Off-Topic: Please Check Out Sonicsgate

Apologies in advance for talking about the wrong sport in the wrong city, but I'd like to encourage you all to check out Sonicsgate, a full-length documentary that details how basketball fans in Seattle got their team stolen by David Stern, Clay Bennett, Howard Schultz, and a whole lot of other people who didn't seem to care very much about the Sonics or Seattle.

Preview from sonicsgate on Vimeo.

Again, I know this doesn't have anything to do with the Birds, but I was a Sonics season ticket holder for three years, and this all went down while I was a paying customer.  The film is actually very good, and captures the hypocrisy and greed of the whole thing: David Stern singing the praises of Key Arena in 1996 (jerk), Starbucks founder Howard Schultz touting his Seattle bona fides while begging for taxpayer money and then selling the team for a tidy profit (liar), and carpetbagger Clay Bennett (and his sleazebag buddy Aubrey McClendon) lying about their intentions to move the team to Oklahoma (thieves).

Watching the film this week really bummed me out/ pissed me off (what an endorsement, I know).  You think this sort of thing could never happen to your team, but it can and it could (they took the freakin Browns out of Cleveland, don't think we're immune).  I hadn't gotten angry about the Sonics in a while, but this film left me pretty belligerent (probably more belligerent than I needed to be on a Wednesday night at home).        

The film itself is well done, though, especially if you're into hearing from the Most Articulate Sonics Fan On Planet Earth, writer Sherman Alexie, Sonics broadcaster Kevin Calabro, and, of course, The Glove himself, Gary Payton.  Also, if you're not familiar with northwest hip-hop, the soundtrack offers an excellent introductory sampling. 

Worth a watch.