Except the OKC ownership currently owns all the rights to the Sonics name and history, so unless that swaps hands, the Sonics are effectively dead.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

http://sonicsgate.org/movie/

right link

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

well, with boeing leaving the city anyways, who really cares? seattle will get another team. plus, they have the seahawks and mariners. its not like winnipeg or hartford where those teams where all they had. i think it sucks, but that doesnt qualify for most tortured on my list.

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watch the video. The Sonics were extremely important to Seattle.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I remember an episode of Frasier where one of the Sonics rubbed Niles' head before a game and his peach shampoo was good luck, so he kept rubbing Niles' head except he switched shampoos. Funny times. I loved Frasier.

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mechaphil

The sonics were to seattle almost as the sabres are to buffalo

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

still. the sonics wernt the only show in town. as i already said, i was always a sonics fan. but they still dont make MY list. have them on yours if you want, thats the whole point. why you are so up in arms over it, i have no idea. all i said was they won a championship in 79.

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And you said that they didn't matter, which is untrue. Plus you called people out for teams that had won championships in the past 31 years when you included a team that has one in the last three, and in another month, possibly two.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

The Mariners are STARVED for success. They set the AL win record in 2001, and people couldn't get enough of them. They sold out almost every game for the next couple of years. I went to see a game on a Saturday afternoon at Safeco last summer, and the place was not even half full on a gorgeous summer's day. They better have some success again soon or the Mariners could go the way of the Sonics.

even if that was true, like i already said, the ONLY reason i included the celtics is because they had two players die within a short period of time, and the franchise is still feeling those effects. they died, thats sort of a big deal, and trumps everything else. even the red wings rash of bad luck off the ice nearly made my list (vladdy konstintinov being a vegetable and jiri fischer dying on the bench to be revived)

those events, in my mind, trump championship droughts and relocation.

and the supersonics drew a little over 13,000 people per game, and had a very hard time filling a very small venue for years. if thats passion, then im in a different dimension.

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Most tortured fanchises IMO:

LA Clippers
Cleveland Browns
Buffalo Bills
Chicago Cubs
Seattle Mariners (came in to MLB the same years as the Blue Jays and haven't even been to the Series yet)
NY Jets (save for Broadway Joe's Super Bowl win)

That's just incorrect. The only year they drew under 14,000 in the past 16 was 07-08 when everyone knew they were moving.

They sold out every game for three straight years (96-97 to 98-99).

Since 1990, they averaged 15,358 people filling 89.96% of their arena, which would be good for for 12th in the NBA this season. This decade they averaged 15,447 people or 91%, good for 10th in the NBA this season.


The notion that the Sonics were a crappy sell isn't quite correct.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

using percentage capacity is misleading as well for such a small arena.

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also, it should be pointed out that prior to the 94-95 season, they played at the old seattle center coliseum (later remodeled to the key arena) and for the 94-95 season, they played at the massive tacoma dome, which seats 21,000 for basketball.

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How is that? There isn't any better way to judge attendance, since bigger arenas will obviously have larger attendance numbers. Using percentages puts them all on equal footing.

Fair point about the arena switch, I forgot about that.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

well, if a team brings in 37,000 people, it brings in 37,000 people. example.

so, say the team sells out 41 games, looks good, right? but then you later find out the arena only seats 11,000, its all.. well who wouldnt sell out then? supply and demand. sure, the supply was low, but sonics didnt meet the demand, and had empty seats.

im not disagreeing with you saying the sonics shouldnt have moved, i agree. completely. i, personally, dont feel they are tortured, at least past the celtics, who had 2 very high profile players die in a short period of time. thats all.

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Look at it this way, Mike: when people talk about the Celtics, do they bring up those deaths before they bring up the championships or Larry Bird? No. I'll bet they're barely brought up at all, if ever.

Conversely, all the other teams people talk about have their failures (4 lost Super Bowls, 40 year Cup droughts, a pathetic history of losing, the famous century-long World Series drought, No Goal) at the conversational forefront more often than not.

To me, that's why the Celtics aren't tortured.

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mechaphil

and thats ok, but its really sad either way.

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That would suck, I was at Safeco a few years ago and its a gorgeous ballpark

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"...they came down into the stands and asked if I knew how to do play by play. I said...No. But. I'll take a shot at it if you want".- Rick Jeanneret