Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Sooner or Later, They'll Think of Something
As an NBA fan, but not a Seattle SuperSonics fan, I reacted with interest, not sadness, to the news this week that the Sonics are officially moving to Oklahoma City for next season. Everyone seems very sad that Seattle is losing the team after 41 years, and if I were a Seattlan, I would indeed be distressed.
But I see this as a moment of opportunity.
See, the deal indicates that the city of Seattle gets to keep the Sonics' name, colors, and logos. The team will have to come up with an entirely new identity in Oklahoma. And that, to me, is very cool.
I can't understand why all the news coverage I've seen of the deal is focusing on the sadness of Seattle and not the happiness of Oklahoma City - and especially speculation about what the new team name and colors will be.
These are very important issues. If they mess up, they could end up like the Montreal Expos (a stupid name to begin with), who moved here to DC and became the Washington Nationals. The Nationals?! Are they serious? What's a National? Don't be giving me something silly like that, or something frozen in time like the Toronto Raptors who were obviously created in 1993, the year Jurassic Park came out.
I did some Googling and was finally able to find a message board where people were making their own suggestions. Most were stupid (Oakies? Sooners?), but some of my favorites included the Thunderbirds, the Bison, and the Dust Devils. I'm not a big fan of sports team names that are a singular noun (although my Utah Jazz fall into that category) or a verb. I'm cool with it having some connection to the area, but Indian names are taboo, and please don't call them the Oilers.
And please have some guts with the colors. It seems everyone (even my beloved Utah Jazz and BYU) are heading towards dark blues and reds, eschewing bright "unwearable" colors. But what happens now when the Jazz play the Mavericks play the Knicks play the Magic? It's all the same! I dare them to include brown.
But I see this as a moment of opportunity.
See, the deal indicates that the city of Seattle gets to keep the Sonics' name, colors, and logos. The team will have to come up with an entirely new identity in Oklahoma. And that, to me, is very cool.
I can't understand why all the news coverage I've seen of the deal is focusing on the sadness of Seattle and not the happiness of Oklahoma City - and especially speculation about what the new team name and colors will be.
These are very important issues. If they mess up, they could end up like the Montreal Expos (a stupid name to begin with), who moved here to DC and became the Washington Nationals. The Nationals?! Are they serious? What's a National? Don't be giving me something silly like that, or something frozen in time like the Toronto Raptors who were obviously created in 1993, the year Jurassic Park came out.
I did some Googling and was finally able to find a message board where people were making their own suggestions. Most were stupid (Oakies? Sooners?), but some of my favorites included the Thunderbirds, the Bison, and the Dust Devils. I'm not a big fan of sports team names that are a singular noun (although my Utah Jazz fall into that category) or a verb. I'm cool with it having some connection to the area, but Indian names are taboo, and please don't call them the Oilers.
And please have some guts with the colors. It seems everyone (even my beloved Utah Jazz and BYU) are heading towards dark blues and reds, eschewing bright "unwearable" colors. But what happens now when the Jazz play the Mavericks play the Knicks play the Magic? It's all the same! I dare them to include brown.
Comments:
Have to comment on this cause I fit into the category of being a Sonics fan. I am upset how the whole situation went down!! The new owner had no intention of keeping the team in Seattle using the façade of really trying to build a new arena to try to convince everyone that he had honest intentions. He's from Oklahoma City and very good friends with NBA Commissioner David Stern. Both of those facts seem to me to be a conflict of interest!! I am not a lawyer and am unaware of the legalities, but to me it looked and smelled bad from the beginning.
While all my angst is not entirely against the owners of the new OKC team stolen from Seattle, some of the blame lies squarely upon the shoulders of the left-leaning, tree-hugging liberals sitting in Olympia who probably never attended a Sonics game, in addition to the now infamous Starbucks owner Howard Schultz. The unwillingness to compromise, and either upgrade KeyArena to fit NBA standards, or help finance a new arena to help save a team with such proud history is shameless and cowardly!! Also, the citizens of the state, mostly in King County, equally shoulder the responsibility of the departure of the team as they were unwilling to sacrifice.
The upside is that if no agreement is reached to renovate KeyArena or build a new arena within a certain time period, OKC crime syndicate owes the city millions more dollars. Ironically, I can actually see an agreement work out and the next expansion team being the Supersonics. Why things couldn’t have been worked out to begin with we’ll never know . . .
P.S. I’ve read that new team name might be the Outlaws with a “Black hat, red bandana covering his face, riding a galloping steed dribbling a basketball. Their colors are black , red and copper, show that these are the bad guys, come & get us!” -http://ballhype.com/story/name_oklahoma_city_s_nba_team/ it would fit them PERFECTLY!!
Post a Comment
While all my angst is not entirely against the owners of the new OKC team stolen from Seattle, some of the blame lies squarely upon the shoulders of the left-leaning, tree-hugging liberals sitting in Olympia who probably never attended a Sonics game, in addition to the now infamous Starbucks owner Howard Schultz. The unwillingness to compromise, and either upgrade KeyArena to fit NBA standards, or help finance a new arena to help save a team with such proud history is shameless and cowardly!! Also, the citizens of the state, mostly in King County, equally shoulder the responsibility of the departure of the team as they were unwilling to sacrifice.
The upside is that if no agreement is reached to renovate KeyArena or build a new arena within a certain time period, OKC crime syndicate owes the city millions more dollars. Ironically, I can actually see an agreement work out and the next expansion team being the Supersonics. Why things couldn’t have been worked out to begin with we’ll never know . . .
P.S. I’ve read that new team name might be the Outlaws with a “Black hat, red bandana covering his face, riding a galloping steed dribbling a basketball. Their colors are black , red and copper, show that these are the bad guys, come & get us!” -http://ballhype.com/story/name_oklahoma_city_s_nba_team/ it would fit them PERFECTLY!!
