Outspoken Sonics fan ejected

The whole "Fire Wally Walker" banner idea was a little before Sam Kidder's time. And the 23-year-old financial analyst said he isn't one to sit in a crowd and chant "Clay Bennett Sucks!" as sparse groups of fans have done this season at KeyArena.

But Kidder is frustrated by Bennett's effort to move the Sonics to Oklahoma City.

So, when Kidder surfed the Internet Sunday and saw that Bennett would be attending that night's game against Sacramento, he decided he'd say something.

"Generally I think a confrontational approach is not the best way to achieve the ultimate goal in keeping the team in Seattle," said Kidder, who moved from his lower-bowl seats to beneath Bennett's suite, where general manager Sam Presti and NBA legend Bill Russell and his family were enjoying the game with Bennett.

"But when I was looking at him face to face, I just couldn't hold back," Kidder said. "I looked up at him and said, 'Hey Clay, what's up?' He gave me this snide look and I called him a thief and ... he blew me a kiss. That just set me off. Normally I'm a pretty mild-mannered guy."

After the exchange during the third quarter, Kidder was approached by two off-duty Seattle police officers and a man Kidder said he recognized from the suite. They told him he needed to show more respect to Bennett, Kidder said. When Kidder belted out "Clay Bennett Sucks!" during a free throw immediately after, Kidder and his girlfriend were escorted from the building.

Kidder, who said he had "a few beers," had his tickets confiscated, but no citation was issued. Kidder went home to watch the game and entered a post titled "I'm in Bennett's head" to SonicsCentral.com at 10:07 p.m., detailing the incident.

When contacted by The Seattle Times, a Bennett spokesman said Bennett did not instruct officers to remove Kidder, although Kidder was ejected approximately 30 seconds after Bennett walked to the back of the suite.

"He [Kidder] already admitted to having a few too many beers and being out of control, but Clay laughed it off," said Dan Mahoney, the Bennett spokesman. "He thinks people are entitled to their opinions. But in terms of ordering someone to go have them removed, that absolutely did not happen nor would it have happened."

The NBA has a code of conduct rule that officers and Seattle Center staff enforce. Fans agree to the terms by purchasing a ticket and entering the building. But Kidder said this wasn't one of those incidents because he did not curse.

"It's rare that you get a chance to express your emotions in person to the person who is threatening to rip the team away from you," he said. "I don't regret it at all."

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com