What started out in the blogosphere has now hit the "legit" media. A couple of days ago the SLOG, a blog of The Stranger, reported that some of the new Storm owners did some serious bankrolling of an anti-gay marriage group. Quite the connudrum for a league who's parent recently fired a representative for his anti-gay comments.

Yesterday the Post-Intelligencer picked up the story in two articles. The first, entitled "2 Sonics owners: No gay marriage" opens

The millionaires who've turned to this state's left-leaning Legislature to authorize a $300 million tax subsidy for a new basketball arena have been playing right-wing politics.

While the PI's second article asks, "Will their views fit in Olympia?"seattlest, a website about seattle, ain't so subtle. Their entry headline: "Howard Schultz Sold the Sonics to Bigots. David Postman over at the Seattle Times blogs briefly on the subject noting

...the Oklahoma group's decidedly conservative political bent is likely to be of concern to many more in liberal Seattle than just Storm fans. And that could matter at a time when the team is looking to the Legislature to approve a taxpayer subsidy for a new arena.

Kevin Pelton has an "everybody calm down" article about this up on the Storm' website. Seems Storm Chief Operating Officer Karen Bryant met with new owner Clay Bennett. Said Bryant in a statement

In just four short months Clay has proven to be a committed owner and genuinely respectful of our rich tradition. Political contributions made by two of our owners have no bearing on how we operate and manage the Storm. I’m proud to say that our Storm fan base represents the diversity of our community.

I wonder if fans will feel the same way.

On a "Conicidence? I wonder?" note, seattlest points out that "A few days of awful publicity later, the website of Americans United to Preserve Marriage, the anti-gay-marriage organization bankrolled by Sonics owners, is now 'under construction.'" (thanks to bluewolfvii)

UPDATE from the News Tribune and SportsBusiness Daily: Apparently the NBA does not "consider the anti-gay activities of [Sonics and Storm investors Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward] the same as the anti-gay comments uttered by Tim Hardaway before the All-Star break.