Seattle Arena Deal – All the Ladies!

I’m disappointed. Like any other sports fan from Seattle but this is going to hurt female sports fans and athletes more. If you haven’t heard or didn’t care, the Seattle City Council voted against vacating space on Occidental Ave today which again thwarts the hopes of building a new sports arena that could house new NBA and NHL teams. Why am I bringing up gender? It’s the cool thing to do of course. It was quickly brought to my attention that 5 of the 5 no votes came from female council members. Thus throwing anyone with a woman card under the bus for this because the internet.

I am personally disappointed because females with power should be looked up to and relied on by the women they represent and I think that 5 out of 5 women voting no to anything that would bring a team back to Seattle is a poor representation of women in Seattle. Unfortunately, that is exactly what all sports fans are seeing. Women hate sports! They want to ruin the plans to bring a team back. I am of the belief that we should be doing anything we can to get a team back in Seattle and I know I am not the only one. Some dudes will tell you stories of how much the Sonics meant to them and how they used to go to games with their dads. I have those stories too. I used to watch every Sonics game at home and if we were lucky enough to get tickets we would go. It was the reason I became an athlete, the reason I stayed in school, the reason I have a college degree. Why would it matter as much to a girl? Because there was no WNBA when I was little. In 1998 I went to Sonics Basketball Camp, the first of a million camps I went to. I was this little white girl that they couldn’t find a jersey to fit. I had a hard time in school when I was that young, terrible at paying attention, never did my homework, got in trouble quite a bit. When those guys talked you could have told me I was on fire and I wouldn’t have flinched. After I found basketball, everything changed. The Sonics were the only reason for that. I came out of Sonics camp with ambition, doing agility drills at home with all my Dr. Suess books set up as cones and the most awkward polaroid ever taken of a tiny, tiny Monica Nevi with very large Dale Ellis’s arm around me. I wanted to be Gary Payton, I still have posters of him in my room to this day, it’s how I weed out the gentlemen callers I want to date or not. I still rather be Gary Payton.

Basketball made me who I am and the Seattle SuperSonics started this mess. Yes, I am a Storm fan as well and I think opportunities in sport are one of the most important things for women in the future. Getting an arena would be amazing for the Storm as well, so that’s a non-issue. A friend of mine even suggested that I use Seattle Storm players on my wnba fantasy team, I haven’t done it yet but I have been thinking about it. I know there are many women just like me, who love sports, love playing them, love watching them, put their kids in them, met their spouses at them. Conversely, I know there are a lot of women who may not care either way. Seattle is one of the greatest, smartest and most supportive cities in the world. As a comic, I love performing there and as an athlete I loved playing there. Bringing an NBA team back to Seattle isn’t about having a team to support, it’s so much more than that. It’s about the little girls and boys that don’t know what they are supposed to do. It’s for the girl that would have given up on everything if she didn’t fall in love with this game. It’s for the kid that feels all alone until he finds his place on a team. It’s for the girl that wants to be just like Gary Payton, so she went home to do her homework and practice her ball handling because he told her to.

It’s not just another team to support. It’s an organization that creates a future for everyone. Seattle has produced from great NBA and WNBA players that come back home and give back their communities each year. Get a team here to keep that tradition going. 5 out of 5 is a poor representation of how women in Seattle feel about getting a team back, don’t blame us. It was those specific votes that kept this from going through. I’m asking you not to blame all the ladies in your life, just those ones. There are plenty of women who would have voted yes or would gladly carry an NBA player’s baby to keep the tradition of great players coming out of Seattle. Also, this is the only thing Portland thinks we are envious of that we actually are. I don’t care much for Portland anyway!