Not so Angry...just sad

Getting over my initial anger.

Returning to my original sadness.

Heard the news as I was bringing my eldest son to his first Storm game of the season. He decided he wanted to go since it was his brother's nap time and they were having a mascot party for Doppler.

I just couldn't get excited once I got in. I was depressed and I depressed the season ticket holders around me with the news. The Storm tried to lift my spirits with some raucous play for about two minutes, and then they gave in to the depression themselves. The energy in the arena was already odd with camp day and a lack of STH's in their seats in the middle of a weekday, but I still sensed that I was not alone in my knowledge of the end of professional basketball in Seattle. This city and this state cannot and will not match what the city of Oklahoma City and its state of Oklahoma will be willing to do to attract an NBA team.

In a $350 million dollar deal the $10-15 million dollar Storm don't really matter all that much, they will just be dragged along and perhaps be an afterthought in the minds of the owners and the fans in Oklahoma. 12 months, 2 years, 3 years...I don't know when, but this team is gone. The new owners have flat out stated that Key Arena with renovations won't cut it. They want a NEW facility. That will cost considerably more than the $200 million that the BCOS requested to modify the Key and that the City refused to provide. Oklahoma City has fans begging for a franchise, and Seattle has people signing a petition to ban the government from providing funding for an arena. The apathetic "haves" cannot compete with the starving "have nots" in this case. The almost pathetic attempt by the former owners to say that they tried to keep the teams local and that these owners would try to keep the teams local was revealed as either wishful thinking or outright lying when Clayton Bennett began answering questions and said that he was "contractually bound" to make "good faith" efforts with the city and state for 12 months. Right. I will go to the rest of this year's Storm games. I am not sure that I will buy playoff tickets. I will try and get a refund for my Sonics season ticket, if I can't, perhaps I will donate it to charity. I am not angry, right now, but I am still bitter.