Documentary “Sonicsgate” Released

Fun reading this stuff. The crying from seattle fans is pretty understandable. The gloating from OKC fans is not. They talk about "well we didn't do it, Bennett did!" but that's like someone saying "I didn't steal that tv, my roommate did" while they sit and watch it every night. Morally bankrupt and disgusting. I wish nothing but the worst for the "thunder" and they and their fans' disgusting behavior is good in only one way: it gives actual b-ball fans a good team to hate and root against. Sonics/sonicfans, you got my sympathy, but don't let the flyover people get you down. -CelticsFan

As a Sonic fan I'm glad there is a documentary that will serve as a reminder to what had happened. There's a lot of blame to go around (Washington State/ Seatle legislature, Shultz, Bennett and co.'s lies) but the people in OKC aren't to blame. I don't find any point in holding a grudge against people (the fans) who had nothing to do with the whole thing and just want to have a pro franchise to call their own. The only thing that bothers me is when idiots like Jim Trabor, who hosts a radio show in OKC, blame it on the fans in Seattle for not supporting the team and ignore what Bennet did (BTW, Trabor is the same idiot that took on Nick Collison on his show after Nick said he liked living in Seattle... here's the link to the podcast: http://podcasting.fia.net/6779/3871196.mp3). We supported the team for 41 years and many consider Seattle a great basketball town (see the clips of how the fans responded to the teams in the 90's in the documentary). As the documentary states, there was the 'original sin', which was signing Jim Mcilvaine, the 7 foot stiff. You could blame the Mcilvaine signing to the eventual breakup of the great Sonics team of the 90's (Kemp, Payton, George Karl, et al.) We continued to support the Sonics as they struggled in the next decade. When Clay Bennett bought the team, the writing was on the wall that the team would be moved but in that season (06'-07') Bennett bought the team the average attendance was 15,955 (93.5% of capacity- 12 best in the league). That's with most of the city and media believing the team was going to move. When Bennett filed for relocation in the final season in Seattle (07'-08') everyone new that the ownership was going to move the team and it was a obvious lame duck situation. I know I'm a Seattleite on a OKC blog but I want to respectfully express my point. Good luck to the Thunder in 09'-10'.

I don't know man watching the NFL's Titans a while back as they were wearing their retro Houston Oilers uniforms, I couldn't help but think it was a marketing idea gone bad. I know Warren Moon was interviewed after being honored by the Titans in their stadium for what he had done in his Houston Oiler days decades before. Moon essentially said that it was a very strange feeling and it really didn't make sense but in the end decided to go along with it as a favor to Bud Adams. To me its all about the owner's ego, in this case Bud Adams. I would wager the fans of Tennessee didn't really give a rip that Warren Moon was in their stadium and that he had been honored. Much like the fans of OKC probably don't and won't care much about any and everything Sonics' history. Just exactly how clueless does Bennett think the Thunder fans are when they crack open their game programs and see the records achieved by a completely different franchise in a completely different city. And this doesn't even take into account that Bennett is disrespecting great players such as Gary Payton, and other Sonic stars.

Great, keep hitting me with those hypotheticals.

Darnell, thanks for the post. i also grew up a fan of Kemp & Payton. As far as access to the media is concerned, the timing of the "limited access" couldn't have come at a worse time. Pretty ridiculous if you want to market your team to the fans who support them. Believe me, there is enough blame to go around on what happened here. Just extremely sad for a team with that long of a tradition.

" He bought a team that no one in Seattle wanted. " Ballmer and his partners wanted it enough to offer to pay $150 million of the $300 million construction costs to renovate the Key. Hey, Slim: you know how much Bennett and his partners said publicly that they'd be willing to pitch in on the construction of the $500 million palace that they wanted built in Renton (south of Seattle)? ZERO!! Yes, you are right. Ballmer's offer was too late. But not too little. Believe it or not Slim, I don't blame Bennett for our team being gone. I blame Howard Schultz and the WA state legislature. If Bennett and his partners had simply done the entire thing honestly and ethically rather than lying through their teeth, I would be depressed but not angry. If Bennett is going to believe that his teams history is the same as the history of a totally different team that no longer exists, hey, why stop there? It wouldn't surprise me if he even went to the point of altering the 1979 championship trophy so that it no longer says Seattle Supersonics and put the words OKC Thunder in their place. It would be ethically incorrect, but who cares? He owns the thing now, right? lol

I guess since it's a "shared" history", and the team name and colors were given to Seattle for a future team in the settlement and Bennett agreed to return the championship trophy, banners, and retired #'s if a team should come back. "Additionally, he owns the Sonics' original championship trophy, banners and retired jerseys and is permitted to periodically display them in Oklahoma City. For most of the year, the items will be kept in Seattle at the Museum of History and Industry. Bennett agreed to return their ownership to Seattle should an NBA franchise emerge here." http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nba/2008035531_soni06.html So really we haven't lost anything,I just don't get how the stats will work, I use Payton as an example, when a team comes back to Seattle he will be the leading scorer for 2 franchises. And it would have 2 teams trying to break the same records. It makes no sense to me.

Free, I could write a post giving my opinion but I just don't think it matters. I thought the documentary was good. A lot fairer than I thought it would be, save the occasional jab here and there. A few inaccuracies, such as the Sonics' media policy in the team's final season. The Thunder keeps us at a distance here in OKC and it has nothing to do with alienating anyone. But overall I thought the film was well done. It's sad that Seattle lost the team. I grew up a fan of Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton. I often wonder what would have happened if the City of Seattle or the state of Washington ponied up on the funding. -DM-

" Babies ", " idiots ", " nutjobs ". Slim, I'm not going to lower myself to your level by calling you or anybody else on here names (let alone " rednecks ", which I know that some people in Seattle have done; that reeks of bigotry). If you and any other fans in OKC want to join Bennett and participate in the fantasy that those former Sonics players (and many others that I didn't mention) are a part of Thunder history, go right ahead. ENJOY YOUR LITTLE BASKETBALL FANTASY!! You'll be ignoring reality, but you'll only be fooling yourself.

Darnell, Thoughts?? or are you not allowed to have an opinion on the matter? thanks,

He bought the team you nut job, and everything that goes with it.