This is Great

The tone that writers use to describe the Thunder is beginning to change. It was once all the rage to mock Oklahoma City, Clay Bennet, David Stern, et al about the move from Seattle. I can understand that sentiment. Once the season started the scornful eye moved from "the move" to the joke of a product on the court. Everything was fair game; the name of the team, the logo, the colors, the city. A terrible record was fuel to the fire.



What's happening now is really interesting. People still have a hard time with the name, logo and uniforms. Most everyone is quick to dismiss Oklahoma City as the new wasteland of the NBA and they appear to care even less about coming here to form a first-hand opinion.



But people are starting to become a little freaked out about what we (OKC and the Thunder) have cooking. The Thunder are on many analyst's and fan's must watch lists. It's an entertaining team with an entertaining crowd and a bright future. It makes people gulp, maybe throw-up in their mouth a bit or question their sanity. But people are coming around.



Take this excerpt from an article on Freedarko.com:



"I'd like to say a few words about the Oklahoma City Thunder. I know that as a resident of Seattle, I should hate this team. Then again, I refuse to hate David Stern, who is far more to blame than, say, Kevin Durant. But along with Denver, LeBron with a healthy team, and presumably now Golden State, they're one of the only squads I can now reliably count on to be entertaining. Yes, Durant's maturation, Westbrook's crash-and-burn progress, and Jeff Green Jeff Green-ing his way to Jeff Green-ness are all rad. However, it's the packaging, the location, and the irrepressible obscurity around them that makes them so compelling. This is an NBA team that, for all intents and purposes, might as well not exist. They play in a city that matters only to the people who live there. Their uniforms are unrelentingly generic, like the plain white can, black type BEER they sell some places. The name of the team seems like a placeholder, unless you bother to acquaint yourself with life in Oklahoma. I kind of admire Clay Bennett for crafting such an utterly blank brand, so strong is his faith in OKC's appetite for NBA ball, plain and simple.



The more this team grows, the more all this seems mysterious, sneaky, or hermetic, rather than simply laughable. When I sleep, I dream of making a shirt that puts Durant on the cover of Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, and I even think the music serves as a decent soundtrack. By contrast, Hawks/Bobcats were red carpet regulars. This team is living in caves, stockpiling arms, camping out on the Big Love compound. I don't know what their purpose is, but the bare bones image and total lack of exposure makes them seem so much more severe, even unsettling, than if they had a cartoon horse on their unis. Durant's good enough now to reclaim that "assassin" epithet; on this team, it's as haunting as it should be. They may practice an hour's drive from any number of campy militias, but mark my words, the Thunder will be the first NBA team to catch on with Waziristan hobbyists."



I had to look up Waziristan but this more or less encapsulates the new tone I see people having with this team.



If you want a more sterilized journalistic version of this attitude just go to the hometown newspaper of any team the Thunder defeats.

And now there is this article from Yahoo! which furthers the point and begins thus:

"Kevin Durant knows what you think about Oklahoma City. Minor-league town, major-league wannabe. Great place if you like college football, a cheap steak and slow nights. Want to watch a high-level NBA game? Head three hours south on I-35 to Dallas. Better yet, don’t exit until you get to San Antonio.

Kevin Durant also knows what you think about his Oklahoma City Thunder, provided you even realize they exist. Bad uniforms, bad team. Their carpet-bagging Okie owner stole them from Seattle. For Durant, this has to be basketball purgatory. A place to get his shots up, collect his millions and wait until the big markets come calling in 2011 or ’12. For the love of the Big 12, he’s a Texas Longhorn sentenced to work in OU country.

No wonder someone started a web site, iwantoutofokc.com, that counts down the seconds until Durant becomes a restricted free agent. Tick … tick … tick … tick… Guaranteed salvation is just a few short seasons away.

So, yes, Kevin Durant knows what you’re thinking. He also wants you to understand this:
“Hopefully,” he says, “I’ll spend my whole career here.”

It's catching on.

Thunder 94 Nets 85

Last night was a monumental win for the Thunder. At one point the Thunder held a 30 point lead, their largest of the season. Their 10th win of the season vanquishes talk of being the worst team of all time (although the point has been moot for over a month). The win also moves them ahead of the Washington Wizards who sit at 9 wins, worst in the NBA. Memphis has 11 wins and they visit Wednesday night. Yes sir, things are looking up.

I wish I could have been there. A patent-pending Oklahoma ice storm kept the Ford Center crowd down to about 5,000 hardy souls. Those that braved the roads were not only treated with the victory but free parking and open seating in the lower bowl.

When the Hornets were here there was once a similar situation and I did make it to that game. It's a special feeling at these kinds of games because a cavernous arena has been reduced to a high school gym. In bad times nothing could seem worse. But when a team has a connection to the fans like those Hornets did and these Thunder are starting to, it's a lot of fun. There's an intimacy that is rarely seen at the professional level. So I was sad to miss it. But only briefly.

You see, of all the days to be iced in, yesterday was one of the best. My new TV got delivered to the house in the afternoon. So, there I was sitting fireside watching the Thunder take a big step forward and I got to see the Sooners beat the Cowboys in Bedlam. All in HD on the new set. The dogs were sleeping and farting at my feet and the wife was asleep on the couch. Everyone nice and cozy.

Doesn't get much better.