Supersonicsoul - The Sonics Blog!: new orleans

Thursday, February 16

Not Being a Douche: Sonics 2.0 Fan Edition

I won’t speculate on what will be announced later today (or next month, or next year, or… ever) regarding a professional basketball team returning to Seattle. I can say that whatever it is will have to factor in these two certainties:

They aren’t making any new basketball teams.
Meaning if we are going to get a team here, it’s coming from another town.

Better writers than I have examined the dilemma this creates for Supes fans. On the one hand, you’re still mad that your team got took. On the other hand, you know that to have a team again, you have to take one from someone else.

If you’ll forgive another awful sports analogy, it’s like needing a heart transplant. You hope you get one, but it is beyond macabre to actively root for another person to die. But if one does become available, it’s not like you would say “No thanks, I’ll wait until science is able to clone hearts and sell them at Costco.” (note to self: a cartoon might have worked better here)

So what can we do? We are constantly assured that Seattle will get a team back, from somewhere, sometime. What we can do, when/if that day comes, is steer clear of gloating douchebag territory. Having been the recipients of scorn from Other Klassy Citizens these past 4 years, I’ve been mentally compiling a list of tips for avoiding their habits when the situations are reversed.

Don’t leave taunting comments on the aggrieved fanbase’s blogs and forums. Just… don’t be like those guys.
Don’t perpetuate the meme that it was “the fans’ fault” for not supporting the team enough. I don’t know how many times I’ve read an OKC fan parrot the “You guys didn’t support your team” excuse. WE guys absolutely did support our team. The mayor, commissioner, the coffee tycoon—THOSE are the guys that didn’t support US. The same kind of crap likely contributed to the other team’s demise.
Don’t talk about which city “deserves” a team or not. Deserve ain’t got nothing to do with it. It has everything to do with revenue streams and public subsidies.
Don’t tell grieving fans to “stop whining” or “get over it already.” You just come across as classless winners when you get the team AND act like you can lecture the old fans on how to cope with loss.
Don’t boast about how much better your city is than the old city, or how much better off the team is in your town.
Don’t say that it’s okay for us to steal because we were stolen from. It’s still not okay. At minimum, acknowledge the feelings of the other fans. There were a miniscule number of OKC fans who expressed sympathy on comments here and at other Sonics sites who redeemed their fanbase a tiny bit.

Non-douchey additions/suggestions welcome.

Thursday, December 9

Hypocrisy Hype

Whether this whole Seattle Super Hornets deal happens or not, one thing that won’t go away anytime soon are the folks shouting “HIPPO CRATEZ!” at Sonics fans anytime we pine for another city’s team. Given that the only way Seattle ever gets a new squad is via relocation and not expansion, those shouts are only going to get louder if and when some beleaguered franchise trucks itself up here.

Are those accusations on point? Are we any different from the Okies who came to our blogs in ‘08, drooling over our team and insulting our town? Are we hypocrites for wailing and crying in a valley of tears when our team was taken, but then circling like vultures two years later as soon as another team looks vulnerable?

...

In a word: yes. Yes, we are being hypocrites. And after some soul-searching, I realized: I’m okay with that label, because it turns out I was a hypocrite before I lost my team anyway. Heck, in a very “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” kind of way, pretty much every sports fan is a hypocrite to some degree. And since I want back into their club, I gotta own up to it.

How do I figure? When the Hornets moved from Charlotte to New Orleans, did I declare a personal boycott of the league and its corporate partners? Mm, no. When the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis, did I write angry, profanity-laden emails to David Stern every day for 14 weeks? Nope. Or, bigger picture, how about when the Browns were taken from Cleveland, the Oilers from Houston, the Expos from Montreal and so on? Did I stand up and say anything, did I curse the leagues, did I turn my back on the sport in solidarity with their fanbases and never return?

No, I didn’t. And unless you lived in those towns, none of you a-holes did either. Like most people outside of those cities, I basically shrugged and said “Man, that sucks. Oh well, at least I still have my team. Now what channel is TNT again?”

Oh, but when it was my team? You bet I got fired up, posted on blogs, made posters, attended rallies. (Instantaneously I am reminded of the Tea Baggers who, all of a sudden, are scholars of the Constitution and the writings of Ayn Rand. Yes, I see the irony.) Yes, looking back, I shake my head at my naivete, thinking that the world would surely reward my loyalty and passion. Ha!

But then let’s look at it from the new cities’ perspectives. Did the folks in New Orleans and Memphis (and OKC) go, “No, we will not accept this team because you have wronged the good people of its original city! Be gone, interloper!” Did the fans in Baltimore say to Art Modell, “Mm, no thanks, we’re gonna wait until the Colts come to their senses and leave that no-good whore, Indianapolis.”

Look, if you are a sports fan devoted to “your” team, chances are, you got your team through some shady, long-forgotten deal that screwed over another town. And of course it sucked for that town and those folks hated you and cursed your ancestors, but only until they could turn around and screw over some other town. If this doesn’t apply to you, congratulations, you’re a Sheffield FC fan and what are you even doing here?

Basically, being a modern sports fan REQUIRES different degrees of hypocrisy. You get all sanctimonious and condemn college athletes for taking money from agents, but think it’s fine if the university makes millions showing his games on TV or selling his jersey at Champs. It’s awful if Barry Bonds breaks the home run record while juicing, but you wear five LIVESTRONG bracelets on each wrist because you love Lance Armstrong. It’s great when your city gets a franchise from some other town, but it’s terrible when your team gets jacked.

Admit it, and go on with your fandom. If you’d just own up to your double standards, you’d be no different from the boxing or NCAA football fan who acknowledges the corruption, condemns it, but holds their nose and goes on rooting. They’re doing okay, aren’t they?

So the question for the Sonics fan shouldn’t be, “Am I a hypocrite?” It should be, “To what degree am I a hypocrite, and can I live with that?” I know my colleague Pete’s answer.

Regardless of yours, please refrain from sharing any douchey, unsympathetic thoughts on Hornets, Kings or Grizzlies blogs and news stories. Hypocrisy is one thing, but assholery is never excusable. Let’s try to keep it classy, shall we? Thanks.