Bust is not an option

We are getting closer to knowing exactly when an arena that is going to bring the City of Seattle an NBA and NHL franchise is going to be built. I prefer that SoDo win out, but we don’t always get what we want. That’s what troubles me about a growing undercurrent of fans that are hashtag, SoDo or Bust.

This line of thought troubles me for many reasons. The first being that it is shortsighted and selfish. We’ve been fighting to get the Sonics back into the region for nearly a decade and now a group wants to throw that all away because they are not getting their arena of choice?

Really???

Under no circumstance should that be an acceptable outcome. The end goal has always been to bring back the Sonics to Seattle, to have our professional basketball team restored. Do you really care if the team plays in SoDo, KeyArena, Bellevue, Marysville, Lynnwood, Renton, Auburn, Tacoma, Bellingham, Port Angeles, or freaking Battle Ground? I don’t and you shouldn’t either.

The Sonics would be back and we should all be happy. It doesn’t matter if the traffic might suck a little bit more in Seattle Center. Take an Uber, a Lyft, a taxi, a bus, have your mom drop you off, get a jet pack, park downtown and take the monorail. Plan accordingly. I’ll be driving to and from Wenatchee to come see the team for all the home dates and probably the games in Portland too. Cry me a river if you think it’s too hard to come from Shoreline, West Seattle, or the east side.

The whole “it’s unfair to Hansen” thing needs to stop too. It makes those that cry it sound like our President (which is not flattering). No, it isn’t fair to Hansen but he is a billionaire that runs a multi-billion dollar business. He doesn’t’ need your sympathy, he’s a grown man.

What we need to do is rally around whatever option that the Mayor and the City Council decide to go with. It will bring professional basketball and hockey to the city and that’s what we should all want. The city is so fickle politically that if there is an inch of a backlash if they select KeyArena, then they could just kill the whole thing and we are left with nothing.

Bust.

Do you really want nothing over having to watch professional basketball and hockey at KeyArena?

If you do want nothing over having something that a lot of us have spent a decade fighting for then I question your commitment to SparkleMotion. How about you get on the #SonicsOrBust bandwagon instead? I’ll save you all a seat.