Seeking the Truth to a Quick Visit to Oklahoma City
Should we simply continue to accept lies being written by sports writers about Oklahoma City, or should we call them out?
I say let’s call them out.
Target No. 1 – Jason Quick, The Oregonian. Here’s what he wrote on his blog about downtown Oklahoma City during his recent trip to cover the Thunder/Blazers game at Ford Center:
About the only good thing about covering a game in Oklahoma City is that the hotel I stay at is literally 20 feet from the Ford Center. Other than that, it’s easily No. 29 on the NBA tour of cities, even worse than Sacramento and Milwaukee.
One reason why? When I arrived here with Oregonian photographer Bruce Ely (second roadie of the year for Bruuuce!), it was about 9:30 p.m. and we were starved. The downtown here might as well have had tumbleweeds blowing through it, but they do have what could pass as a lively section called “Bricktown” – which was within walking distance.
Only problem with Bricktown – everybody stops serving food at 9 p.m. – except IHOP and Hooters. Sweet choices.
Thanks to everybody at www.okctalk.com for bringing this to my attention. So now it’s time to challenge Mr. Quick on his reporting prowess. I sent the following email to Mr. Quick this afternoon. Let’s see if he’s willing to respond.
Mr. Quick:
I’m very curious about your search for places to eat and do things after this week’s Blazers/Thunder game at Ford Center?
Did you ask any locals about what places might be open and serving food after the game?
Did you do any Internet research on downtown Oklahoma City?
Do you typically find a lot to do in the downtown central business districts of Dallas, San Antonio and Denver when you cover games in those cities? Or do you find most open restaurants and clubs are in those cities downtown entertainment districts (like Bricktown in Oklahoma City)?
Were you upset by the relocation of the Sonics (now the Thunder) to Oklahoma City?
Would you gamble your professional reputation on continuing to insist that Ihop and Hooters were the only restaurants still serving food after 9 p.m. on game night?
My readers and I eagerly await your answers.
Steve Lackmeyer, business writer and columnist, The Oklahoman
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
i can think of a few places open after 9pm that are not ihop or hooters… we all know the list and there are a couple of places in downtown which would have ben opened, but i do not need to tell you that steve
So would he put Memphis above Oklahoma City on his list? It seems that people from the east and west coast are always looking for the negative when it comes to Oklahoma City. I hope he responds to your questions, Steve.
Open and serving food are different. When NCAA wrestling nationals where here in 2006, we had problems eating after the evening session because most of the kitchens close relatively early.
An entertainment district should serve food until at least 11pm, especially on game nights or when a big event is in town.
In other news, the wrestling fans drank Bricktown out of liquor on the first night… they were not very prepared.
“fans drank Bricktown out of liquor on the first night…they were not very prepared.”
TS, don’t ever let the facts get in your way of leaving a comment.
NCAA Wrestling was a huge impact on Bricktown, but many restaurants served food after their normal hours and I know there were plenty of places still serving cocktails at last call.
Jim
I love bricktown. However, recently my girlfriend and I were down there on a Thursday nite, with a visitor from France, bowling at Redpin. They made us stop bowling at 945p and on the way out to the car we couldnt get any icecream at that place by the bbq place because they were closing down. I thought that was pretty lame. Our French visitor didnt feel like having a drink, so we just went home fairly disappointed.
I love the focus we’ve put on development, but we’re not at the level other NBA cities are yet. I’m sure there are non-chain restaurants open after 9, but unless you already know where they are, you may have a hard time finding them. We have a lot more work to do to forge our own identity.
Most restaurants in Bricktown serve food until 10pm on Thursday nights. At least 6 serve food until Midnight on Thursdays. Weekends there are more.
When there is a large convention or event, many will stay open later.
It’s really as simple as supply and demand. The more people wanting to eat after 10pm, the more places that will be open.
James, seriously, hard to find restaurants in Bricktown? If he walked from his hotel by the Ford Center to IHOP or Hooters, he passed 5-15 of them.
He just didn’t WANT to find any. That is the real story here.
Q: Did you ask any locals about what places might be open and serving food after the game?
A: The search for a place to eat was on the night prior to the game, after arriving in town (Thursday), but no, didn’t ask any locals. Having been to OKC before, I knew downtown was a ghostown and that Bricktown was my best bet. Talked to several “locals” as we walked the streets of Bricktown, most of them bouncers or doormen at various establishments who said they – and all the other establishments – were done serving food at 9 p.m.
I find it very interesting he says he didn’t ask any locals, then he claims he talked to “locals” that were doormen and bouncers. Those guys aren’t supposed to 100% fluent on what is and isn’t going on in BT. They should be worried about things getting out of hand at the establishment they are guarding, checking ID’s, etc. Also, he says he “knew Dt was a ghostown” and didn’t go out of his way to find something to do, just (like a lot of people have posted) reaffirming his thoughts.
Q: Did you do any Internet research on downtown Oklahoma City?
A: Didn’t do any internet research.
So you didn’t do any research, you didn’t ask the concierge, you didn’t ask locals, you asked a couple of bouncers and doormen and came to your conclusion.. Uh, ok.
I am a Oklahoma native, just left Oklahoma City on yesterday (after attending the last three home losses for the Thunder) for a return to DC. The article by the Oregonian writer is NOT FAR OFF. DT OKC is not typical of MAJOR cities. It is DEAD on weekdays after about 7-8PM. Let’s be honest, OKC is still a big town not a MAJOR league city. Maybe one day life will come to DT and for that matter the entire city, but right now Oklahoma City is a pretty backward, hickville, wanna be place, that has big pickup trucks, big women, and little to do for those who are looking for entertainment of shopping. The truth does hurt.
I suspect they came in on Thursday night. Bricktown can be a bit lonely on weeknights. They should have, however, asked for help from hotel staff about places to eat. If that is the case, hotel staff could use a little skill lessons in recommendations and general knowledge about what’s open, where and what’s on the menu.