So... Would it be creepy to put Chris Hansen's picture as my avy?

There have been lots of places this whole experience have taken me that I haven’t particularly enjoyed. As a lifelong fan of area sports I am deeply saddened by the Mariners position. As they continue to show that their opposition has no boundaries I grow more and more disturbed by Howard Lincoln’s ruthless belief in territorial entitlement.

It is difficult to summarize the relationships involved in the Mariners efforts to prevent the Sonics from returning and sharing the market.

Pete VonReichbauer was one of the few Seattle area leaders who personally knew Clay Bennett prior to the teams sale and vouched for his character to former Basketball Club of Seattle owners at the time they sold the team to OKC.

Pete VonReichbauer frequently bcc’s Howard Lincoln on his arena related correspondence and spends a good deal of time at Lincolns personal residence. The two are close friends friends since the Safeco Field day’s when a group of former Booth Gardner staffers rose to local prominence.

This group included Jim Kneeland of Pacific Public Affairs who was Gardners Press Secretary. Booth Gardner’s stepmother was a member of the Blethen family who own and operate the Seattle Times.

Pacific Public Affairs went on to represent the Mariners for years as well as being the public affairs company of the Seattle Times.

PPA was referred to represent Clay Bennett when the sale to OKC occured. Everybody acknowledges that Frank Blethen of the Seattle Times also had a relationship with Bennett prior to the sale.

PPA and another agency, Cocker Fennessy have emerged as the leading opponents of the arena, leading the drive of PR against it. Rick Cocker is another former Mariners PR Spokesperson.

Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani was invited to join this entire group with Lincoln in the owners box at Mariners opening night. Lincoln has since hidden behind the ports public benefit arguments and using Yoshitani as a face for his own anti-arena efforts.

I could go on all day with this. There is much more.

Having seen the lengths that Lincoln will go. Having heard the stories of his aggressive efforts to work the wealthy backrooms. Knowing that he was willing to actively and aggressively lobby the Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Seattle Association and Seattle Sports Commission to not support the returns of this franchise I have to question if there are any boundaries which he would not cross. He wants a bigger chunk of the market for himself and is willing to cross any lines to get there.

I would never have asked this question before but think that it deserves asking. If he was willing to do all this we have to consider :

Is there reason to believe that Howard Lincoln could have directly participated in efforts to block the Sonics previous arena efforts before the sale to the PBC?

Even worse:

With this questionable moral compass could he have directly conspired with the Clay Bennett to run a competitor out of town?

At this point I wouldn’t put it past him. The thought of it is deeply disturbing.

Could we have blamed the wrong Howard?

"KeyArena is dead and done the day the new arena opens," said state Rep. Reuven Carlyle, whose district includes Seattle Center and Lower Queen Anne. "The language to study KeyArena punts on any meaningful commitment to the future of Seattle Center."

Carlyle isn't alone in that critique.

Members of the Seattle Center Advisory Commission say the new arena would "devastate" KeyArena, throw its existing business plan into doubt and leave Seattle Center without one of its major draws.

Revision of deal sought

They are calling on the City Council, which will vote Monday on the revised arena agreement with investor Chris Hansen, to amend the deal once more and allocate additional resources to Seattle Center.

Can we please get some new owners for the M's? Please, I want to support them, but am really having a hard time with Lincoln at the helm.

According to Softy, signatures for a public intiative to overturn the vote will be started on Monday funded by the Ms and others. According to Softy, this is coming at the direction one person with the Ms organization. And it’s not Chuck Armstrong.

It's been said before, but holy hell they are dead to me. How stupid do you have to be to pull something like this? What level of arrogance do you have to be at to be against what a majority of your fans want? Screw them.

I hate Howard Lincoln more than ANY Seattle sports upper management figure ever. Not including the ones who tried/succeeded in moving teams (Bennett/Behring/Smulyen).

I cant do it anymore, the Mariners need to go. YEP I said it, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! and don't make a stink about it, just LEAVE! Maybe we can put Safeco to better use than they ever could.

I can't do it anymore, I've put anything I owned that had Mariners on it in the trash, I hope they fail from here to eternity.