Oklahoma City Thunder: Winning over new fans
My daughter Haley is 29 years old. She’s been nothing but a delight and a blessing in my life. She’s also not much of a sports fan. Let me rephrase. She’s never been a sports fan.
We are kindred spirits in many ways. We share several traits. Brown eyes. Not much patience for pretense. A fear of falling.
But not a love of sports. I’ll watch ballgames all day. Haleybird, not any day. Before she had three little girls of her own, Haley would take some bowl trips with us. She’d be a good sport and dress up in OSU orange or OU crimson and go to the game and cheer when those around her cheered, but that’s about it.
Her mom is different. Trish the Dish will watch all kinds of games with me. I’m kooky enough to tape three games on some weeknights, watching the Thunder and the OU and/or OSU men and/or women. My wife will bravely start the journey, though she usually clocks out sometime around halftime of the first game.
But something strange has happened. Friday night, I got four tickets to the Thunder-Warriors. I sent Haley, Tricia, my son-in-law and Riley, my 5-year-old granddaughter. My job was to stay home with 2-year-old Sadie and 8-month-old Tinley. Judge me how you will as a sportswriter, but make no mistake. I’m a world class grandpa. They call me Papa Bear.
Anyway, about 10:15 p.m., the crew rolled in from the Thunder game, fired up about the game and talking about how much fun they had. They even honored my only request. Don’t tell me anything about the game itself. I had it taped and was headed home to watch.
Fast forward two days. I’m at the Thunder-Nuggets game. Decent little ballgame, if you remember. OKC won 124-118 in overtime. Historic night. Kevin Durant scored 51, Russell Westbrook 40 and Serge Ibaka posted a triple double, with 14 points, 15 rebounds and 11 blocked shots. The Thunder staged some spirited rallies, including coming back from five points down with 31 seconds left.
James Harden called it the best regular-season game of his three-year career, and I’d be hard-pressed to disagree.
Anyway, I work frantically after the game to make my deadlines, leave the arena around 11:30 p.m. and get home a little after midnight. Trish the Dish is still up. She had a story for me.
With about two minutes left in the game — I don’t know if that’s regulation or overtime; the details are fuzzy — our phone rings. It’s Haleybird.
“MOM! ARE YOU WATCHING THIS GAME?”
I get calls like this from time to time. Sometimes my boss. Sometimes my brother. Sometimes a friend. Once from the Dish, who gave me play-by-play of the final moments of that 2008 Texas Tech-Texas game, while I sat in a Bob Stoops press conference.
But never from Haleybird.
It just so happens that I was flipping channels Saturday, I think it was, and stumbled upon “Fiddler On the Roof.” I love “Fiddler.” Anyway, I caught the scene where Tevye agrees to let his daughter, Tzeitel, marry her love, Motel, instead of aging butcher Lazar Wolfe. Then Motel and Tzeitel gleefully sing “Miracle of Miracles.”
That’s how I felt. Haleybird was interested in a ballgame. God just made a wall fall down.
This is big. I don’t expect Haleybird to start DVR’ing the Thunder, or trying out football games, or much of anything else. But any sports enterprise that can get her the least bit interested has accomplished something. The Thunder should be proud.
She likes James Harden, although she wasn’t exactly sure of his name. I assume she still doesn’t know the difference between Nick Collison and Nazr Mohammed. We’re probably still a few months away from explaining the defensive three-second rule to her.
But Haleybird went to the game and found something besides Rumble and the KissCam and the halftime act, whatever it was. Something about a bad game between the Thunder and the Warriors piqued her basketball seed, enough to pay attention the next time it was on, which most definitely was not a bad game.
Welcome to the party, sister. It’s been fun without you. It’s going to be better with you.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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good article Berry. I know what she means, although I’m a big FB fan, BB has never been my deal, except for a brief period in the 70′s with the Laker team. But this team, the OKC Thunder has me totally under a spell! I am hooked, double hooked and a rapid fan!