The Truth, in how NBA stole SEATTLE team

[MayorMcCheese]

Hi yall i saw this video post on magic forum i'm sure some of u have seen it but for those that haven't, great documentary starring Gary payton amongst other and it show u what kinda man Stern is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Dp20ydm1E

[LameR]

Watch this if you haven't, or bookmark it to watch it later. It's worth it.

[Stun704]

[Wizards2Lottery]

That is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. Man, it made me emotional. I would cry like a baby if the Wizards were moved to another city.

[rumdiary]

Stephen Hawking explains the capitalist system better than most, and you also get to watch some Simpsons: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/0 ... 601442.php

Depending on how free the internet is allowed to continue to be, I hope to be part of a peaceful revolution for people's rights in my lifetime against capitalism. We mustn't let the distractions and, what was in more honest days called, propaganda of the modern mass media interrupt genuine progress for a better future.

[Recently]

People still crying about this? Man, I'm from LA and we lost 2 NFL teams in the same year. You'll get over it just like we did.

[MarJJMar]

Ray Allen wasn't the best shooter to ever live.

But it is a nice documentary.

[orlando1214]

Man that was really depressing but also very interesting. Its crazy to think about what happen there because I know it all could have been very close to happening in Orlando. The Magic were lucky enough to finally get approval for a new arena but for a while there they where having trouble to get it done.

I feel really bad for the fans of the Sonics. It really adds to my hate for David Stern. There is a part a little after halfway in the video where David Stern is holding a press conference and a Seattle journalist ask Stern about the new deal that the Microsoft guy and his group is proposing and Stern just blows it off and is a giant d-bag to the journalist, I really wanted punch Stern so bad.

I also don't agree with these fans that are like "get over it". Seattle fans have all the right to feel betrayed by what happened. Let this happen to your favorite team and see how u feel. I really hope that Seattle gets a team again in the future. It seems like a great city with great fans and they deserve to have a team again.

[garrick]

Man that was really depressing but also very interesting. Its crazy to think about what happen there because I know it all could have been very close to happening in Orlando. The Magic were lucky enough to finally get approval for a new arena but for a while there they where having trouble to get it done.

I feel really bad for the fans of the Sonics. It really adds to my hate for David Stern. There is a part a little after halfway in the video where David Stern is holding a press conference and a Seattle journalist ask Stern about the new deal that the Microsoft guy and his group is proposing and Stern just blows it off and is a giant d-bag to the journalist, I really wanted punch Stern so bad.

I also don't agree with these fans that are like "get over it". Seattle fans have all the right to feel betrayed by what happened. Let this happen to your favorite team and see how u feel. I really hope that Seattle gets a team again in the future. It seems like a great city with great fans and they deserve to have a team again.

I already want to punch Stern in the face but I guess after watching this I will be even more inspired to do so.

[blkout]

Thanks for posting this, really really interesting documentary. Makes me sick the way that fat guy living off his wifes money conned everyone the way he did. That being said, Schultz had to be (Please Use More Appropriate Word) if he thought this Oklahoma City group weren't going to relocate the team.

[MarJJMar]

David Stern really comes across as the corporate capitalist scum that he is.

Those emails make me sick to my stomach. Whoever thinks the NBA is clean is kidding themselves. Stern plays favorites. Ref scanals, draft lottery coincidences, inconsistent suspensions etc

David Stern is basically the Nazi dictator of the league and does whatever he wants. Nobody holds this guy accountable.

Economically he might not have been bad for the NBA but for the average fan who loves the game he has been a horror.

Hard to afford ticket prices to maximize profits. Marketing individual players instead of teams etc. It is no surprise a historic franchise like the Sonics was erased just like that. Kevin Durant is more important than the Sonics to David Stern and the next franchises that struggle will soon be sold and re-located just watch.

The worst thing is that Seattle sold the history of the Sonics to Bennett. They can't even get a new team and call it the Sonics or retire Gary Paytons Sonics jersey.
David Stern is already a persona non grata in Phoenix. Hope he never shows up again.
It's terrible that individuals own the teams and can use them like their toys. Thank god I have German soccer where this could never happen and individuals can't purchase clubs.

You wonder why the NBA loses lots of interest. Don't look further than David Stern. He alienated most of the Sonics fanbase I'd think and I can tell the whole suspension things, luxury tax that forces teams without uber rich owners to "sell" their good players and ref scandal alienated a big part of the Suns fan base.

I wouldn't be shocked if they just moved the Suns to San Diego or something when they start sucking and attendance drops because nobody gives a damn about the NBA anymore.

[MarJJMar]

The sad thing though

Everyone in this documentary comes out a loser:

Bennett and Stern - > Liars, Cheats, Scum
City of Seattle/State of Washington -> Sold the team out
Schultz -> Douchebag, Sold the team out
Walker -> Horrible GM decisions
Seattle Fans -> Too little too late and left with no team
Kemp/Patyon -> Bitched their way out of town for money reasons
OKC Thunder -> The definition of an unlikable artificial franchise

That latino Sonics fans sounded borderline racist to me at one point. Plus he must have been high because little of what he said sounded rational. Good example of someone who takes being a fan way too serious.

This documentary makes me want to root for the Lakers to rout the Thunder.

Clay Bennett
To: David Stern

Hello Darling,
How many more years until you can get us into the playoffs? Tell the refs to allow us to rough up other teams so we can defend like San Antonio and lets make Kevin Durant the new face of the NBA. He really isn't that good a shooter but he could make a living off of the line.
When are you coming around for champagne breakfast at mine?
Your admirer, Clay Bennett

[ubernathan]

Get over it, Seattle lost the team fair and square. If they wanted to keep it, they could have built a new arena. An NBA team is a business, and Oklahoma City is a better place to conduct said business at this time. Their first season in OKC, the Thunder averaged 18,693 fans in the seats, a number Seattle hadn't reached since the 1979-1980 season. The so called fans of the team have no more claim to the Sonics than they do any random Seattle area McDonald's. If you wanted them to stay, maybe you should have got up off your rear ends and lobbied the local government to build a new arena, or heaven forbid bought some more tickets to bolster the sales numbers so that there'd be a reason to keep them around other than feigned sentimentality.

[blkout]

It wasn't exactly "fair and square". The team was sold under the guise that Bennett and co. would do whatever they could to keep the team in Seattle, when the emails showed they were planning on moving the team all along. How on Earth are you supposed to get the necessary government support when you don't even want it?

[MarJJMar]

Get over it, Seattle lost the team fair and square. If they wanted to keep it, they could have built a new arena. An NBA team is a business, and Oklahoma City is a better place to conduct said business at this time. Their first season in OKC, the Thunder averaged 18,693 fans in the seats, a number Seattle hadn't reached since the 1979-1980 season. The so called fans of the team have no more claim to the Sonics than they do any random Seattle area McDonald's. If you wanted them to stay, maybe you should have got up off your rear ends and lobbied the local government to build a new arena, or heaven forbid bought some more tickets to bolster the sales numbers so that there'd be a reason to keep them around other than feigned sentimentality.

You don't understand anything. Good contribution.

They sold out their arena. They couldn't make a profit because the NBA relies on the arena supporting tons of other businesses around catering and stuff to make more money because the NBA is only about money and nothing else anymore thanks to David Stern.

Fans like you make me sick talking about sports as if it is just another business and perfectly fine for franchises with long traditions to move around like pawns to the highest bidder.

Wonder how you would feel if someone bought your team and decides he just wants to move it somewhere else.

[ubernathan]

Get over it, Seattle lost the team fair and square. If they wanted to keep it, they could have built a new arena. An NBA team is a business, and Oklahoma City is a better place to conduct said business at this time. Their first season in OKC, the Thunder averaged 18,693 fans in the seats, a number Seattle hadn't reached since the 1979-1980 season. The so called fans of the team have no more claim to the Sonics than they do any random Seattle area McDonald's. If you wanted them to stay, maybe you should have got up off your rear ends and lobbied the local government to build a new arena, or heaven forbid bought some more tickets to bolster the sales numbers so that there'd be a reason to keep them around other than feigned sentimentality.

You don't understand anything. Good contribution.

They sold out their arena. They couldn't make a profit because the NBA relies on the arena supporting tons of other businesses around catering and stuff to make more money because the NBA is only about money and nothing else anymore thanks to David Stern.

Fans like you make me sick talking about sports as if it is just another business and perfectly fine for franchises with long traditions to move around like pawns to the highest bidder.

Wonder how you would feel if someone bought your team and decides he just wants to move it somewhere else.

As a Grizzlies fan, I'm alright with it. The team was moved here, and while I'm glad they are in Tennessee if business is too terrible I'll understand if they get moved again. I'm a fan of the Grizzlies, no matter what city they're based in.

[MarJJMar]

Quiet a difference between moving a team with no tradition from Canada to the USA to moving one of the oldest franchises with big fan support.

[redshortz]

You guys are acting like OKC doesn't deserve an NBA team. Don't get me wrong I love Seattle and disagree with the move. But don't discredit the city of OKC for getting an NBA team. They supported the New Orleans Hornets during hurricane Katrina and they supported the team in tremendous fashion. They proved they were ready for their own team and because of their support shown and they received a team (maybe not in the most honest fashion) but that is by no means Oklahoma City fans fault.

and don't hate on Durant... the kid is a beast. If you don't think so... you never watched him play.

[redshortz]

Quiet a difference between moving a team with no tradition from Canada to the USA to moving one of the oldest franchises with big fan support.

Its a Canadian game... and thanks to that move, their is no more annual Naismith Cup games between the Raptors and the Grizzlies. The team is in some backwater trench in Tennessee.

[garrick]

Hmmm yeah I actually got done watching it and seeing Stern's smug and snotty comments in the interview makes me want to punch him in the face even harder now.
Stern and the owners are all about making money and if you criticize the refs stern is gonna slap you with a 35,000 dollar fine. God I hate the man.