The Seattle Supersonics are History

Seattle Supersonics: A Thing of The Past

C'mon- you knew this was going to happen. Once you read that ownership of the Seattle Supersonics (off and on called the Sonics by some) had been transferred and were purchased by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett, you knew the Sonics- and their history and tradition in the city of Seattle since 1967 -were all but gone. I even resisted the opening title of Teamless in Seattle (at least from a NBA standpoint anyway).

Although the city of Seattle retains the rights, I for one would have been looking forward to the Oklahoma City Sonics. It rolls off the tongue and would have had a nice ring to it, but now apparently not only does the city of Seattle own the name and logo, but the colors as well. Some marketing person for the Oklahoma City Whatevers is going to have to come up with a crafty new nickname and logo- and quickly.

Admit it though- for those of you who care -it is a relief from watching those displaced New Orleans Hornets games with”NO/OK” or “NO/OKC” on your screen when they were playing the Spurs or whoever that evening. And the people of the Oklahoma City area strongly attended those games not unlike (if you don't mind the double negative) the Charlotte Hornets of old (to think that was nearly twenty years ago) when the latter Hornets were breaking attendance records year in and year out. Now attendance problems plague the relatively-new Bobcats, but that's another story for another time.

Hopefully the trend of growth will continue at least in Oklahoma City as overall interest in the NBA across the nation continues to dip as David Stern and his crew attempt to revitalize what has been really a wild ride for the die-hard pro basketball fans over the last several years and an could-care-less attitude from the indifferent spectators. I mean really: the Spurs winning four titles in less than ten seasons (with no titles before the '98-'99 season)? The Pistons taking one and almost another (Game 7 in 2005) against- again -San Antonio? The Heat winning their first after nearly twenty years of existence? And the recent resurgence of the Lakers/Celtics NBA Finals? What more does the die-hard fan want?

As for Seattle, a team may or may not return there; there is an argument for both. The only times the Sonics ever appeared in the NBA Finals were 1978 (losing to the Bullets), 1979 (defeating the Bullets in five to win their only NBA Championship title ever (and underrated Dennis Johnson (future key Celtics point guard), named Finals MVP who was snubbed from the Hall of Fame)) and 1996, losing to- much like everyone else in the 1990s -Michael Jordan and the masterfully-dominating- no, seemingly invincible -Chicago Bulls. The new ownership even paid $45 million to have the team pay out of its lease at Key Arena and vacate seemingly overnight (but not really) to make supposedly more money in Oklahoma City.

Players like Paul Silas, Jack Sikma, Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Lenny Wilkens and (the late) Dennis Johnson all deserve to have some remembrance in NBA history, especially in a (former) NBA town and sports city like Seattle has had for forty-one years. It's hard to remember basketball legends in a town which no longer houses a basketball team. They would be all but forgotten. -Eric Eswein