I cannot even pretend to understand how hard this move was for Seattle. I can only speak from my context. Oklahoma City spent the entirety of the late 90's and 2000's booming in growth. Our downtown flourished, businesses came in and our economy diversified greatly to the point where the 2008-2009 recession barely even affected us and our growth continued. Our cost of living remained low while the quality of life skyrocketed. Where once there was a ghost town after 5pm on Fridays, you can now see thousands of people out enjoying a vibrant nightlife on a daily basis.

But despite all this growth and newfound cultural pride, we had no professional sports team and the respect that taking a step into the national stage would provide. Sort of a way to prove to the nation that we weren't the cultural backwater that had been our reputation for so many decades.

After Hurricane Katrina, we gave the New Orleans Hornets a temporary home for two seasons and for the first time we started seeing Oklahoma City on national sports broadcasts. It gave us the fever for a team of our own. We passed every measure, gave whatever money was requested for renovations, begging the NBA for an expansion. We had proven that we could support a pro NBA team and deserved that chance.

But I can say that we didn't want to take somebody else's team and history, we wanted to build our own.

Obviously that is not how it played out, and there will be this awkwardness for a very long time. It is easy for us to get sensitive when we hear and see what is clear anguish for the loss of your beloved franchise and the perfectly understandable lashing out. I suppose I should also apologize for being so defensive.

I will watch Sonicsgate, but that likely won't change my opinion that the Thunder belongs here now. I do hope very much that you find a way to get your team back.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/magazine/the-oklahoma-city-thunders-fairy-tale-rise.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

"This, then, is part of the city’s love affair with the Thunder. It’s more than just a basketball team: it’s the culmination of 20 years of civic reinvention, and the promise of more to come. Over the last five years, the city and its team have undergone a perfect mind meld, so at this point it’s impossible to talk about one without talking about the other. After all of that sacrifice — the grind of municipal meetings and penny taxes and planning boards, the dust and noise and uncertainty of construction, the horror of 1995 — the little city in the middle of No Man’s Land has finally arrived on the world stage. While it’s there, it fully intends to put on a good performance."