Technically, SuperSooners is a different name

As a proud Baltimorean (technically Owings Millsan, but close enough) I feel sad for Seattle but happy for Oklahoma City today.

The Seattle Supersonics, the pro basketball team that has called the Pacific Northwest home for 41 years, will play in Oklahoma City next year. The team’s owner, Clay Bennett, will pay the city of Seattle as much as $75 million to break the lease on the Sonics’ arena according to terms of a settlement announced Wednesday. But as part of the settlement, Seattle would keep the Sonics’ name, colors and history. A federal judge in Seattle was scheduled to issue an opinion on the matter Wednesday after a six-day trial last month.

In other words, Seattle got what Baltimore didn’t get when the Colts moved, while Oklahoma City is getting what Baltimore got when the Cleveland Browns arrived.

Three cities now share hatred of a particular team owner for moving a beloved civic institution (Bennett in Seattle, Art Modell in Cleveland and, of course, Robert Irsay in Baltimore.) But Baltimore and Cleveland both got to experience the joy of having a new team to call its own, like Oklahoma City is today. Hopefully Seattle will, too, someday soon: NBA Commissioner David Stern has already said the city could receive another franchise if it builds a new arena.

It’s small consolation for Sonics fans today, however, whose mood is probably best summed up by the headline in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: HOOPLESS.

DANNY JACOBS, The Daily Record