OKC stereotypes? Bring ‘em
Another round of national stories about the up-and-coming Thunder hit newsstands this week.
With them came another round of ridiculous stereotypes about Oklahoma City.
The most outrageous ones came from a Sports Illustrated story about Kevin Durant. The profile was fantastic in detailing how the young superstar developed his game, but before it got into fun details and telling tales, the article had to go through the stereotypes. Oklahoma City has no nightlife. Oklahoma City has bad weather. Oklahoma City is the middle of nowhere.
On the outskirts of the middle of nowhere is how the Thunder’s practice facility was described in Sports Illustrated. I hate to tell the good folks at SI, but the building north of Memorial Road on Lincoln Boulevard is hardly the middle of nowhere. It’s only a couple miles from the commercial craziness of the Quail Springs Mall area and only a mile or so from the traffic snarl that is Broadway in Edmond.
But you know what? I’m ready to stop ranting about the stereotypes. I’m ready to start letting people believe them.
Let them think that Oklahoma City’s nightlife consists of trips to Denny’s. Let them think that the city is filled with vast fields and two-lane roads and John Deere factories. Heck, I don’t even care of players around the NBA think that. I used to believe that Oklahoma City having a small-city image would hurt the Thunder’s chances of luring free agents, but now I realize that if a guy wants to play in the bright lights of New York or Los Angeles or Miami, he’s probably not going to be very happy in Oklahoma City.
And if he’s not very happy in OKC, he’s not going to be a good addition to this Thunder team.
The Thunder needs players who are happy in this atmosphere. By all accounts, they have a core of players who are. Durant has talked about loving the fact that he’s in Oklahoma City. Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook and James Harden have expressed similar sentiments. And frankly, if they weren’t happy, it would start to show in their attitude.
There have been no signs of that.
The contentment has helped breed a good atmosphere around this team, a good vibe, and that has been part of the reason this squad is winning games.
No doubt this franchise will need to continue to add talent if it wants to take its winning ways to the next level, if it wants to make a serious playoff push some day. But that talent needs to be a good fit in every way, and that includes having someone who likes being in Oklahoma City.
The nightlife here is more than Denny’s and the weather happens to be in the 50s lately, but people want to believe the worst about Oklahoma City, go ahead. This isn’t L.A. or New York or Miami, and frankly, that’s just fine.
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Comments
I’ve never liked steretypes. Some people base everything on steretypes, which is basically wrong. I’ve never dealt with stereotypes of this nature, but I’ve had people see me or of who I am as a stereotype and I’m like, whatever. So I hear you on how steretypes can be mislead. Thanks for a good read.
Just lazy journalism. Have a theme for your story before you even arrive, and then look for rabbits in the bushes to endorse your plot line. What there’s no rabbits where this guy comes from? Now if he went with the line that the town if chock full of annoying Bible thunpers and daft teabaggers, that’d been right on the $.