For me, this thing started on a muggy June day in 2011. It was the Fremont Solstice festival, and I was standing in a beer garden at LTD, proudly wearing a green and yellow Supersonics t-shirt. A guy approached me, complimented me on my Supes' gear, and we proceeded to discuss the topic. All of the memories the Sonics gave us as young kids in the 90's, and the pain that was caused when the team up and left for the city that shall not be named in 2008. This mystery man then told me something I never let go of...his brother, who lived in San Francisco, was friends with a guy down there that had begun the process to build a new arena and bring our team back. I expressed how awesome that would be, we said bye, and went our separate ways. While it was always in the back of my mind, I never thought much of it. What does some drunk guy at a beer garden really know about this?
Apparently, he knew it all.
It wasn't more than six months later, in December of 2011, that news began coming out that a San Francisco hedge-fund manager was scooping up land in the SODO district. And for what? Well, to build a basketball arena, of course. Just like that man in the beer garden, this hedge-fund manager was a mystery man in his own right.
Coming up on the two year anniversary of that Solstice festival, we now know this man as the second coming...Christopher Hansen.
His plan started quietly, and rapidly picked up steam. The grand idea started becoming much more clear, the rest of the group started taking shape, rallies were held, more land was purchased, arena discussions began popping up on city and county council agendas, and shit got real.
And then it happened, in January, right when our Seahawks remarkable season came to a brutal end, we had amazing news. The once former mystery man, turned local legend, Hansen, along with the CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, and a couple of guys with the last name Nordstrom, had reached an agreement to purchase the Sacramento Kings and move them to our city. At that time, this thing seemed all but done. Little did we know, it was only the end of the first quarter.
Here we are now, the clock winding down in the 4th. We have had the lead the whole game, and despite Sacramento getting some calls from the refs that seem...I'll say generous, we just need to close this out. Our team of All-stars have not once misled us, let us down, or made a misstep. Not one single time. What once seemed like a dream, is right there in our grasps. While the people in Sacramento have held press conferences on the reg, talked about their "whales" who would save the team, and spewed rhetoric after rhetoric about their arena "deal" (they use that term loosely), our guys have sat quietly, occasionally making it rain a couple extra million dollars just for good measure.
Some people I talk to are upbeat about the situation, others worn out from it, and a few extremely pessimistic. I say the same thing to all of them, "don't worry, we got this". I feel like I have Russell Wilson under center, and Marshawn Lynch in the backfield. We just need one more first down to drain the clock. You would feel good about that, right? So, yes, there is a chance of a mistake, but it just doesn't happen too often.
Instead of getting caught up in the numbers, the biased opinions, and the history, just focus on what we know is true. We know that what we have to offer in Seattle is a better all around deal. Most importantly, we know our team has never let us down.
To close, I wouldn't pop the champagne just yet, but the locker rooms are definitely covered in plastic, and the bottles are on ice.
Keep calm...We got this.
