Let's Name the Oklahoma NBA Team!

[mrB]

I guess the mascot is for another thread. However, I didn't know the 'Seattle Sonics' mascot was SQUATCH. The new owners could save some cash and use the same mascot. We all know the same creature exists in our dark woods.

Recent reports from Tahlequah, OK

Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO)
http://www.bfro.net/GDB/state_listing.asp?state=ok
http://www.bfro.net/gdb/#usa

[perspicuity85]

quote:Originally posted by AgentOrange

I'm sure OKC boards would LOVE to hear this discussion...they think Tulsans are a bunch of jealous stuck-up snobs.

First off, OKC people think anyone that didn't have their wedding reception at Golden Corral is a stuck-up snob.

On the flip side, I must agree with them on the NBA naming thing.  Of course OKC wants to dissociate from the negative state of Oklahoma stereotypes.  Acknowledging that the stereotypes even exist is a step in the right direction for OKC.  Usually, the OKC people I meet are soooo proud to be Oklahomans, and think Oklahoma is a wonderful state (despite the low education spending, teen pregnancy stats, meth use, radical right-wing religions, poverty, etc.)  I was born and raised in Tulsa, and have quite frankly wished many times that Tulsa could pull-off some type of West Berlin move and secede into Missouri or something.  I'm certainly not alone in that opinion, either.

That being said, I think it's a perfectly logical business decision for OKC to name the team "Oklahoma City".  After all, the Hornets sold out almost every game in OKC and were called New Orleans/OKC, not New Orleans/Oklahoma.  The city as a whole is using the NBA team as a marketing vehicle.  Yes, people in Tulsa are kinda pissed, and rightfully so, given the state tax funding of the NBA franchise, but in reality Tulsa would do the exact same thing.

As a proponent of Tulsa's Downtown and otherwise urban development, I'm glad OKC is moving so far up in the world.  This should teach Tulsa a valuable lesson of being a leader rather than a follower.  If Tulsa wants to pass OKC in terms of economic and urban development, it needs to focus on getting ahead instead of getting even.  I'll conclude with a great Vince Lombardi quote:

"You'll never get ahead of anyone as long as you try to get even with him."

[cannon_fodder]

My only gripe on the NBA team is the State taxes being spent on pro-sports.

I'm a bit irritated by courting Tulsa support for the team and then writing us off so directly, but I really don't care that much.

Most Tulsans, including most here, think OKC has done a good job getting many areas up to par.  We think Tulsa has done a poor job in the same period of time.  Not many arguments on that.

Also, some angst is reserved for OKC for the tax disparity.  I am jealous of the government jobs they enjoy and the net tax bennefit the State provides them (of every dollar OKC send to the State they get back more than $1).  It seems their ballparks, development areas (Bricktown) and economic initiatives (GM plant) get State support where we have to pay our own way.  It seems they get new highways as ours fall apart. Readily free access into and out of OKC, toll roads for Tulsa.  Medical centers for OKC, no public ones for Tulsa.  4 year college funding for OKC... and on and on.

Of the perceived funding disparity, I am a bit agitated.  

So Kudos to OKC getting the team, my angst in that regard is only reserved so far as State money is concerned.

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

My only gripe on the NBA team is the State taxes being spent on pro-sports.

I'm a bit irritated by courting Tulsa support for the team and then writing us off so directly, but I really don't care that much.

Most Tulsans, including most here, think OKC has done a good job getting many areas up to par.  We think Tulsa has done a poor job in the same period of time.  Not many arguments on that.

Also, some angst is reserved for OKC for the tax disparity.  I am jealous of the government jobs they enjoy and the net tax bennefit the State provides them (of every dollar OKC send to the State they get back more than $1).  It seems their ballparks, development areas (Bricktown) and economic initiatives (GM plant) get State support where we have to pay our own way.  It seems they get new highways as ours fall apart. Readily free access into and out of OKC, toll roads for Tulsa.  Medical centers for OKC, no public ones for Tulsa.  4 year college funding for OKC... and on and on.

Of the perceived funding disparity, I am a bit agitated.  

So Kudos to OKC getting the team, my angst in that regard is only reserved so far as State money is concerned.

Okay, CannonFodder, you've convinced me of a name:

The Oklahoma Goobermint.

It's what OKC is ALL about.

And, while you are quite correct that OKC gets much, much more in the way of state funding for hospitals, Goobermint Offices, Free Highways instead of Tollways, etc., Tulsa's ruling elite does get something in return........

That is....

NON-INTERFERENCE.

They get to run the Banana Republic of Tulsa just the way they have run it for over 50 years, without ANY outside interference.

It's the Tulsa Premium.

And, we pay the Freight.


[]

[broncosfan2123]

What is the deal with many people "hating" Oklahoma?  Living here I find it exciting to get a professional team, but a large majority of Oklahomans had nothing to do with moving the team.  Why don't you save your hatred for those who were instrumental in moving the team and leave the rest of us alone?

[bugo]

quote:Originally posted by perspicuity85
I was born and raised in Tulsa, and have quite frankly wished many times that Tulsa could pull-off some type of West Berlin move and secede into Missouri or something.  I'm certainly not alone in that opinion, either.

Bring back the State of Sequoyah.

[bugo]

quote:Originally posted by Friendly Bear

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

My only gripe on the NBA team is the State taxes being spent on pro-sports.

I'm a bit irritated by courting Tulsa support for the team and then writing us off so directly, but I really don't care that much.

Most Tulsans, including most here, think OKC has done a good job getting many areas up to par.  We think Tulsa has done a poor job in the same period of time.  Not many arguments on that.

Also, some angst is reserved for OKC for the tax disparity.  I am jealous of the government jobs they enjoy and the net tax bennefit the State provides them (of every dollar OKC send to the State they get back more than $1).  It seems their ballparks, development areas (Bricktown) and economic initiatives (GM plant) get State support where we have to pay our own way.  It seems they get new highways as ours fall apart. Readily free access into and out of OKC, toll roads for Tulsa.  Medical centers for OKC, no public ones for Tulsa.  4 year college funding for OKC... and on and on.

Of the perceived funding disparity, I am a bit agitated.  

So Kudos to OKC getting the team, my angst in that regard is only reserved so far as State money is concerned.

Okay, CannonFodder, you've convinced me of a name:

The Oklahoma Goobermint.

It's what OKC is ALL about.

How about the Oklahoma City Bureaucrats?

[bugo]

quote:Originally posted by BDP
For example, do the 49ers market to and make money off the tangential market of the San Joaquin valley? Of course they do. Do people whine that it should be called the NorCal Niners? I've never heard of that. On the other hand, the Golden State Warriors are named after the state, sort of. Has that made any difference? Not much, it seems.

The difference here is that the San Francisco market is much bigger than the Oklahoma City market.  The 49ers can survive without the rest of California.  A team in a small market like Oklahoma City cannot survive on support from just the metro area.

[okcpulse]

quote:It seems their ballparks, development areas (Bricktown) and economic initiatives (GM plant) get State support where we have to pay our own way.

Ballparks getting state support???  Exactly at what point did the state pony up the dough for the Bricktown Ballpark and the Ford Center?  Or Bricktown development?  It didn't, that was local city sales tax, my friend.  We paid our own way with MAPS.  Please stop getting that confused.

As for economic initiatives, I do agree.  Those get state support.  But didn't most of Tulsa's manufacturing get state support (AA, Whirlpool, Google, etc.)?

BTW, there is more to OKC than Bricktown.  Many locals are beginning to lean toward the Arts District, Automobile Alley and MidTown for their nightlife fix.  Property owners in Bricktown are getting a tad greedy, and it's killing business.

[tim huntzinger]

quote:Originally posted by okcpulse


BTW, there is more to OKC than Bricktown.  Many locals are beginning to lean toward the Arts District, Automobile Alley and MidTown for their nightlife fix.  Property owners in Bricktown are getting a tad greedy, and it's killing business.

Wait, what? Problems in the Holy Bricktown? Do tell!  All that taxpayer life support and the extreme ugliness of OKC is 'killing business'? Or are folks down there too cheap? Woo-hoo! Thanks for the insight Trapped-in-Grosstown!

[mrB]

quote:
 General News

NBA gear arrives for nameless OKC team
July 17, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY – The sports apparel shop where Colby Ousley works was one of the first places to get new NBA T-shirts featuring Oklahoma City on the front.

There’s still a big question on the minds of Ousley and others who are eager for the NBA to make its official arrival in the city, though.

“I’m anxious to know what they’re finally going to be. The colors, nobody knows anything about that,� said Ousley, a 19-year-old who’s studying athletic training at the University of Central Oklahoma.

A single rack of black T-shirts featuring the white logo from the team’s summer league jerseys and the word Oklahoma City was set up next to the cash register Wednesday at the Hibbett Sports store in the Quail Springs Mall in northern Oklahoma City. Each one was on sale for $22.

But two weeks after owner Clay Bennett announced that he would be moving the Seattle SuperSonics to his hometown, with an entirely new name and look, there could still be a long wait before that new identity gets unveiled.

“I think the team probably has a plan of how they want this to roll out accordingly, and we’ll certainly do whatever they want us to do,� Christopher Arena, the NBA’s vice president of apparel, sporting goods and basketball partnerships, said this week.

“Knowing the timelines that we’re under, I could envision us launching the name first, just because maybe we want to start selling tickets or maybe there are some marketing vehicles that require the name first, and then the logo sometime thereafter, and then the uniform last.�

The NBA expects that parts of Oklahoma City’s new identity might be announced next month, but the final deadline will be late September – shortly before the start of preseason games.

The actual names under consideration aren’t being revealed, but Bennett has said there are several names being cleared through the league and that the team took in recommendations through letters, naming competitions at schools and a contest run by the local newspaper.

“We’ve got lots and lots of names, so we feel like we have absorbed much of the flavor of what the citizens have considered and have certainly put that into the equation,� Bennett said.

Arena said Bennett provided “emotion-evoking words� that will be used by the NBA’s marketing department, creative services group and global merchandising group to formulate a team name. There also are some hurdles with double-checking copyrights and other legal issues.

“He used words that would allow the designer to go down a path that I think will get us there faster,� Arena said. “Certainly, once we have the name and you put the name with the emotions and the feelings and these competitive nature types of ideals that he wants to instill in this team.�

The process for overhauling a team’s logo and colors usually takes 22 months. Arena said teams would need to submit proposals by January for changes that would be made for the season that begins in fall of the following year.

Several months would be spent on designing a logo, then a few more on a uniform design and finally a long stretch of working with retailers who’d be interested in carrying the items.

“I think it’s all just accelerated. There’s nothing that’s going to be compromised,� Arena said.

The shirts with the practice wear graphic are only the first step in the merchandising plan. Caps, imprinted basketballs and replica jerseys will eventually become part of the mix.

But while there’s been much talk about the team’s relocation to Oklahoma City, the rack of T-shirts went untouched for an hour on a slow weekday morning at Hibbett Sports. That could change once there’s something more for Ousley and other fans to get excited about.

“If we can allow the fans to embrace us by showcasing here’s the name and in a few weeks we launch the logo and the colors and then a few weeks after that the uniform, that may be the best direction,� Arena said. “But we’ll talk to the team, and we’ll strategize accordingly.�

The NBA certainly doesn’t want to find itself redesigning the team’s logo, colors or identity in the near future.

“We want to make something that’s timeless and has some meaning for a long, long time so we aren’t going to rush that process just to hit a timeline that we may put on a piece of paper,� Arena said. “We want to get things out there as soon as possible, but we want to do it right.�So for a little while longer, the name will remain classified.

“Certainly, we’d love a unique name but we want our name to be in indigenous to the area,� Arena said. “We want it to hopefully have some meaning to the fans in that area and around the world.�

Copyright © 2008 The Journal Record All Rights Reserved
101 N. Robinson Ave., Ste. 101, Oklahoma City, OK, 73102 |
P.O. Box 26370, Oklahoma City, OK, 73126-0370 | (405) 235-3100
415 S. Boston Ave., Ste. 101, Tulsa, OK 74103 | (918) 295-0098

http://www.journalrecord.com/article.cfm?recid=90593

[Gold]

[sgrizzle]

WIN!

[Townsend]

First 50 kids get throwing stars

BTW, they made CNN since they're selling Tshirts saying only "Oklahoma City", no name and no logo.

[okcpulse]

quote:Wait, what? Problems in the Holy Bricktown? Do tell! All that taxpayer life support and the extreme ugliness of OKC is 'killing business'? Or are folks down there too cheap? Woo-hoo! Thanks for the insight Trapped-in-Grosstown!

First, let me stress Bricktown isn't dying.  The canal and Ballpark as anchors gaurantee that Bricktown won;t be going away anytime soon, and now that more residents and hotels are moving in, Bricktown won't die.

The issue at hand is the dozen or businesses that came and went in Bricktown.  There are some property owners that are asking too much for their property in terms of leasing, and it is holding back Bricktown.  At LEAST a dozen businesses have opened and closed because of this.

The biggest clubs, restaurants and retail can survive, but those that have gone didn't die from lack of business, it was high rent.  Of course, it isn't long before a restaurant is replaced by another.

I disagree with OKC being ugly.  But that is just me.