Perhaps a more relevant question is the social impact of the Seattle Storm upon the City, Region and State.

Lead owner Levinson's resume most recently includes lead counsel for the Monorail. I fail to understand why lawyers walk away from scams of this nature unscathed while the rest of the leadership rightly, or wrongly, takes the fall.

A female leader in the traditionally male 'arena' of pro sports could be a great thing. Forecast though is for more of the same - perhaps just a bit more obvious as to what has been going on in the arena of public finance.

Raising money by going around accusing anyone who disagrees as chauvinist pig - directly or indirectly - in courts or out, needs to stop.

Not unrelated is the role of Title IX in public universities and K-12. Did we perhaps invite the female equivalent of the Priest Pedophile en masse into our schools with that well motivated program? Will Storm games become a 'grooming' ground for homosexuals of the Craig/West type?

Those are tough questions, probably best left to us commenters to discuss. However mixing the motivations of hate and sex is something everyone needs to be concerned about - it is damaging, permanently, to society and to individuals.

As to the folks who engage in such behavior to leverage public financing - do I really need to say a single 'darn' thing?

Another factor at play is the NBA player's horrendous image as a whole, in contrast to the Northwest's relatively laid-back culture. We're much more a baseball town. We can forgive performance enhancing drugs more easily than the hyper-urban lawlessness of players who've made the NBA synonymous with violence and crime.
It's too bad we'll lose STORM. But the defensive nature of some of their gender-related PR is not all that unreasonable given the constant drumbeat of ridicule they've endured from the pro-sports establishment. They're boring, they're ugly, they're lesbians...is it not unexpected that they'd lose their cool once in a while in response?

The goal should be to have the non supersinics force their own departure and have to pay Seattle as big of a settlement as possible. Mayor Greg should then build a tunnel with the money down by the water. We could name it the supersonic tunnel. Everyone is a winner. Oh happy day.

Virtually nobody will care, outside a very small group of folks, if the Storm stay or leave. They're a niche team without wide support. Several million people live in their market area, and look at their attendance. The minor league hockey team is competitive with them in that respect. How embarassing should that be to the new owners? All that matters is that they pay their own way, just like the major league teams should under I-19. If they do, fine. If they don't, fine--just leave in that case. No subsidies, no matter the team. If the Sonics go, good-bye and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

God help me, even I can agree with PM's strategy. This team will not be missed.... the Bennett Mafia won't be missed... and the fine folks of OKC will come to know the axiom that there is much more to the wanting than there is to the having.

Nail them for millions, and kick them loose. And have them take the Storm with them. They'll leave as much of a hole here as a foot pulled out of a bucket of water.

You guys are aware the Storm were purchased last week by local investors, right?

Why on earth would you reference a Jim Brunner Story about the Sonics and totally ignore the Front page above the fold Story he did on the corrupt dealings of Ron Sims, Matin Durkan Jr. Yarrow Bauy Development and Palmer Coking Coal on Jan.2, 2008? A political scandal of the first order in your own paper by the same writer and you comment on this ? Weak

Mr Guthrie,
You are not suggesting folks should know what they are talking about before making comments are you?

agreed, sue their asses! or ideally we should re appropriate the sonics like greenbay did with the packers. in the private market with teams' owners holding cities hostage we loose tax money to subsidize their overinflated salaries. but if they are public they really can be OUR team. the players can earn good money if they draw a fan base, and rather then supporting a bunch of fat cats from OKC or Starbucks they can really support the local community. also, it sure seems obvious to me that bennet is purposely gutting the team's value -trading away talent etc - so if any negotiations come around he can claim the team is not worth much.