Sporting Madness

I managed to make it down to Seattle yesterday to catch the Mariners knock off the Rangers 5-3 [ Lookout Landing ], and thought I'd present a few thoughts on the game in classic GBU style . They follow below: - The Good: - Ichiro Suzuki : Ichiro was impressive as usual, going two-for-five while making several outstanding plays defensively. He scored from first with an impressive burst of speed around on a Jose Lopez double, and pulled off a nice unusual slide at home to boot, staying away from the tag while throwing his arm out and catching the corner of the plate. However, perhaps his best moment of the day was his RBI single; he took a swing and didn't get much on it, hitting the ball lightly to the pitcher, but managed to beat the throw to first with an impressive sprint. He's having an incredible season so far at the age of 35, with a career-best .480 slugging percentage, .873 OPS and 133 OPS+, a .362 batting average (second-highest of his career), and .393 on-base p...

Well, the details of the Sonics settlement have finally come out [Sharon Pian Chan and Jim Brunner, The Seattle Times ], and it looks like they will in fact be moving to Oklahoma City sooner rather than later in exchange for $75 million dollars ($45 million if the city gets another NBA team within five years). That's much better than the $26.5 million Bennett offered in February before the trial, but it leaves me with plenty of questions for the city. Their whole case revolved around the idea of "specific performance", the idea that money alone could not replace an NBA team. What about the passionate testimony from writer and fan Sherman Alexie? What about Mayor Nickels' testimony [Greg Johns, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ] about being an eternal optimist, where he said "A lot can happen in two years?" What about the testimony from economist Andrew Zimbalist, who said he couldn't put a dollar value on what the Sonics bring to the community? What ab...

Photo: Steven Pyeatt of Save Our Sonics. [Photo from http://stevenpyeatt.com/ ]. As part of the preparation for Judge Pechman's decision [Greg Johns, Seattle Post-Intelligencer ] later today on the future of the Sonics, here's the next installment of On the Ground, featuring an interview with Steven Pyeatt, the co-founder of Save our Sonics . Steven has been one of the most influential figures in the fight to keep the team in Seattle, working with co-founder Brian Robinson and the impressive team they've pulled together (including former Sonics star Slick Watts). He's helped organize rallies (including the one I covered ), e-mail and letter-writing campaigns, and much, much more. If the Sonics do survive in Seattle, his efforts will be a large part of the reason why. There's an excellent Seattle Times profile on him by Ashley Bach. Anyways, here's my questions and his answers. Q: What’s the mood like in Seattle? Do people still feel there’s a chance to keep...

Photo: Jim Moore, Seattle Post-Intelligencer sports columnist. [Photo from the Seattle Post-Inthttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif elligencer ]. Without further ado, I present the second installment in the On the Ground interview series. The subject this time is Seattle Post-Intelligencer sports columnist, . Here's my questions and his answers: Q: What’s the mood like in Seattle? Do people still feel there’s a chance to keep the franchise, or are they resigned to losing it? A: The mood here isn't good. I think people are hopeful that the city has a good case but are more resigned to the thought that the Sonics will win and leave town soon. Q: Do you think the rallies and popular expressions of support will make any difference in the end? A: No, I don't think the rallies or fan support matters. Hate to say that, but I don't. The judge even intimated during the trial that fan sentiment wasn't her chief concern. Q: What do you think was the city’s strongest argu...

Photo: Seth Kolloen, the executive editor of Sports Northwest Magazine and founder and sole proprietor of Enjoy The Enjoyment. [Photo from Enjoy The Enjoyment ]. One of the rules of journalism in general is that you get a better story if you're at the event instead of writing about it from afar. That's why large papers have bureaus all over the world, and also why they have beat reporters travel with teams instead of watching the games on TV and writing about them from home. I've found this to be true with my own writing at the Journal : when I've taken road trips with teams, I can usually come up with something much more interesting than if I just phone the coach afterwards and ask questions based on the game summary. As with any rule, this has exceptions: Will Leitch made a very nice career out of not going to events over at Deadspin , and I'm sure his successors A.J. and Rick will keep that trend largely alive. It's quite possible to do great things wit...

(Photo from Ness at MLS Seattle : you can read his game recap here ) The Canadian national soccer team turned in a great performance against Brazil Saturday night in Seattle. They eventually fell 3-2, but they certainly proved that they deserved to be on the same pitch as one of the world's best sides (Brazil is currently ranked second in the world), something that even the stoutest Canadian fans might have questioned during the lean times. Really, the difference in the final score was only due to an ill-timed back pass from midfielder Julian de Guzman, who certainly shouldn't be treated too harshly: he had a brilliant game all around and scored a lovely second goal for Canada, proving why he's a deserving member of the side. Now, if only his brother was available as well... Still, the overall impression from the game absolutely has to be positive. Canada also could have had another goal if Issey Nakajima-Farran hadn't missed an empty net on a breakaway: he chipped Bra...

Things are looking better and better for the Sonics. The array of lawsuits against their ownership are demonstrating that even more evil lurks in Clay Bennett's computer than previously thought . As I wrote a while ago , "Given that the e-mails came out of discovery in the city lawsuit, who knows what other dirty laundry might show up to aid the various cases for keeping the Sonics?" Some more dirty laundry has in fact come tumbling out of the closet, which should push the credibility of Bennett and his group into negative numbers if it wasn't there already. The best of the newly-released e-mails, which came as part of Howard Schultz's lawsuit to unwind the sale, showed that two days before he bought the team, Bennett was already contemplating a "sweet flip" to obtain another team and move them to Oklahoma City if by some chance an arena solution materialized in Seattle. ESPN legal analyst Lester Munson had a great column stating that the new informati...

Photo: Clay Bennett after rustling some Sonics off to Oklahoma City. Yee-haw! I came across some interesting ideas about possible ways to save NBA basketball in Seattle yesterday from columnists Art Thiel of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (thanks to Neate for the link) and Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times . Both have a similar basic premise of the city, the state and various interests like the Ballmer group sitting down with Bennett and the league to work out a way for the NBA to exist in Seattle in the long run. It's a classic "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine scenario": in return for a guaranteed expansion franchise within the next couple of years, the city agrees to drop its lawsuit and let the team go, probably convincing Howard Schultz to give up on his suit as well. This is actually a pretty good idea, given the embarrasing e-mails that showed up as part of discovery in the city's case and prompted the Schultz lawsuit: who knows what other evil ...

Today, the NBA owners voted 28-2 to allow Clayton "Buccaneer" Bennett to relocate the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City. The only franchises opposed to the move were Mark Cuban's Dallas Mavericks and Paul Allen's Portland Trail Blazers, which is disappointing: you'd think Bennett's blatant lies might have caused a few other owners to question the wisdom of this move, especially given that the idea is to relocate from the 14th largest media market to the 45th . Of course, Bennett is now claiming that it's all a big misunderstanding. As the Associated Press reported , "When he wrote, 'I am a man possessed! Will do everything we can,' he meant he was determined to find a way for the Sonics to remain in the city, Bennett contended." That might fly if your name is David Stern and you don't find it necessary to actually study e-mails by one of your ownership groups that could show misrepresentation and fraud in their purchase of a f...

Wow. Just when it looked like the earth (or the gaping pit known as Oklahoma City) was about to open up and swallow the Sonics, the Seattle Times finds solid proof that Clay Bennett, Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward have been lying through their hat all along about trying to keep the team in Seattle. City lawyers preparing to sue the Sonics if they break their lease found some fantastic e-mails between the ownership group. In terms of pure evidence of blatant lies, these easily surpasses most of the Nixon tapes and is up there with Monica Lewinsky's famous dress. Just read this exchange from April 17, 2007, during the one-year grace period where they were supposedly making every effort to stay in Seattle: Ward : "Is there any way to move here [Oklahoma City] for next season or are we doomed to have another lame duck season in Seattle?" Bennett : "I am a man possessed! Will do everything we can. Thanks for hanging with me boys, the game is getting started!" Ward ...

Note: this is another piece on the Sonics that was originally earmarked for my Journal blog, but got pulled from there due to an upcoming column on the same issue. Thought I'd put it up here: this situation deserves all the coverage I can give it, in my mind. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer finds himself in an unusual position this week. Instead of the usual vilification and curses that accompany mentions of his company, he’s now seen as a potential saviour—at least in Seattle. As the Associated Press reported Thursday, Ballmer and three other local businessmen—Costco CEO Jim Sinegal, Seattle developer Matt Griffin and wireless magnate John Stanton—have agreed to put up $150 million towards a $300-million renovation of Seattle’s Key Arena, the home of the NBA’s SuperSonics. The rest of the cost would be publicly funded. The cash would go towards adding new restaurants, stores and club space. The money’s desperately needed: owner Clay Bennett has repeatedly threatened to relocate th...