Bulls beat the Sonics

(Note: don't miss my Super Bowl post below this one)

Monica and I watched the visiting Bulls beat the Sonics last night. This was another item we got at a charity auction. The game was on ESPN, so I imagine anyone who cares already saw it. It was a surprisingly good game in that it was close the whole way a relatively high scoring. This is likely the only NBA game I'll attend this season.

Many years ago I used to have a six or seven game plan for Sonics tickets. I watched them a lot on TV. I sat outside in line for tickets for the NBA Finals the year they lost game 7 in Houston. I went to the NBA Finals when they played the Bulls. Then they had their mid-90s implosion.

They became the first #1 seed to lose to a #8 seed in playoffs. The next season they tore down the Coliseum to build Key Arena and played in Tacoma. After making the fans trek to Tacoma (easily an hour in rush hour traffic), they rewarded them by being upset again in the first round of the playoffs after winning the first game. When they re-signed George Karl as coach after those two disasters, I decided they were hopeless and cancelled my ticket package and gave up on this team. I still look in the paper to see how they're doing and root for them to do well when they aren't playing the Bulls. I usually go once or twice a season when offered a free ticket, though I also turn down free tickets as often as I accept. To be fair, some of that is that the NBA in general is unwatchable at times -- when the final score is 86-79 I feel like they still owe us another quarter. I don't need to see 130-125 shootouts, but I'd like to see some offense. I believe I've bought tickets to one Sonics game in the past ten years, and that was to see Michael Jordan in his last season. Charity auctions don't count because the tickets are already paid for and neither the Sonics or the original buyer get any money.

For those who don't follow the NBA, the Sonics now have the fourth worst record in the league and are working on a 12-game road losing streak.