Fan heckles Clay Bennett, shown the door
Apparently a fan voiced his opinion of the state of the Sonics to Clay Bennett at Sunday night’s Sonics game in Seattle and was shown the exit for his actions. A Seattle Times beat writer for the Sonics has a blog with the fan providing the details of the exchange. Bennett was in a suite with legendary Celtics center Bill Russell and Sonics GM Sam Presti. The fan’s name is Sam Kidder and here’s what he e-mailed the Times reporter….
“Clay Bennett, the beloved owner of the Sonics, had the gall to show up at the Sonics-Kings game tonight. When I shared my opinions with him, he had me kicked out of the building! I heard someone mention on sonicscentral that Bennett would be at the game tonight, so I looked for him in the luxury boxes. I spotted him in the box above section 127, sitting with Presti and Bill Russell. Of course my girlfriend and I moved over to the seats right below him. I looked up at him and started chatting with him. Here’s the dialogue that followed…
Sam: Clay, what’s up? You’re a thief Clay!
Clay: shrugs, smirks and blows me a kiss (I swear to God this is no lie)
Sam: I’ve been a season ticket holder since age 10. Don’t steal my team!!!
Clay: makes a face of mock pity
Sam: Sell the Sonics!!!
Clay: walks to the back of the suite, never to reappear
[Thirty] seconds later, two Key arena police officers and a street-clothed man pulled me and my girlfriend out of our seats. They asked for my ID, confiscated my tickets, and escorted me out of the building. I asked the plain-clothed man if he worked for the police or Bennett, and he said “Both.” He then told me I needed to show more respect or else I’d be banned from the arena. I told him I’d be back every game…
In retrospect, I was a little out of control but it is still ludicrous that Bennett would have me kicked out despite the fact that I didn’t utter a profane word.”
The Seattle reporter goes on to say in the blog that team officials said Bennett had nothing to do with the fan’s removal and he was “actually surprised they did it and didn’t think it was necessary.”
-DM-
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