Results tagged “supersonics”

There is no doubt that the high water mark of Seattle’s professional sports history is the 1979 NBA Championship won by our dear, departed Seattle SuperSonics. It was 30 years ago today that DJ, Gus, JJ, Jack, Downtown Freddy Brown, and crew dispatched the Washington Bullets in the fifth and deciding game.

Clay Bennett, the man who led the battle to remove the Sonics from Seattle, has been named "The 2008 Oklahoman of the Year" by Oklahoma Today magazine. Praise and tributes are pouring in on Bennett's behalf, including, we think, this touching video homage to "clay":

The Seattle SuperSonics played their first regular season game 41 years ago today, on October 13, 1967, against the San Francisco Warriors. They lost by 28 points. Happy Anniversary, Oklahoma Sonics! And may we be the eleventy-billionth blogger to say an official goodbye.

This old Sonics letterhead was appropriately posted by Seattle Municipal Archives in our Flickr Pool today. We've spent the past few weeks so angry at the Sonics ordeal and court battle, that the loss of the team and it's local history hadn't hit us until we saw this.

Various media reports have indicated the city and the Sonics have reached a settlement in the Key Arena lease case, just hours before Judge Marsha Pechman was due to announce her ruling in the matter. Press conferences for both parties have been announced for 5 p.m. PDT.

Just doesn't have the same ring to it. But NBA owners went ahead and approved the request to move the Sonics to Oklahoma. They supported the move overwhelmingly, with a 28-2 vote. We never thought we'd say this in an unsarcastic manner, but thanks, Paul Allen and Mark Cuban. They cast the lone nay votes. Guess that Oklahoma City website that listed the Sonics as a "local team" weren't speaking too soon, after all.