If “they” are Shawn Kemp, they’re at a Wal-Mart in Illinois:

It’s good to see the Reign Man looking slender and healthy. I’ll always remember him that way. My favorite part of Reid’s opus, Sonicsgate, was probably the Kemp highlights. Which isn’t a knock on Sonicsgate. It’s just that, as Bob Slydell might say, “For my money, I don’t know if it gets any better than when Shawn Kemp dunks.” And, yes, I’m apparently stuck in the 1990s. I quote another resident of that decade, one Walter Sobchak: “You’re goddamn right I’m living in the fucking past!”

I know I’ve been bad about posting lately. Believe it or not, I’ve actually scored a fellowship with the Seattle Weekly, so I’ll basically be functioning like a staff writer there for the next six months, starting today. That means I’ll probably be posting less here, but writing a lot over there, so go to www.seattleweekly.com and its blogs and read regularly!

I had a few pieces out in the Weekly’s “Best of Seattle” issue, a piece in this month’s Sports Northwest Magazine, some columns, etc. When you’re done reading my articles, browse around: there’s lots of good stuff in both:

Best Intergenerational Workout Facility (On the downtown YMCA)

Best Hangout for the Ghost of Fred Sanford (on R&R Hardware)

Best Friend of the Enemy (on Sonics lead attorney Brad Keller)

Best Sports Retiree at Leisure (on former tennis pro Jeff Borowiak)

Fuck It: I’m Going with the Blazers

Sticking it to David Stern the Barely Legal Way

This week’s column: I sing the praises of Kevin Calabro.

Another post by me–some silliness with top-10 lists and local political figures.

Huan Hsu used to write for the Weekly but moved to China to work for an Uncle’s business and work on a book. He wrote this entertaining piece on his adolescent struggles with Asian stereotypes and the success of Michael Chang.

My friend Bucky sent me this Washington Post op-ed a couple weeks ago. While one can cherry-pick events to show the similarities between eras, and while the author doesn’t provide much evidence to back his contention that the 1970s federal government was actually more inefficient than previous ones, rather than just perceived as such, he does lay out an uncanny array of ties between 1978 and 2008. It’s an entertaining read.

My friend/former co-worker and employer Doug Hiatt got a much-deserved write-up in the Seattle Times. Philip Dawdy’s longer (and highly entertaining) piece on Hiatt from a couple years ago can be found here.

John McCain may have gotten a little confused about the chronology of the surge and the Anbar Awakening, but CBS bailed him out. In covering the story, the NY Times turns to the ever-reliable war cheerleader Michael O’Hanlon for commentary. (A few questions: If Surge Cola were still around today, what would the surge do to its sales? It would have to help, right? Would they still call it the surge? Would people take the surge less seriously because it was seemingly named after a soft drink? Would Coca-Cola sue?)

Seth Kolloen put together a very funny graphic about former Mariners GM Bill Bavasi.

The Detroit Shock’s Plenette Pierson and the Los Angeles Sparks’ Candace Parker started a melee last night after tangling twice over rebounding position. Rick Mahorn, Michael Cooper, and Bill Laimbeer ended up in the scrum, while Karl Malone’s daughter, Cheryl Ford, blew out her knee acting as peacemaker. This one is just ripe for an NBA “passing the torch” type of commercial. If we can watch Kevin Garnett and Bill Russell make virtual love to one another in a studio, I don’t see any reason we can’t watch Mahorn, Laimbeer, and their successors like Pearson and Parker discuss the finer points of antagonism and brawling.

Also, It seems there’s something about the Palace in Auburn Hills.

This week’s column is up.

In a move that could place him with Curt Flood as a sports labor trailblazer, high school baller Brandon Jennings officially announced that he’ll skip college and instead spend his post-high school, pre-NBA year playing in Europe for money. Ever since David Stern instituted the age limit, I’ve been waiting for this to happen. (As you can see here and here, I’m not a fan of guys having to play for free.) If Jennings starts a trend (and it will be interesting to see if he does, because European teams are system-heavy and may not be excited about integrating, for just one year, young, raw American talent), the NBA will still save money by developing players elsewhere, and may see interest in their league expand abroad. But they’ll lose the marketing machine they wanted the college game to be for them. And the blowhards at the NCAA will worry about their gravy train running out of fuel.

In truth, you could probably slap school names on a bunch of mice running around a court and thousands of alums would get fired up about it. But it’d be nice if the trend started by Jennings’ departure ended up calling the bluff of the “Stay in School” crowd, so we could see how much they like it when college basketball is like college baseball–i.e. a low visibility sport that’s more about its own, small subculture and less about making money for the glorified pimps in the three piece suit. As my friend Nick said, “I just can not wait to see Coach K, Roy Williams, and Lute Olsen freak the fuck out because they’re losing their best players to Italian teams named after jeans and kids candies.

It’s official. The Seattle Times is reporting that the amount is $75 million ($45 million if the city gets another team). Rumor has it Schultz won’t drop his suit, so perhaps there’s a glimmer of hope.

Update:

The city gets $45 million up front, rights to the Sonics name, etc., and a “written guarantee” from the NBA that Key Arena, with the improvements proposed last year, is an NBA caliber arena. Also, as Nickles pointed out repeatedly, the city “will be notified” when an NBA team is for sale or the league is considering expansion. Otherwise, we might totally miss it.

If the legislature approves the extension of the Safeco Field taxing authority for NBA purposes and the city doesn’t have a team in five years, Bennett and his cronies will fork over another $30 million. According to Nickels, at that point, he and the City Council will discuss what to do with the money. Subtext: I’m going to be mayor forever.

Finally, when asked if there was a discussion about any NBA teams looking to move or sell, Nickels hemmed and hawed, and said he wasn’t involved in any such talks. Let the Memphis Grizzlies speculation begin!*

*Apologies to Memphis fans, but that ownership hasn’t been looking too committed these days.

ESPN’s reporting that Baron Davis is leaving the Golden State Warriors to return to his native Los Angeles and play for the Clippers. Word is he’ll get five years and $65 million. Seems steep for a dude who’s almost thirty and has a long history of injuries, but the Wiz just signed 32-year-old Antawn Jamison for four years, so I guess oldies are all the rage these days. It’ll be interesting to see what Elton Brand and Corey Maggette decides to do now, since they both just filed for free agency. Regardless, Davis’ signing marks the beginning of the Monta Ellis era in Golden State and gives us an excuse to re-post this sublime video:

Save Our Sonics stalwarts Jason Reid and Camp Jones have released Part I of their opus on last Monday’s rally:

Scouts have also expressed concern about Lopez’s congenitally misshapen right hand.

DraftExpress’ Jonathan Givony is reporting that, while most Internet sites are predicting that the Sonics will draft Bayless with the fourth pick, most NBA teams with whom he spoke believe the Sonics will draft Brook Lopez.

A month or two ago, this would’ve seemed like a hot pick, and indeed, like any other investment market, the draft contains its hysterias and irrational fluctuations, so it can be hard to know when a rise or decline is warranted. But in this case, Lopez’s predicted drop from the top half of the lottery seems justified for a couple reasons: his college shooting percentage and rebounding numbers were good but not great, and he posted epically slow times in the speed and agility drills at the combine. He’s got some solid skills, but he’s not fourth pick material. And from a fan’s perspective–assuming we in Seattle get to remain fans–I’d much rather the Sonics build around speed than plodders. Anyone who’s watched the Houston offense can recognize that Yao Ming hamstrings Tracy McGrady and the running game, and it’d be a bummer to see the Supes management do the same to Jeff Green and Kevin Durant.

UPDATE
Chad Ford is reporting that the Supes are now leaning toward super-athletic UCLA guard Russell Westbrook, but only if they can’t engineer a trade (most likely Wilcox and the #4 for Mark Blount and the #2) to get Miami’s pick and select Michael Beasley.