At least they've still got a WNBA team...

As a three year old attending my first professional basketball game, I spent most of my time downing soda, hopping up and down the stairs of the Kingdome, and napping in my chair. Go Sonics! It seems Clay Bennett is just as thrilled to own my beloved Supersonics, and he's intent on bringing the party to Oklahoma City. A judge will rule on the case of the City of Seattle v. the Sonics ownership late tomorrow afternoon, but no matter what is decided, David Stern has made it abundantly clear that Seattle will lose their team.

The minutiae involved in the case could fill more buckets than Leon Powe, so I won't get too detailed. However, a couple key points:

• Clay Bennett and his ownership group (all Oklahoma City-based “philanthropists”) never intended to keep the Sonics in Seattle when they purchased the team back in 2006. It’s been well documented over the last few months that days after the sale of the Sonics, owners were exchanging e-mails about how soon they could move the team to Oklahoma City, and lamenting that they would need to stay in Seattle for a “lame duck” 2007-2008 season. Thanks for trading away all those second round draft picks this year, guys. Additionally, Stern and other NBA higher-ups knew that Bennett and company were planning the OKC move. They even fined one of the co-owners for stating publicly that the owners had always planned to move the team. However, Stern continues to blame the City of Seattle for failed negotiations over a new arena, and knocks the local government for a “lack of support” as the reason Seattle won’t be getting (or keeping) an NBA team. Yep.

• Memo to David Stern: Seattle taxpayers financed over three-quarters of the cost for full renovations to Key Arena in 1994, ponying up nearly $75 million. In 1997, Washington State approved the construction of Qwest Field, costing the public a maximum of $300 million. In 1999, King County funded $340 million (nearly 65% of the total cost) towards Safeco Field. Now, I don’t agree with Senator Arlen Spector on much, but this is a lot of money for the public to be spending on stadiums, and public financing should warrant a lot more government oversight.

So here we are. If Judge Marsha Pechman rules that the Sonics can buy out the remainder of the Key Arena lease, they’re gone now. If she rules that the Sonics must stay, they’ll ride out the next two years as “lame ducks” and be gone in 2010 when the lease is up. Maybe David Stern will let the city hold onto the Supersonics name and a local investor will buy the Grizzlies (seriously, how does Chris Wallace still have a job!?) Even if Seattle gets another team, it’s shameful that the league has stood by while a long-standing franchise is stolen from the city that has invested decades of support and millions of dollars.

P.S. Mark Cuban was one of just two owners to veto the move to Oklahoma. Give that man the Cubs, already!

P.P.S. Long live Detlef Schrempf.