Achieving major-league dream comes without thrill of victory
Comments
166
By Berry Tramel
Published: July 3, 2008
Clay Bennett looked like a hero, in a dark blue suit that wasn't bought off the rack, standing in front of a matching NBA/OKC backdrop.
He was received like a hero, with
Oklahoma City's leading dignitaries breaking into applause when Bennett said the magic words that the team formerly known as the Sonics will be in Oklahoma City before Fireworks City sells its last Roman candle of the weekend.
But Bennett didn't act like a hero. Didn't feel victorious, and not because he's about to write
Seattle a check for $45 million, with perhaps more to come.
Too much personal cost in recent months, too much work to be done in the future.
Maybe someday, maybe even soon, this son of Oklahoma City can sit back and appreciate his role in the remarkable rise of his hometown to major-league status. But the celebration is for later. For now, Bennett only wants a Fourth of July vacation in
Colorado, then to hit Oklahoma City streets and sell, sell, sell this basketball team that as of today doesn't even have a name.
"I don't feel, standing here today, victorious,” Bennett said Wednesday night at the
Skirvin Hotel, two blocks from the
Ford Center, where his basketball team will tip off less than four months from today. "I just don't feel that.”
Bennett is too bloodied to raise his arms in triumph. Like all owners who try to move franchises out of longtime homes, Bennett took a beating in Seattle. Some of it deserved, some of it not.
"I hope people truly appreciate what Clay went through for us to get to this point,”
Mayor Mick Cornett said. "No one likes having their integrity questioned. I imagine that was the toughest part.”
Bennett's name is mud in Seattle until the last basketball is pumped with air. Wild, wild stuff.
"It was a tough experience for all of us,” Bennett said. "So much that happened on both sides ... it was difficult.
"I always tried to stay on my feet, stay centered.”
Bennett thanked his partners for never wavering, then broke down when talking about his family. And if you know Clay Bennett, you know he never publicly lets his emotions go.
But Wednesday, he was a Johnny who came marching home again and let someone else yell "Hurrah! Hurrah!”
Even if Bennett wouldn't celebrate, this was his biggest day. A little kid who dreamed not of quarterbacking the
Dallas Cowboys but of owning them now has brought major-league status to Oklahoma City, his hometown.
"Gotta be the biggest (day),” said
Lee Allan Smith, an Oklahoma City civic booster. "There'll be some more for him. He's come a long way. I'm very proud of him. Everyone should be.”
Nineteen years ago, Smith and Bennett teamed to bring the
U.S. Olympic Festival here, and we quaintly thought that was a big deal.
Bennett refuses still to admit otherwise.
"I remember that event, remember that experience, and how we responded,” Bennett said. "How well the event was conducted, how well it was supported. How much fun we all had.
"That was a very important step.”
Bennett gave a shot at his ownership dream in the mid-'90s, with a
National Hockey League expansion push, then he brought the homeless Hornets to town and that hunger returned.
He bought the Sonics two Julys ago and frankly, Bennett was a lot more giddy that day than he was Wednesday.
"I'm happy,” he said. "I'm very happy. I'm proud for all of us in
Oklahoma that have wanted this.”
But not victorious and said he doesn't know why. Maybe the trial and its months-long preparation wore him out. Maybe the onerous work ahead tempers any enthusiasm. Maybe when you've been battered and bloodied, it's enough to just get home, to the cheers of colleagues and the realization of a dream.
Comments
Our politicians were skeptical of Clay's efforts from the beginning, and made working with him almost impossible. He demanded a half billion dollar building be built for him, the most expensive basketball arena in the USA, but was unwilling to contribute to the cause. Very noble of him; would have gone a long way to show his sincere commitment to the region if he had.
Seattle is very progressive, but things don't get done overnight. It took some time but we did build a brand new baseball stadium, one of the finest, at a very high price tag - but it was a joint public & private partnership. Seattle constructed a tremendous football stadium, state of the art, but yet it too was a private / public subsidized venture. When the Sonics wanted to completely remodel / rebuild Key Arena 12 years ago it got done and was also a private - public partnership. These buildings were all built with public and private monies - where as Clay Bennett would not offer any contribution to the cause to get the ball rolling.
Seattle will get a new basketball arena with Ballmer's future ownership group coming forward and offering to pay half the cost of the building, Bennett never offered to pay a dime because he never wanted to keep the team in Seattle as the emails so aptly point out. The Oklahoma hero whose lies and deceiving acts must make you all very proud.
Lets put it this way, in straight talk - which might be foreign to Oklahoman's alike, Seattle is still paying off the new Qwest Stadium, Safeco Field, and the newly remodeled Key Arena (144 months old); it would be like a home owner having not one, but three mortgages at the same time, and then be asked to tear down one of those homes and rebuild it again, at an even far greater cost; and then given a small window of time to accomplish this feat. We have a proven record of getting projects like this done – but his timetable was unrealistic – and his motives transparent and insincere. Hard to work with someone when you don’t believe a word out of his mouth. The city of Seattle was not going to be held at ransom by a group of ‘shysters’, which is exactly what they were. Yes Oklahoma you can be very proud to call Clay Bennett one of your own.
David Stern spoke highly of Key Arena upon his first visit in 1995, but then deemed it unsuitable for his product less than 10 years later. 10 years is all an arena gets these days. How long will the Ford Center be good in the eyes of Stern & Bennett.
Now Key Arena is not the Taj Majal but it is no dump; but unless you are a wealthy luxury box owner it is a fabulous place to watch basketball, intimate with great sight lines. It is a terrific basketball arena - but it is NOT a large shopping mall with 100 high priced luxury suites, & 75 restaurants, that is demanded these days. It’s a basketball arena - home of the Seattle Sonics for a better part of 41 years.
Now a days we have congressional inquiries and trials into whether a player uses steroids or not; and then there are ongoing trials into the ensuing perjury that occurred from those events. Should Clay Bennett not be held to the same standards? The senate inquired on behalf of the people, against players cheating; should they not do the same when a owner steals a 41 year old franchise from a community and then perjures himself repeatedly on the stand. Yes this is a man Oklahoma can be proud of.
The community of Seattle has 'always' supported this team. Clay Bennett’s idea of a “Good Faith Effort” was to strip it of all its marquee players, and trade away any player that could make them competitive - Seattle fans still showed up in the stands. Would Oklahoma show up at Oklahoma football games and support a man who was trying to take that football program to - say Montana? Well -Seattle did. Even when Clay Bennett managed to put the worst product Seattle has ever seen in its ‘41-year history’ - they did not play in front of 7,000 fans. Though he tried in vain, he never could completely disengage the Seattle Sonic fan base; while getting rid of all fan favorites, even coaches with long ties to Seattle basketball and the community - just the opposite thing you would do if you were trying to build fan support for a new arena.
Seattle will get another franchise - but we won't rip one out of somebody else's community. We have had polls in Seattle - and overwhelmingly people voted up here that we would not want to be granted a team if it meant stealing one, and all its history from another city. I guess you can say that is where people from Oklahoma and Seattle differ - its called morals; look it up in the dictionary if you don't understand what it truly means.
Though you successfully stole our team - you cannot buy a team's history - it is Not something you purchase - it is something you live; something that is woven into the community, into the people that shared the fond memories - not something you buy. Make your own history and then rightfully celebrate it. Don't make mock NBA Championship trophies and banners that have absolutely no meaning to you. Remember a NBA team does not make you a big city, any more than Los Angeles losing the Rams made them a small city. Oklahoma will still be Oklahoma – with just another entertainment value available.
I was in Oklahoma for the first time a week ago, and met many nice people when I was there; and came away with the feeling they were happy to get a team but they did not agree with how they were getting one. From what I saw of the area - I have no idea how Oklahoma plans on supporting an NBA team - past the 3-5 year novelty phase, at which point your hero will be asking for a new arena to be able to compete - even though Ford Center looked adequate.
Most of you from Oklahoma know an injustice was done - and for you to stand for this injustice and not voice your opinion - makes you no better then Clay Bennett. I have read that Clay is regarded as a hero now, while most of the United States reserve that term for the likes of our ‘honorable’ fighting troops, policemen and the like. For any of you to consider him a hero for what he has done - only shows your lack of integrity & values - for he has painted your state, your region with a brush of dishonesty, and unscrupulous behavior that will far outlive your short NBA lives.
T - in SeaTown
Big town dreams for small town minds. Gotta love the products of the Oklahoma City Public schools.
Mr. Bennet and partner's actions over the next year will show whether they did this as a wonderful gesture for their hometown, or as a disguise to grab even more power and money. Wikipedia says OKC is the 44th largest metropolitan area in the country; team support will be strong at first, but without a lot of strong corporate support and public money (ie higher taxes for subsidize pro sports, not schools, cops or roads) the team will not be economically competitive. Sometime in the next +/-10 years some billionairs from San Diego, or Jacksonville, or St. Louis, or Chicago (2 teams like LA and NY) will buy the team and move it. So... if your owners are sincere about benefitting OKC I suggest you ask them to sell the team to the community, aka the Green Bay Packers, so there will be 10,000 local owners instead of 5 0r 10. If thoursands of your residents own the team it will stay put; if a small pool of rich guys milk your public treasury for a decade, then sell for a profit and say "oh we didn't know the team would move" - well, you'll have your own Howard Schultzs. If you love your team please learn from Seattle's mistakes - trust your community, not your rich guys.
So our fans deserve for billionaires and politicians to take an asset that's been in our community for 41 years? We deserve that? Kyle, do you have kids? Try telling your 13 year old daughter, who's been going to games with you since she was little, that there's absolutely nothing that we, the fans, could have done to keep the team here. It's pretty easy for you to be smug and tell us we deserve it, until the shoe is on the other foot. No one said we're better than the OKC citizens. Just realize, you can be the biggest fan of your team, but you're helpless if the decide to relocate.
You're a nice guy, and smart too. Miami is fifth largest, Atlanta is ninth largest, Cleveland-23rd, Sacramento—26th, New Orleans—40th.Get your facts straight, genius.
"The NBA should be banned from using the phrase "NBA cares" in any future public service announcement."
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=sonicsmove_080702
It is best served to be the continental drain.
Enjoy your 2nd rate team in a 2nd rate league.
<BR><BR>
Bennett is a lying scumbag and deserves all the mud getting thrown at him.
And now, they've actually agreed to let the new owners share in the Sonic history, including hanging replica championship banners and creating a duplicate 1979 Sonic world championship trophy. How hollow is that? Are the banners going to say, "Oklahoma Thunderbirds, 1979 NBA Champions?" I can't believe the OKC fans would want that, but who knows?
You have a business person who just proved that he has no problem breaking leases that he signs. There is not other issue when the same man is insisting on tax breaks and $300 million from the community he supposedly values. The reason Seattle would not give this guy the $500 million he demanded gets down to the trust issue. Do you do business with a man who as he was demanding the funds, was in the process of breaking the lease his oganization agreed to a mere decade earlier? Smart people and governments do not do business with people they cannot trust. Clay Bennett demonstrated quite clearly that he cannot be trusted. THAT Oklahoma, is the bottom line, and we in Seattle just learned the hard way what local businessmen will do to the communities they live in. Clay Bennett one-upped Howard Shultz in terms of devious behaviour, and if it were me, I'd be very very wary granting funds to a man who just proved how trustworthy he is, and what his true character is.
You are the winning spouse from a broken marriage, one in which the straying party just cheated his way out of the marriage. Not a good situation by any means.