Tag Archives: Seattle

The “Truth” Is Always In The Middle

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Think of it as the flip side of “woke mind disease”. Suburban moderates in Greater Seattle, and especially right wing nutters, love nothing more than complaining about all things Seattle. It gives their lives purpose. More specifically, the leftist politicians in charge, homelessness, decaying public spaces, and lax policing.

Then you come across a story like this one. “Alongside World Cup, Seattle’s street soccer scene is alive at Judkins Park.”

Major props to Carly Dykes and the Seattle Times for restoring some balance and so poignantly reminding us that our Big City, despite real challenges, has redeeming qualities too.

Sorry, Not Sorry

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Another sports post. One newer subscriber, named Lara, just hit “delete”. Which is good, given her inbox.

Some history compliments of Wikipedia:

“On July 2, 2008, the Seattle SuperSonics, an American professional basketball team that competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA), moved from its original city of Seattle to Oklahoma City. The team began to play as the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2008–09 NBA season.”

That is a woefully incomplete summary because it doesn’t get at the buyer’s subterfuge and the associated anger of the SuperSonics faithful. So let’s give Wikipedia a second chance to flesh that out:

“In months before the settlement, Seattle officials released emails exchanged by members of Bennett’s ownership group, alleging that they indicated that some members intended to move the team to Oklahoma City all along, and had not negotiated in good faith. As a result, Schultz sued to rescind the sale and transfer the team to a court-appointed receiver. He dropped the suit after the NBA noted that he had signed a binding contract not to sue Bennett’s group and argued that his proposal would violate league ownership rules.

In 2019, Schultz said, ‘Selling the Sonics as I did is one of the biggest regrets of my professional life. I should have been willing to lose money until a local buyer emerged. I am forever sorry.'”

This thievery made it especially painful for woebegone Sonics fans to watch the Oklahoma City Thunder win the NBA title last June. So much for karma?! And then, insult to injury, to watch them have the best regular season record this year.

And possibly repeat as champions. But not so fast said a 7’4″ Frenchman for which OKC had no answer in the Western Conference Finals.

Now that you’re hip to Seattle basketball fan’s pain, this is the best paragraph you’ll read today. From Yahoo Sports.

“. . . there’s a harsh financial reality facing the Thunder. With Holmgren and Jalen Williams both becoming max contract players next season, the franchise currently projects to have $260 million on the books for 2026-27. That puts them about $40 million above the second apron, which would lead to $500 million in salary and luxury tax penalties on top of all the penalties that come with being a second apron team.” 

Half a billion dollars. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer franchise. Karma is back baby! And now we relish in the schadenfreude of Clay Bennett’s OKC Thunder slipping into mediocrity.

Postscript. Notice Schutlz said “one of the biggest regrets”. The biggest was just recently raising the price of DanDanTheTransportationMan’s morning coffee.

Holmgren To Miss 22-23 NBA Season

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With a foot injury suffered at an exhibition at Seattle Pacific University last weekend. Begs a couple of questions.

1) Is the fact that it happened in Seattle some sort of sad (sick) cosmic payback for Oklahoma City stealing the Sonics?

2) Who will have the longer NBA career, Chet Holmgren or Bill Walton? Due to numerous foot and other injuries, Walton played in 468 games over 10 seasons. I hope Holmgren fully recovers, but I think I will take the under.

If There’s Any Justice In The World

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If the Seattle Mariner magic continues this weekend and they close out the season with a sweep of the “Los Angeles” Angels and make the playoffs, all will be forgiven and forgotten by each and every Specific Northwesterner: Jeff Bezos, the endemic, the unprecedented heat and wild fires, the traffic nightmares, the fractured politics, the Seahawk’s defense, the antiquated airport, the creeping wetness and darkness.

92-70. See it. Believe it.

Postscript: 91-71?

Seattle Leans A Little Left

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Moderate Democrats are splitting with more radical leftists on Seattle’s plans to give misdemeanor suspects a pass for crimes committed to meet a basic need.

Jason Rantz, right wing radio host tells a precautionary story. Seattle CM called police she defunded to report crime she is effectively legalizing.

I guess I’m a moderate Democrat since I find the proposed legislation problematic for the reasons Rantz explains. However, since we already imprison a larger proportion of citizens than any other country, we know Rantz’s solution of locking up more people will do nothing to reduce crime or improve Seattleites’ quality of life. Because criminals aren’t rational. They don’t plan on being caught, and therefore, don’t ponder the odds of going to prison.

We also now know we can’t afford our prison population if we want balanced state budgets. I wish I could direct a larger proportion of my city, county, and state sales taxes to mental health and substance abuse treatment.

That still leaves the question of what to do with all the criminals of sound mind who commit property crimes and other misdemeanors. On that, I’ll defer to experts to propose smarter, more viable alternatives to prison.

Say What?

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So confusing. Start with the headline, “Seattle Mariners’ Kyle Lewis awarded American League Rookie of the Year in unanimous vote.”

If that’s not disorienting enough, fast forward to this gem:

“The Georgia native is the beginning of what could be a formidable young outfield in Seattle. Jarred Kelenic, who was acquired in a trade with the New York Mets, and Julio Rodriguez are ranked among baseball’s top prospects.”

Have the words “formidable” and “the Seattle Mariners” ever appeared in the same sentence?

I hereby declare these strange times.

Understanding Seattle

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The President and his Fox News co-workers don’t ever reference Seattle’s history. Because they don’t care about it. All they care about is reinforcing stereotypes of people of color being prone to violence.

For historical context, we need Margaret O’Hara’s, “Don’t Be Fooled by Seattle’s Police-Free Zone”.

The heart of the matter:

“Discriminatory mortgage lending and racially restrictive covenants limited Seattle’s nonwhite population to a single neighborhood, the Central District. Fair housing laws opened up new parts of the city and suburbs to minority homeowners and renters after the 1960s, but Seattle’s overwhelmingly single-family zoning limited the housing available to new buyers.

Such zoning has been remarkably difficult to change. The region’s homeowners may vote Democratic and plant racial solidarity signs in their front yards, but often resist higher densities that can increase the affordable housing supply.”

O’Hara sees things getting better:

“. . . this season of pandemic and protest. . . . is forcing our city to reckon with truths that can and should make white citizens like me uncomfortable, and that remind us just how much Seattle is like the rest of America: impossibly divided, and impossibly full of hope.”

Nice Guys Don’t Always Finish Last

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The parallels between Michael Jordan and Lance Armstrong are fascinating. Both seized on real and imagined slights and then exaggerated them in their minds, making them much more scandalous than they were, in order to, as Lance says in ESPN’s Armstrong documentary “Get my hate on.” The angrier they were, the better they performed. Realizing that, they became expert at sparking their anger.

They also had a win at all costs approach to their respective sports; treating teammates, and in Lance’s case support staff, as means towards that one end. Apart from their athleticism, there was very little to admire about them.

The parallels haven’t been lost on other viewers of ESPN’s recent Jordan and Armstrong docs, which has caused people to conclude that you have to be an asshole to win six NBA Championships or Seven editions of the Tour de France.

To which I call bullshit. Nice guys don’t always finish last.

Among many other examples, Magic Johnson smiled his way to five NBA titles. Russell Wilson, a regular visitor at Seattle’s Children’s Hospital, won the SuperBowl. Tom Brady never denigrated his teammates. Jack Nicklaus was universally liked and Adam Scott won the Masters.

And in 2017, Ron Byrnes won the Seattle Marathon’s 50-55 age group. And a lot of people are saying he’s the nicest guy of all.*

*this is potentially misleading