As I attempt to watch the second round of the NBA playoffs, I feel conflicted about the series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Memphis Grizzlies, I find myself having trouble rooting for either franchise. Both franchises relocated from the Pacific Northwest in the 2000s. While I enjoy watching the Grizzlies and former Sonics play basketball, I can’t help but wonder how things would be if these games were being played in Seattle and Vancouver, their original homes. I usually enjoy rooting against the Thunder, but this time rooting for the Grizzlies would feel like rooting for my least favorite divorcee on "Basketball Wives".

It’s no secret that the contributors to this website are fans of the NBA. It’s also no secret that most are from Seattle. This means that most are/were Sonics fans. We attended the Sonics Rally last June and interviewed Gary Payton and Chris Hansen. We have attended more NBA games than is healthy.

Obviously, the news of the week/month/year (seriously, how long until we’ll have a resolution NBA?) is the potential sale and relocation of the Sacramento Kings to Seattle to become the Sonics reborn. This saga has become full of rollercoasters for all that are emotionally involved. To me, it all reminds me of 5 years ago when the Seattle Sonics were relocated to Oklahoma City to become the Thunder.

Readers of this site are likely familiar with the sordid story of the Sonics relocation to Oklahoma City. Those unfamiliar can read about it here

Or watch Sonicsgate: Requiem for a Team

Most Sonics fans will remember the release of the email exchange leaked in the Seattle Times from April 2007, less than 12 months after the purchase of the Sonics wherein Clay Bennett’s group was legally required to provide a "good faith best effort" to pursue options to keep the Sonics in Seattle. The highlight of hypocrisy which was Bennett’s response to when the group could move the team to Oklahoma City by saying "I am a man possessed. Will do everything we can." Then saying that his statement made about a "good faith" effort to keep the franchise in Seattle.

I am reminded of this statement 5 years later as Chris Hansen is attempting to purchase another NBA franchise and relocate them back to Seattle to continue playing as the Seattle SuperSonics. After news that the relocation committee recommended "unanimously" (how can a 12 person committee vote unanimously if there are only 7 votes counted?) against relocation of the Kings from Sacramento (again), Chris Hansen, prospective owner of the Kings/Sonics, issued this statement via www.sonicsarena.com:

When we started this process everyone thought it was impossible. While this represents yet another obstacle to achieving our goal, I just wanted to reassure all of you that we have numerous options at our disposal and have absolutely no plans to give up. Impossible is nothing but a state of mind.

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." ―Muhammad Ali

—Chris Hansen

This sounds like "a man possessed" to me. And maybe that’s what it takes to own a NBA franchise and relocate; to take something that allegedly belongs to a city.

During the dirge that was the last two years of the Seattle Sonics’ existence, I tried to remove the emotion that I felt for the franchise. I was unable to do it. The Sonics are the only team that has caused me to cry as a result of their performance . . . in my entire life, (hint) this includes my own injuries and performance on basketball teams. Never. Ever.

As a citizen of Seattle, the fact that the City of Seattle settled the lawsuit that they sought in order to enforce the remaining two years still bugs me.

When Bennett purchased the Sonics he should have been required to fulfill the terms of the Key Arena Lease Agreement signed in 1994. This means that before he wanted to move the franchise to Oklahoma City, they should have been required to play the 2009 and 2010 season in Seattle. When a business is sold, the new owner needs to abide my all the liabilities from the previous ownership; that’s how business law works.

I was proud that the City of Seattle stood up to the NBA and sued them to enforce the remaining two years of the lease. I was mad at pretty much everyone involved in the NBA. I contributed to this mailbag. I attended the Save Our Sonics Rally on the day of the settlement outside the federal courthouse. I was there when the word spread through the crowd and everyone was deflated. Why did the city settle? We should have won. It was a slam dunk case on paper. Instead the City of Seattle turned it over.

If you’re curious about the details, you can read the full settlement between the City of Seattle and the Professional Basketball Club, LLC and chairman, Clay Bennett here

I did not watch Greg Nickels’ press conference live where he announced the settlement. I did not cry. I decided to get drunk with my friend . . . to forget that we conceded. It still sickens me to this day that he came out like the City had won the negotiation. The bad guys won because the city didn’t see the fight through to the end.

I have never felt more disenfranchised. Pardon the pun.

After Clay Bennett bought the Sonics, any time I’ve seen a NBA "Cares" commercial I want to vomit. Maybe some owners do, but I don’t believe the NBA "cares about its community". It shouldn’t. The NBA is a cartel of private businesses that benefit from public subsidies. Most private businesses don’t care about their community unless their community is giving them money. That’s not caring, that’s patronage. Patrons need clients.

The NBA doesn’t like to call us their clients. They’d rather court us as "fans." Fanatics is really what they want. Fanatics will spend money on their business no matter how they are treated. In other types of business we call these people "fiends." Fiends always come back, no matter how they’re treated. I’m not a fiend.

After the 2012 lockout, I vowed not to spend any money on the NBA and I didn’t during the 2012 season. It was difficult. For reference, I went to 40 home Sonics games in 2003, 25 in 2004, sat next to Jerome James’ parents at Fan Appreciation Night in 2005 (right next to Jerome James on the Sonics bench). I went to two games during the Bennett "era" in Seattle. One was purchased by my then girlfriend and now wife, for Valentine’s Day against the Phoenix Suns to see my favorite player, Steve Nash. We sat in the 200 level. The other game I was in a suite given to family friends by their business. I had just as much fun at both games because Key Arena is a great venue to watch basketball . . . for a fan, maybe not for the ownership. I’m glad that I didn’t buy any concessions. I didn’t want any of my money going to Clay Bennett.

I remember the last Sonics home game. It fell on my 25th birthday, April 14th, 2008, against the Dallas Mavericks. A friend had purchased tickets for my birthday, but I declined. I couldn’t bear to see what could be the final game in Seattle for my hometown franchise. I wouldn’t allow any of my money to go to the man who was taking "my" team from "my" city. I was emotionally invested.

This year, I attended a Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Los Angeles Clippers game at Staples Center. It took the Sonics Rally where Chris Hansen said and did all the right things to bring me back. It took time. It took a friend offering to get tickets from a player. Last year, I declined the opportunity for tickets in Oklahoma City during the Western Conference Finals. He continued to press me. I enjoyed my trip to Staples Center, but it wasn’t without shame. Until then my entertainment dollars have gone elsewhere. Sorry, David Stern. I know when I’m being wronged.

After the Sonics Rally, I resolved to become positive about the Oklahoma City Thunder being a separate franchise. As long as I could have a team in Seattle, I was willing to let go of the animosity. And I had a lot of it. When the Sonics left I got rid of every piece of Sonics memorabilia that I had except two shirts. One that celebrated the 1979 Championship team and my "Screw Clay" shirt that I bought at the rally outside the courthouse. I don’t forget the history. I regret some of what I lost. Since the Sonics Rally last June, I have purchased Sonics jackets, been given Sonics shirts, hats, cups, signed basketballs, and even a 25th anniversary 1979 championship ring. All of this has been inspired by the efforts of Chris Hansen.

I still watch the NBA. I’ll always come back to basketball. I love basketball. I always will. However, I don’t love the business of basketball. I don’t even like it. I’m able to separate my emotional attachment to the game from the commercial aspect of the NBA. There are many ways to love basketball other than paying inflated prices to watch the best players in the world yearly. Very little is comparable to a high level NBA game, but not all of them are high level. Last month, I looked at going to a late season Trailblazers game and seats were four times as expensive as what I paid to see the Nike Hoop Summit. I sat courtside at the Nike Hoop Summit for $50. I think I saw a better product, too.

The question of the day/week/year is:

Is Chris Hansen enough of "a man possessed" to bring a team back to Seattle by any means necessary?

Say what you will about the means that Clay Bennett used to get a team to Oklahoma City. The end result is that they have a team in Oklahoma City. In 2008, Clay Bennett was named Oklahoman of the Year, inducted by none other than David Stern himself. He is a hero to the people of Oklahoma City even if he's a villain in Seattle.

This week’s news has led to me to consider the following questions:

1) Is Chris Hansen too nice a guy to move the team from Sacramento if he has to keep them there for a year or two like Bennett did?

2) Will the NBA allow this to happen?

3) Will Sacramento Kings fans view Chris Hansen the way Seattle Sonics fans view Clay Bennett?

4) Is it right that a person in Sacramento with the passion for basketball that I have will feel like I did if his or her team is relocated to Seattle?

5) Has Chris Hansen made a mistake by being upfront about his intentions?

6) Would it have worked better if Chris Hansen had used the Clay Bennett playbook and claimed that he wanted to keep the team in Sacramento despite being "a man possessed?"

I’ve grappled with these questions and this is the only logical conclusion I could come up with:

Why do I care so much?

Why are we begging to be a client of this business?

If any other business treated me this way, I would disassociate myself with that business. Done. End of story. For the NBA, I’ve made too many concessions because of emotion.

We got to see behind the curtain of the business of professional sports when the NBA tried to extort the city of Seattle to build an arena at our cost and for their benefit.

I’m too young to remember when the Seattle Pilots relocated to Milwaukee, but it is amazing how similar the story is to how the Sonics left town and may come back.

The Seattle Mariners exist because of a lawsuit. They were the second Major League professional baseball team in the City of Seattle. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lawsuit ends up allowing for the second professional men’s basketball team to exist in Seattle. Other cities have been successful with this tactic across major sports. Charlotte, Cleveland, and Houston have all been granted expansion teams by their respective leagues in the last 10 years. History is important, and so is precedent, especially when it comes to the law.

Let us remember the precedents with regard to professional sports in Seattle. In the 1970s, we built the Kingdome and got the Mariners, Seahawks, and Sonics. In the 1990s, the city was extorted by the Mariners franchise before building Safeco Field. And the Seahawks threatened to move before Qwest Field/Century Link was built. In 2000, the Kingdome, the building that was built to provide a venue for MLB, was destroyed before it could even be paid off. We know what happened with the Sonics. This is more than a trend. It’s a way of (big) business.

I'm not a Citizen for More Important Things by any stretch, but I have asked myself: why should cities give their money to sports teams just to enjoy their product?

The answer is because otherwise someone else will. Oklahoma City proved it, so did Sacramento before it and Seattle now. No city is safe if they don’t subsidize professional sports. Look at the effect on the businesses around Key Arena for the last 5 years. That's a lot of "lost" tax dollars.

Its hard not to feel like professional sports teams want to take advantage of you. They attempt to sell their product as an emotional product. If you believe in that, you are a fan. If you get wrapped up in the result of the game, they’ve got you. They use that emotion to take as much money possible from you. They want that to happen because it benefits them. They are not a "public trust." They are a private business. I don't believe that they represent the cities they are from any more than other businesses. Most times, players aren’t from there, coaches aren’t from there and owners aren’t from there. These businesses a profit seeking and attempt to extort the cities in which they reside through the guise of a public/private partnership to make more money. "Support" means giving taxpayer dollars to the corporation to allow them to be more profitable.

You can choose to be a customer of this business or not. Just know that when I choose to go to a game, I expect to get my money’s worth, not my emotion’s worth. I’m going to choose where my emotion goes. You fooled me once already, NBA. I’m not a fan of being fooled twice.

The Sonics relocation to Oklahoma City robbed me of the ability to become emotionally involved with a professional team again. Maybe I’m too jaded, but I can’t do it. I won’t do it. The cost is too high. The benefit isn’t worth it to me.

Despite all this, I will still feel like this when I get to attend my next Sonics game because I'll get to share the moment with everyone who worked so hard to bring them back. I will go to games at the Sonics Arena. I will pay money to do this. I will do this because it’s a good deal for the City of Seattle . . . because of Chris Hansen . . .because of Sonicsgate. . . because of Sonics Guy. . . because of Brian Robinson. . . because of Save Our Sonics . . . because of Bring Back Our Sonics . . . because of Hoopsmack. . . because of the leadership that these people have shown. Thank you Chris, Steve Ballmer and everyone that is part of the proposed ownership group; I apologize that I can’t mention everyone here. Even if this does not lead to the Sonics coming home this year, you have all proven yourselves to be heroes in your own right. You are appreciated.

I will hate myself for giving in to the NBA and allowing them to profit off of me. I will enjoy the show, but I won’t love it. I am no longer "a man possessed" by the idea of NBA fandom.

My eyes are open. Are yours?

By Miles DeCaro