Because there are no cats in America (and the streets are paved with cheese)

Fig Jam

So….. a lot of legal “experts” are all up in this internet telling me why Shultzy’s lawsuit to rescind his sale of the Sonics is going to fail.  That may be so, but if that is true, it is more an indictment on the American Legal Justice system than it is on the relative strength of the claims against Clay Bennett and his ownership group.

When Shultz’s lawyers head to Court to argue the merits of their case, they will be armed with a copious amount of “evidence” that goes directly towards proving their claim.  They literally will have the admissions of Bennett and his partners that the purpose of purchasing the team was to effect a move to Oklahoma City.  these admissions aren’t heresay*… a friend of a friend of Bennett heard that he said something at the country club.  Nope.  Just an email from ol’ Clay himself.  Aubrey Mac was nice enough to go on the record for his confession. 

 From a common sense standpoint, this is a no brainer.  Ahhhhh, but that is not the way things work in Court in America.  There are asinine standards, burdens, and multi-faceted tests that must be met before what is clearly common sense can be determined to be true in Court. 

I, for one, think it’s absurd.  When Clay Bennett and their group purchased the team, they called them the “Oklahoma City” Sonic Boom.  They called the Sonic’s time in Seattle a “Lame Duck” period.  Aubrey McClendon gave an interview where he states, point blank, that the purpose of buying the team was to move them.  That’s pretty damning.  I don’t care what the ownership group did in hiring an Engineering group, or what they said to NBA commissioner and Clay Bennett Lapdog David Stern.  What they did once they purchased the team was go through a few motions to make it appear like they were abiding by the contract, while at the same time pulling the plug on the city of Seattle.  The term is: dishonest (or bad faith, or asshole).  The arena proposal that Bennett forwarded was totally ridiculous and had zero chance of passing.  He knew it, and he counted on it.

In any event, implicit in any contract is the duty of “good faith and fair dealing.”  You cannot escape that basic tenet of contract law.  So while the legal standards in the State of Washington for the claims that Shultz and his team of attorneys may bring are high, I challenge any Bennett supporter to show me how that duty was met.  It obviously was not. 

If Clay Bennett pulled this shit in 5th grade, he would get hung on a flag pole by his david stern brand underwear.  5th grade kids would never stand for this because the red tape would not apply.  

Also, lest you think that I have my gold and green glasses on while writing this article, keep in mind that I am a Spurs fan.  I go to Sonics games when I get free tickets.  I am not really part of the solution as far as they are concerned.  But I’m not a fucking idiot and I hate it when people treat me like I am.  Telling me that Shultz has a weak case is insulting to my intelligence.  Just tell me that the system is jacked and will get in line along with Howard Shultz (the one who sold the team knowing it would be moved… not the one who is suing to get it back), the other NBA owners, and David Stern as co-conspirators in this sham, shame, and otherwise crappy situation for Sonics fans. 

*whether it’s not heresay or whether it is and meets one of the exceptions to heresay is irrelevant to me.  It’s admissible.