After tacitly encouraging franchise-robbery in plain sight in 2008, the NBA has taken a step towards putting a team back in Seattle. With that story in mind, I ask old Sonics fans what they’ve been doing over the past 18 years to get their basketball fix. Did you turn your attention to another NBA team and/or a college team? Or, did you give up on watching basketball altogether?
I wasn’t a rabid Sonics fan, so MHO may not count for much. That said, the whole sordid mess soured me on the NBA in general so it wasn’t all that traumatic to turn it off. I may have watched a couple of Trailblazers games in the interim, but that’s about it.
ETA: And now OKC apparently wants an apology before returning the Sonics history (which I thought Seattle retained from the get-go[ne])? See General McAuliffe.
None, since the NBA ceased to exist.
That response is far too polite. I had some others in mind, but they would likely get me banned if I posted them.
I’m not a massive sports fan, and moved away from Seattle in '96, but I still remember when the Sonics were the only big-league game in town. It sucked the way the team left. I live in Boston now, and local sports fans are spoiled rotten.
I read the request for an apology from Seattle to Oklahoma City. Apparently, the writer thinks that Seattle’s anger at OKC and the Thunder is misplaced. They shouldn’t be angry at Clay Bennett, who bought the Sonics and moved them; they should be angry at Howard Schulz for being gullible enough to sell the team to an out-of-town buyer. Think about that, though. If Schulz was gullible, that must mean that Bennett led him to believe that the team wouldn’t move. We should be mad at Schulz for believing the lie, but not mad at Bennett for telling it. As a wise man once said, fuck that noise.
I’m the OP. When the Sonics left, I mostly stopped paying attention to the NBA except for glancing at the NBA Finals every year. I also followed the US men’s basketball team during the Olympics. Beyond that, when I wanted to watch basketball, I usually watched Gonzaga’s team. Not only are they the best and most consistently winning program in the Pacific Northwest, I’m also an alum of the school so I had a personal interest.
I loved the Sonics in high school. I was known for wearing my Sonics jacket every day. I watched the games, learned about all the players. I loved them. Gary Payton was by far my favorite player.
When they ceased to exist I stopped watching basketball. Maybe a college game now and then, but the NBA had no interest.