I have to admit that the Sonics move to Oklahoma caught me a bit off guard. I don't know if it was the instant finality of it, or that figure. $75 Million. As a sports fan, it has been a long time since such an important decision has been made in major sports over such a small amount of money. I kept looking at that number. I'll be honest, I didn't keep up too much with the fight between the city of Seattle and Clay Bennett. I always thought he would be able to move his team and the city would erect a statue of him, then pull it down a week later in front of a raucous group of fans carrying torches, a la  Saddam Hussein's likeness in Iraq. 

I know what it's like to be in love with your basketball team. My Dad took me to my first game at the original Arco Arena in 1987. It might as well have been a college auditorium though, because, well, that's how big it was. The four luxury suites, one in each corner, would be laughed at today. Anyone hoping to walk up the stairs in order to get snacks better hope they're on the right side of the basketball floor. The Kings lost to the Utah Jazz, and I'll admit I was more excited to be watching John Stockton and Karl Malone, but that small arena and no-name team had a small effect on me. Little by little my love for Larry Bird and the Celtics turned toward Reggie Theus and the Kings. I even started wearing baby blue and dotting my I's with crowns. Yup, I was a fan, whether I liked it or not. The Madhouse on Market Street was the perfect venue for a team located in a cow town like Sacramento, and when you're from a very small place, it makes you feel larger than life when you're attending a nationwide game.

Fast-forward 20+ years later, and your average fan needs to be seriously contemplative to remember the small nuances involved when they began to become obsessed about their team. Nothing can ever replace the jersey changes, great players, thrilling play-off moments, and child-hood memories. Billy Owens traded for Mitch Richmond, traded for Chris Webber, traded for Kenny Thomas. Seventeen years and only four degrees of separation. When Kenny Thomas is traded for LeBron James, the legacy will continue. (I kid, I kid) Kevin Bacon would be impressed. If the Kings were to leave though...that history would be dead. No replacement team can pick up from where they left off. My childhood memories wouldn't be able to connect to me as a fan now. That team is dead. The Kings aren't a name you can place on a shirt and have twelve guys wear and tell me they are my team. My team has a history that started when I was a little boy going to games with my Dad.

I think of the Seattle fan who is like me. The fan who grew up watching Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton,Ray Allen, and that mad man Xavier McDaniel. I think of their own experience going to their first game, justifying their team colors to friends, or the heart break from losing to Denver in that amazing seven game series. All those memories put on eternal hold.

There are two minds to every basketball fan. The mind of the adult, who may justify this as simply a business decision, and the mind of the child, who just lost his team in Seattle, and can't understand why. I think back to when I was his age. I would've lost the wonderment of thinking that grown men play a game they love fairly and because they simply love the idea of keeping me entertained. The Sonics are not a business, just like the Kings are not a business. They are a team of athletes that represent they place you grow up, and play the sport you love. Too bad the City of Seattle was only represented by the adult mind, because no child would've taken anything less than a hundred bagillion gazillion dollars for the loss of all those great memories.