Sonics gone

...or so it seems.

It was a sad day in Seattle sports. We've known almost from day one that Clayton Bennett's plan was to move the team to OKC, whether he admits it or not. But I really thought they'd play out the lease. It was a sweet deal for the city -- they pocket the lost revenue and then some, but the local (Queen Anne) businesses that benefit from 41 Sonics home days get squat. Actually they get less than squat, they get screwed.

There's so much blame to go around, it's not funny. Bennett is obviously a snake is best described by the old joke -- how do you know when he's lying; answer: his lips move. Howard Schultz, who is a smart businessman was incredibly naive in buying the Sonics and selling to an out of town owner. A lot of people want to blame the city, but I'm of two minds here. Sure the city could have done more for the Sonics. But really spending taxpayer money to subsidize improving Key Arena for the Sonics would have been a bad move. As a whole people are against it and economic studies show it doesn't make sense. And they've already spent a bunch of money on two stadiums that have better draws. So to me, the city is stuck -- they shouldn't get a penny to the Sonics owners, but if they don't the team leaves.

The Schultz suit is still out there, but to me this is one of those suits that has a lot of merit in concept -- it's pretty clear Bennett failed to act in good faith, but in the end he won't win because a court won't reverse a sale two or three years later, after some assets have been sold and the team has moved.

I'm 90% sure Seattle will get another NBA team. The Pacific Northwest is just too large to only have one team. I'm also 90% sure it won't happen in the next 5 years.

Why I Don't Watch the NBA

or at least don't watch very much.

Tim Donaghy levels some pretty serious allegations at the league about influencing the outcome of games. Donaghy isn't exactly what we'd consider a fine, upstanding citizen and obviously we should believe this just because he says it's true. However one of three things are true:

1. Donaghy's statements are 90% truth. Maybe he doesn't remember details exactly or maybe he exaggerated a bit.
2. There's some basis to what he says -- some conversations between the league and the officials on how to call specific games, some things he was told though perhaps misunderstood -- but the specific examples are made up or speculation.
3. Donaghy made the whole thing up.

David Stern wants you to believe #3. In fact the league's response is to attack Donaghy's character rather than try to defend or interpret the incidents. Does anyone who's watched the NBA really believe option #3 represents reality. While they won't back Donaghy directly (good choice), Phil Jackson and Jeff van Gundy acknowledge they don't believe #3.

We ALL know there different rules for superstars in the NBA. The Piston's "Jordan Rules" was always a double-entendre. Even if the league won't admit it, every TV commentator talks openly about it. The stars get protected -- the fans pay big $ to see them play or watch them on TV and really it's good for the league -- though it's clearly dishonest officiating.

Do I think the NBA is fixed -- predetermined like "pro wrestling"? No. But as far back as the year Jordan retired and the Bulls couldn't get a call, I've wondered if the officiating was totally on the up and up. It's ten+ years and I don't remember the plays, but I remember feeling the Bulls got jobbed. Maybe it's just as subtle as the selection of officials for the game or points of emphasis. Let's say the NBA didn't want the Malone-Stockton Utah Jazz to advance in a playoff series because Salt Lake City is a small city. By assigning referees who call lots of moving screens and let the defense get away with bumping and holding on the pick and roll, they can call the game "fairly" while putting the Jazz at a disadvantage.

I've watched most of the Magic games when I was visiting family in Orlando. And I've checked scores as I've passed by a TV. The one time I actually watched was the last minute of the LA-San Antonio game which solidified my view. It was the game when the San Antonio player was tackled with 1 second to go and prevented from shooting a game-winning or game-tying shot. When many inside and outside the game played it off as "you can't blow the whistle there" or "referees shouldn't decide the game' (ironic) , I wonder how you can honestly let the defense prevent a player from taking a shot.

Did anyone think the Celtics were going to win game 5 yesterday? It may be said half in jest, but with all the hype would the NBA let this be a 5-game series!?!

2007-2008 new TV shows recap

With the TV season nearing a close -- there are a lot of season finales on my TiVo -- it's time to look back on the new shows I noted I'd be watching and see how they turned out.

I watched every episode of Chuck and Monica even watched for a while but I think she quit following when they got backed up on the TiVo. I liked the show a lot and am looking forward to next season. Dirty Sexy Money -- watched bits of a few episodes; never got into it, never taped it, really don't know if it's good or not. Gossip Girl was my favorite new show of the year. It's good, clean trash television a la Melrose Place or Beverly Hills 90210. There's actually a bit of plot but I think this replaces Veronica Mars as the best written show on TV -- great snark, great kids acting like adults and parents acting like kids, a little bit of mystery. I've seen every episode of Veronica Mars and Gossip Girl is no Veronica Mars. But GG season 1 was more enjoyable that VM season 3. It's one of those shows where you look forward to next week's episode.

Pushing Daisies was the best new concept of the season. It's a pity this show got cut short by the writers strike. Like a good cherry pie, the show is a bit sickeningly sweet at times. Monica watched every episode of me with this one too. Worth watching live. We watched the first couple of episodes of Reaper, then several episodes got backed up on our TiVo and eventually they were deleted without being watched. I'm thinking of ordering the DVD to see what I missed and figure out if I should watch next year. Aliens in America met the same fate. It conflicted with Big Bang Theory and got taped on our second TiVo and eventually deleted in favor of poker. AiA was canceled so I'll never know. Back to You was laugh-out-loud funny at times though it went downhill as they replaced the actress playing Gracie just as she became a key character. I'm sorry it won't be back next year but at least it got a full season and some closure. Apparently the ratings were good, but not great, especially after the strike but with Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, it was too expensive to produce. Not sure what happened to Return of Jezebel James. The start got delayed and we saw the second episode but never figured out when it was on.

The $4 barrier

It finally happened that I paid $4/gallon for REGULAR gas. I've been over $4/gallon for premium for a while, but had to fill up the car that takes the "cheap gas" today. It doesn't seem like that long ago we broke the $2 threshold.

That said I think higher gas prices are a good thing. While I hate to see the price of any consumable go up -- higher gas prices cost Monica and I around $1000/year which is not chump change -- my hope is that we hit the pain threshold where people change their driving behaviors.
At some point people get out of their cars and take public transit to work, move or change jobs closer to home, run fewer errands or consolidate them, or do lots of things to get cars off the road. And cars off the road and less dependence on oil is a good thing.

It's always amazing to see how a pseudo holiday reduces traffic to a non-factor. On Friday, the Friday before a three-day weekend, I hit almost no traffic going to work leaving at a time where I'd normally drive 20 MPH much of the way. If we could permanently reduce the number of cars on the road (in the Seattle area) by just 10-15%, we'd go back to rush hour and not rush hours from 7-10 and 3-7. And no one would complain about that.

Storm win home opener

The Storm won their home opener Saturday night. After playing even for almost three quarters, they finally figured out the Sky and went on a huge run. The Sky outscored the bench a lot in the final minutes so it was only a six point margin, but the game was essentially a blowout.

It was also a very emotional game as it was the first game since a local group of women calling themselves "Force 10" bought the team from Clayton Bennett. Not only were the fans thrilled to know the Storm would be here long term, but the players brought the new owners to center court to join the post game celebration circle.

The Storm have a chance to be something special this year. When Sheryl Swoopes and Yolanda Griffith are your fourth and fifth best players that's quite a team if they have something left.