It isn’t like any other day this city has seen.

Just yesterday, Sonics owner Clay Bennett ripped the struggling yet deeply-rooted Sonics team from the temperate jungle of downtown Seattle.  For many fans of the former team, hearing the colors and name will stay in Seattle just creates a bigger problem—what to do now.

It isn’t as if there is an easy transition.  So many fans celebrated the 41 years of Sonics basketball.  So many fans didn’t realize this day was about to come.  So many fans are now left without a team, rain-bathing in distaste, despair, and uncertainty.

Nothing will quell the sadness in the hearts of these supporters, just as nothing will dilute the margarita of emotion the Mothers of the Plaza feel when thinking about their lost children.  We lost our prodigal son, our only truly successful, championship-winning child—and even if we adopt another team in the future, it will never be the same.

At this point, the fans of Seattle have options at an individual level.  Namely, each individual has to decide how he or she is going to go about dealing with professional basketball in the future.  Here are some opportunities.

The most obvious and understandable option for the former Sonic fan is to drop interest in the NBA altogether.  Though they would have to give up a professional sport they once loved, the Washington Huskies are consistently improving and are close to reclaiming some sort of dominance in the Pac-10.

Basketball is also in full force on the local level.  Seattle's hallmark is producing future stars, including 2006 NBA Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy, 2006 Dunk Contest Winner Nate Robinson, and national top-ranked freshmen like Tony Wroten.

The sentiment is understandable.  David Stern and the NBA, at best, were apathetic toward the cultural upheaval during relocation, and one could even argue they connived and held grudges toward an unproductive, yet completely supportive city.

And what could be worse than seeing the Oklahoma City Thunder play, wearing their disgusting colors (what else would they be?) and beating the Portland Trailblazers with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and the rest of the cast we were fooled into believing would become Seattle sports legends?

On the other hand, a true basketball fan won’t give up the sport without a fight, and there exist two plausible options to satisfying this desire.

The Sonic fan could continue to support what is rightfully theirs, no matter what uniform or home stadium they are playing in.  The youngest team in the league has too much potential in this league for the average fan to ignore.

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