Hope & Despair in the NBA Today

An interesting day of NBA related news today ahead of the opening round of the playoffs. In one city fans are finally rejoicing to something positive while in another city fans are needlessly heartbroken.

Here on the east coast my beloved New York Knicks finally fired head coach Isiah Thomas in what as been a frustrating and disastrous season for the Knicks unlike most others. Even before spring training began Isiah was on the hot seat both at MSG and with most Knick fans who all year long relentlessly chanted for his firing both inside and outside The Garden. But this is a positive (if not overdue) move by new team president Donnie Walsh who looks to rebuild the culture within the organization and lift the Knicks back into respectability once again. All I can say is “THANK GOD!” as this painful chapter is finally drawing to a close and there is actually hope again on the horizon for the Knicks at last.

Meanwhile, out on the west coast, the relatively new owners of the Seattle SuperSonics have recieved a 29-2 vote in favor of the team relocating to Oklahoma City as early as next season if the team’s managament can settle a lawsuit with the city of Seattle looking to keep the Sonics in town to honor their stadium lease which ends in 2010. Something smells foul here and it’s a pity that after 41 years the team would move to another city, especially since no one wants them to leave.

From what I understand one of the sticking points leading to the relocation was that the facility they play in, Key Arena, is woefully inadequate for an NBA franchise, of which I think most people can agree with. However, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m sick and tired of professional sports teams building new stadiums at the expense of local taxpayers. Sonics management tired to blackmail the city into picking up the tab for a new stadium several years ago, but ever since the referendum was shot down by the public the team has been looking to move out of Seattle. What a crappy way to reward the citizens of Seattle for sticking up for themselves and *GASP!* forcing team owners to ACTUALLY CONSIDER PAYING FOR their money making sports franchise’s amenities!!? Oh the horror to big business investments! But now the horror has shifted to Sonic fans as they are about to lose their team, and it’s a stinky deal overall for the NBA too losing a team that is one of the premier sports icons of big market Seattle. I’m sure Oklahoma City is a nice place for NBA basketball to be played, but why does it have to be at the expense of the city of Seattle???

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