Bobbito-Marching Band Moozak? from Alan View on Vimeo.

Last weekend I flew out to Seattle to spin the Resident Media’s RING THE ALARM jam. I arrived early that afternoon and spent some time building with promoters Tina and Alan, then slid to the club early to hear DJ Spinja get down before my set started. Time and time again, heads would share, “Man, Bob, we know you love basketball, so you’ll feel me when I tell you how much this town misses the Sonics . . .” I heard stories of fans crying at the last game, how petitions went around to try to get the Seahawks owner to purchase the squad, how cats still got their Payton and Kemp jerseys from back in the day, on and on. I wondered how Minneapolis felt when the Lakers bounced to Los Angeles way back in the day.

I also thought about the Seattle squad that went to EBC America chip at Rucker Park in 2006 that featured Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford, Spencer Hawes, and Brandon Roy. They only had five players, and played two games in one day. According to my Bounce partner Sean Couch, Nate Rob was doing “ninja turtle crossovers” as he was so low to the ground Kareem Reid could not do much to stop him. They took an L in the Final, even though Crawford dropped 25+ in the second half alone, and heads Uptown still talk about them with reverence.

I also thought about announcing the 2008 Elite 24 Classic at Rucker Park, and watching HS freshman Tony Wroten Jr. from Seattle Read More »