I'm happy for OKC but sad for Seattle

Kevin Jackson of espn.com just wrote a great article about the Sonics coming to Oklahoma City. As I've said before, and will continue to say, that I want more than anything to have a professional team of our own in Oklahoma (rather than just borrowing teams from St. Louis, Dallas, etc.), but not by having some rich Oklahoman hijack some else's team. The ridiculous ultimatum he gave the people of Seattle (pony up half a billion for a new "arena" rather than play in a 14 year old area the people of Washington built in the mid 90's or else) was the perfect example of a team and an owner playing chicken with a city. This was one of the first times in recent memory that the city actually held its ground and called the owner's bluff, even though it's clear Clay Bennett wasn't bluffing. 

If they wanted to relocate a team to OKC, I wish they would have at least picked a team that hasn't been in a city very long and doesn't have long time support (Memphis Grizzlies). Had Hurricane Katrina not hit the Big Easy, we might have even had a shot to get the Hornets. They consistently had the worst attendance in the league (after New Orleans took the team from Charlotte), but David Stern said that Katrina wouldn't be the reason the Hornets moved. Even after they moved back this past season, they had mediocre attendance until they became one of the best teams in the league mid-season and everyone jumped on the bandwagon.

Anyway, I could keep going on about my thoughts and feelings, but you should read the article. It's a great story about how this isn't even about OKC vs. Seattle, but owners vs. fans.