Great OKC reference at NYTimes.com...

[Luke]

In an article titled Out of a Resounding Defeat Comes a Hero for China the writer compares the excitement Chinese basketball fans had for Yao Ming at the USA/China basketball game to Oklahoma City...

In a new arena with loud music, luxury boxes and lithe dancers that sounded and played like Oklahoma City, U.S.A, the flashbulbs popped for Yao and the Chinese national team making its entrance to the court as they did for Michael, Magic and the original American Dream Team in 1992.

Pretty cool, huh?

[Doug Loudenback]

Luke, I guess this is the link you got that from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/sp...ts&oref=slogin

This quote from that article may give a wider, and just as satisfying and more complete, context:

For this special night, Yao Ming dragged his giant’s body back on a broken foot not fully healed. He risked the rest of his professional life for the opportunity to play a definitively competitive quarter and a half before losing to the United States, 101-70, in the most heralded game a Chinese basketball team has ever played.

But a 31-point differential was not the point, merely the exclamation point following a tsunami of American fast-break dunks. “This game was a treasure, and it will be for the rest of my life,” Yao would say, without explaining why.

He didn’t have to, because anyone with eyes half open Sunday night could see this was a celebration of Yao the ambassador, who, by making a large living in America, has done more for China as a burgeoning sports power than a thousand gymnasts and swimmers.

In a new arena with loud music, luxury boxes and lithe dancers that sounded and played like Oklahoma City, U.S.A., the flashbulbs popped for Yao and the Chinese national team making its entrance to the court as they did for Michael, Magic and the original Dream Team in 1992.

The thing is, the NY Times writer was drawing on his own impressions to make such a statement! That means, of course, that the writer's perceptions were the bolded part of the quote, above, and I assume that the writer was not an Okie!

Yes, that's very very cool, indeed, and an excellent "find" by you, Luke! Good job!

[edcrunk]

so what are they implying by that reference? forgive me for being slow.

[Doug Loudenback]

so what are they implying by that reference? forgive me for being slow.

Ed, the point is the choice of US cities used in making the writer's analogy. The writer was simply stating, in print, by analogy in the article's context, what the China crowd was analogous to ... a great racaus crowd. The writer could have, by analogy, chosen to use the Lakers, or Boston, or wherever. But, he didn't use those other USA cites in formulating his analogy.

The US city chosen by the writer to complete the analogy, which writer as far as I know has nothing to do with Oklahoma, was Oklahoma City.

Think about it, Ed. It's a matter of perception. The writer's perception was apparently that Oklahoma City was the most analogous to what he observed in China. It wasn't that we Okies put words in his mouth, he had them there already.

Question answered?

[Luke]

The fans in OKC have set the standard for what a good crowd is supposed to be. And I suppose the writer was sitting at the Olympic arena in Beijing and was just taking in all the spectacle and excitement of the Chinese fans cheering on the Chinese team and it reminded him of another place known for it's loud and rowdy fans... OKC!

[edcrunk]

so basically he's referencing LOUD CITY... saying we get wild and crazy at games.... that's what i thought, but i guess was a little surprised.

that rocks!

[Doug Loudenback]

so basically he's referencing LOUD CITY... saying we get wild and crazy at games.... that's what i thought, but i guess was a little surprised.

that rocks!

You will not be the last to be surprised, according to my crystal ball ... the one that works, sometimes! The nation, the world (if I may be so unrestrained) will come to join the refrain. At least, that is my hope and expectation.

Hang on to your underpants when the Devon project drawings are announced in just a few more days! I'm also anxious to see the National Geographic piece tomorrow or the next.

These are heady days for OKC, probably like nothing in our history. And, given the "headiness" at the Land Run time, and in the 1910s-1920s, that's really saying quite a lot. Oklahoma City is literally busting out onto the national, if not world, scene in our very own days and times. We are witnessing a huge chunk of Oklahoma City history unfold before us, right now, and it will be written about long after my own days are done. It's a great time for Oklahoma City lovers to be living. I expect that our dead Oklahoma City ancestors are smiling, very broadly, cheek to cheek.

[Luke]

We're only going up...

...and that's why we should aim for the Summer Olympics in 2020 or 2024.

[plmccordj]

To me they were making reference to the incredibly loud arena that we had when the Hornets were here. I personally find this very exciting that people outside of Oklahoma are starting to recognize our support.

[LIL_WAYNE_4_PREZIDENT08]

We're only going up...

...and that's why we should aim for the Summer Olympics in 2020 or 2024.

LOL probably not even possible by 2050

[Luke]

LOL probably not even possible by 2050

Oh ye of little faith.

[edcrunk]

hey lil prez, just look at where OKC is at in just 15 years... now with all the press we're getting, things are just gonna snowball and OKC is fixin' to jump off! but i would think 2032 would be attainable.

[Doug Loudenback]

From my own research, there are only 2 periods that "mark" Oklahoma City's prior "expansion" ... the 1st is obviously at and after the Land Run days ... lots of those initial 10,000 settlers didn't hang around, though. The 2nd was in the 1910s - 1920s (and very early 1930s before the Great Depression caught hold here) ... that period marked the most magnificent expansion of downtown buildings through 1932 or so.

After that ... we had some Urban Renewal vis a vis Pei Plan stuff that worked before it cratered, and that was probably the 3rd major expansion but which ended in a sigh.

But, today, post MAPS, especially post Maps 3 (Ford Center improvements), I really do believe that OKC is in, as Mayor Mick called it, a "Golden Age." In this time, downtown has burgeoned ever so much more than it has in any prior historic period. Given the March 4 vote, all I can reasonably imagine is that the rolling ball will continue to roll.

Oklahoma City has indeed entered into the 21st century, with admirers all around (even those that we don't know, like the writers of the NYT artilces of late). The Dust Bowl image is gone (but for those who like to invoke it for their own personal purposes). For those who have no personal agenda, Oklahoma City has joined the rarified list of major USA cities of where life is good.

[blangtang]

OKC is like a puffed up Omaha on steroids! they have a pretty neat downtown and some newer developments goin on

[soonerguru]

The Dust Bowl image is gone

Unfortunately, no it is not. Even the NY Times piece about the River, which was very glowing, invoked it in the headline of the print version. And, of course, our own city mayor and other leaders bring it up whenever they talk about mowing the river.

The NY Times headline was something like: "In Dusty Oklahoma City, A River......"

Terrible. The Dust Bowl image is powerful and pervasive, and a lot of people out there think we live in a near desert (it kind of has been the last month).

[Doug Loudenback]

Unfortunately, no it is not. Even the NY Times piece about the River, which was very glowing, invoked it in the headline of the print version. And, of course, our own city mayor and other leaders bring it up whenever they talk about mowing the river.

The NY Times headline was something like: "In Dusty Oklahoma City, A River......"

Terrible. The Dust Bowl image is powerful and pervasive, and a lot of people out there think we live in a near desert (it kind of has been the last month).

Soonerguru, that was NOT the NYT lead-in mentioned in American Journeys - Oklahoma City - Reaping the Benefits of the New Oil Boom - NYTimes.com ... unless I am BADLY mistaken, you will not find the phrase "dust bowl" mentioned in that article. You might be thinking about another article which (as I said some do contain) a more "personal agena."

Such articles are not hard to find about those who disfavor the Sonics' relocation to OKC ... it serves their writers' personal purposes to refer to, inaccurately (OKC was not actually a part of the "Dust Bowl"), the dust bowl legacy, even if we were on the fringes of it.

What is the link that you have in mind with your post?

[soonerguru]

Doug,

No offense, but you're being quite the grouch tonight.

Please read closely. I was referring the earlier New York Times article about the river that ran in May (or was it April?).

The online version contained a nice headline. The PRINT VERSION, however, had a headline that referred to "Dusty Oklahoma City." In that same article, our city leaders referred not only to the Dust Bowl but the fact we used to actually mow the river.

My point is that the Dust Bowl image lives on, as it is still taught in classrooms coast to coast. The term "Okie" is a part of the American lexicon. The Grapes of Wrath will be a staple in English courses for the foreseeable future.

The basic point is, your statement that the Dust Bowl image has been extricated from the public consciousness is incorrect. Don't take it so personally.

[Doug Loudenback]

No offense, but you're being quite the grouch tonight.

You are quite right. I apologize.