The concourse was dark and crowded and I labored to keep up with my dad's stride. I gripped a bag of snacks and a soda, dad had his beer, while we hustled through a mass of people.
Breaking through the sea of bodies and heading up the ramp, we were engulfed in the bright lights that bathed the Seattle SuperSonics hardwood. I had never seen anything like it and the experience was sizzled into my memory. It had been a year or so since the Sonics had won their 1978-79 world championship, setting the region afire for SuperSonics basketball.
To a 7-year-old kid, and to my 5-foot, 7-inch father for that manner, these guys were giants. They were also like family – my personal favorite NBA badass Lonnie Shelton lived across the street.
I confess not remembering the specifics of the games as a grade-schooler, but I remember falling asleep to the funky radio broadcast play-in music and tones of the late play-by-play announcer Bob Blackburn.
When I got out of college in the mid-‘90s, the Sonics began a rollercoaster ride that would take us to the NBA Finals and a showdown with Michael Jordan. There have been few stretches in Seattle fandom that compare to the nightly spectacle that was George Karl’s human highlight reel of Gary Payton to Shawn Kemp. How many beers did you spill high-fiving anyone within reach after a Payton-Kemp above the rim connection?
Breaking through the sea of bodies and heading up the ramp, we were engulfed in the bright lights that bathed the Seattle SuperSonics hardwood. I had never seen anything like it and the experience was sizzled into my memory. It had been a year or so since the Sonics had won their 1978-79 world championship, setting the region afire for SuperSonics basketball.
To a 7-year-old kid, and to my 5-foot, 7-inch father for that manner, these guys were giants. They were also like family – my personal favorite NBA badass Lonnie Shelton lived across the street.
I confess not remembering the specifics of the games as a grade-schooler, but I remember falling asleep to the funky radio broadcast play-in music and tones of the late play-by-play announcer Bob Blackburn.
When I got out of college in the mid-‘90s, the Sonics began a rollercoaster ride that would take us to the NBA Finals and a showdown with Michael Jordan. There have been few stretches in Seattle fandom that compare to the nightly spectacle that was George Karl’s human highlight reel of Gary Payton to Shawn Kemp. How many beers did you spill high-fiving anyone within reach after a Payton-Kemp above the rim connection?
And now a group of Oklahoma City carpetbaggers want to take my team and any future glory away. NBA Commissioner David Stern, for reasons still unknown, wants in on the heist, too.
But worst of all, they want to rob my son and kids his age of their Seattle SuperSonics legacy. He’ll soon be the same age I was when I took in my first game. I want him to understand. And remember. And revel.
The Save Our Sonics crew is holding a rally throughout the day, Monday, June 16 outside the courthouse (700 Stewart St., Seattle). Gary Payton and Xavier McDaniel will be in attendance at 4:30 p.m. to help rally the fans. Who knows, maybe the X-Man will choke a lawyer for old-time sake. Other Sonic legends are expected to appear.
Count me in. And I’ll take my son so that I can tell him he tried everything he could to keep his team at home.
2 comments:
Thanks for the memory Son!
My husband, Buster, and I visited Seattle from LA and caught a Sonics v. Lakers game. We stood up and cheered the first Laker basket and realized we were the only ones in the kingdome to do so. Sonics fans are loyal and vocal and why would the league want to take away a West Coast team? Oh, yeah, the only sports base exisits east of the Mississippi River! They need to realize that the West Coast is here to stay! Take your son and keep the Sonics in Seattle where he can experience them in the years to come.
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