http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketbal ... ore09.html
Some of my favorite quotes:
"I suppose I should be muzzling myself and painting a rosy picture, but I can't do that," he said. "It's not honest."
If someone's upset by his comments, he's not going to Oklahoma City anyway. The Sonics wanted him to, and offered him "top, top dollar," but Calabro didn't want to leave because he loves it here. He has a wife and four kids, ranging in age from 23 to 12, and he'd never see them if he tried to commute to Oklahoma City.
Calabro saw the mayor's news conference from his place in Chelan. He heard about the settlement and knew what he was about to watch would not be good. He paced in front of the TV, caught a few snippets and walked away.
"I was embarrassed for the city," he said. "I was enraged that our council members would sit up there and titter and laugh nervously and congratulate themselves over being part of a 41-year history being sold. I was deeply embarrassed and still am.
"I get incensed because people, particularly leadership in the town and the region, don't seem to have the same pride in the area that I do. They sold the legacy away for less monetarily than they should have for a promise down the road of an NBA team from a league run by a commissioner that disrespected them and the region.
"What you're doing now is going after a theoretical building for a hypothetical team. I find that failed logic."
Then when Mayor Greg Nickels talked about other options for KeyArena ...
"It killed me to hear Seattle U basketball," Calabro said. "Nothing against Seattle U basketball, but to stand up there and say that ... And concerts? How many aging, over-the-hill '60s reunion tour bands can we have to fill 41 dates at KeyArena? Are there that many still alive?"
Echoing Seattle P-I sports columnist Art Thiel, Calabro feels like the city needs to get out of the entertainment business, saying: "Government ought to do what it does best, mow grass at parks and occasionally pave a road."
Last one:
But now when he looks back, the failed effort to get funding from the Legislature was the major development that led to last week's news conference.
"I didn't see the will a year ago and frankly, I didn't see the will two years ago to keep (the team) in the region because the reception in Olympia was laughable," Calabro said. "Of course, the presentation to Olympia was laughable, too. It was a nebulous, vague plan for some building in Renton, which didn't excite anybody. That, to me, marked the end of the Sonics in Seattle."
I feel so bad for KC..listening to him the day of the settlement, he brought tears to my eyes. You could tell how upset he was by everything. I can't believe no one's offered him a job yet. Someone, anyone in Seattle offer him a damn job!
