I would prefer a baseball bat covered in rusty nails, instead of, his own dick...but thats just me...

Boo hoo. Seattle needs a government subsidized sports team like we need a ugly raised highway along our waterfront.

Good riddance.

Sonics down, but that's only 1/3 of the victory. We still have the Seahocks and Mariners to kick out.

Andy @2, well that little witicism will get you invited to the next exclusive Stranger party. You'll fit right in. I hear a hatred of sports and a belief that they lead to domestic violence is a litmus test one must pass before accepting employment, but I digress.

I bet you'd be crying little crocodile tears if SAM closed down, or the Aquarium, or anything else that makes our city truly unique, just as the Mariners and Hawks do, and the Sonics did. But don't worry, I won't twist the knife. I'll just make fun of your man purse and courduroy pants.

Can the Sonics leave Seattle like TODAY? Seriously, get on a plane and fucking get out of town. We are sick of professional athletes/street thugs.

Cato - Why don't you just say n-----s. That's what you mean isn't it? I hope there's room on the plane for you.

Having left Seattle a while ago, I'm still disappointed that the Sonics didn't perform as well as they could have over the years, and I hate to see them leave.
I propose that Seattle finance a new arena with strictly private money by turning Key Arena into a Megachurch, something like the Holy Hall of Basketball or something. Megachurches rake in the dough, right? All the sports fans of the region have to do is attend HHB and put their money in the collection plate. With the size of Key Arena, they should quickly become the largest church in the state. Get a really good pastor, like Matt Pinto or Matt Pitman or Dick Vitale and there should be enough money to build an entirely new stadium in short order.

Pfeh. I could say it in six words.

"Clay Bennett: Fuck off and die."

I'll tell you what you need to fuck yourself in the ass...an enormous whozeewhatsit!!!

Cato @5: Better check your (likely) racist assumptions. Can you name for me the last Sonic player who ran afoul of the law? Didn't think so.

I was reflecting on the loss of the Supersonics last night. A total bummer. There are many villains, Bennett, Schultz, Stern, Nickels etc. Clearly, the greatest victims are the fans. The loss of an old franchise has to sting. What I simply don’t understand is, what exactly did the NBA expect of a stadium? A Taj Mahal, a Great Pyramid? Key Arena was JUST renovated within the past 12 years. It made no sense for it to go through another renovation.

Also thought it was extraordinary that we nearly lost two franchises over the past 14 years. One of the three was bound to get through. So long Supersonics.
Sad.

I always thought of "douchebag" as one word, but I'm probably wrong about that.

Looks like there will be about 10-20 fewer Escalades in Seattle soon. I'd also bet that a few uber tacky mansions will come onto the market as well.

Not that I'm screaming good riddance, but when I read something like this @4, I have to laugh:

I bet you'd be crying little crocodile tears if SAM closed down, or the Aquarium, or anything else that makes our city truly unique, just as the Mariners and Hawks do, and the Sonics did.

So remind me again, what is it about a mediocre sports franchise, which appear in most major metropolitan areas, is so unique? Seems to me we're more unique without it.

The more cities follow our lead, the less of a strangle hold the NBA, NFL, and MLB will have on the American taxpayers balls. And who knows, maybe one day they'll realize that they receive the windfall profits, so they should PAY FOR STADIUMS THEMSELVES.

@10: It was Shawn Kemp, when he beat all those school children. SLAMMING DOWN THE REIGN!!! and he was never heard from again.

So, if we follow the logic of some folks, we shouldn't subsidize any entertainment (arts, sports, etc.) with tax dollars. If they can't make it with private dollars, they shouldn't survive. Is that what you really want?

Cato...you are racist douchebag.

@16 Last time I checked, opera singers weren't paid excessive multi-million dollar contracts, so it's not exactly the same thing.

The NBA has convinced us that we need them, all in a scheme to extort the us for stadiums subsidies. They have the money, and it's about damn time we made them use it.

@18, I'm not going to get into an argument with you regarding the arts & sports. I like both! I'm simply saying some have nasty attitudes toward one or the other instead of embracing that we are a diverse people. Our society is becoming increasingly divided. No one listens to any opinion that doesn't agrees with theirs. Sad.

I can't seem to locate where Cato mentions race. Is "street thugs" a race of people?

CB: total gayface.

UP @14: You don't know much about Sonic history, do you.

Sure they sucked this past season (their last after Douchebag Bennett decapitated them by trading Ray Allen to the Celtics), but you fail to see the forest for the trees. The Sonics were a major part of this city. If you had been around in 1979, I suspect you might have even been caught up in championship fever. When the M's made their miracle run in 1995, this city fell in love with baseball for the first time, and that has continued in spite of the M's subpar performance.

I get it. You don't like subsidizing stadiums. I can sympathize with that, but your comment takes a roundhbouse right at those of us who loved the Sonics. You gloat about it, as a matter of fact. Lots of things define this city, and the Sonics, Seahawks, and Mariners are three of them. You should be intellectually honest enough to acknowledge that.

Gayface? What does that even mean?

Look on the bright side, people: they have our basketball team but they still have to live in the DUST BOWL. Oklahoma is NOT OK. It's a shithole, in fact. And if gas prices stay high some of their wealthier douchebags will get richer but their civilization will crumble.

Don't look to the 2008-09 season; wait and see what's happening down in there in five years when the novelty is worn off and their arena has lost its flash. (It's already six years old! Our "inadequate" one is only 13.) Their city is less than half the size of Seattle and a much less well-off population. I think they're going to fail there in the long run. I hope Bennett loses $500 million on this team.

I also hope that their first order of business is to sign a half-dozen major felons to play for them.

Think how much fun the players are going to have living (and visiting) Oklahoma City! "Where are we going after the game, fellas? Applebee's again, or Cracker Barrel?"

@19 Go to a UW game or something.

I'm not into the NBA, but I can understand what Frank@22 is saying. This news is a big shit sandwhich for a sizable number of folks around here. I'm bummed for you guys, and I'm bummed that the NBA treats fans and their loyalties like bargaining chits.

@20 to deny that 'street thugs' is not a reference to african americans is fucking laughable. Do your fucking homework. I heard this exact language on Fox News and from numerous Seattle liberals. Watch media coverage and comments after a fight breaks out during a basketball vs baseball game. Examine the racist assumptions that underly the use of language in our society. Oh, I realize you are gonna suggest that I check my own assumptions. As a minority, I have and continue to do so.

@24 why not just watch little kids playing basketball...it's still basketball. Your statement is so naive about what means to watch the best athletes in the world. I don't like a marginal sport like soccer, but I love watching the world cup. You are watching the best of human athletic performance.

Frank, you're absolutely right; I have no sense of the Sonics history. I've really only been watching the Sonics for the past 5 years or so, and the sentimentality of it all is something I lack... but in this instance, I happen to think that's a good thing- especially when some rich douchebag from Oklahoma is trying to use that sentimentality to extort money from us.

I get that some of you out there have fond memories of watching games with your father oh so many years ago; I have no interest in sullying those memories... Keep them, mourn them, and let's move on.

Really, what with the rate coaches and players get traded, all we ever really had of any permanence was the name- Let's be glad we still have that, and maybe someday the Sonics 2.0 may rise from the ashes.

Street thugs isnt racist. Thinking street thugs is racist is racist. So who's the stated racist? Not Cato.

now get on the plane

@26: hey now. Soccer is not a marginal sport.

How bout some stimulus checks?

I'll give you asshole commenters credit for not going overboard with the 'good riddance' bullshit you always pile on whenever the Sonics are mentioned.

While moving with my best friend to Seattle (he was traveling from Little Rock), we passed through Oklahoma City in about 15 minutes or so... and I mean passed through. It was like driving through Albuquerque.

Let Clay, David Stern and OKC rot together. Let the small market bite them all in the ass.

Yeah cause professional athletes are wonderful people...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_athletes_who_have_been_convicted_of_crimes

Nice link, Cato @33. 60-plus years of NBA basketball and ELEVEN players have been convicted of crimes? That number would probably compare favorably to cops, school teachers or people who call themselves "Cato".

Since you're clearly ignorant, you might want to know that when the lone Sonic on that list (Ruben Patterson) was accused of flashing his nanny, he was immediately traded to the Portland JailBlazers.

The JailBlazers are the only team around DOUG, you fuck, and they are going to be BADASSSSSS!!!!!!