Thanks for making a Nightmare come true Greg Nickels

The Sonics are gone, but KeyArena will be the site of an exhibition Oct. 14 at KeyArena between their former Northwest rivals, the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Phoenix Suns.

Reported By Percy Allen, Seattle Times Newspaper

KeyArena is not good enough for the Sonics to call it home after 41 years. I see no good reason for the Portland Trailblazers to call it home for even one game.

The Mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels sold out the lease two years early to franchise owners that have lost most of their wealth, to leave to a city struggling to pay for upgrades to the Ford Center.

Now that is a visionary, the guy that testified that "anything could happen" in those last two years choked.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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SeattlePI.com: Wash. treasury to see further revenue decrease

The Special Session in October is timed to deal with the next economic forecast due September 27.

By then it should be clear that people are still not spending money they do not have on things people are too unsure that they should produce because there might not be a market for that unmade, unsold, not purchased, thing.

I'll offer KeyArena, and low-income housing as stimulus spending, using tourist taxes, as being a good idea.

Top lawmakers, meanwhile, said a special session of the Legislature is likely in October, if only to approve new school-spending and criminal justice policies that were not resolved during this year's regular legislative session.
www.seattlepi.com AP story linked here!

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

Sonics reach out to pet the dog, and the dog bits off 4.1 fingers

SEATTLE - ESPN 710's Kevin Calabro had the "Highly Anticipated" interview with NBA Commish David Stern on Friday, June 5th.

(Show link and audio ishere!)

There was nothing new in the interview. There was nothing new in the reaction of the callers to the radio station afterward, either.

I think a few thoughts before listening to any interview with David Stern, I think he:
Does not own an NBA team, so he can not make promises involving something he does not own.

When talking to the press about a particular franchise he is paid to always take the position of the owner of a given franchise, that is why it looks like he is talking out of both sides of his mouth, they are not his words.

When talking to a particular owner he is speaking on behalf of the other 29 other owners.

He has the right as the Commish to rule on arenas and the revenue the league requires. So, he has said KeyArena needs a remodel paid for by mostly public money (Howard Schultz), then a new arena paid for by public money (Clayton Bennett), then a remodel of KeyArena would be fine and only half public money paid on the common public portions (Steve Ballmer).

A privately funded building would be fine if it were fine with some owner.
KeyArena would be fine as-is if some owner were willing to pay the league the balance of the revenue they require (10's of millions of dollars every year).

When talking to anybody about Seattle he has said the same thing for 7 years, his personal opinion is that he would rather have a team here.
I think that when he does give just his opinion that he really does want that to happen.
The problem is, I think, that he is rarely, ever, giving his opinion.

His "power" comes from the owners supporting what he says and does, voting on what they want him to say and do, and hiring him to say and do it through 2010.

The situation reminds me of a joke:
David Stern is standing next to a dog.

Sonics fans walk up to Mr. Stern and say, "does your dog bite?".

Stern says, "No."

Sonics reach out to pet the dog, and the dog bits off 4.1 fingers.

Sonics fans yell at Stern, WHAT the heck is wrong with you, you said your dog does not bite!!!!

Stern replies, "That's not my dog."

Have a great day,
Mike Baker