I turn on the T.V and see our Mayor, Mick Cornett, talking about how exciting it is for Oklahoma to get their first NBA team. Get on the internet and see a YouTube video of Gary Payton telling us his opinion on the move. “I don’t think it’s fair to the people of Seattle that we leave them…I want to get my number retired here (Seattle), let them see our number raised in the rafters in their city, no one else.” Kevin Durant is quoted to saying “I am really, really mad. I am disappointed for the fans and the people that supported us for 41 years…. I am a little shocked and disappointed.” He later faces the reality of things and states “We got to move on, continue to be professional and play basketball.” Good thinking K.D. After hearing statements like these does is still make you feel excited that Oklahoma is getting their own team? It does for Kevin Hill, a student at Langston University, he says “It don’t really bother me that they feel that way. It’s the team as a whole we like. We’re not going to let the opinions of few individuals stand in our way of supporting them.” And I would have to agree with him. It kind of pulls at your heart a little bit. We’ve wanted a team for so long then when we get one, some of their players say they don’t even want to be here. If anything you would think the team would be excited to come here seeing the extreme amount of support we gave the Hornets when they were here. Especially coming from a venue where your attendance dropped to 28th in the league (out of 30), with in actual in house attendance per game being 9,146 last season. Compare that to the season the Hornets were here. They were 11th place in the league in average home attendance.
You would think these guys would be grateful that they are getting paid the millions they do to do something they love. Sadly not a too many people can say that. Hopefully once they get here we can change a couple of those guys’ attitudes towards Oklahoma. To fuel the fire even more, all the articles circulating about how the people of Seattle feel towards Chairman Clay Bennett and Oklahoma “stealing” their team and how Bennett is this and that. Seattle, are you serious? I’m sorry folks but I think it’s a little too late to show your team spirit. If they appreciated their team so much they sure didn’t show it. So now these are the consequences for their actions or lack there of. How do you feel about these comments? Email me your thought at kechols85@gmail.com, subject: Team Emotions.
The NBA season tips off October 31, with the team being in the Western Conference’s Northwest Division. Ticket prices haven’t been set yet for the season but expected to be higher then they were for the Hornets tickets. Bennett insures us that they will still be affordable seats. Hopefully we can prove all the skeptics wrong in the season coming up and show them how successful this team will really be.
