I don’t tend to talk much about sports here—I do that other places (some of them listed to the left) where the conversation is already going on—but as a long-time fan of the Seattle SuperSonics (one of my earliest memories is of listening to part of the 1979 NBA Finals with my dad) I had to say this: Thank you, Bill Simmons.
In six years of writing for ESPN.com, this is the longest piece I’ve ever sent to my editors — nearly 15,000 words of anguished e-mails from Sonics fans around the country. I spent the past 24 hours sifting through them and whittling them down the best I could. Don’t print this baby out. Read it, skim through it, do whatever you need to do. But definitely check it out.
Here’s why the Seattle situation should matter to everyone who cares about sports: After being part of the city for 41 years, the Sonics are being stolen away for dubious reasons while every NBA owner and executive allows it to happen, including David Stern, the guy who’s supposed to be policing this stuff. I think it’s reprehensible to watch someone hijack a franchise away from the people who cared about the team and loved it and nurtured it through the years. It belittles not just the good people of Seattle, but everyone who loves sports and believes it provides a unique and valuable connection for a city, a community, family members and friends.
Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to let an entire fanbase speak. In the end, thanks to the efforts of Save Our Sonics (the brainchild of Brian Robinson, Steven Pyeatt, and the other folks behind SonicsCentral—Sonics fans everywhere owe those guys a huge debt of gratitude), with special appreciation for the work of Seattle city attorney Tom Carr, I continue to believe that Seattle will not lose its team; still, the ongoing threats and arrogance and insults and mendacity we’ve had to suffer from Clay Bennett and his ownership group, and the possibility that despite everyone’s best efforts and all the emotional and financial support invested in this team over the past four decades, these robber barons might actually be allowed to steal our team, have taken a real toll. Thank you, Bill, for letting us speak.Update: Here’s his follow-up. I don’t agree with every idea he has, but I love the walk-on idea; and again, thanks to Bill Simmons for giving us a voice and a platform.