners). While it will get paid back from revenues from the arena... isn't Seattle already paying for other sports venues for other professional teams?

While this should be time to rejoice, nothing it set in stone yet. There's a lot of tape to go through and a lot of obstacles still to overcome. If they do move here... does the Kings' team history come with them, because how many NBA fans rooted for the Kings when they faced the Lakers in players in the early 2000s? And how many Doug Christie jokes can we make?

(If you want to get ready, buy some Sonics gear here.)

Michael Jordan banned from golf course

The greatest basketball player of all time was kicked off a golf course because he was wearing cargo shorts. In other news, golf courses need to realize its 2012 and 1902.

(I'm talking about Michael Jordan, the guy that was on this poster)

The La Gorce Country Club in Miami, Florida, reportedly kicked Jordan off the links in the middle of his game and banned him from ever returning because he violated the club's strict dress code. 

Not even Jordan, with his six NBA championship rings, reported half-billion-dollar fortune and worldwide recognition, could escape the policy at the golf course that demands a tucked in collared shirt and Bermuda shorts.

My question is why? Wouldn't the golf course benefit from having a celebrity on the links? Do you think any of the other golfers would complain that Michael Jordan had cargo shorts on? Its not like he's out there dressed like Homer Simpson.

(And if you're a Jordan fan, get this)

Dress Codes are incredibly stupid on golf courses because very rarely do you see other golfers outside of your group up close and person except at the pro shop or waiting for somebody to play through. But in true rich person fashion, if somebody else is doing something they don't do, it's a problem. I'm wishing Michael would just buy the golf course (He can afford it).

(Michael Jordan Jersey - you know you want one)