NBA in OKC: A nickname for the nickname
Here’s a problem with Thunder, if that indeed is the nickname for Oklahoma City’s new NBA team. It’s the main problem with every singular nickname. It’s a linguistic roadblock.
What do we call an individual player? You see Manny Johnson or Andre Sexton walking at the mall, and your wife wants to know who the heck is Manny Johnson or Andre Sexton, and you say, a Sooner, or a Cowboy. You see Chris Wilcox, you can’t say, he’s a Thunder.
Thunder can’t be used as a singular noun. Not to where it sounds halfway plausible. So here’s my offering as a nickname for the nickname. The ‘Bolts. Kevin Durant? He’s a ‘Bolt.
I know, San Diego already refers to its Chargers as the ‘Bolts. So what? Different time zone, different sport.
Like I wrote in The Oklahoman today, Thunder is growing on me. And a bunch of fans already have spoken, carrying Thunder to victory in our name-the-team contest.
But in the same way that Cowboys sometimes are Pokes, and Longhorns used to be Steers, and the Pirates occasionally are the Bucs, and the Orioles the Birds, and the Dolphins the Fish, the Thunder will be the Bolts.
Coale drops the hammer
A common theory for several years has been that women’s basketball is exactly where men’s basketball was 20-30 years ago. There are no 7-footers in the women’s game or acrobatic dunkers, but otherwise, the styles are very similar.
Culture, too, I would say. We’ve started seeing women’s programs run afoul of NCAA rules, and we’ve started seeing women’s players run afoul of the law. OU’s Jenna Plumley the latest example.
Plumley was charged with petty larceny earlier this week and Thursday was suspended for next season by OU coach Sherri Coale. Coale indicated that Plumley had some issues even before the larceny charge. Coale acted swiftly; much more swiftly than football or men’s basketball coaches act and with a much more severe punishment.
We have a direct comparison, since OU defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger went all sticky fingers at the Fiesta Bowl and was charged with shoplifting a jacket in a Temple mall. Granger was sent home but is back on the squad now.
It’s difficult to judge different cases. We don’t know what Plumley’s issues were and we don’t know what Granger had been involved in before the Fiesta crime. But Coale’s actions send a clear message. OU women’s basketball has enjoyed a pristine reputation, which Plumley soiled, and Coale doesn’t appear to stand for it.
From a purely basketball standpoint, OU won’t miss Plumley. Let’s see, a 5-foot-2 shooting guard who shoots 31 percent from 3-point range is not exactly a precious commodity. Plumley probably was given too much credit for OU’s surge her rookie year and too much blame for its slide last season.
But Coale always can find a 5-foot-3 shooting guard who can make 31 percent from the field. And some of them don’t commit petty larceny.
Short NBA name necessary?
Vince Orza, dean of the OCU business school, said some interesting things in today’s Oklahoman about the NBA team nickname. His most compelling theory: short nicknames are better.
One syllable is preferred, two syllables max. That’s why Orza shot down my Thunderbirds, pointing out that most announcers would call them the Birds and that Thunderbirds would be difficult to fit on a jersey front.
Orza got me to thinking, so I did some research. Of the 122 current major-league franchises — we’ll count the SuperSonics name for the purpose of this discussion — 27 have at least three syllables.
Orza is right on that announcers and headline writers and the public in general will shorten a long name.
The five-syllable 76ers become the Sixers. The four-syllable SuperSonics become the Sonics. The four-syllable Knickerbockers become the Knicks. The four-syllable 49ers become the Niners, which is also what we called our Triple-A baseball team when it was the 89ers.
The three-syllable names don’t fare much better. Tampa Bay’s baseball team even made it official after last season, dropping the Devil from their name to become simply the Rays. But shorter better? How in the world is Rays better than DevilRays or D-Rays?
The other three-syllable names are almost all shortened. The DiamondBacks are the D-Backs. The Orioles are called the Birds. The Athletics have been the A’s almost to the point that few know they’re really the Athletics. The Mariners are called the M’s. The Nationals the Nats.
The Cavaliers are the Cavs. The Mavericks are the Mavs. The Timberwolves are the T-Wolves. The Trail Blazers are the Blazers. The Cardinals are the Cards, although you could argue that Cardinals can be pronounced with two syllables. The Buccaneers are the Bucs.
I know little about NHL trends, but I know the Avalanche is the Avs, the Capitals are the Caps and the Islanders are the Isles. I assume the Hurricanes are the ‘Canes, the Maple Leafs are the Leafs, the Senators are the Sens and the Blue Jackets just the Jackets.
I don’t know what they call the Predators, a truly awful name, and the Canadiens — a regal, Yankee-level nickname — are called the Habs for reasons unrelated to the length of their name.
So that leaves only two names, by my count, that aren’t shortened. The Phoenix Coyotes — who could be pronounced as a two-syllable word, I guess — and the Golden State Warriors.
To me, that doesn’t eliminate Thunderbirds. I disagree with Orza; I think Thunderbirds would be shortened to T-Birds, not Birds, and I think T-Birds could be scripted across the jersey, if necessary.
And besides, I think all theories are out the window with Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City now reigns as the longest geographical name in major-league sports. Philadelphia, Indianapolis and San Antonio are five-syllable names; Oklahoma City is six.
Indy and San Antone go with one-syllable names: Colts and Spurs. Philly goes mostly with two-syllable nicknames: Eagles, Flyers and Phillies. But then comes the NBA team. Philadelphia 76ers. Ten syllables in all. And no one sits around talking about what an awkward name the 76ers have.
Oklahoma City Thunderbirds, nine syllables strong, would work.
An NBA survey for Oklahoma City fans
The Oklahoman will run a poll this weekend gauging fan expectations for the NBA franchise set to debut this autumn. Here’s your chance to be heard.
We are asking fans who plan to follow the team closely to answer five questions and email their responses to Mike Baldwin at mbaldwin@oklahoman.com. You could even send this survey on to someone you know, so they can participate, too. Deadline is 6 p.m. Thursday.
Here’s what we need. Your name, city in which you live, age, email address and phone number.
Here are the questions:
1. How many games will the new NBA team win this season after winning only 20 last season in Seattle?
a) 15-20
b) 21-25
c) 26-30
d) 31-35
e) 36-40
f) more than 40.
2. How many seasons will it take for Oklahoma City’s new NBA to reach the playoffs?
a) first season
b) second season
c) third season
d) fourth season
e) fifth season
3. Will Oklahoma City ever win an NBA championship?
a) Yes
b) No.
4. Will the NBA still be in Oklahoma City in 2018, 10 years from now?
a) Yes
b) No.
5. Of the 41 home games, how many NBA games do you think you will attend at the Ford Center this season?
Feel free to comment on any of the five questions:
So long, Billy Packer
CBS announced that Clark Kellogg will replace Billy Packer as the lead analyst of college basketball. My initial reaction? So long as somebody did.
Packer long ago wore me out. How he lasted 34 years as the voice of college basketball is bewildering. Must have been a contract thing for Al McGuire not to become the prime color man of March Madness.
Packer was a voice of the establishment; he was Big School, instead of Old School. Saint Joe’s coach Phil Martelli called out Packer in 2004 when Packer ripped the seeding of St. Joe’s No. 1 and Oklahoma State No. 2 in the East Regional, but that was typical Packer. He never seemed to capture the romance of the NCAA Tournament. Always seemed ready to tell us why a George Mason never would crash the ball instead of telling us how it could happen and how glorious it would be. Which it was.
I don’t know how Kellogg will do on the job. But I know it was time, far past time, for Packer to go.
Emails: NBA nickname fever spreads
We’re talking NBA nicknames again. Despite an eventful week in which Bobby Murcer died and the joker down in Austin produced that hoax on Sam Bradford and Landry Jones, the latter leading some to declare me an oracle of great wisdom and others to call me the hypocritical village idiot, the topic of the week absolutely is the name of Oklahoma City’s first major-league franchise.
David wrote in a very thought-provoking email, and not just because he likes Thunderbirds, the obvious best choice for the name, “I continue to hope that your Thunderbirds name gets the honor of adorning our new team’s jerseys. A grand name it would be. What pleases me most is that the team will be called Oklahoma City. The problems with state names for teams is that for large markets like Denver, Miami, and Phoenix in MLB it smacks way too much of marketing, and for smaller cities like Salt Lake City in the NBA, it sounds too much like an admission that the town is not really big league and needs the support of an entire state. As such, calling the team the “Oklahoma anything” makes Oklahoma City seem weak — something we shouldn’t want to do. Only when a team is from multiple cities like Minneapolis/St. Paul is a state name ideal. As an aside, the greatest compromise ever in such a debate had to be calling a Bay Area team the Golden State Warriors, a name I always thought was totally cool. Hmmmmm. How do ya think Sooner State Thunderbirds would fly in Stillwater?”
Sooner State would be stupid in Norman, much less in Stillwater. But excellent points about the city names. Oklahoma City it is and should be. Thunderbirds it should be and hopefully will be.
Larry wrote, “The name of the Not the Sonics suddenly came to me as I was out jogging this morning — the Oklahoma Boomers! Mike suggested the same thing. And so did Brian: “How about the Oklahoma City Boomers? Since the Sooners were cheaters, we could name the Team after the ones that waited for the cannon boom. With Tinker Air Force Base, the mascot could be a B-2 bomber or some sort of airplane. Sonic Boom. Get it? What do you think?”
Call me crazy, but I like Boomers.
Mercedes wrote, “Here’s my suggested names: Oklahoma City HighRollers. If you think HighRollers is too trite, how about Oklahoma City Challengers?”
I’ve got to say, I like the Oklahoma City Mercedes better than the HighRollers.
Stacey: “I’ve thought of two nicknames for the NBA team here in OKC. First, since no one likes Tornadoes or Twisters, how about the Cyclones? Not my best idea but what about this one? The OKC Rattlesnakes. I like it. There are rattlesnakes in Oklahoma; we even have a rattlesnake festival. Think of all the fans in the stands with giant rattlesnake rattles in their hands, cheering on the Rattlesnakes.”
I like it. I like it a lot. I don’t know if Rattlesnakes or Rattlers is better, but either one would work for me.
Robert suggests “DreamCatchers, and call the cheerleaders Dream Girls. I also have a neat idea for the mascot but I am not computer savvy so please call if you think the name has merit.”
Love the interest, Robert, and love the fever that is making everyone get all excited about the NBA. But if our NBA team is called the DreamCatchers, I might just have to move to South Dakota.
Terry suggests “The Oklahoma City Heroes. I just thought it would be a good name to reflect the Oklahoma spirit through adversity. The Trail of Tears, federal building bombing, tornado aftermath, etc. I also thought it was an excellent way to involve the community and recognize valuable members. Additionally, there are some pretty cool songs that would promote the team well and get the Ford Center hyped up. Lastly, I thought it would be a good nickname, city of Heroes, that would embody the Oklahoma City spirit while also promoting the team.”
Well, I like it better than DreamCatchers.
Shannon wrote, “Another email about the team name! I do have the answer though. A name that can unite the state, from north to south, east to west. A name that recognizes something not indigenous to the state but still found in every corner. While this name can be shared by all Okies, the Oklahoma City area is most certainly considered the state’s greatest supplier. It came to me as I was driving home to the northwest corner of rural Piedmont yesterday. Out of nowhere, I felt the jolt of inspiration — the Oklahoma City Potholes.”
Here’s a suggestion. Move closer to town.
Gerald wrote, “I have been giving the team name idea a lot of thought lately and have not come up with any earth-shattering thunderbolts. I do like your Thunderbird suggestion. We do not have any natural sources like Los Angeles and the Angels, nor the Buffalo Bills. It would be great if we had alliteration like the Philadelphia Phillies or the Jacksonville Jaguars. The only thing along that tack is the Oaks like the old Oakland team, but that would lead to a shortening that we all know it would become. Seems like all the good names are taken. My only real thought is maybe the Owls. It is a remarkable bird of prey and I don’t think any other pro team is using it. Besides, it does begin with an O, even though it doesn’t alliterate or impress at first utterance. It would also make a neat logo. We do not need another franchise named after a form of bear. You know, Bears, Grizzlies, Cubs, Browns and so on. We just need a resource that people associate with Oklahoma that begins with O besides Oilers. That is a really ugly name.”
If you like my Thunderbirds suggestion, put the alliteration aside and get on the bandwagon.
GB couldn’t contain himself to one suggestion. He offered seven: “Oklahoma City Grudgers. Oklahoma City Ghosts. Oklahoma Rampagers. Oklahoma City Aggressors. Oklahoma Poisoners. Oklahoma City Mutineers. Oklahoma City Redbuds.”
I must admit. I can’t tell if GB is serious or just pulling my leg. But I like Ghosts. I can’t believe another franchise hasn’t turned the key on that one. All kinds of marketing possibilities with that.
Mark wrote, “How about the Oklahoma City Slickers? It rolls off the tongue, and the possibilities for a team mascot are limitless. If you like it, use you immense power to push it through.”
If I had immense power, Thunderbirds would be signed, sealed and in a memorabilia shop near you. Slickers has all kinds of marketing potential, but can anybody be proud of it?
Edgar wrote, “Perhaps T-Birds isn’t such a long shot. Already been vetted & trademarked (with the NBA’s D-league team in Albuquerque). By the way, too may syllables (Oklahoma City Thunderbirds)? No problem. The players took to calling OKC the OC, which I suppose is a good association. How often do people here bother to use the proper name referring to OKC. And at Monroney Junior High, it was usually the T-Birds. Wish I had a ’50s model.”
Friend of mine has a ‘55 or ‘57 Thunderbird (I never can remember which). Rode with him to Oklahoma City one summer with the top down; we went to lunch with a friend, then came back. Sunburned the heck out of me. But I don’t hold grudges. T-Birds! T-Birds! T-Birds!
Roger wrote, “The Barons need to move on and treat this as a brand new franchise, which it really is. Barons? Did I mean Thunder? I’m OK with Land Barons and call them Barons, but my preference is Tornadoes.”
What’s the opposite of growing? You know how some things grow on you? Well, the Barons are doing the opposite. Land Barons? Oil Barons? Cattle Barons? Only the cattle version won’t get you stoned in the public square these days.
Wrong time for Murcer
Bobby Murcer, who died Saturday at the age of 62, was an Oklahoma City icon and he became a New York City icon and Mr. Yankee, through his broadcasting. But if Murcer had played for the Yankees in almost any other era, he would have been a much bigger star.
Consider this: in the last 87 years, the Yankees have won the American League or made the playoffs 48 times. A huge list of good players became legends because they wore the pinstripes. Bill Dickey, Red Ruffing, Phil Rizzuto, Bobby Richardson, Willie Randolph, Jorge Posada. Dozens more.
But in Murcer’s 13 years as a Yankee, New York made the playoffs just twice, 1980 and 1981, both times when Murcer was at the end of his career serving mainly as a pinch-hitter. Murcer’s Yankee career began in 1965, which is the absolute worst time in a century to debut in pinstripes.
The great Yankee dynasty, 1947-64, ended with a thud in 1965 and the Yanks spent a decade as a mediocre team, only twice finishing within 15 games of first place. By the time the Yanks got good again, goofy general manager Gabe Paul had traded Murcer to San Francisco.
Put Murcer in Yankee Stadium in the 1950s or early 1960s, and he would have been a superstar. He would have been what Roger Maris was for a few years. Put Murcer on the Joe Torre teams of the late ’90s, and he would have made $15 million a year. Put Murcer on the Yankee teams of Ruth or DiMaggio, and you might have to put him in the Hall of Fame.
Murcer was a five-time all-star. He was the Bernie Williams of his time; a stately, classic Yankee centerfielder who was a step below superstardom but a winning ballplayer who is fondly remembered by fans who know the game. And know the Yankees.
The Oklahoma City Guardians
On my Sports Animal radio spot the other day, Jim Traber wanted me to relay a message to colleague John Rohde: enough on the nicknames for the Oklahoma City NBA team. John had a nickname item in his Page 2 spread on Wednesday, then a column about nicknames on Thursday.
But the truth is, John is ahead of the curve. We should be writing more, not less, about the nicknames. This issue has consumed the city and the state.
I’ve gotten tons of emails just in the last 48 hours on the issue. It’s like fans are gaining momentum as the announcement nears, be it the next few days or a couple of weeks from now. I’ll share some of the ideas in a blog a day or two from now, but I thought I would share this story today.
A guy called me Friday. A longtime reader, he said, and a very nice fellow. Said he had the perfect nickname for OKC. He mentioned the American Indian atop the capital dome and said the team should be the Oklahoma City Warriors. He laid out a wonderful case for the name and went into elaborate detail about the color scheme and logo design.
Then I had to break the news to him. The NBA team in Oakland, Golden State, already has the Warriors name, and the league generally frowns upon teams doubling up on nicknames. He was bummed — even said “but we don’t play them, do we?” — but eventually surrendered. He let go of Warriors but didn’t want to relinquish the imagery. He asked if there was another name that symbolizes the Indian atop the dome.
I knew the statue had a name but couldn’t think of it. Told him I’d try to remember. Later Friday, I got an email from an Edmond dentist. He said he had the perfect nickname. The Guardians, named after the statue atop the capital dome.
Think about that. Within a couple of hours, I get two suggestions based on the Guardian, with different names, after having none for the Guardian in the six months to a year we’ve been talking about this.
I tell you, this is a fever pitch. I think there is more interest in this than in the OU quarterback derby we get every couple of years. With the Sooners, you know it’s one of either two or three guys, and everyone has a pretty good guess. This derby is a total wild card. Barons? Thunderbirds? Boomers? I have no idea what the name will be. The announcement, whenever it comes, will bring Oklahoma City to a halt.
New NBA nomination: Spiders
Maybe you’ve read my column about Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti. I twice referred to the team as the Durantulas, a tribute to budding star Kevin Durant and to Sports Illustrated’s Dan Patrick, whose radio listeners came up with the name.
The Durantulas inspired me. Here’s my latest idea for Oklahoma City’s NBA nickname: Spiders. Stay with me.
No, Spiders does not tie in with Oklahoma culture, other than the fact that we have spiders, like most every place south of Duluth. And any elaborate marketing plan that included real spiders would turn off the arachnophobia crowd, of which my wife is a charter member.
But otherwise, Spiders is a cool name. You could do a cool mascot. And better yet, the uniform potential is limitless. Pinstripe lines going in all directions, forming a weblike design. I didn’t describe that very well, and I’m no graphic artist, but I think you give Spiders to a uniform maker, and they will produce some cool threads.
Now that I think about it, the name is a tribute to some Oklahoma history. The Guthrie Black Spiders were a Negro Leagues team more than 50 years ago, and Guthrie still hosts the Oklahoma Negro League reunion each summer.
Now that I think about it, the Negro Leagues in baseball are a rich treasure of potential names. Here are some examples.
Black Barons (Birmingham): Some believe Barons is the favorite in OKC.
Grays (Homestead): The Reds, the Blues, the Browns all are long-time major-league franchises. Some have suggested Black Gold, which I don’t like but which would tie in with Oklahoma’s oil industry as well as follow in the history of sports teams named after colors.
Elite Giants (Baltimore), Royal Giants (Brooklyn), American Giants (Chicago): Hadn’t really thought about an adjective in front of a nickname, and I can’t really find a good reason to do it in OKC, though these names all are cool.
Monarchs (Kansas City): An elegant, historic name that KC should have adopted for its Royals in 1969. So what about OKC’s history? In baseball, the Indians, 89ers and RedHawks. In hockey, the Blazers and Stars. In football, the Wranglers, the Twisters, the Drillers, the Yard Dawgz, the Bullfrogs, the Mustangs. Mustangs has been frequently mentioned and isn’t half bad; the 89ers always has been a quality nickname but might not pass the American Indian test.
Potomocs (Wilmington, Del.): Name a team after a river? I’ve heard a lot worse than the Oklahoma City Cimarrons. It’s got a western feel to it.
Clowns (Indianapolis): Uh, I don’t think this one will fly.
Spiders it is. Let’s go Durantulas.
Hoax man seems pitiful
One of my big bosses, Kelly Dyer Fry, vice president of news and information at OPUBCO, actually talked to James W. Conradt first. Our executives were none too pleased that our website template was lifted by Conradt to perpetrate his Internet hoax Wednesday that claimed Sam Bradford and Landry Jones were arrested on cocaine distribution charges.
We tracked down Conradt as the culprit. I don’t know how they did it, but I guess you can find out most anything. Anyway, Fry called Conradt, ready to reem him out, but she didn’t do it. We talked a few minutes later and she suggested I call him, too, for the story I wrote. Conradt struck me the same way he struck Fry.
Pathetic. Pitiful. I almost felt sorry for the guy. Heck, I did feel sorry for the guy. He came across as a 36-year-old teenager who had no idea what he had just done. No idea how his life is about to change. He seemed naive beyond belief.
I don’t know what the guy does for a living — I should have asked him; but I did ask him if he’s related to Texas women’s basketball legend Jody Conradt (he’s not) – but he comes across as a computer geek who lives in a cyber world, talking smack with other college football fans who have left the real world to live in a society that’s all keyboard and screen.
Conradt’s life becomes hell today, when the army of OU football fans conspire to deal him misery. Remember when Mike Lupica had the audacity to question Bob Stoops after OU’s 77-0 rout of Texas A&M in 2003? Well, Lupica himself cried uncle after Sooner fans crashed his web site. This is a brash New York City writer, with a huge press organization (New York Daily News) and ESPN behind him, with decades of experience of dishing it out and receiving it back. And even he was appalled at the onslaught of outrage from Sooner Nation.
This Conradt character stands alone, no power, no experience, no clue. Just a guy in a room in Texas who forgot that there’s a real world out there, even if he doesn’t choose to live in it. I can’t imagine what his day is like today.
I have one request for OU fans. Show some mercy. Cut the guy some slack. No, he doesn’t deserve it. But this is a guy whose life could be ruined. He needed to be taught a lesson, but just talking with him, I think he’s learned it.
