My god, is millionaire investor and erstwhile Sonics owner Chris Hansen for real? Or is this some sort of elaborate practical joke that's gonna end up making Seattle the butt of national headlines while ending more than a few political careers?

Yesterday the Arena Review Panel commissioned to evaluate Hansen's proposal and take comments from the public, essentially concluded that this was a "best practices" deal, a model that other cities should follow in negotiating their own public/private arena proposals in the future. The biggest concern raised was over the traffic problems the arena would create in the SODO neighborhood, and how this might impact other businesses and the bustling Port of Seattle.

So today, Hansen held a news conference with Mayor Mike McGinn and King County Executive Dow Constantine to announce that he would personally fund an independent multimodal study to look at the traffic impact. And with that, the allegedly no-risk-to-taxpayers project continues to move forward.

"We're moving as quickly as we can," explained McGinn, "because when things do happen" regarding the availability of sports franchises, "they move fast."

Watching the somewhat schlumpy-looking Hansen up there fielding questions alongside the impeccably groomed and besuited Constantine and McGinn—consistently giving the right answer to nearly every question—had me wondering if the folks at City Hall had bothered to check out Hansen's references. Hansen (or at least his proposal) seems almost too perfect. Which can't help but make me wonder if he is?