Seattle Radio Host Discusses Local Reaction To Sonics' Situation

KJR-AM's Mike Gastineau

Q: What are the general feelings right now in Seattle regarding the Sonics?

Gastineau: Well, the people are angry. Of all the people involved in this story, the only one who's done nothing wrong are the fans. I’ll tell you they didn’t sell out every game, but there weren’t nights where there were 5,000 people either. They had respectable attendance, certainly commensurate with the product that was put on the floor. And it’s a shame because the fans feel they have zero voice in this process and have been let down by everyone else. They’ve really been screwed.

Q: How much of the animosity is targeted toward Bennett?

Gastineau: Not as much as you’d think. I think that the animosity targeted toward Clay Bennett has really surfaced in the last week as it has been proven clearly and without a doubt that he is a liar, and the people he works with are liars and have been lying since day one. I think more of the animosity out here is targeted towards Howard Schultz and toward the politicians for allowing this process to get to this point in the first place. It never should have gotten this far. And there’s an awful lot of animosity towards David Stern. I think the fans are somewhat perplexed by the seeming enjoyment he is taking in bashing a city that supported his league for 41 years. I don’t think there’s a clear understanding of why he feels the need to have acted the way he does. I think his willingness to just ignore what’s in these e-mails elevates him to almost comic status.

Q: Have fans bought into the recent proposals to keep the team in town, either Schultz’ plan to rescind the sale of the team or the group headed by Steve Ballmer's plan to renovate KeyArena?

Gastineau: The fans are just hopeful that there’s a possibility of a solution, but I think the fans are realistic, too. They’ve seen how everything has played out and it seems like maybe it’s a long shot. But I think the fans at least want to feel at the very minimum that the city is willing to go down with a fight. So, yeah, the Schultz thing is obviously new and it’s hard to analyze how successful that can ultimately be. But I think there’s an appreciation for a guy who has been vilified somewhat by the fans for a willingness to stand up and fight. Because what’s happening is not right. It’s just not right, it’s not the way business should be done.

Gastineau Could See Sonics Fans Supporting Team During Lame-Duck Years

Gastineau: It depends. If they’re just simply staying to work out the lease, I think you’ll see some erosion. If there’s a belief that there is a meaning to this end, then yeah. The basketball fan base in this community runs incredibly deep. It’s the oldest franchise the city has. It’s the only franchise that’s won a championship. So there is a deep, passionate well of support among the fans. So I think it would be interesting to see what happens over the next two years if they stay here.

Q: What is the most frequent comment you’re hearing from fans?

Gastineau: I think back to just how unfair it is. It’s such a complex story and there are so many layers to it. But ultimately it seems like there were several points along the way where a little bit of common sense and courage and leadership among the local politicians and local business people would have prevented us from ever getting to this level. And so I guess maybe just an element of frustration. Lying has become such an epidemic in America. It’s amazing to me that people just lie now and get away with it. How can a person say they’re going to do one thing, not do it, lie about it, and everybody just seems to be OK with it? This is not how, supposedly, we’re all brought up. It’s to the point where Clay Bennett was absolutely caught lying and David Stern is just going to pretend it didn’t happen. To me, that’s shameful and disrespectful to 41 years of history.

Q: In your opinion, has Seattle hosted its final NBA game?

Gastineau: No. I believe that there’s enough mud in the water now that there’s going to have to be, at some point, some acknowledgement that things have not been done on the up and up.

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