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If Sleepless in Seattle, Starbucks, and Patagonia puffer vests are the only things you know about Seattle, don’t worry.
A huge part of ‘90s basketball was the Seattle Supersonics. With stars like Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, the Supersonics were very likable. However, at the end of the day, they were just one of the several teams who peaked at the wrong time during the ‘90s Chicago Bulls run led by Larsa Pippen’s potential father-in-law, Michael Jordan.
In fact, one of Jordan’s iconic meme moments in The Last Dance involved Payton.
I don’t know much about the Supersonics and I’m guessing if you’re reading this you probably don’t either?
Sarah Kim is a Seattle native and a die-hard Supersonics fan her whole life.
Kim is the founder of By Way of Us, where she curates and produces events for exceptional women looking for real community. Think comedy shows, wine 101s, casual tennis, portraits, group therapy for moms, and more.
Previously, Kim worked in editorial for ANTENNA Magazine, Outdoor Voices’ The Recreationalist, and GOAT’s Greatest. Kim also worked in social and digital for Nike NYC and Converse and influencer marketing with companies like Red Bull and Jordan Brand.
I sat down with Kim to chat about all things Supersonics, why she’s a Clippers fan over a Lakers fan since moving to Los Angeles, and so much more.
After reading our conversation, I highly recommend you check out By Way Of Us—they do *such* incredible work.
Enjoy!
An Interview With Supersonics Superfan Sarah Kim
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Be sure to check out By Way Of Us on Instagram here.
Let’s start with your background. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
I have a platform called By Way Of Us. We curate and produce meaningful events for exceptional women looking for real community. It actually started as editorial first. I have a background in publishing. One of my first jobs out of college was at a magazine called ANTENNA. It was under the Harris Publications umbrella, which is XXL. 0-60. Rides. Farmers’ Almanac. Dog News.
That's a good range.
Yeah, it's range. That's where I learned everything that I know. All the contacts that I have now are from having worked at the magazine. I started By Way of Brooklyn, which it was called then on Tumblr. Just featuring women behind-the-scenes that were not out to get followers or press. And women genuinely that are private on Instagram.
“Influencer” was just a word that was starting to bubble when I started in 2012. Then I moved to LA and we turned it into an event series, because I could get paid through events versus editorial. In between, I worked for an agency that wanted me to do what I was doing with By Way of Brooklyn, but for Nike. I was on the team that launched the first non-sports city handle. So I was in the team that launched Nike NYC.
It’s been a really interesting path.
In some way, I feel like you have had a sports-adjacent trajectory.
I grew up in Seattle. I'm born in ‘85. It was ‘90s sports. Ken Griffey Jr.. Ichiro [Suzuki]. It's Mariners, right?
We’re Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton Detlef Schrempf. We’re the heyday. Going to the finals, losing always the Bulls. Playing the [Portland] Trail Blazers, always losing. It was ‘90s basketball heyday.
Growing up in Seattle sports at that time, it was great. My dad had two girls—me and my sister—and he treated us like he would have treated a boy or a girl. We learned all of our sports. I remember just being in the backyard, always learning every sport. Sports was my in for any friend or guy friend or more than guy friend that I was trying to get acquainted with. Mostly because I just love sports.
It was cool to watch sports, enjoy sports, look forward to sports, while also playing sports. It was such a huge part of my identity growing up.
Did you ever go to Supersonics games as a kid?
We didn't. We couldn't afford to go to the games, so we watched them on TV. It’s crazy thinking about it now, because they're a bunch of friends that I'm friends with in Seattle that have done stuff at KeyArena, but I was too young to know about any of that at that point.
I remember Shawn Kemp having the same initials as me. I'd be like, “Reign Man.” It was awesome.
I think the irony is that I became more of a Seattle fan once the team moved—or as I got older—because I had all this gear and people are like, “Oh my god.” They resonated with it and they’re like, “Yo, you’re from Seattle.” Or like “Yo, you know about the Sonics?” As a little short Korean girl running the streets in New York City in my 20s wearing a Sonics champion jersey or whatever it was.
Only as I got older did I recognize the era that we grew up in sports—especially basketball—which is not how it feels at all today. It was really cool. It’s just interesting that was just a part of my life, whereas as I got older, it felt like I'm realizing how valuable that time was in a way that I didn’t realize while I was in it.
Did you feel like the intersection of streetwear and sports and nostalgia helped reinvigorate your love of the team as you got older?
100 percent. When I was at Harris [Publications], SLAM was also there talking about the NBA. I lived in New York during Linsanity, so you’re harkening back on all these times, while being still kind of adjacent to all of these other sports things that are happening currently.
I think I'm a big nostalgia person anyway. Like, “We used to be better.” Having lived in all these sports moments—and it was that—the intersection of fashion before there was a runway. I think streetwear brands are doing a lot of collaborations. You see it now. Streetwear heads being creative directors of teams, but it wasn't like that then. If you could get a sports collaboration with a streetwear company, that's a big deal.
It was cool to be able to wear that gear and then feel like you're in the know with someone and sports has a way of doing that. You cannot resonate with someone, but then they see what you're wearing and immediately you have a connection.
That’s the great thing about sports, whether you're playing or whether you're a fan or any of that. For me, sports was just a huge part of my upbringing. To be able to then move to New York, wear the Sonics champion sweatshirt, and have people be like, “Yo!”. Or wear to the office and have all the people that work at SLAM or any of these other places be like, “Oh, my God, I forgot you’re from Washington.” It's a cool identifier. The same way that I identify being Korean. The same way I identify being a woman. Sonics fan is definitely a part of my identity.
How do you feel like being a Sonic fan has impacted your love of sports in present day? Do you feel like you're more drawn towards watching like Oklahoma City Thunder games because of the move?
It’s mad confusing. My parents who see me are like, “Yo, you're confused.” And I'm like, “I am.” I'm a huge Clippers fan now. I would not be a Lakers fan, because I wouldn't. I don't like LeBron James. It was The Decision that ruined for me.
I’m not an OKC fan. I kind of fell off of Sonics and sports when KD [Kevin Durant] came in. I was there for a little bit of it, but not as focused. They moved to OKC, not as interested.
I was a Knicks fan, I guess, when I lived in New York. But are you a Knicks fan, because then you're a bandwagon fan? Then I moved to LA and I'm definitely not a Lakers fan. So Clipset is it for me. I love Kawhi [Leonard].
Kawhi was in the running for our shortlist of baby names.
Because of Kawhi Leonard?
We liked how it sounded, but also because of Kawhi Leonard.
Do you feel like the Clippers’ energy is similar to the Sonics’ energy from your childhood?
No it feels very different. Maybe I'm just not remembering it right. I feel like every player had nicknames. Shawn Kemp is Reign Man. You got Gary Payton, The Glove.
It's different. Like Kawhi, I see the billboards in Los Angeles. I'm like, “Who's Klaw?” Like you’re trying to make Klaw a thing. Stop. Who is Klaw? I don't know who that is.
Going back to the Sonics, I have to ask did you ever own a Gary Payton shoe?
I wanted the shoe so bad. I don't know if they just didn't have my size or I wasn't buying the boy sizes at that time. Later, when I moved to New York, I was asked to be a part of this Nike football society that they had. They had a cleat that looked like it and I would just wear that cleat as much as I could. It just zipped up exactly like the glove. All the laces tucked.
If the Sonics announced that they are coming back to Seattle, would you become a season ticket holder?
I think I would. I don't know if it'd be a season ticket holder; we’d probably try and finesse. Alex and I do a lot of finessing as much as we can. That’s the LA in us now.
That is the LA in you.
“Who is DJing now?” Who do we know? [Laughs]
Get. Me. On. The. List.
We’re not in Seattle that often. I would find a way, but I'm really actually more interested in the Storm. I'm like, how did I not see Sue Bird play in Seattle? I just am kicking myself now.
There’s your own misogyny that comes out. You're like, “Oh, my God, why have I not been a WNBA fan this whole time?” I think there's a lot that I'm learning now.
It’s so sad to me as a woman that you're seeing your own misogyny come out. Now you, as a woman, are trying to re-learn when the world has tailored sports a certain way and made you as a woman within sports—or as a sports fan—a certain way in order to be able to relate with those who are sports fans.
It’s so true. That’s on us to address. To wrap things up, are there any upcoming By Way Of Us events that you’d like to share?
One thing that we're doing differently in Los Angeles is we have something called Casual Tennis. The first Wednesday night of every month on a court in Northeast LA. Whether you played sports—and I played sports my whole life—or you didn't play sports and are interested in playing sports to see what it does for you as a woman in your body to not only do therapy and coffee and conversation, but also to hit a tennis ball really hard with other women who are screaming for you.
It’s so cool to be a beginner again. It's so cool to suck at something when I have to be good at everything else in my life and it not be for anything. I'm not here to post this. I'm not here to win anything. I’m not here to get a raise in my job. I think that there's something really interesting about that.
I would implore anyone who is a fan to try. Be yourself in a new context and be a beginner and kind of suck at something, too.
I love that. Thank you so much for chatting, Sarah!
Be sure to follow By Way of Us on Instagram here and learn more about their work here.
Other Pointless Sports Gossip
Lakers star, Austin Reaves, became a meme.
I know golf is a sport, but it’s really just what happens when a frat bro graduates college and he needs a hobby.
Adele and Rich Paul attended a depressing Game 3 between the Nuggets and the Lakers on Saturday. I must know what Adele’s facial expression is about! Maybe the fact that Mr. Paul wore a tracksuit out in public AGAIN!
If the Bravo and ESPN had a baby, it would be Impersonal Foul. You in? Subscribe and tell your friends. It means the world!
You can follow me on Instagram here, Twitter here and TikTok here. Enjoy the endless void of content!
Washingtonians HATE the OKC Thunder.
I can’t find the original ESPN article, but ESPN did a poll asking who you wanted to win the 2012 NBA finals, the OKC Thunder or Miami Heat.
They broke the results down by state. The entire country, except for 2 states, wanted OKC to win. The two states that wanted Miami to win? Florida and Washington.