An Open Letter to Seattle
Dear Seattle,
I'm sorry it rains too much over there and you lost your basketball team to Oklahoma City, but neither of these things is our fault.
I can't imagine how crappy it feels to have your NBA team stolen from you. Oh wait, yes I can. Because the same thing has been happening to us in Sacramento, on and off, for the last 3 years. As you know, it's the worst.
At least you have a Major League Baseball team. And soccer. And a little football team called the Seattle Seahawks that is possibly the scariest assemblage of human beings on an NFL roster right now. Plus, you have Amazon, Microsoft, rich people, and the Space Needle. We literally have NONE OF THOSE THINGS.
Do you know what we have without our Kings? Nothing. Seriously, there is nothing for us to watch without the Kings. We have a pretty sweet railroad museum, but there's only so many times you can ride the locomotive before it gets old. And you know what? We'd really just prefer to keep our Kings, thanks.
We love them. In good times and bad, we love them. From Mitch Richmond to Chris Webber, Doug Christie to Tyreke Evans, Peja Stojakovic to Jimmer Fredette. We even love Vlade, the chain-smoking flopper. Mike Bibby with the weirdly high voice. DeMarcus Cousins, who is sometimes naughty. We love them all. They are OUR team.
When I was 12, I had a life-size poster of Tyus Edney on my door to measure my height (at 4'10, I was a natural PG). Do you remember Tyus Edney? No, of course you don't. These are the things that we in Sacramento remember, growing up with a sports franchise that we are so very proud to own.
We'd never want any good city to lose their beloved team to a bunch of hustlers, and when Clay Bennett proposed to do such a thing to Seattle, we had your back. We urged the Maloofs to vote against it. But they didn't. Because they're no better than Clay Bennett. Please don't let the Clay Bennetts of the world keep winning.
Chris Hansen said something that really stood out to me at his presser on Wednesday: "... sometimes you have to lose something that you hold really precious and dear to realize how much it means to you."
All due respect to Mr. Hansen, but I disagree. We don't need to lose our Kings to realize how much they mean to us. We've always known it. (See "Seriously, there is nothing for us to watch without the Kings," above). That's why we've sold-out 19 of 27 seasons in a dilapidated arena, and why we brought in more revenue than the Sonics did, despite Seattle's wealthier fan base. That's why we've negotiated not one, but two, arena deals in the last 3 years. That's why we keep fighting every time the Maloof brothers try to screw us over. Which is a lot.
In the days and weeks ahead, there will be lots of talk about arena schedules, litigation, precedent, team owners, votes, politics, NBA 3.0 and the like. It will be a mess of terms and buzzwords, with very rich people jockeying for power over other very rich people.
But for me, just an ordinary person, the decision is a lot simpler than Commissioner Stern makes it out to be. It's a matter of right and wrong. To take away a team from a city that actively supports it, has the political will and capital to build a new arena (twice!), has investors who will match virtually any price, and that has loved this team for a generation -- to me, there is very little to argue here. To take the Kings from Sacramento is just plain wrong, just as it was wrong to take the Sonics from Seattle. It was wrong then, and it's wrong now. It's time for all of this to come to an end, and for the owners to -- just for once, just for a change -- do the right thing.
Yours truly,
Sacramento