http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/13/339...ove-still.html
Ailene Voisin: Clippers' move still haunts Walton
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By Ailene Voisin
avoisin@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1C
As Kings fans have figured out by now, Bill Walton will talk about anything. Politics. John Wooden. The Grateful Dead. Aliens in outer space. He can even dissect the human body, right down to the navicular bone that shortened his Hall of Fame career.
But if you want to hear Walton in full vein-popping rant – without a microphone in sight – ask his thoughts on Sacramento's uncertain arena situation and how it feels when a community loses its NBA franchise to another city.
He lived it. He played a significant part in it, once. He seriously believes his famous foot injury was the root cause of the San Diego Clippers' relocation to Los Angeles in 1984.
"The biggest failure of my professional life," Walton said. "It's the truth. If I had been able to play, the Clippers would have been a vibrant team, a dynamic team, would have had a new arena in my hometown, San Diego. It's a stain and stigma on my soul that I will never be able to cleanse."
Frankly, though Walton limped around during most of the early 1980s, he wasn't nearly as lame as the ownership.
The San Diego Clips never had a chance. Donald Sterling bought the team in 1981 and waited all of three seasons before relocating to L.A. He wanted Hollywood and Beverly Hills and movie stars and, shrewdly and deliberately, went about cheapening a franchise that featured Walton, Norm Nixon, Tom Chambers and Terry Cummings among others.
He held luncheons with season-ticket holders and stiffed the restaurants. Team travel expenses went unpaid for months. Players were forced to travel coach on a trip to Seattle, violating the collective bargaining agreement. Health benefits to staff members were eliminated. Coaches were asked why they couldn't tape ankles.
After swapping lawsuits with the league – which fought Sterling's initial attempt to move the team during the first offseason of his ownership – the deed was done. Walton and his teammates were on the bus north for the start of the 1984-85 season.
Though the Kansas City Kings moved to Sacramento a year later – similarly citing fan apathy, financial concerns and a glutted professional sports market – the NBA's relocation frenzy began in earnest after 2000.
Four franchises changed addresses between 2001 and 2008: Vancouver Grizzlies to Memphis (2001), Charlotte Hornets to New Orleans (2002), New Orleans Hornets to Oklahoma City because of Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hornets back to New Orleans (2007), Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City (2008).
Increasingly, the motives for relocations – or potential relocations – relate to a particular franchise's lease agreement or attempts to secure private-public partnerships for new sports and entertainment complexes.
While noting that his hometown San Diego Chargers are grappling with their own stadium issues, Walton is an NBA lifer. He is invested in the Kings' future in Sacramento because his wife, Lori, grew up surrounded by Kings fans in Tracy, because he is the newest member of the broadcast crew, but mostly because he hated the experience of living in a place that lost its team.
Pressed on the topic Wednesday night, he eased his 7-foot frame into a courtside seat. He started with the Clippers, his guilt-ridden theory being this: If he had not missed the 1981-82 season (foot) and been limited to a part-time role in the following two years, the team would have been successful, the fans would have packed the building, the Sterling stigma would have been overcome, and David Stern would have had the moral and legal leverage to prevent the move to Los Angeles.
"Instead we have a tragic sense of loss," said Walton. "San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the country, and it does not have an NBA team, an arena. What they do have is a beautiful baseball stadium that has revitalized the entire community, the city, everything that goes into it, so I've seen it work. And we've seen it around the country, with NBA teams as anchor tenants in Staples Center, Denver, Indianapolis, Miami, Orlando.
"Sacramento … this franchise has everything in place for success except two things: A competitive arena and mature enough players to compete against the elite. Attendance comes with a better product on the floor, and that will swing back with the development of Tyreke (Evans) and DeMarcus (Cousins)."
The arena issue, he conceded, is far more complex. But he mentioned that, in contrast to most other mid-sized cities, Sacramento has only one major league franchise. "There are lots of important issues in our state, but you can't just sit there and hold on," he continued. "This is about community and the future and not living in the past. It's about making something happen, personal investment, capital investment. You can't deal in a passive way after the fact. The people are so lucky to have the Maloofs, and to just to see how much the fans love their team … I want to see something get done. Get it done!"
Suddenly, he stood, and motioned to Lori. "You know, when we were at UCLA," he concluded with a grin, "we had no idea what we had, how good it was, until we didn't have it anymore."
Share
By Ailene Voisin
avoisin@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1C
As Kings fans have figured out by now, Bill Walton will talk about anything. Politics. John Wooden. The Grateful Dead. Aliens in outer space. He can even dissect the human body, right down to the navicular bone that shortened his Hall of Fame career.
But if you want to hear Walton in full vein-popping rant – without a microphone in sight – ask his thoughts on Sacramento's uncertain arena situation and how it feels when a community loses its NBA franchise to another city.
He lived it. He played a significant part in it, once. He seriously believes his famous foot injury was the root cause of the San Diego Clippers' relocation to Los Angeles in 1984.
"The biggest failure of my professional life," Walton said. "It's the truth. If I had been able to play, the Clippers would have been a vibrant team, a dynamic team, would have had a new arena in my hometown, San Diego. It's a stain and stigma on my soul that I will never be able to cleanse."
Frankly, though Walton limped around during most of the early 1980s, he wasn't nearly as lame as the ownership.
The San Diego Clips never had a chance. Donald Sterling bought the team in 1981 and waited all of three seasons before relocating to L.A. He wanted Hollywood and Beverly Hills and movie stars and, shrewdly and deliberately, went about cheapening a franchise that featured Walton, Norm Nixon, Tom Chambers and Terry Cummings among others.
He held luncheons with season-ticket holders and stiffed the restaurants. Team travel expenses went unpaid for months. Players were forced to travel coach on a trip to Seattle, violating the collective bargaining agreement. Health benefits to staff members were eliminated. Coaches were asked why they couldn't tape ankles.
After swapping lawsuits with the league – which fought Sterling's initial attempt to move the team during the first offseason of his ownership – the deed was done. Walton and his teammates were on the bus north for the start of the 1984-85 season.
Though the Kansas City Kings moved to Sacramento a year later – similarly citing fan apathy, financial concerns and a glutted professional sports market – the NBA's relocation frenzy began in earnest after 2000.
Four franchises changed addresses between 2001 and 2008: Vancouver Grizzlies to Memphis (2001), Charlotte Hornets to New Orleans (2002), New Orleans Hornets to Oklahoma City because of Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hornets back to New Orleans (2007), Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City (2008).
Increasingly, the motives for relocations – or potential relocations – relate to a particular franchise's lease agreement or attempts to secure private-public partnerships for new sports and entertainment complexes.
While noting that his hometown San Diego Chargers are grappling with their own stadium issues, Walton is an NBA lifer. He is invested in the Kings' future in Sacramento because his wife, Lori, grew up surrounded by Kings fans in Tracy, because he is the newest member of the broadcast crew, but mostly because he hated the experience of living in a place that lost its team.
Pressed on the topic Wednesday night, he eased his 7-foot frame into a courtside seat. He started with the Clippers, his guilt-ridden theory being this: If he had not missed the 1981-82 season (foot) and been limited to a part-time role in the following two years, the team would have been successful, the fans would have packed the building, the Sterling stigma would have been overcome, and David Stern would have had the moral and legal leverage to prevent the move to Los Angeles.
"Instead we have a tragic sense of loss," said Walton. "San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the country, and it does not have an NBA team, an arena. What they do have is a beautiful baseball stadium that has revitalized the entire community, the city, everything that goes into it, so I've seen it work. And we've seen it around the country, with NBA teams as anchor tenants in Staples Center, Denver, Indianapolis, Miami, Orlando.
"Sacramento … this franchise has everything in place for success except two things: A competitive arena and mature enough players to compete against the elite. Attendance comes with a better product on the floor, and that will swing back with the development of Tyreke (Evans) and DeMarcus (Cousins)."
The arena issue, he conceded, is far more complex. But he mentioned that, in contrast to most other mid-sized cities, Sacramento has only one major league franchise. "There are lots of important issues in our state, but you can't just sit there and hold on," he continued. "This is about community and the future and not living in the past. It's about making something happen, personal investment, capital investment. You can't deal in a passive way after the fact. The people are so lucky to have the Maloofs, and to just to see how much the fans love their team … I want to see something get done. Get it done!"
Suddenly, he stood, and motioned to Lori. "You know, when we were at UCLA," he concluded with a grin, "we had no idea what we had, how good it was, until we didn't have it anymore."
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