Vintage Sonics Video of the Week

If I could turn back time . . . sigh.

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It's (almost) Official: Sonics name Presti new GM

It looks like the Sonics will introduce their new GM at a press conference tomorrow morning. To the surprise of no one, it will be Sam Presti:

SEATTLE - Three newspapers report that the Seattle SuperSonics have decided to hire 30-year-old Sam Presti as the team's new general manager.

KING 5 News has confirmed Presti flew into Seattle Wednesday afternoon.

The Sonics have scheduled a news conference at their business offices tomorrow at noon to introduce their new GM.

The Seattle Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the News Tribune are reporting on their Web sites that Presti is the choice of the Sonics to replace Rick Sund, who was stripped of his GM's duties and made into a consultant five days after the 2006-2007 season ended.

Presti is the San Antonio Spurs' assistant general manager.

(from Associated Press and KING 5)

The only thing left to do is to come up with a suitable Supersonicsoul nickname for young Presti. Master P? Press Pass? Sam "Never Resty" Presti?" Dress to ImPress-ti? Whitsitt Junior? (wanders off mumbling to himself)

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Tale of Many Cities

The Sonics released yet another press release today (Team Motto: "Why talk when you can e-mail?") regarding the potential location(s) of the team in the future.

Not much in the way of news to be gleaned from the release. It concludes with this paragraph:

"At this time no one knows the confluence of events that could occur to land the teams in Oklahoma City. At this moment, everything is way too premature. While it looks bleak in Seattle, we are not ready to throw in the towel."

Wonder how the folks in OKC are going to enjoy being played against Kansas City and Las Vegas. Welcome to the show, Oklahoma, welcome to the show.

UPDATE! The Sonics have issued another press release!
This time, it's to state that yes, Lenny Wilkens is the official, fer-shure, no-foolin' President of Basketball Operations. Clay Bennett will remain President of Moving Operations. Nothing like making an announcement at quarter to 3 on a Friday to ensure that your team gets minimum exposure in the newspaper. Way to go, folks!

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Glory Days

I'm guessing the rest of you are, like myself, going through Sonics playoff withdrawals.

With that in mind, here's a blast from the past, 1978 to be specific. Ah, Brent Musberger, you're such a cunning linguist.

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Seattle Sonics: Team of Mystery

70 plus games should tell you everything you need to know about a team, but after another lose one, win one, lose one weekend, we are left with more questions than answers about our beloved SuperSonics.

For starters . . .

After securing a site in Renton, are the Sonics serious about staying in the Northwest?

With Earl Watson probably out for the rest of the season, will Luke Ridnour Mike Wilks step up and show Sonics management that this is his team?

How the hell did Rashard pass Shawn Kemp on the all-time Sonics scoring list?

Sonics, I feel like I don't even know you any more.

Read the rest here!

Sonics New Owners: Jerks and Bigots

I really want to write some good news about the Sonics.

I'm a life-long fan. I've been with them through the ups and downs. I considered naming my first-born Xavier. Every day I wake up hoping there will be something positive to write about the team and the new owners. Instead, I have to read this:

Two members of the new Sonics ownership group are heavyweight financiers of a national political group dedicated to banning gay marriage.

Together, co-owners Tom Ward and Aubrey McClendon donated more than $1.1 million to Americans United to Preserve Marriage, a conservative Christian group that opposes gay marriage.

The group is led by Gary Bauer, an outspoken leader of conservative groups including the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family.

According to the group, gay couples "flout marriage by using it for their own political agenda (and) cheapen the institution."

Read the rest in today's Seattle P.I.
(originally reported in The Stranger)

Yes, we wouldn't want to "cheapen" an institution that has a 50% rate of failure!

As much as I hate bigoted right-wingers like McClendon and Co., the one we should be aiming our pitchforks at is former owner Howard Shultz. He pissed and moaned about how much money he was losing on the team (while living it up on millions of dollars of shareholder-funded perks), then knowingly sold the team to a group he knew had no chance (and probably no desire) to keep the team in town. Why? Because the city dared say no to his demand to build more luxury boxes for his rich friends.

The new owners, of course, claim they have every desire to "make things work" in Seattle, but if they can't win over a basketball slut like me, what hope do they have?

In other crappy news, Rashard has turned down a contract extension. At least the Sonics beat Portland last night--take that Nate!

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