R.I.P. Seattle Supersonics
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5,086 Posts
Thanks for years and years of memories. 
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5,086 Posts
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I remember when I was a kid, my grandparens lived in Tacoma, WA and took a plane down to the Bay Area. This was in the 70s when the NBA wasn't that big and the Supersonics had to fly commercial. The whole team was sitting around with everyone else waiting for their bags to come off the plane. I talked to Slick Watts and Downtown Freddy Brown for a good 20 minutes. I was probably between 5-7 years old. They asked me about basketball and all I wanted to talk about was cowboys and Indians! The Shawn Kemp - Gary Payton was also one of my favorite combos back in the day.
link.
Mouhamed Saer Sene to the rescue!
always one of my favs. so many hops. dude was one of the first to go straight to the NBA (well, there was a year at JC...)
Yeah, I read that they want a new stadium for the b-ball teams, but the old ownership wanted the same thing. And if I remember correctly, Seattle's voters are not so hot on paying for it. Maybe from there can add some details here.
And get the fuck outta here with that Sene post! Seattle just proved that they are as confused a team as the Hawks. Seattle picked up 2 young centers in last draft and now picked up even more of a project center in Sene, just like how Atlanta traded and drafted 2-guards/small forwards over and over recently.
I remember why I used to love him so much (no homo). Its a shame if they do leave. When are they gonna let Detleff Schrempf head coach?
I think it's stadium fatigue. We paid for new baseball and football fields within the last ten years, adding up to almost a billion dollars (!) in public funding. The football field was approved via a banana-republic style special election paid for by Paul Allen. The politics were heated, it was a narrow win, and the whole process was controversial.
The old Sonics ownership were completely tactless in their pursuit of a handout, and I think most people had little patience after going through the same thing with the Mariners and Hawks.
my family was saying that while the Hornets were in town last season, the city was going crazy for the games and really took them in as a "home" team.
Oklahoma may be a football state by heart, but a lot of people are really trying to prove OKC as a viable "big city" and i think part of the attempt to bring any team to OKC is to give the perception that OKC is not just the bastard city of Dallas (which in many ways it is/was) but a legitimate city in its own right.
and if they can have a Utah 'Jazz'
then perhaps a OKC 'Sonics' isn't too far a stretch.
Shawn Kemp precursor to Kevin Garnett?
That Finals against the Bulls is my favorite during the Bulls reign.
Seattle and Portland are finished as NBA cities.
I think they should lose the name if they relocate. Isnt the Supersonics related to the SkyNeedle?
i was just thinking that. I liked SuperSonics better. Why did they change?
Too wordy for today's language?
I think the name had more to do with Boeing airplane company being located nearby.
New Orleans Hornets =
Seattle Supersonics =
Oklahoma City Sonics =
In the league's interest, these moves are definitely not good. To me, it's kinda wack when teams just move to another city. If people don't come to see them, I'd rather see owners try to acquire better players, rather than move them to another city. In the end, it's business but it's sad at the same time that the NBA is becoming some kind of traveling circus. History and longevity is built through strong and continuing regional support in my mind.
I know the real heads gotta feel me on this.
The Blazers will be in Portland....at least for the near future.
The team is up for sale....but as part of a package deal with the Rose Garden. Nobody would/will purchase the Rose Garden with the team just to move it.
David Stern has said too that Portland is a basketball city....and he will guarantee the team will stay in Portland.
The Coca Cola Kings
The Starbucks SuperSonics
McDonald's Mavericks
T-Mobile Timberwolves
it's the future.
Many Japanese baseball teams do this. Yomiuri (newspaper publication) Giants and Yakult (beverage maker) Swallows are two of them. You can name them whatever the hell you want, "It's the LA Fitness Lakers playing away at Pepsi Center against the T-mobile Velociraptors." I DON'T CARE. Just keep 'em in one city.
As long as these professional teams are generating good revenue i don't see it happening. although a really good offer could entice a team to do it. i think the nba, mlb and nfl wouldn't let it go down. hockey names might be up for sale though. i see this happening more with minor league teams...
What are you on? When teams are in slump that means the whole deal is over?
Pre-Jordan Bulls never did shit...
It only takes a couple good players to take ANY TEAM to the promised land.
And Yo it's the Space Needle!
And Motown was correct about the name, Seattle is The Jet City, because of Boeing and it's long
history in Aeronautics.