A Week in The Life Of a Sonics Fan Circa 2006

Did I take them for granted? So I am beginning to enter the final phase of grief, acceptance. In all likelihood the Sonics will leave, the Blazers will most likely stay in Portland, the Kings probably won’t move despite their own issues involving a new arena to replace Arco Arena. Even George Shinn, owner of the New Orleans Hornets, one of the most hated and cursed owners in the NBA, even he isn’t heartless enough to play "cutsy's" and get to Oklahoma before this new Sonics ownership, leaving a city with its own grieving problems without a basketball team.

I am not at peace with this issue. I still retain some unrealistic sense of hope. I am still angry at both Schultz as well as the state government. I still can see a basketball team coming back here in the relatively near future. I am still depressed about the potential loss of the Sonics. But I accept the fact that life goes on, I have stepped away from the ledge, I am OK.

I am not a very sympathetic person in general, however I have gained a new sense of sympathy for cities like Cleveland, Houston, St. Louis, and many others (not including LA, once again, another conversation for another day). True sports fans out there, I have a word of advice for you that you may or may not take to heart. Enjoy your local team if you are a fan of them, if not, enjoy them anyways.

All three sports have always been accessible to me, and in hind-sight, I definitely took the Sonics, of all teams, for granted. I would like to thank a few very special individuals. Glove, Reign Man, Big Smooth, Detlef Shrempf, Hersey Hawkins, Dale Ellis, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, George Karl, Lenny Wilkens, I'm feeling generous today, Thank you Vin Baker, there are many more but I will not take up any time, space, or brain power thinking of the names of the other guys I would like to thank, except for one. Kevin Calabro, the long time voice of the Sonics, Thank you more than anyone. You have brought the game to life for millions of basketball fans. For those of you national fans, or owners of NFL Fever on XBOX, you have heard Kevin, but you havent really HEARD Kevin.

Seattle has always been blessed with Calabro as well as Dave Neihaus, two incredible announcers. I don’t mean to be obscure, or cause any arguments, because I am as big of a Neihaus fan as anyone in the world, however Kevin Calabro can truly bring a game to life. To any of your future ventures, Kevin, I would like to thank you for filling much of the background noise of my childhood. Lastly, I don’t know what will happen with the Sonics, my theory on life has always been, "Hope for the best, plan for the worst."

However, it is a sad state of business of sports when a man can buy a team for $200M, sell it for $350M, and while the team lost $60M in the past 5 years allegedly, the pure appreciation of the team has lead to a $90M profit for Howard Schultz, yet he claims his reason for selling the team was because he was losing money. It truly makes me sick to my stomach.

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