While I agree that sometimes it is good to hear a good lie, OKC has come a long way from those days – and we need to really know what people think.

We all know that OKC takes time to grow on you, coming from more prolific cities on the coast. And that was my main point – that we as OKCians (and expats) should back off of the NEED for vindication and let the city naturally grow on people. Instead of asking, let’s show the players what OKC is and who Oklahomans are.

Then LATER on, say December-ish; ask them how they feel about being in OKC. Im sure the responses will be much more detailed and much more favourable than the ‘its the people…..”

To me, that will be vindication!

At the same time, I do think the greatest thing about Oklahoma are the people. Someone joked the other day that a traffic jam in Oklahoma City is 2 people at a 4-way stop sign at a stand-off as to who is going to let the other one go first. That’s pretty special.

Media day was the first time we had the opportunity to hear from most of the players. It’s only natural that they’re going to be asked, “How do you like it here.” That’s a lot better than the guys south of here having to answer what they think of the national anthem.

GO THUNDER!

To be honest, it is quite stupid and rather immature of journalists in OKC who continually ask these players ‘So what do you think of OKC?’ Jeez, they JUST got here, and haven’t played a lick of basketball yet.

It almost seems like the media and OKC officials are looking for instant vindication from the players – when in reality, Im sure they are enjoying it in the city but haven’t really got to KNOW the city to be able to talk about it. That’s probably why the ‘canned’ answer from just about any player when asked is – it’s the people/fans here! I love it.

Hmm, how about the media ask more poinient questions about basketball or the NBA or something that the players know about. Let’s ask the ‘how do you like OKC’ questions after they’ve been here for a couple of months and have payed at the Ford Center.

Im sure the answers will be MUCH more detailed and much more explicative! That would be much better vindication or validation that OKC is big league than asking players when they JUST landed here what they think.

You would never catch that from Chicago or NY, and while I know those are the top cities in the nation – still, OKC officials could show a bit of swagger and SHOW THE PLAYERS what OKC is (instead of bugging them every 2nd question about what they think). –

LIKE: how about some sort of OKC potluck where the players are invited to Oklahoma style cooking. Or how about taking them to the golf courses and hob nobbing with the OKC elite. Or how about taking them into the hoods and ghettos of the city and letting them meet the average OKC fan. Or how about taking them on a field trip to see the different sights in the state.

Im sure, if the above ideas were implemented – players would say something much more meaningful when asked what they think of OKC; and that carries MUCH MORE WEIGHT than ‘oh, the people here are great!’……