I don't see how it's petty. It's Oklahoma City's team, right? The name wasn't an accident. You don't get it both ways. You don't get to have the Oklahoma City Thunder on one hand and expect people who have never lived in OKC and have no connection to OKC to cheer for the team. Your choice: elevate the city or include the whole state. But don't get mad and call people "butt hurt" when you elevate one city and people who have an attachment to another city don't come along for the ride.
If Tulsa had got a team first and they named it "Tulsa" I could care less, good for them as Tulsa is still part of the state of Oklahoma. It didn't matter to me when the Tulsa Roughnecks were in the top level of US soccer and at that time the NASL was much closer to the four other major sports than the MSL is now. So it is petty if there are hurt feelings over a name.
I have always known more Tulsa people that have an issue with anything OKC than the reverse, just like the "perceived little brother" mentality that many cities have towards a larger or more "known" city. Many in St. Paul has that feeling towards Minneapolis, San Antonio/Austin, Fort Worth/Dallas, Houston/Dallas, etc. In most cases "city rivalries" are petty, I like Tulsa, living in Austin now and having lived in Dallas in the past and doing projects all over Texas I get to hear way too much from the petty about their city rivalry crap. Adults shouldn't be so petty about stupid things.
Strangely enough, I saw a car today in downtown Tulsa with Missouri plates and a OKC Thunder flag propped up in the driver side window.
I wonder which city outside OKC supports the Thunder's fan base the most? I bet it's Wichita. I would guess a hundred or more fans drive 2 hours south to root for Collison and Aldrich. If true, then we shoud rename the team the Oklahoma/Southern Kansas Thunder, or maybe the South Central Plains States Thunder (but excluding Texas).
My points exactly Bluedog.
And very excellent point, Earthwind. I know Wichita is part of OKC's catchment and I think the team should do more marketing there for packages and cable (if they don't already - been over 1 year since I was last in ICT). Also, if they aren't doing so in Tulsa, they should - and use those OTHER OKC-owned teams that are Tulsa based to promote and expand basketball interest in general. Tulsa was not left out in any of this and got two things handed to it without even blinking. ...
Pete, OKC owners did not USE Tulsa in the NBA presentation, instead the mayor of OKC invited the mayor of Tulsa to show how close the cities are in promoting Oklahoma and how Tulsa usually always supports OKC events. In reality - This really was a no-brainer conclusion, Im not sure why it was even a question from some of the NBA officials other than what I perceived about how OKC's media market is carved up. I mean, is there any state where a city does not support or at least add to the catchment of the team based in a different city in said state, particularly when it is the ONLY team in said state???? (weird face). Tulsa should have been a no-brainer (for OKC's catchment market), imo - Wichita was the one that should have been invited.
Spartan, what does it matter if I've been to Tulsa? ......
Oklahoma City, the RENAISSANCE CITY!
Because you are at it again trying to make us think you're the definitive expert on something you know nothing about, in this case, what you allege is Tulsa's "competitive inferiority complex" or maybe it's just yours... those kinds of things generally tend to be pot-kettle-black.
Hey OKC Talk posters: You saw it right here, Tulsa accused OKC people of sounding rednecky. Attack! Get him!
My God this thread is stupid. Tulsa is not bitter about the OKC Thunder. My gosh. And really, you think Wichita has a bigger fan base than Tulsa? Visit Tulsa and walk around, you'll see a ton of Thunder shirts. I honesty believe the tide has turned on the whole "bitter city" thing. OKC seems to be worse than Tulsa now. Get over yourselves (some of you) and move on to something more productive.
Hey, I'm with you guys. [Except for when you don't like the OKC Thunder name, but other than that, I'm with you guys ]
Go OKC Thunder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!
By the way, I think you said it yourself with Oklahoma being rednecky. Doesn't "OKC Thunder" sound infinitely better than "Oklahoma Thunder" ? Maybe that's something we can all agree on!
GO OKC THUNDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Getting left in the dust?http://www.fox23.com/news/local/stor...HNYnSflbQ.cspx
Spartan:
You need to get over yourself. Talk about 'definitive expert' and 'pot-kettle-black', you need to look at your own posts and behaviour on this forum. You come on here like YOU are the only expert at all things urban and Oklahoma. You act like only your opinion matters as fact and that anybody else who has something positive to say or post something you disagree with is-a-fruit or otherwise has a complex. You spend all day posting rants and raves about this or that, I'll give you - some of which is somewhat constructive, about OKC should do this or that or doesn't have this or that. Then you cop an attitude to anybody who has an optimistic outlook for OKC or who opposes your stance.
You called me out numerous times and agove, so now Im going to call you as I see it - I see you as an arrogant, ignorant, **** anti-OKC troll who picked on the wrong person. You may be able to do that to others, but expect a response when you post that bs to me. You are an ignorant fool hiding behind an internet forum - look at YOUR number of posts (especially posts per day/time) and then tell us how much of an outgoing person you are. You must have no life - You must have nothing better to do with your life other than troll the OKC Talk forum. You clearly refuse to read or try to comprehend posts from people you dislike or concepts you disagree with.
And for the record; Im not 'trying to make people think' nor do I 'have an inferiourity complex' - YOU DO and apparently so does many still in Tulsa which is a shame. That is a fact, and I have and will continue to stand up for OKC whenever I see someone like you trolling ignorant superficial bs against OKC.
I AM more of a 'resident expert' than you are pal, I am older than you, have been to and resided in both OKC and Tulsa, and have never understood the hate Tulsans have always had against OKC back in the day (before you were born) and some of that 'Tulsa hate/entitlement' persists today, and you Spartan are a major catalyst on this forum for that. Take the blinders off and see the posts even on this thread. There are a number of OTHER expats and city residents who have said, like me, that the apparent fued tends to be one-sided from Tulsa like it has always been. You call ME out because I say it? Why didn't you attack others and call them 'inferior complex'?
For the record - I am happy for Tulsa in what they have accomplished and it is a city set in a beautiful area - but I also don't feel the need to always placate Tulsa when I speak highly of OKC. If I were on the Tulsa forum, then perhaps I would have a positive Tulsa counter. But last I checked this is OKCTalk and the Thread was started asking why Tulsa is still butt hurt over OKC accomplishments. There always seems to be an attitude that Tulsa is somehow the ONLY reason why OKC has prospered.
Am I not correct to stand up for OKC-my hometown, I've always known OKC's potential and I disagree with your OPINION 'that OKC can't become one of the big guys of the nation'. If you don't like OKC so much, perhaps you should spend your time on TulsaNow instead of trolling OKCTalk pretending like you care.
Small man complex? Take a look in the mirror pal, you present the same behaviour online that you argue does not exist. You spend all of your time (supposedly you are in Europe???) on OKCTalk??? ?? I'll give you that some of your posts are somewhat the same tired ol beneficial 'OKC needs to do this from city X' or 'OKC should model itself after some smaller town like Omaha/Des Moines/insert-city-here, blah blah blah' - but when somebody else offers an opinion or criticism you are the first to attack and become UNCONSTRUCTIVE.
My advice to you is perhaps you should refrain from replying to my posts if you can't read them or find something constructive to say if you disagree. It is clear that you want to attack me personally as you almost never read what I write or at least refute my post with a well-thought counter opinion. You should pick on people who wont stand up to you, because I will call you like I see you. You want to attack my posts or call me out - expect the same!
Better bring your lunch, pal.
Sincerely,
Hot Rod!
---------
P.S. - my apologies to the forum and the members who had to read this. This post was intended exclusively for Spartan but I wanted everyone else to also see me stand up to him/her. You all know that I am normally a positive contributor to OKCTalk and I always try to find something at least constructive to say, dreaming or not, just as other expats and city residents have. I hope you all know I am a longtime contributor to OKC's renaissance and am one of the early posters on the first OKC forums from back in the mid-1990s.
I have never made this type of post in the past but I felt the need to call Spartan out because he/she attacked me and my opinion to this thread for-no-reason and I have seen him attack others without any response nor discipline from OKCadmin. I am quite tired of his/her negative tirades with no counter and I am SICK of him/her trolling anything I write. I normally would have PM'd this post directly to Spartan, but I felt the need to call him/her in public to defend myself - as I think he/she would continue to hide behind this forum unless somebody stood up publicly against this bs. I am ready to return to the positive discussion of contributions and opinions on OKC development and the state (including Tulsa) - but I promise that I can not and will not stand-by anymore and let Spartan troll my always constructive-intended posts or opinions.
Hot Rod
Oklahoma City, the RENAISSANCE CITY!
Mods might as well just delete/lock this thread...
Let's get ready toooooo Ruuuuuumble!
A local news station interviewed a fan outside the arena tonight before the Thunder game. He was from Tulsa and drove to OKC without a ticket hoping to get one before it started. He mentioned that he had never really been a basketball fan before. Evidently the OKC name didn't drive him away. LOL
I'm locking this thread and probably should have done so from the outset.
There is a way to discuss the obvious rivalry between the state's two largest cities but this thread started off badly and was doomed from the beginning.
I've leaving it (rather than deleting) because there were so good points made, but in the future let's find a less combative approach when it comes to the inevitable comparisons between two great up-and-coming cities.
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