by Timothy Huang

Created on: December 21, 2007

The topic seems so complex, and taking the title in face value alone is simply beyond my understanding. But reading the other two articles on this topic, I can say that that this is only a battle between the basketball franchise owners versus the hapless fans in Seattle. The complex stuff is here.

Background

I find that the situation in Seattle is so similar to Detroit, home of my favorite MLB team, the Tigers. Every Tiger fan knows that Tiger Stadium only requires a renovation to continue serving the Tigers. Not the owners. The owners forced the government to fund a new stadium called "Comerica Park". The new grounds indeed earned revenue for the owners but we Tigers fans are really blue. We lost an iconic venue to greed.

Similarly, around Metro Detroit, the Lions lost Silverdome and gained a new stadium, due to greed; the Pistons got a new arena, also due to greed; across the continent, the Lakers have another new arena that is served by this sort of greed. Since Seattle is currently stretched after giving money to pay for the two replacements (not one, because different sports have different needs as time progresses) and it had wasted 70+ million dollars into even more wants for a new renovation/replacement, it can only be too similar like Los Angeles: it allows the Sonics to leave (in LA, we might as well replace Sonics with the Rams).

Owners' roles

The owners of the Seattle basketball teams, from the past to the present, are too profit-oriented. They gag up the governments, as they have did since Civil War (1865). In fact, governments and corporations are intertwined since that point. All citizens of United States heartbroken by the exploitations of the worst actions the governments and big corporations did to the people. An important pillar in Seattle's culture will be gone - basketball. This is not unlike Los Angeles without the Rams. The local governments are simply gagged or blinded or even tricked into funding new stadiums. The governments in all the cities hosting National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) are tricked for building most of the current stadiums in use in NFL as well as the MLB. But as least in all cities that had NFL or MLB (except for Los Angeles), while the taxpayers suffer through paying more taxes, they have new stadiums, as focal points for their communities.

Voters keep asking themselves, why should we pay for corporate raiders' lofty demands and enslave ourselves to more corporate misery? The governments are the best representatives of the people. Hence in Seattle's case, the government is throwing in the towel, in the case of the Seattle basketball teams.

Fans coping

But many of the voters are also Sonics fans. They might not want to pay for their teams' new stadium. But they are even more unwilling to see their team move - in this case, to the Okies. (No insult meant here, but I am writing from a Sonics' and Storm fan's viewpoint, though I am a Laker fan actually)

What is more complex than the future? What is the future beyond the Sonics and Storm? Can the Seattle basketball fans patiently wait for dawn to break, for a team from Los Angeles (Clippers) or Milwaukee (Bucks) to arrive? Or even till the next expansion? Who will build the new stadium or arena for the new team(s)? Will they continue to support Seattle basketball?

It is actually complex enough to watch greedy owners spar with the helpless governments and people. Let us just sit back, support other basketball teams more worthy to support (like my Lakers) and grieve later for the loss of a wonderful basketball team in the Pacific Northwest, left with only the Trailblazers. Sigh.

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