First Thoughts

When I first thought about writing a blog, it was with the idea that I'm a fairly decent writer with opinions worth sharing, so why not? Several of my friends already had them going, and I had been reacting to what they'd written for some time. What about adding a few of my own threads to the clog on the Internet? Well, here goes.

Since I'm a girl, you will note that this blog will probably not often deal with some masculine topics. For instance, I have never been into professional sports, and even though I now hail from the Seattle area, I have never been to a Seahawks, Sonics, or Mariners game. I have never been to any Huskies' games or to the Storm"s or Sounders' games. I have nothing against them especially, it's just that I'm not spending my hard-earned dollars watching somebody else get paid for playing games that I played in high school and college, nor do I waste money on team memorabilia. True, I was not as good at it as to merit someone paying ME to play ball, but I had fun doing it myself. Nowadays I ride my horse or play at autocross with my Miata from time to time--but here's the point I'm trying to make: I'm spending my money on my own good time, not watching somebody else have theirs.

Like all good locals, I'm not against watching the lads and lassies on TV when they're doing well, if I have the time. Some of what happens in the professional sports world, however, borders on idiocy. Take the recent affairs of the basketball team "formerly known as the Seattle Sonics," for example. The City of Seattle locked the Sonics into a terrible contract a few years back, which hinged on the remodeling of the Key Arena venue in the Seattle Center complex. I believe I remember hearing at the time that it was a terrible contract and wouldn't work, but what of that? The next thing we locals hear is whining about what a terrible contract the Sonics were locked into. They were unhappy and wanted a whole new sports dome built just for them. Before reading any further, you must realize that King County taxpayers had already been roped into building new sports venues for not one but two other Seattle professional sports teams--against the protests of local voters. But who cares what the taxpayers want when professional sports are at stake? The King Dome, which was supposed to serve all of them except the Sonics, was demolished. The Mariners got Safeco Field, and an engineering marvel it is; the Seahawks got Qwest Field--and yes, Paul Allen paid for a sizable chunk of that. But now the Sonics, which were sold to new owner Clay Bennet could not be expected to play in such a substandard place as Key Arena. Hey, I've been there from time to time for other events, and it looked perfectly fine to me--oh, but I didn't go upstairs to the penthouses or to the locker rooms. Sorry, I wasn't invited to view those supposedly sorry pieces of real estate.

Here we are with the taxpayers being expected to once again foot the bill for another Sports Dome, which will end up happening anyway once the State Legislature okays it. Is anyone surprised that the proposals batted around last summer didn't fly? Clay Bennet knew all along that the voters would not spring for yet another new arena. Then we heard that Bennet never had any intention of keeping the Sonics here. He meant to move the team to Oklahoma City from the beginning.

I have to laugh now that all the dust has settled, because the real winner here is the City of Seattle, which negotiated a heck of a settlement with Bennet. Clay Bennet did get a team for Oklahoma City but he had to pay through the nose to get out of the last two years of their contract to play here. He didn't get the Sonics name--he got the players and some of the team infrastructure, all at a cost of what I've heard on TV may be somewhere around $500 million by the time he's through. Gees, Clay, don't you feel smart? You even have to help Seattle find a new team to play here or it will cost you another 30 million! You can't even take the banners or the 1979 NBA trophy with you, even though you had duplicates made to show off down there. Everybody knows they're fakes, Clay. We may still be angry about what you pulled, but we are laughing at you all the same!