For basketball fans in Vancouver, the NBA is really tough to love.  First they handcuffed our Grizzlies by not letting them have the first overall pick in the draft in our first few years.   So–instead of having Rahseed Wallace or Kevin Garnett in town they wound up with Bryant Reeves.  That’s kind of like Charlie Brown getting a rock on Halloween when the rest of the gang got candy.

Then they let a dishonest billionaire buy our team and take them to that media hot-spot of Memphis, where the are doing so much better in the stands and on the court.  Hey, Michael Heisley…how does the Canadian dollar look to you now?  Every time I realize that Memphis has yet to win a playoff game I feel better.  I like to think that it’s karma at work.

Okay, the whole Memphis thing stung Vancouver fans, but there were still the Sonics about a 3 hour drive away that we could cheer for.  That is, until recently, when another dishonest billionaire announced plans to move them to that media hot-spot known as Oklahoma City.  After all, it makes so much sense to take a team in America’s 7th larges market and move them to the 43rd.  Sigh.

So why is the NBA treating the Pacific Northwest like garbage?  Here are some theories:

• League vice president Stu Jackson, the man who wouldn’t trade for Steve Nash when he was GM of the Vancouver Grizzlies, isn’t satisfied with simply destroying basketball in Vancouver.  He’s after the whole Pacific Northwest now.  Watch out, Portland…you may be next!
• David Stern has lost a fortune on Shawn Kemp’s baby pools over the years.
• NBA referee Dick Bavetta is jealous of the Sonics mascot’s hair.
• Bill Leavy secretly works for the NBA.  Anyone who saw his officiating in Super Bowl XL knows that he obviously has something against Seattle.
• Disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy bet on Bryant Reeves’ weight and took the under.
• They’re still punishing the Sonics for letting Jack Sikma wear that perm in the early ’80s.

I’m not sure of the reasons for this area of the world being slammed by the NBA, but if the Sonics do leave for Oklahoma one thing is sure–Steve Francis will be elected mayor of Vancouver before I waste any more time on the NBA.