NBA Players Think OKC is Boring...boo hoo

[adaniel]

It all depends on what you like to do.

City growth is a gradual process, people need to understand that. You can't just snap your fingers and "Poof! Cosmopolitan city." Change takes time.

So true....

I must say I have watched this thread, and I'm glad a healthy debate is being had on this. The truth is it is VERY hard for any midsize city with under 1.5 million people to create the perfect balance of good culture, high quality of life, and decent employment opportunities that would lure younger people en mass. The only one I think comes close is Austin, and I mean Austin pre-2000, before horrible traffic, the tech bust, and California equity refugees wrecked the place. Right now that place is running on the fumes of its own hype. Quite frankly I look at the map and I can't really think of a place besides OKC that has put together everything. It just takes time for everything to gel. Luring the NBA or getting something like MAPS III isn't going to do it instantly, but it is a huge step in the right direction, one that will be realized in the future.

With that said, I sometimes have gotten the "itch" to maybe move to a bigger city with more amenities. Don't get me wrong I really have grown to like OKC and the positive momentum it has had despite the sour national mood. I sometimes feel a little out of my element here. Its more to do with the cultural climate more than else. I can't tell you how many conversations I had here where someone turns their nose up at me because I'm 23 with no plans to marry soon. I know they're thinking that I'm either a womanizer or closet homosexual because its so out of the norm for a single person in their 20's to be worried about other things besides getting married. I feel that the general populace feels that OKC has done well as a great place to raise a family, settle down, or retire, which it is, so why change now? From what I've heard from friends who are from here they tell me its a lot better, but looking at my sister who lives in North Dallas I can't help but to be a little jealous with her being around such a vibrant single scene.

Still I would have a had time actually moving. All of the places that rate high with great single scenes are very hard places to live. Hard as in 10%+ unemployment, ridiculous rent, traffic, cutthroat culture, etc. just not pleasant places to try and live. In fact its probably why everyone is single, they're too busy trying to survive and pay their bills. Why would I want to change my 25 minute commute and dirt cheap rent just so I can do something that I can take a vacation and do the exact same thing? And quite honestly, I'm rarely ever bored here. There really is enough to do so long as your not into intense clubbing or getting smashed every night. I started growing out of that stuff when I realized how expensive it is. However, I have enjoyed some of the amenities this city offers like the OKCMOA, festivals, great restaurants, or Lake Hefner.

[onthestrip]

I'm surprised Texas, unlike Oklahoma, allows sales of bongs.

Most people don't enjoy the bar scene because they are rejected or get ignored in such places. Some though, don't like the smoke and loud music.

Oklahoma allows bongs to be sold.

Some people have made good points that this city is what you make of it, and I agree there are places, though sometimes hard to find, that offer unique experiances. However, never should we be settled with what we got. Okc still has a ways to go for entertainment options. I think it's mainly missing an urban, dense neighborhood, and midtown is the place. Just wish thngs would move quicker.

[nwnormanok]

Personally, I'm 30 and married. Perhaps the wife and I are boring, but she grew up here (so this is home). I came out here several years back for law school (I had never been to OK until I came here for law school), and I fell in love with this place almost immediately. I have loved seeing just how much this City has developed in the less than 10 years I have been here. It's been amazing.

Just for context, I grew up in a major upper Midwest city (think Great Lakes region...not Detroit), spent my college years in major eastern seaboard metropolitan area at a well-known and very old Eastern liberal arts college (where Oklahoma is just a theoretical wasteland from a Steinbeck novel, where people live in sod huts and ride donkeys to work at the oil derrick each day). I did a semester in Montreal as an undergrad (and THAT is a GREAT and vastly underrated city), and spent a summer working in Phoenix as a law student. Have spent a lot of time in Philly (where I have a sibling), Atlanta (2 siblings there), and New Orleans (the 5th of us kids).

Perhaps my wife and I are boring, but OKC is by far my favorite place I have ever lived or spent any appreciable time in (besides of course pure vacation destinations). Phoenix is a close second, but for pure quality of life, this place, at least in my opinion, has a ton to offer. It's not the flashiest. The skyline isn't the prettiest. It's not Santa Fe, and it's not Miami Beach or San Diego. But it's got a ton to offer anyone.

When I chose to come to OU for law school (it's amazing what scholarship money can do to entice somebody who'd never even been to this state to come check it out...thank you Dean Coats and David Boren!), I remember my senior undergraduate advisor (an elitist East Coast snob if there ever was one), chastising me for "slumming it" for law school, instead of sticking within 100 miles of the Atlantic and moving to NYC like everyone at my college tended to do. In all fairness, his assessment wasn't all negative - he did tell me that "maybe there's something to being a big fish in a dust-covered puddle." You see of course what the view is of this place to folks who have never been here.

Now, I know that this place is not for everyone. But, as someone else above alluded to their own life, my family and many old friends have been out to visit, and they KEEP wanting to come back. I had a ton of these people come from all corners when I got married a couple years back. These are generally people in the 25-35 range. A week here, and the typical reaction I got was that this place is a hidden gem.

If your goal is to live like you are in L.A., this is not the place. Then again, neither is Sacramento. Neither is Milwaukee. Why anyone would choose to live in Detroit is beyond me. Indianapolis? No different than OKC...just a little colder.

If these reports are indeed accurate that players are "bored" here, I would suggest that this is just because we are still battling our image more than just a little bit. What I mean is this: When an NBA player flies into Milwaukee for a Monday night game, and doesn't hop clubs until 5 a.m., that's just a Monday in Milwaukee. When a player flies into OKC and has the same low-key night, this City's underwhelming (and undeserved) reputation and the inherent ingrained bias suggests to him that this City is just dead.

[PennyQuilts]

nwnormanok, thanks for the voice of sanity. Perhaps some of the ones who hate OKC so much will listen to someone in your shoes.

[dcsooner]

Lived in Indianapolis for 7 years, Wife is from Indiana (no difference than OKC? not). Yes Indy is very conservatve, and yes Indy is cold BUT Indy's DT is far superior to OKC's

[Urbanized]

Downtown Indy had a 15 year head start on downtown OKC. In fact, in many ways it was a model for downtown OKC's rebirth. It is well documented that it was a significant impetus for the creation of the original MAPS. If you want to find out how challenging it was for Indy to achieve the success they had, I suggest reading books by Bill Hudnut, the mayor of Indianapolis at the time. These days he is heavily involved with the Urban Land Institute and highly respected in the field of urban planning.

I guess my new thing on this board will be to remind people that recreating a vibrant, fully-functional inner city and doing it the right way takes time. Sometimes that's hard to accept in today's attention-deficit-addled, instant-gratification, me-me-me world, but it's the truth.

[Bunty]

Perhaps my wife and I are boring, but OKC is by far my favorite place I have ever lived or spent any appreciable time in

Don't sell yourself short. Anyone who can actually find a spouse is not boring.

[kevinpate]

Don't sell yourself short. Anyone who can actually find a spouse is not boring.

Unless the spouse found was so bored that even boring was a step up.
I for one, am eternally thankful for such a circumstance.

[PennyQuilts]

Don't sell yourself short. Anyone who can actually find a spouse is not boring.

Oh Bunty. Surely you have been to Wal Mart. It doesn't matter if you are boring or gorgeous or hideous or stupid as a garden hose. There is clearly someone out there for everyone.

Personally, I think a lot of it has to do do with timing, expections and luck.

[hoya]

I'm sure there's someone out there for me. Oh, Hannah Montana, I'm waiting for you...

[fsusurfer]

Geez I loved my single days in OKC while I was in my mid/late 20s. Plenty to do and lots of women to chose from - even though many of them were nuts lol. Living downtown helped also. Serriously don't know how I didnt get fired more than a few times - rolling in at 10am after a late night of partying and still half drunk! Now I'm 31, living in Destin (where I grew up) which is my favorite place in the world, and getting married in May, but man those were some fun times in OKC!

[edcrunk]

Dude, this is an exceptional place to live. Last night I went to Greenhouse, Drunken Fry, VZD's, Nova & Sipangos... All were packed and I had a blast. Every dj and band we bring thru town has a blast. My dj friends in Dallas beg for me to book them here. I work at the Colcord and I constantly hear how much people love this place or think it's "cool". Chad Petree of Shiny Toy Guns moved to Nichols Hills, Jeremy Dawson has an apt in LA and a house here... Guess where he spends most of his time, he spends it here. Okc is doin just alright.

[gen70]

Lotta good posts on here!

[soonervegas]

I wonder how much of it is just that the players really don't know what to do yet?

You do have to search a little. Maybe you could list 50-100 things for them to do and send it to Tony Durant.

[okcpulse]

My problem with people who say there is "nothing to do" never name off the things they want to do.

[PennyQuilts]

My kids learned to never say, "I'm bored," because I'd find something constructive for them to do since they were miserable, anyway...

But I guess that doesn't help THIS situation.

[dismayed]

My suggestion would be to set down, curl up with a nice blanket and watch a block of "my first home" or "property virgins" on HGTV. Often times they focus on younger buyers, both married and single, and pretty much every episode starts with the potential buyers saying they want to live in X district of whatever city they are in. Watch for a while. You'll notice some common themes about the areas that the young professionals are wanting to move into. Something that is seen time and again are very nice, walkable sidewalks in urbanized areas with lots of street-level storefronts. Lots of little ethnic restaurants are usually seen, wine bistros, sports bars, upscale grocers, live music, what I whould call 'oddities' shops such as record stores, collectibles, and locale-specific shopping (e.g. in California you'd expect to see lots of surf related stuff, in SLC maybe more mountain and hiking related shops), lots of 'activity' type places which could range from pool halls to interesting art museums and architecturally significant places to just hang out and watch people. And of course lots and lots of people with similar interests all walking around and in close proximity to each other.

It's not to say that OKC doesn't have these things, for the most part. The city just needs a lot more of them, and for them to be closer together. And a lot of residential housing nearby to go along with that.

[decepticobra]

who gives a rats rear what any NBA member thinks of our city??!!!

thats the problem with our soceity in general, people care too much about what other people think. so much to the point that (keyword:some) some people spend money relentlessly to simply appease to the taste of complete & total strangers.

They buy more expensive clothes than what they really need, they throw down thousands of more dollars than what is really necessary in buying vehicles that are more lavish than what they should truly be driving.

..and im talking about everyday people, not celebrities here.

but going back to celebrities, specifically the NBA variety this thread is based upon.

Does anyone recall a few years back when Charles Barkley dubbed Oklahoma as a wasteland?? Oh, we okies took great offense to that and so much to the point WE offered HIM an all-expense paid visit here to try to wow him and simply asked for his apology in return.

Barkley REJECTED our offer, and never even bowed out an apology to us.

This clown is a millionaire! Why should we be spending our money on him? Does OKC really care about what Barkley said? Are we that determined to alter negative spoken words from anyone with celebritorial clout for fear that they have the potential of reaching millions of viewers/listeners/readers?

So why should anyone care what any NBA player says about Oklahoma from that point forward? Are we caring because of their financial status? Because they are members of our home team? (or maybe some other teams players are bad mouthing us)

Why care? seriously.

We have our civic plans in place and we have an excellent mayor leading us. Maybe these fools will someday take back the words they cast. Until then lets just go about our own business.

Some people will hate OKC, and some will love it. Word of mouth is word of mouth, and NO CITY can please EVERYONE.

nba=negative badmouthing attitudes.

(thats me badmouthing the nba)

[john60]

who gives a rats rear what any NBA member thinks of our city??!!!

thats the problem with our soceity in general, people care too much about what other people think. so much to the point that (keyword:some) some people spend money relentlessly to simply appease to the taste of complete & total strangers.

They buy more expensive clothes than what they really need, they throw down thousands of more dollars than what is really necessary in buying vehicles that are more lavish than what they should truly be driving.

..and im talking about everyday people, not celebrities here.

but going back to celebrities, specifically the NBA variety this thread is based upon.

Does anyone recall a few years back when Charles Barkley dubbed Oklahoma as a wasteland?? Oh, we okies took great offense to that and so much to the point WE offered HIM an all-expense paid visit here to try to wow him and simply asked for his apology in return.

Barkley REJECTED our offer, and never even bowed out an apology to us.

This clown is a millionaire! Why should we be spending our money on him? Does OKC really care about what Barkley said? Are we that determined to alter negative spoken words from anyone with celebritorial clout for fear that they have the potential of reaching millions of viewers/listeners/readers?

So why should anyone care what any NBA player says about Oklahoma from that point forward? Are we caring because of their financial status? Because they are members of our home team? (or maybe some other teams players are bad mouthing us)

Why care? seriously.

We have our civic plans in place and we have an excellent mayor leading us. Maybe these fools will someday take back the words they cast. Until then lets just go about our own business.

Some people will hate OKC, and some will love it. Word of mouth is word of mouth, and NO CITY can please EVERYONE.

nba=negative badmouthing attitudes.

(thats me badmouthing the nba)

I mostly agree--who cares about what Charles Barkley thinks. However, there is something to this being a legitimate concern. In some form or fashion, being a member of the OKC Thunder has to be a draw to NBA free agents for the team to enjoy sustained success. We don't have to be New York, Dallas, or LA, but we also need to provide a bit more than Amarillo, TX. If we fail to care to be a city where NBA players want to come, then we'll realize that top notch talent won't want to come here. The same thing goes for big companies that recruit nationally (Devon, CHK, etc.); if this city can't be a fun place for young, emerging talent to want to be, they simply won't come here.

Obviously, we shouldn't and can't please everyone, but we should try to have more entertainment for the average awesome free agent--age 25-30--than Quail Springs Mall. Maybe we shouldn't have to provide that stuff, but it's part ofthe game.

I believe we do, and we can have even more, but we should continuallly strive to have great entertainment. "NBA players are bored, boo hoo" is a bad approach.

[mireaux]

My kids learned to never say, "I'm bored," because I'd find something constructive for them to do since they were miserable, anyway...

But I guess that doesn't help THIS situation.

hey great idea. so next time an nba player announces that they are bored with okc we can recruit them or the entire team to clean up Ford Center after the end of the game.

[Laramie]

Oh yeah!

Thank God we are boring; this may keep many of them out-of-trouble!

[oneforone]

I look at this way.... We could be Detroit. I like Oklahoma the way it is today. I am glad we are slowly adding better entertainment options and other attractions. At the same time I do not want to see us become a big nasty metropolis like Dallas.

My question is... what is stopping these guys from chartering a jet out of Wiley Post and flying to Houston,KC,St. Louis, or Dallas for the evening or weekend? I know if I had that kind of money and thought the location of my workplace was boring I would be traveling all the time.

Besides... OKC acutally allows them to have a life. They do not have the losers from TMZ chasing them around. Not to mention, most Oklahomans are respectful to celebrities they allow them to have a life and walk alongside the rest of us. The reason for that is that most okies are humble people that refuse to become star stuck.

One other thing.... I guarantee their dollar goes ten times as far then the average NBA town. Ten million dollars in California or Florida will probably get you into an ordinary home. In Oklahoma, ten million dollars will get you mammouth house a huge chunk of land.

[Hawk405359]

who gives a rats rear what any NBA member thinks of our city??!!!

If the city has a bad reputation, it means marquee players won't consider it for free agency. If that happens and the record continue to be mediocre, fan-support wains, and there is a likely result that low attendance and support would force them out of here. Pro sports is considered a failure in OKC and leagues don't come.

I mean, we shouldn't care what Charles Barkley has to say (and no one should), but we should be concerned for the people who live here through the season.

[dcsooner]

Agree Hawk!

[okcpulse]

If you don't like the Oklahoma weather, wait a few minutes. That philosophy applies to life in Oklahoma in general. I mean, lets face it. It 1994, OKC was practically the Detriot of the south. Then MAPS came along and changed the energy of the city. Now that OKC is on board, there is no where else to go but up.

No one can predict what OKC will be like in 3 or even 5 years. The NBA is still very new in town, so now that there is an added element to our list of amenities, not to mention NBA players as residents, it won't be long before the market begins to respond to new demands.