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It's Time to Watch the NBA again.
After the NBA left Seattle unceremoniously because of the lawsuit settled by Mayor nickles (I shall always use lower case for his name), I vowed that I would never watch the NBA again. I was angry about how the NBA had treated us as fans and as a community and didn't want to contribute to its bottom line in any way. No TV games, nothing.
After the NBA left Seattle unceremoniously because of the lawsuit settled by Mayor nickles (I shall always use lower case for his name), I vowed that I would never watch the NBA again. I was angry about how the NBA had treated us as fans and as a community and didn't want to contribute to its bottom line in any way. No TV games, nothing.
I made an exception for the Trail Blazers/Thunder games though. Not to actually watch the games and enjoy the athletic events, but rather to protest and share my outrage of injustice of our losing the Sonics. My reluctant cheering was self limited to good defensive plays by Portland. During these games I focused on working the concourse delivering the Sonics message to the half of the I-5 rivalry that was still here.
I carried that attitude with me for quite a while. While the wounds are still there, I've begun to move forward again. Slowly I've begun the process of letting the NBA back into my life. This is not a decision I've made lightly. I'm the Sonics Guy remember.
I started with taking small steps, like watching bits and pieces of games while in a restaurant or bar, seeing the highlights at a friend,s house and other random bits and pieces across my life. Over the past few years I've slowly made my comeback to the NBA. It came to a head earlier this year when I was at a Seattle Storm game. It was also game 6 of the NBA Finals and they kept posting updates on the scoreboard. It looked like the Spurs were going to win and had the game well in hand, but as the Storm game was coming to a close, the Heat kept getting closer, finally pushing the Spurs into overtime.
Amazingly enough, the Storm game also went into overtime, so I saw incredible action on the court and incredible updates on the scoreboard. The Storm won, as did the Heat, in incredible fashion.
NBA Finals Game 7 last season was the first game I had watched in its entirely since the Sonics left. I watched it at Oskar's Kitchen, the cool restaurant owned by Shawn Kemp, with a few leaders from Bring Back Our Sonics. The guys at Shockwave Tees were having a Shawn Kemp T-shirt release party that night, so it was logical that I'd be there. It was a incredible game and it made me remember why I liked basketball in the first place.
Words like forever and never mean a long time and I try to use them sparingly now. For us to get a team back we must be able to show an interest in the NBA and I, for one, am on-board. Please join me. Read the team previews provided by our other writers on this site, join a fantasy basketball league or better yet, just watch.
It's time.