KeyArena
The Sonics are used to having opponents light up the scoreboard this
season (they’re 3–15), but it got ridiculous on December 2. Five
minutes into the first quarter of the Sonics game against the Golden
State Warriors—Sonics down 17–8—the JumboTron
caught on fire.
Smoke billowed from the top of the scoreboard and sparks flew onto
the court. To protect the basketball court, venue workers laid a
plastic tarp on the floor. And the team mascot, Squatch, donned
coveralls and a hard hat and joined the firefighting efforts. The
flaming JumboTron was lowered so firemen could stand inside the
structure and extinguish the fire, which, according to a Sonics PR
release, was caused by a “faulty cyberlight.”
Following the 15-minute delay, the Sonics resumed some of
their most uninspired play of the season, losing 109–96. The
Supes now have just one victory at KeyArena.
Sonics owner Clay Bennett’s application to relocate the team to
Oklahoma City remains on file with the NBA. Bennett believes that “the
region is still in need of a modern building, not just for the
Sonics and Storm, but also for the broad commercial and quality-of-life
benefits such facilities provide.”
The exact cause of the lighting malfunction remains unknown.
ANGELA GARBES
Seattle
It rained. A lot. NANCY DREW
Olympia
Washington Tax Fairness Coalition Codirector Juan Martinez,
37, plans to run in next year’s Democratic primary for the 11th
District state senate seat (which includes parts of South and West
Seattle as well as Renton, Tukwila, Kent, Burien, and Skyway). The
incumbent is the powerful chair of the senate Ways and Means Committee,
Democratic senator Margarita Prentice.
Martinez, a former legislative aide to U.S. Representative Jim
McDermott (D-7), said Prentice’s heavy-handed approach to pushing
millions in subsidies for the Sonics and her refusal to look at
reforming the payday-loan industry “caused a lot of unhappiness” in the district. Martinez also said there were environmental concerns
in South Park and Georgetown that needed more attention. JOSH
FEIT
