Some of my earliest memories as a little kid were of going to watch the Sonics play at the Kingdome. Apparently, I would sometimes accidently yell, “Go Mariners.” I’m sure it was adorable. In 1996 I remember the excitement of watching them reach the NBA finals against Jordan’s Bulls. It was the first time during my lifetime that a professional Seattle team reached the championship series or game. I was never a “huge” Sonics fan, but I was definitely a fan. I would occasionally go to a game, and I would always check the scores in the paper or online to see if they won.
I was surprised how angry I was when the city of Seattle and Howard Schultz announced that they had dropped their lawsuit and settled with the new ownership group, which made the move to Oklahoma City official. A lot of people in Seattle had a callous attitude toward the Sonics (they had been pretty horrible for the majority of the last dozen or so years) and weren’t sad to see them go. I did not share this sentiment. I was quite upset.
Again, I wasn’t fanatical supporter, but when you grow up following a team from the time you could barely walk, when going to games or watching them on tv was a frequent bonding activity with your dad or buddies… it pissed me off. It wasn’t just that they were leaving, it was the way it all went down.
Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks and longtime resident of Seattle, was the majority owner of the Sonics when the team was sold to a group of buyers out of Oklahoma City. If, after the sale, Schultz had come out and said, “You know what, I am business man. That’s it. I feel no sense of duty whatsoever to the people of Seattle. I’m in it only for the money, and I don’t care what happens to the team,” I still would have been upset, but I could have respected his honesty. Instead, he had the audacity to insult everyone’s intelligence and claim that he believed Clay Bennett (the lead buyer from OKC) intended to make a good-faith effort to keep the team in Seattle. This claim was made despite the fact that everybody knew that OKC coveted an NBA team after having just finished hosting the New Orleans Hornets while that city was being repaired. Also, other investors from the OKC group were openly telling OKC media that they intended to move the Sonics.
The “good faith” effort that Bennett had promised took the form of an elaborate charade of asking for outrageous amounts of taxpayer money to build a new $500 million dollar arena when he knew perfectly well that such requests were impossible given the city’s and state’s financial picture. David Stern (Commissioner of the NBA) was Bennett’s willing partner in the whole farce, claiming that joint private/public offer to spend $300 million to renovate the existing Key Arena was just not good enough because the Key was simply too terrible of an arena. This would have been news to a younger David Stern who had profusely praised the arena.
At some point during all of this, public sentiment turned against Howard Schultz once everyone realized he had gift wrapped the Sonics for the hicks in Oklahoma. He subsequently filed a cynical lawsuit against Bennett for breach of sale, alleging that Bennett never intended to make a good faith effort to keep the Sonics in Seattle. No kidding, Howie. The only way Bennett could have been more clear about his intentions was if he had arrived at the press conference announcing the sale in a U-Haul truck.
The crap cherry on this puke pie is that the Zombie Sonics (hat tip: Bill Simmons for that nickname) are set to be a very, very good team for the better part of the next decade (although who knows what kind of havoc free-agency will wreak). Also, they were moved from a world-class city to the worlds-most-boring town, a place about as memorable as the television show Sidekicks.
Why do I bring this up? Because as I was trying to fall asleep the other night I realized that I had forgotten Howard Schultz’s role in the sad affair. Perhaps because I had repressed the entire episode. Anyway, I decided that I won’t drink Starbucks coffee anymore. Not to send a message. That would be stupid. I doubt Shultz will miss my meager money much. Rather, I am giving up Starbucks for my own psychic well-being. I will not support that man. Little 3-year-old Ryan is still hurt, and this is his way of calling Howard Schultz a poopface. I’m not going to be terribly dogmatic about this. If a friend wants to meet at Starbucks then that’s fine. I’m not willing to give up my trips to Barnes and Noble where Starbucks is the only option. But in a world where there are as many coffee options as there are unemployed law students, I intend to refuse to drink Starbucks whenever I can.
And I will never watch an NBA game again.
Ryan Bleek
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