Hi. I'm a Tulsa poster. I know at least one of you from college (hey Mallen!). Just thought I'd get in on the discussion and try to keep it good natured. This is what I posted over there on the Tulsa board:
Quote:
Here's the opinion of a rabid sports fan as well as a Tulsa fan:
Sports are geographic. Club names are associated with geographic areas, and the geographic areas are where the fans generally come from. The old, established clubs have regional or national fans because they have history and tradition and people grew up watching them play and have an affinity for them.
Expansion franchises and franchises that move, more often than not, have to build a fan base from scratch. To help this, they seem (more often than not) to have chosen state names rather than city names, at least where it was available or made sense, and particularly in smaller markets.
So in this case, the whole state pitches in to given them tax breaks, and the Commissioner suggests the team be named after the whole state, and the Tulsa mayor shows up to back up the OKC mayor. We're thinking, hey, looks like this really is a statewide effort.
And then, inexplicably, once the team is secured Bennett and Cornett do a 180 and name the team after a city, and not the state--but expect the whole state to get on board.
Don't get in a huff because we don't like being treated like a suburb. OKC wants to keep the team to itself, but wants the rest of the state to support these efforts. In terms of fanbase, hopefully this franchise is going to be a lot more like the Tennessee Titans than the Memphis Grizzlies . . . um, but you see where I'm going with that. Good luck.
|
I guess my point is, the thing was pitched as a statewide effort, but then your mayor came out, shook his finger at the camera, and stated in no uncertain terms that it was Oklahoma City's team and, by God, the name would reflect the city, not the state. I was totally on board until then, and suddenly incredibly repulsed and offended. It was like, "Oh, so that's how it's going to be." Anyway, that's where the snark comes from. It's not a jealousy issue--we are quite aware who has more population, who has more interstate highways, and who has more entertainment venues in the central business district.
It's really comes down to the perception that Tulsa has been getting the short end of the stick pretty regularly lately, and when there was the chance to get together as a "Major League State," petty differences intervened at the last minute and submarined the whole thing.
I know the whole issue of "team name" might seem trivial, but then again, you have to realize, like Jerry Seinfeld says--all we're really rooting for is clothes. So what those clothes say matters. Think about it.