FanPost

ESPN revising Sonics history

Somebody at ESPN - the self-proclaimed worldwide leader in sports - is running amok and apparently ordered all memories of the Seattle SuperSonics in the databases to be deleted and exchanged against new ones. The results are spooky.

I can't remember anymore, but apparently we narrowly beat a team called OKC in February 92-88. A rookie named Kevin Durant had the most points for -- Oklahoma. Though their top performer was Earl Watson. That's kinda rare, so maybe he can remember that game. (Only in the written game recap text - which is harder to change automatically - it still says "Seattle SuperSonics".)

In the end, that loss contributed to Oklahoma finishing last in the Western Conference in the 2007-08 regular season. Another factor might have been that they had no home games all season, since those games that should have been at the Ford Center had to be played many miles away at the Key Arena in Seattle for some reason. Bummer.

My memory really fails me, but maybe Bonzi Wells, Rasheed Wallace and Arvydas Sabonis have vivid recollections of beating Oklahoma's top performer Mr. Gary Payton way back in 2002, the last year on ESPN record with complete game recaps. Perhaps former Oklahoma center Jerome James who was injured that night has some time now while sitting next to Mike D'Antoni on the bench in New York all season to search for some pictures from his OKC times in his old photo boxes.

But well, the guys from Oklahoma have seen much better times in their proud history. Like in 1994, when they even came out first in the regular season. Or in 1996. Who knew?

I understand that the deal between the new ownership group with the city of Seattle includes a "shared history" clause. But such a "search and replace" operation doesn't feel right. Not at all. More like historical revisionism. Luckily you can't fool all the people all the time - at least not so easily.

 

And surprisingly ESPN's endeavors beat the NBA.com website editors in anticipatory obedience, who are still listing Seattle in old scoreboards and standings. As it should be and remain.