Portlanders and fans of the Trail Blazers:I want you to close your eyes for a moment.
Imagine your team, the Trail Blazers. Think of everything you’ve ever experienced with them, the highs, the lows, everything. Think about the Blazers’ history with the city, think about the Blazers’ history with yourself. Think about how you have stuck by the team, through thick and thin, simply because they are your team – your hometown Portland Trail Blazers.
I can see those smiles starting to emerge. Good, let that love for your team show.
But don’t open your eyes just yet. Now imagine this: Imagine that all of the sudden, Paul Allen decides that the Rose Garden, being built in 1995, is too out-of-date and has too many deficiencies to house the Blazers. Imagine that he wants to build a new stadium, but instead of shelling out some of his Microsoft money, he wants the taxpayers of Portland to pick up the bill for him. Imagine cash-strapped Portland’s rejection of that absurd idea, prompting Allen to proclaim that Portland no longer supports an NBA basketball team. Imagine Allen decided to move the Blazers away from Portland to his hometown. Imagine the cries of Blazer fans, shouting the history and impact of the franchise, falling on the deaf ears of NBA Comissioner David Stern, who not only is complicit in the move, but who also says that no other team will ever return to the city of roses.
Harry Glickman … Bill Schonely … Bill Walton … Clyde Drexler … Brandon Roy …it would all be gone in the blink of an eye.
There! Let that anger and sadness flow through you. Imagine the heartache, the sorrow, the pain that you would feel as your favorite team was heartlessly ripped away from you, all thanks to rich people wanting to get richer.
Now, open your eyes. What do you see?
The Seattle SuperSonics.
All that pain you might have felt just imagining such a scenario is a terrible reality for Sonics fans, a reality where a greedy, carpetbagging owner and a corrupt NBA Commissioner are selfishly tearing the Sonics away from the city that they have supported for 41 years. Because of these two, the Sonics are on the verge of being shipped off to Oklahoma City.
But right now, it is time for all of us to do something about it. Right now it is time for Portland to stand up for Seattle and help prevent the Sonics from being taken away.
What Clay Bennett is doing is wrong. David Stern, in his failure to act, is just as responsible. But for the rest of the NBA community, from teams to owners to fans in other cities, their unwillingness to speak out against this travesty is only helping Seattle lose their team.
It’s time to make up for our past silence.
There is an unspoken connection between the Trail Blazers and the Sonics. They were both founded within three years of each other. They both won their only championships within two years of the other. They both had near misses in the 90s, followed by trying years of rebuilding. And to cap it all off, they’re the only two NBA teams in the Northwest, forever connecting them through their location, one that, to the rest of the country, must seem like the edge of the world.
Sure, there is rivalry between the two cities, but it is more of a rivalry between siblings. We grew up together, fought with each other, and saw each others’ successes. Be honest, how many of you in Portland were secretly smiling when the Sonics squared off against the Bulls in the 1996 NBA Finals? How many of you pull for Seattle when they face off against other NBA powerhouses? Face it, these two franchises are more connected than anyone knows, and deep down, we know it and cherish that fact.
Therefore, as the brothers to Seattle, we cannot sit back and allow this to happen. We can’t let Clay Bennett and his greed rip this team away from a fanbase so similar to ours. Standing as one, Portland needs to fight it.
Geographical differences be damned, it’s the right thing to do.
This is a fight that Seattle cannot make alone. By themselves, they cannot stand up to the voracity and evil that Bennett and his accomplice Stern have levied upon them. But with Seattle and Portland working together, we can make a difference. Together, we can show that this is about more than just an arena, or a franchise, or a petty business. Together, we can show that the Sonics mean something, not just to the city of Seattle, but to the Northwest. The Northwest needs the Sonics, Seattle needs the Sonics, and quite frankly, Portland needs the Sonics. No amount of small sibling rivalry is worth standing by and letting our brother be torn away.
If the Sonics were stolen away, the Northwest would certainly be a lonely place without them.
The time to act, the time to come together, is now. The longer that we remain silent, we condemn the Sonics more and more.
Portland must show its support for a team that must remain as the Seattle SuperSonics. Speak out against this proposed theft. Write letters to Bennett, to Stern, to the media, to anyone that will listen. If it comes down to it, we will have people in Shawn Kemp and Clyde Drexler jerseys link arms and stand in front of those moving trucks.
This isn’t just Seattle’s problem anymore.
Portland, imagine if this happened to us, wouldn’t you want to fight for it? If it all seemed lost, and it seemed like you were helpless to stop it, wouldn’t you want someone, anyone, to speak up and stand beside you? If the commissioner of the NBA won’t to anything to stop this tragedy from occurring, then let’s have two cities stand together. There, in one voice, we can stand strong and say:
“Save our Sonics.”
Seattle, Portland stands with you.
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