Imagine that the Sonics never moved

Something that had not crossed my mind is that Seattle Sonics fans dislike the OKC Thunder. ESPN execs seem ignorant to this fact, too, as their network has been programing retrospective footage that links the Washington and Oklahoma teams’s very separate histories.

Of course the Sonics faithful have been transformed into Pacers fans for a week, if they are indeed checking for these NBA Finals at all. As cohost Lev Anderson points out in our conversation with former New York Times NBA beat reporter Mike Wise, Sonics fans going for the Thunder would be like supporters of the Brooklyn Dodgers rooting for that franchise after it ditched that borough for Chavez Ravine.

This Substack is a carpetbagger and sometimes misses regional loyalty cues.

Today’s guest is in contention for the Ultimate Sojourner title.

We met as Sacramento community college kids, would go on to work at the Fresno State Daily Collegian, and then unexpectedly reconnect at Madison Square Garden, roughly a decade later. I crashed at Wise’s Chevy Chase crib for my 2014 Smithsonian talk and did our first Substack convo while he and his family were living in Mexico City. Our Monday conversation found dude talking smack from Panama City.

‘If I was a Sacramento Kings fan, I would be puking every morning, realizing that they gave [Halliburton] up.’

A lifelong sojourner.

Lev and I spoke with Wise from separate Portland locations.

If you know him it’s probably for his Times hoops coverage, but it could very well be for Wise’s dogged, years-long effort to make the Washington Redskins stop using its racist former name. An undertaking that would be impossible in 2025. Wise did that with the Washington Post, but also for ESPN, where he was The Undefeated employee who stuck out like a sore thumb. (Weird simile, amirite?)

I made fun of Wise in Ghetto Celebrity, which pissed off the homie. We’re cool now though.

This week’s trip has him humble-bragging about his 14-year-old son who is 6-1 and scrimmaging against Panama’s 17-and-under team and acquitting himself. (The obvious product of an extramarital affair, insists the 6-5 scribe who was once ranked America’s No. 2 sports writer-hooper.) In addition to focusing on Seattle vs OKC and Shai Gilgeous Alexander versus Tyrese Halliburton and Finals TV ratings and the Wise writing on that under-appreciated Native runner, we also dip into the glory of his swapping out Greater Washington, DC for Panama City before MAGA suck-ups descended upon his town.

There is talk of stalwart Central Valley bands Cake and Pavement.

Essentially, this enterprise is journalistic busking. Tipping is acceptable and even encouraged.

John Huston’s excellent Stockton boxing film Fat City—an all-time directorial comeback, by the way—gets a lil run, too.