Kritik und Lob » season when DeRozan and Lowry

With the Rams rebooting in Los Angeles, ESPN.com presents a series exploring the remnants departed teams have left behind in the cities they abandoned.SEATTLE -- The Seattle Pilots had an official theme song that included the lyrics: You brought the majors to the evergreen Northwest; now, go, go you Pilots, youre going to be the best!Sadly, those lyrics should have been: Now go, go you Pilots, youre going to be the Milwaukee Brewers (not that youre ever going to be very good there, either).As part of a four-team expansion that also saw the debuts of the Montreal Expos, Kansas City Royals and San Diego Padres, the Pilots began in Seattle in 1969. But just a year later they were gone, relocated to Milwaukee after going bankrupt and being bought by Bud Selig. Nearly a half-century later, little physically remains here from that season. The Pilots home of Sicks Stadium was torn down decades ago, and a Lowes home improvement store now stands on the site. Inside the store is a replica of the departed ballparks home plate and markings where the bases and mound once were.You go back a couple generations in baseball history and we had professional baseball from 1901 to 1969, through two world wars and a depression, and then -- poof! -- its gone, Seattle sports historian David Eskenazi said. The first year we didnt have pro baseball was 1970.The Pilots might be remembered even less had it not been for the finest baseball book ever written: Ball Four, Jim Boutons diary of that 1969 season. Bouton wrote in his Opening Day entry after beating the Angels 4-3, Already were better than the Mets.The Pilots did not remain so.The Mets went on to win their first World Series that year, but Seattle went 64-98 and finished last in the six-team AL West.The aptly named Sicks Stadium was a tiny and old minor league ballpark with plumbing issues that resulted in players sometimes taking cold showers or just going home without showering. Perhaps conditions would have been better had the Lowes been around in 1969.Those Pilots drew only 677,944 fans, though that still was more than the Phillies, White Sox, Padres or Indians drew that year (the major league average was 1,134,569). They drew 14,993 for the April 11 home opener, a 7-0 win over the White Sox, but three days later a mere 3,611 watched the Pilots lose to the Royals. Only 1,954 fans showed for another April game. I was there Aug. 22 for Tommy Harper Night, held when Harper stole his 60th and 61st bases of the year, yet it was of so little interest it was attended by just 6,719 fans besides me.I dont think this is a town that will ever draw 25,000 or 30,000 regularly, Bouton wrote. Its a town much more concerned with culture than athletics. (This has changed, as all those Seahawks No. 12 jerseys document.)Low attendance and a poor stadium -- workers were still nailing and painting the bleachers of the renovated Triple-A park the day of the home opener -- were not the only issues. The Seattle owners, Dewey and Max Soriano, were not rich enough to support the Pilots -- they needed to sell 47 percent of the team stock to former Cleveland Indians owner William Daley. Nor were there rich businessmen in the area to take over the franchise in that era -- Bill Gates and Paul Allen still were Seattle teenagers just learning the wonders of computers.Before Microsoft, Amazon and Starbucks started here, Boeing was the main local company. It was about to begin staggering layoffs that would lead to an early 70s billboard that infamously read: Will the last person leaving Seattle turn out the lights.Maybe the Pilots inspired the sign.One week before the 1970 season began and with the teams finances in ruins, the Pilots fate was still so much up in the air that they sent their equipment truck from spring training in Arizona to Provo, Utah. There the drivers stopped and waited for word whether to continue to Seattle or veer northeast to Milwaukee. On March 31, eight days before the teams season opener, word was sent: Go to Wisconsin. The Pilots were moving to Milwaukee.As the late Mike Hegan told me once, the day after the move to Milwaukee was announced, he and his teammates entered their spring training clubhouse and found their jerseys now had MILWAUKEE stitched across the chest rather than SEATTLE. Its amazing how cold this business can be, Hegan said.Seattleites still know all too well how cold it can be. In 2006, Howard Schultz, who turned Starbucks into a global phenomenon, sold the NBAs SuperSonics to a group of Oklahoma businessmen who moved the team to Oklahoma City in 2008.Fortunately, the Pilots legacy lives on in an important way beyond Ball Four, the home plate at Lowes and the occasional fan wearing a replica cap with the pilot-like scrambled egg design across the bill. Thanks to Washington Attorney General Slade Gorton and trial lawyer Bill Dwyer, the state successfully sued the American League over the Pilots departure. The league agreed to give Seattle another expansion team in 1977: the Mariners.Although after 39 seasons and not a single World Series appearance, Seattle is still wondering whether the Mariners will ever go, go to be the best.Fake Off White Vapormax .25 million option on reliever Jose Veras. Cheap Vapormax Womens . 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LOUIS -- The New Orleans Saints looked like a team playing out the string.TORONTO -- Drake Night or not, the Golden State Warriors pushed aside the Toronto Raptors.Though the Canadian rapper and Toronto Raptors global ambassador had never had to witness his hometown team losing on his special night the first three years it had been held, he was powerless to stop the star-studded Warriors leaving town with a 127-121 victory Wednesday night.It didnt stop him chirping the Golden State bench at various points, particularly in the first quarter when the Raptors were up by 10 points.Hes been talking junk for a couple weeks now, talking about they were going to beat us and that its Drake night, Draymond Green. He may be a little disappointed.Stephen Curry had 35 points and Kevin Durant added 30 in the victory, the Warriors fifth straight overall as well as their fifth consecutive win over Toronto.While Golden State coach Steve Kerr was a little upset at how the first quarter unfolded, giving up 38 points to the Raptors, he termed the second quarter, one of the best quarters weve played.Case in point, the Warriors restricted the Raptors to 5-for-24 shooting, outscoring them 32-15 and ending the half on a 21-4 run to seize a 66-53 lead at the break. The 66 points were the most the Raptors have given up in a first half at home since surrendering 71 to the Los Angeles Clippers on Jan. 25, 2014.While incorporating Durant into the offense remains a work in progress, the team continued to share the ball around the likes of former most valuable players Curry and Durant, with the team finishing with 33 assists on 44 baskets. It was the seventh time this season that the team has had 30-plus assists.Offensively were moving the ball, no one is in each others way and were making shots, Durant said. We could have had 40 assists tonight.DeMar DeRozan had a team-high 34 points for the Raptors, while Kyle Lowry added 24 as Toronto lost back-to-back games for the first time this year. Toronto lost 121-117 in Cleveland against the NBA-champion Cavvaliers Tuesday night.ddddddddddddDeRozan, who was 17 for 17 from the free-throw line, is the first NBA player with nine 30-point games in his teams first 11 games since former Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan in 1987-88.It was scant consolation for the NBAs leading scorer, who is averaging 33.3 points per game.We played both of the best teams in the NBA, he said. We were right there with them and had a couple stretches where we could put it away. We gave it away.TIP INS:Warriors: Kerr is one win away from the 150th coaching victory of his career. With 33 assists and a 50.6 success rate from the field, the Warriors set a franchise record with a fifth straight game with at least 30 assists and shooting over 50 percent. ... With 10 field goals made, Curry moved past Joe Barry Carroll (4,010) for eight place on Golden States career list.Raptors: Along with Brooklyn, Toronto is the only team to face Cleveland and Golden State in back-to-back games. ... The Raptors out-rebounded Golden State 46-35. The Raptors dropped to 5-2 this season when DeRozan and Lowry combine to score 50 or more points.ENJOYING THE VIEWS:Drake wore a shirt bearing the likeness of ESPNs Doris Burke as well as the words Woman Crush Everyday, Drake explained that hes a big fan of Burke. He then sat courtside as the Raptors wore their Drake-inspired black-and-gold uniforms.ITS GOTTA BE THE SHOES:The shirt was really nice but his boots were so bad and I was a little disappointed in his outfit overall. Its Drake Night; youve got to bring better boots that that. -- Green on the all-black clothing and footwear Drake chose to wear on his special night.UP NEXT:Warriors: Continue four-game trip in Boston on Friday night, where they have won three straight against the Celtics.Raptors: Visit Denver on Friday night to wrap up the season series with the Nuggets. ' ' '