Most, however, have been taken because the owners simply wanted more money than the city and the fans could (as opposed to would) fork over.

Enter the Seattle Supersonics…

I really hate it for the people of Seattle because—to the best of my knowledge—they always supported their team.  Clay Bennett wanted to move the team to his hometown—again, Oklahoma City—and there was really little that the Sonics faithful could do about it.

Bennett’s mind was made up and there was nothing that was going to keep him or the team in Seattle—not even the city’s attempts to stop the move in court.

In the end, the city had little choice but to take the settlement and try to lure another team to town in the near future.  Sure, they have their memories, but that’s about it.

As a dedicated sports fan, I know that the few professional teams that I support (the Carolina Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes, to name a few) could leave town at any time.  That is why I will pull for them, occasionally go to a game, and maybe even buy a t-shirt with their logo on it— but I will never be a true fan.

That brings me back around to where I started…

While I often complain about the prices I have to pay to get my season tickets in Knoxville, it’s part of the deal.  While I get tired of having to lose all of your best players every four years (or sooner) because of eligibility and graduation, it comes with the territory.

I will freely agree that the level of play in Neyland Stadium is not and will never be on par with the play at any of the NFL stadiums, but I can live with it.  There are a lot of peculiarities about athletic department administrations, sacred cows, and the NCAA which, at times, make following a college team maddening.  There are not many food courts in college venues.

Ignoring all of the “amateur versus professional” arguments and how that impacts the true nature of sport (and I feel that some of those arguments are amazingly powerful and meaningful), there are a lot of things about college sports which make it inferior to professional sports.

Still, when I don my orange and white, I know that no matter what happens, the University of Tennessee will always be the University of Tennessee.  I know that the same will always be the case for the Alabama Crimson Tide, Kentucky Wildcats, Georgia Bulldogs, the Tarheads, and even the Florida Gators

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