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Goodbye ‘Sonics, Hello Thunder
Steven Rawlins
Posted on: 17 September 2008 - 12:58
Basketball
Earlier this month the NBA unveiled the official team nickname for Oklahoma City, the newest franchise in the National Basketball Association that has been relocated, at great cost, from Seattle. Except it wasn’t really unveiled – more “made official” – because there were plenty of fairly obvious clues to the name that surfaced as early as July.
It’s Thunder – Oh, You Knew
Clay Bennet, the owner of the former Seattle Supersonics and orchestrator of the franchise move, was said to be choosing between The Oklahoma City Wind, Thunder, Energy, Marshalls, Bison and Barons. Rumors started, fans speculated. Then the NBA official website listed the link to Oklahoma City’s team page as NBA.com/thunder. Oh. Then the website of the Orlando Magic basketball team posted their 2008/2009 schedule, listing the game on November 12th as against the “Oklahoma City Thunder”. Then, on the day of the planned announcement, the NBA’s online store suddenly started stocking “OKC Thunder” merchandise. So it wasn’t much of a surprise.
Will They Have Fans?
Oklahoma City is no stranger to professional basketball. In the seasons immediately following Hurricane Katrina, the displaced New Orleans Hornets played the majority of their home games there, at Ford Center, which is where the Thunder will commence their first season against the Milwaukee Bucks on October 29th. Sports fans in Oklahoma soon started to cheer for the Hornets and it was clear that the city would be able to support an NBA franchise. However, the Hornets were and are a much better team than the Thunder. New Orleans went all the way to the conference semifinals before losing in 7 games to San Antonio last year. The Supersonics only managed 20 wins, and 13 at home across the entire season. Will the fans still want to watch?
Evidently, they will. Season tickets for the Thunder sold out in 5 days, which is good news for Clay Bennett who had to pay off $45 million to end the Supersonics' lease with KeyArena in Seattle, set to expire in 2010.
The Roster
The OKC Thunder roster does include several fresh young players that could be something special in the upcoming season. Rookie Russell Westbrook and sophomores Kevin Durant and Jeff Green will be looking to stamp their name on the franchise, and when better than with the inevitable media attention that any new franchise will receive. Robert Swift, the injury-prone center has re-signed with the team and could be a threat if he just stays healthy. Ditto for the frequently banged-up but quality forward Desmond Mason.
First Impressions
First takes on the Thunder? Well, right from the tip-off it looks as if their logo designer and brand management people were a little short on inspiration. A clip-art basketball inside a triangle? I’m going to go ahead and say that they now have the worst-looking logo in the League, ironically inheriting that crown from the Seattle Supersonics. What with gas prices so high and the large distance between Seattle and OKC, it looks like Clay did the logo himself in Microsoft Publisher in order to save the team some cash.
Thunder, meet Thunder
The main opposition to the OKC? Well, apart from the numerous basketball fans in Seattle, perhaps the Golden State Warriors – and more specifically, their mascot. His name, and NBA-approved name at that, is “Thunder”. Could we be on the verge of seeing the first professional sports mascot trade?
The official OKC Thunder mascot is set to be revealed at the end of September. I haven’t seen any clues yet – apart from a spurious photo of a guy in tight blue underwear and an orange wig. Then again, given the team logo I’m not ruling anything out yet.