As all sports geeks know- hearts are easily broken when it comes to rooting for your favorite team. Imagine all those poor Boston Red Sox fans that lived between 1919 to 2003 and never saw their team win a championship. Their die-hard fan base was feeling as if they were cursed.
I’ve had my heart broken over sporting events many times.
A tragic event that comes to mind is Dikembe Mutombo embracing the ball while lying on the floor of the Seattle Center Coliseum after the Denver Nuggets defeated the Sonics in the biggest upset in NBA playoff history. Dang, that still hurts me.
That was during the 1993-94 season when Michael Jordan was in his first retirement and pursuing a baseball career. It was basically the only time in which other NBA stars had a decent chance to get a ring during the "Jordan era."
Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets took both titles during that time, while leaving greats such as Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, and Gary Payton (when he was The Glove) ringless.
Losing to the Nuggets that season will always linger in my sports-infested mind. What hurts most was that it was probably the best chance the team has ever had to win a championship during my lifetime.
They did reach the NBA finals in 1996 but faced the Chicago Bulls with their all time best 72-10 record. Everyone knew they had no chance to defeat a hungry duo of Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
The Sonics were the team of my youth. Led by Payton and Shawn Kemp, they won four straight division titles and were a fixture in the playoffs. They won a championship in 1979 but unfortunately I was too young to celebrate.
Keeping faith alive for your teams is what makes us all sports nuts. When faith is gone, hell, I don’t even know what to do.
This leads me to the point of this column. The Seattle Sonics will most likely be leaving the city and moving to Oklahoma City. I know, freakin’ Oklahoma City.
I’m envious of those poor Red Sox fans that suffered through heart ache and never saw a championship. At least they had a team to root for. Sonic fans everywhere will be forced to cope with the loss of a team. This is something Seattle fans have never done.
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