T1B

http://www.nola.com/hornets/t-p/index.s ... thispage=1

Stern has his head FIRMLY up his ass for this one. Yes, Katrina was a tragedy, and yes, it sucks, but so does life, and the OKC Hornets were selling out the 19,000 seat Ford Center on the regular, and averaging 17 and change. Of COURSE you should move them back to a half-rebuilt shithole were nobody was supporting them BEFORE they lost everything that they had and then give them the 2008 All-Star Game.

I swear, if Stern weren't shooting for the Nobel Prize... then OKC would be able to enjoy the Hornets, and a young player like Chris Paul would still be happy; playing in the only NBA town he's ever known; and a town that loved and embraced him, and his team, to boot. Anybody saying that OKC can't support an NBA team is full of crap. We're a Hell of a lot better at it than Nola.

"The NBA... where dumbass happens."

the_ouskull

The Sonics will be in OKC soon enough...

SunCoastSooner wrote:The Sonics will be in OKC soon enough...

Man, a lot of people seem really convinced of this...


But there's always that pesky little matter of a legally binding contract, which Bennett is already in breach of, and is only going to make it worse on himself.

I was convinced it was a given, as well. But now... of course, me being a double-secret U&L Insider, privy to the most sensitive of information...

Now, I'm not so sure.

As mentioned, I believe there's a clause in his ownership deal that said he had to make a good-faith effort to do everything possible to keep the team in Seattle. There was absolutely no "good faith" whatsoever, and the city/arena can prove it easily. There you go... already have a minor breach, and any efforts beyond that to move the team would constitute a major breach. That would open the door to both compensatory and punitive damages, to the tune of 9 digits... pretty hefty price tag to move your hobby closer to home.

If I was OKC fan... and I'm an NBA fan, and I think the Okies have proved their worthiness of a franchise in their short opportunity... I'd be afraid of Bennett. As I've said before, I want the people of OKC to have a team, because they want it, which means they deserve it. But I don't want to see those people saddled with a compulsive lying extortionist whose character can no longer even be considered "questionable" -- the question has been answered, and his character is just plumb bad.


'Round these parts, I've heard rumblings of a new ownership group forming. Not like there aren't plenty of ultra-rich people in the Seattle area(I think Bill Gates should get in a friendly competition with his old buddy Evil Allen). But if Bennett keeps clowning as hard as he is, and laughing off his word that he signed his name to, and continues to try and defraud Seattle(and that's exactly what he's doing), it's possible that the courts drop the hammer on him so hard, that he's compelled to sell to the first available ownership.

As this story unfolds, it sounds like the upper hand is quickly shifting back towards the city. Funny how legally-binding contracts where parties are vested to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars work like that. If the Supes move, it won't be until after the 09-10 season... I'm fairly confident of that... and even then, it's likely the "good faith" cluase might negate a move then, too.

Dinsdale wrote: 'Round these parts, I've heard rumblings of a new ownership group forming. Not like there aren't plenty of ultra-rich people in the Seattle area(I think Bill Gates should get in a friendly competition with his old buddy Evil Allen).

Speaking of Allen- pretty good article written about him in the recent SI. His wealth is well documented but the article highlights his spending habits with sports teams- pretty interesting stuff.

Interesting story about Evil Allen...

He's owned the team for like 15 years or something, and watching the game the other night, me and my buds noticed that for what we believed was the forst time, Paully actually had a decent looking date for the game.

41 games a year X 15 years... and the best he's done before that was Monica Seles. But usually, it's his Mom (who he lives with, or used to).

Not that his last date was any super-hottie, but was a good looking 40-something kind of businessy-looking woman, who I know nothing more than that about. But it was shocking to see him pulling.


Damn, give me a pair of front row seats and one-onehundredth his cayshe, and all activity in the arena would come to a stop to check out the talent I'd be bringing to the game. Dude's one of the richest men in the world, and the best arm-candy he's ever come up with is Monica Seles. Hell, other celebrities do wayyyyy better than Allen when they're passing through town, or here filming a movie or whatever. Hell, I've taken better looking dates to games while sitting in the upper bowl than Allen ever has with all of his pulling-resources.