A nasty storm brewing in Seattle

[rpannier]

The NBA is once again in a bit of a pickle over this whole gay issue, but this time it has nothing to do with Tim Hardaway or John Amaechi. It does, however, have everything to do with David Stern's propensity to turn a blind eye to the discriminatory actions of the league's owners.

snip

The city is all abuzz right now because it's been discovered that Howard "Starbucks" Schultz sold the Seattle SuperSonics and Storm to a conglomerate that features two principals who practically bankrolled an anti-gay marriage group. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Americans United to Preserve Marriage, an organization led by conservative former presidential candidate Gary Bauer, spent $1.3 million during 2004-06, of which about $1.1 million was donated by Oklahoma City businessmen Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward.

This places the league in a precarious situation, because the new ownership is looking to the legislature to approve a taxpayer subsidy for a new arena that costs somewhere around $500 million. This is the same legislature that is expected to approve domestic-partner benefits this year. And if they don't get the new arena, the new owners are free to pack up and move the teams -- with the most likely landing spot being Oklahoma City, where the ownership group is based.

snip

Given the extreme care taken in approving the purchasing and selling of NBA franchises, I find it difficult to believe the league was unaware of the activities of McClendon and Ward. But the decision was made that what owners do with their own time and their own money has no bearing on their abilities to own and run a team. And technically, I agree with that. But I find it hypocritical for the NBA to hang Hardaway out to dry for expressing his personal feelings on a very divisive topic while simultaneously cashing the check from a pair of men whose off-the-court activities suggest on some level they agree with him. (Hardaway was representing the NBA in an official capacity at the All-Star Game, but was sent home after his comments, with David Stern saying, "It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours.") Beyond saying he hated gay people, Hardaway said he didn't think they should be allowed to live in this country. McClendon and Ward support an organization that doesn't believe gay people should have equal rights. Hardaway's comments were inflammatory but those two ideologies are not that far apart.

link:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=granderson/070302&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab6pos1

[northzax]

1. I hope Seattle

and the State of Washington tell them to go stuff themselves, and let them get money out of Oklahoma instead. the Sonics need Seattle more than Seattle needs them.

[LisaM]

2. It's particularly ironic (and discouraging) because the WNBA

markets directly to a gay audience - they are very enlightened that way.