Sonics Stuff

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In a way, I guess I was glad that the Heat beat the Celtics last night to force a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference finals.

I’d rather see Boston win the series because I always liked Ray Allen when he played for the Sonics.

But I tend to think that Miami, with younger and more athletic players, has a better chance of beating Oklahoma City in the NBA Finals. In no way do I want to see the Thunder hoisting the championship trophy.

If you missed the headline in the Tri-City Herald yesterday, here’s a link to it:

Sonics Advance To The Finals… Oh, Wait

If you were a Sonics’ fan, you get the sentiment. But the stodgy leaders of the newsroom weren’t happy with Craig Craker, the sports department editor who wrote the headline.

Steve Sandmeyer and I tried to talk to Craker on “The Kevin Calabro Show” yesterday on 710 ESPN Seattle, but Craker said his bosses didn’t want him to do any interviews.

He got in a little bit of trouble for the headline, even though it got all kinds of exposure on Deadspin and other sites. Even though it accurately reflected the feelings of Sonics’ fans.

If you’re an old-school journalist, you can see why the stodgy leaders took exception to the headline. You’re not supposed to “editorialize” in a headline on a sports story.

But journalism has changed, and so have the rules. Those stodgy leaders at the Tri-City Herald need to loosen up. They need to realize that if they could just “Free Craig Craker” to do interviews, they’d get even more traffic to their site. They blew a great opportunity by being stodgy leaders.

If I were Craig Craker’s boss, we’d probably be headed for hell in a handbasket, but while we were on our way, I’d give him a raise and encourage more headlines like that one.

In other Sonics-related news, I got a call yesterday from Sam Farmer, who covers the NFL for the Los Angeles Times. He’s coming to Seattle next week to write a story about Brian Banks’ tryout with the Seahawks. Banks is the linebacker who spent five years in jail but was exonerated from the rape charge two weeks ago when the victim said he didn’t do it.

While he’s here, Farmer also plans to write a story about Sonics’ fans and their hatred of the Thunder. He’s planning to go to the “Bring Back the Sonics Rally” at Occidental Park on Thursday at 4 p.m.

We’ll be broadcasting the Calabro show from the rally. Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, arena builder Chris Hansen, and Slick Watts will be there.

Hope you can make it out.

One more thing: Here’s a post I wrote for 710Sports.com this morning on Tom Savage, a former Sonics’ staffer who roots against the Thunder from his home in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Have a great weekend and Go Cougs.