NBA in OKC: What Will They Name the Team?

[NightTrainLayne]

Almost put this in the old thread, but decided we should start fresh.

Here, the leading talk is about the following choices, but the team owner's have been silent.

1. Barons
2. Thunder
3. Outlaws
4. Marshalls

Yesterday, there was a crazy rumor that it would be the Oklahoma City Thundercats. Ugh, that would be embarrassing, being named after a mid-eighties cartoon about super-hero cats.

Of course, all the Sonics fans have their favorite demeaning names. My favorite from Seattle is the Okie Dokies.

Anybody have any good ones? I'll try not to get too defensive and take any anti-Oklahoma jabs in good humor.

[MOtorboat]

The Braves :coffee:

LOL...sorry...offensive post, my bad...forget I said that...

OK...seriously...will they be the Oklahoma _____________ or the Oklahoma City _________?

I think they should be the Oklahoma Outlaws. Wow, that's way too cheesy.

Um...wow, Oklahoma SuperSonics.

[Rex]

Tornadoes

[NightTrainLayne]

The Braves :coffee:

LOL...sorry...offensive post, my bad...forget I said that...

OK...seriously...will they be the Oklahoma _____________ or the Oklahoma City _________?

I think they should be the Oklahoma Outlaws. Wow, that's way too cheesy.

Um...wow, Oklahoma SuperSonics.

They have said that the name will include Oklahoma City, not just Oklahoma. The City really pushed for that assurance when we were voting on paying for the Ford Center renovations and practice facility.

With Sonic Corporation headquarters less than a mile from the Ford Center keeping SuperSonics would make a lot of sense, but they agreed to leave that name behind in case Seattle is able to get a team back there.

[tubby]

ButtPluggers or CousinKissers

[NightTrainLayne]

Tornadoes

Cyclones is actually a pretty popular one around here.

[MOtorboat]

Oklahoma City Twisters.

[NightTrainLayne]

ButtPluggers or CousinKissers

I won't even ask about colors for the ButtPluggers.

[MOtorboat]

Oklahoma City Twisters.

Then they could donate $1,000 for every 360 dunk to tornado victims.

[underrated29]

Everyone has thought it so i will just go out and say it.

The Oklahoma city bombers.





Seriously though i like the barons. I think that would be a good name for a bball team. There are lots of teams out there like the hurricanes or thunder or storm or something. NOt to many barons.

I like Barons.

[BroncoNut]

How about the Oklahoma Rabbits?

[MOtorboat]

I'm going with Oklahoma Cocaine Dealers for 1000 Alex.

[NightTrainLayne]

Doug Gottlieb was just on the Sports Animal here.

He got his start on the Sports Animal before going to ESPN, and calls back in all the time.

You have to know a little bit of Oklahoma geography and land-run history to really get this joke, but here's his idea:

"I always thought they should name the team the Oklahoma Storm and call the dancers the Cherokee Strippers."

The Cherokee Strip (http://bjsbytes.com/chkstrip.htm) is the site of one of the larger land-runs held in Oklahoma in 1893, and is an area larger than the states of Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

[dogfish]

the dust bowls. . . .

[Lonestar]

They have said that the name will include Oklahoma City, not just Oklahoma. The City really pushed for that assurance when we were voting on paying for the Ford Center renovations and practice facility.

With Sonic Corporation headquarters less than a mile from the Ford Center keeping SuperSonics would make a lot of sense, but they agreed to leave that name behind in case Seattle is able to get a team back there.

speaking of which I have never seen so many sonics in my life like one every 15-20 blocks on the main roads..

Sonic would be great and I suspect they would be a great sponsor.. But alas the morons in SEA wanted to keep the name Like another NBA teams would ever go back there..

Oklahoma City Storm

[LoyalSoldier]

OKC Disasters.

(Seriously have you watch the Sonics play?)

[NightTrainLayne]

OKC Disasters.

(Seriously have you watch the Sonics play?)

They're building for the future, they won't be disasters forever.

[OB]

How about Casinos - OK now is second only to Nevada in the # of casinos :rolleyes:

Or the Dust Bowls, ice storms, high taxes

Rednecks, Oil tycoons :D

[BeefStew25]

Oklahoma Sooners I like, as a tribute to pioneers long ago. I also like Oklahoma Cowboys, as the state obviously has a history of ranching.

[NightTrainLayne]

Oklahoma Sooners I like, as a tribute to pioneers long ago. I also like Oklahoma Cowboys, as the state obviously has a history of ranching.

Those names sound strangely familiar. :confused:

[OB]

Oklahoma Sooners I like, as a tribute to pioneers long ago. I also like Oklahoma Cowboys, as the state obviously has a history of ranching.

Sorry the colleges already took those and okies would blow a FIT if anyone else tried to use their beloved college football names

And I never knew what a sooner was till an okie told me - a sooner was a person who during the land rush in ok, basically went out and took land before the actual time that was allowed - and this state is proud of that :rolleyes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sooners

But im sure im stating the obvious - its info for those who didnt know - i never did

Hi BEEF - miss me :D

[BeefStew25]

Those names sound strangely familiar. :confused:

Oklahoma Insurance Scammers I like. Or how about the Oklahoma Outsiders? They can hire Holy Diver to dress up as Pony Boy for home games.

[BeefStew25]

Sorry the colleges already took those and okies would blow a FIT if anyone else tried to use their beloved college football names

And I never knew what a sooner was till an okie told me - a sooner was a person who during the land rush in ok, basically went out and took land before the actual time that was allowed - and this state is proud of that :rolleyes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sooners

Hi BEEF - miss me :D

Oh ok. I did not realize that.

[OB]

Oh ok. I did not realize that.

I call BS :D

[OB]

I call BS :D

Oh wait that could be another one the OKC Bullshitters :elefant:

[NightTrainLayne]

Sorry the colleges already took those and okies would blow a FIT if anyone else tried to use their beloved college football names

And I never knew what a sooner was till an okie told me - a sooner was a person who during the land rush in ok, basically went out and took land before the actual time that was allowed - and this state is proud of that :rolleyes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sooners

But im sure im stating the obvious - its info for those who didnt know - i never did

Hi BEEF - miss me :D

Last year I was at the OU/Texas A&M game, and some A&M fans were sitting in front of me.

When the crowd was going through the whole "Boomer. .. . Sooner" deal they asked what that meant.

I explained to the guy that Boomers were the people who moved here with the land rush and the economic boom that took place during that time, and that the Sooners were those that jumped the gun and staked a claim in the land-rush ahead of time. So, if you're an Okie your either a Boomer or a Sooner.

The guy that asked just looked at me with a blank face and asks again, "But what does that mean."

The entrance requirements at A&M must have been scaled back in the past few years. :tsk:

[NightTrainLayne]

Oklahoma Insurance Scammers I like. Or how about the Oklahoma Outsiders? They can hire Holy Diver to dress up as Pony Boy for home games.

Oklahoma Insurance Scammers has a nice ring to it.

Our chief rival could be the Florida Craigslist Fraudsters. :D

[BroncoNut]

Last year I was at the OU/Texas A&M game, and some A&M fans were sitting in front of me.

When the crowd was going through the whole "Boomer. .. . Sooner" deal they asked what that meant.

I explained to the guy that Boomers were the people who moved here with the land rush and the economic boom that took place during that time, and that the Sooners were those that jumped the gun and staked a claim in the land-rush ahead of time. So, if you're an Okie your either a Boomer or a Sooner.

The guy that asked just looked at me with a blank face and asks again, "But what does that mean."

The entrance requirements at A&M must have been scaled back in the past few years. :tsk:



I've never been impressed with a TAM graduate

[NightTrainLayne]

I've never been impressed with a TAM graduate

My wife and I are both products of the TAMU system.

Maybe that's why we're stuck in Oklahoma.

[BroncoNut]

My wife and I are both products of the TAMU system.

Maybe that's why we're stuck in Oklahoma.

Well I guess I take that back. I am impressed with you NTL. I only know about 2 of them, here at work, and I don't like them too much.

[NightTrainLayne]

Well I guess I take that back. I am impressed with you NTL. I only know about 2 of them, here at work, and I don't like them too much.

Meh, we weren't at College Station, so that may be the difference.

CoachChaz was at College Station though, he's a good guy.

[Magnificent Seven]

The OKC Hitmen

[Slick]

The Drillers.

[OB]

The Drillers.

Tulsa's Minor League Baseball Team (affiliated with the Rockies) are the Drillers (Sammy Sosa played there)

They just got a new stadium approved for downtown - 60 million - im pretty sure the mayor is going to be assassinated by an overtaxed Tulsan very soon - the bitch has added about 5 tax increase for BS since coming into office

My boss is on the city council and has voted against all of them - but whats funny is when she was campaigning everyone thought she was a freakin queen - now they are finding out she is a Queen Biaaatch

Id love to start a thread cause the corruption ive witnessed in the City and County government since he took office just blows me away and he is doing his best to try and help the citizens but when he is a Lone Ranger it doesnt do much good :sad: - but no one else is from Tulsa so they wont care :lol:

[Slick]

Tulsa's Minor League Baseball Team (affiliated with the Rockies) are the Drillers (Sammy Sosa played there)

They just got a new stadium approved for downtown - 60 million - im pretty sure the mayor is going to be assassinated by an overtaxed Tulsan very soon - the bitch has added about 5 tax increase for BS since coming into office

My boss is on the city council and has voted against all of them - but whats funny is when she was campaigning everyone thought she was a freakin queen - now they are finding out she is a Queen Biaaatch

Id love to start a thread cause the corruption ive witnessed in the City and County government since he took office just blows me away and he is doing his best to try and help the citizens but when he is a Lone Ranger it doesnt do much good :sad: - but no one else is from Tulsa so they wont care :lol:
I knew I'd heard it before, I just couldn't place it.

The Charlotte city council did something similar. After we all voted no, they went ahead and approved a new stadium deal for the Bobcats. The Hornets Colesieum was maybe 12 13 years old. It was fine. Needless to say, basically the entire city council was ousted after the next election.

[NightTrainLayne]

Tulsa's Minor League Baseball Team (affiliated with the Rockies) are the Drillers (Sammy Sosa played there)

They just got a new stadium approved for downtown - 60 million - im pretty sure the mayor is going to be assassinated by an overtaxed Tulsan very soon - the bitch has added about 5 tax increase for BS since coming into office

My boss is on the city council and has voted against all of them - but whats funny is when she was campaigning everyone thought she was a freakin queen - now they are finding out she is a Queen Biaaatch

Id love to start a thread cause the corruption ive witnessed in the City and County government since he took office just blows me away and he is doing his best to try and help the citizens but when he is a Lone Ranger it doesnt do much good :sad: - but no one else is from Tulsa so they wont care :lol:

You guys will have your big arena (BOK center) finished in August right?

I didn't know you were building a baseball park too. I'm guessing when you say they approved $60 million for a new stadium downtown that you are talking baseball.

[OB]

You guys will have your big arena (BOK center) finished in August right?

I didn't know you were building a baseball park too. I'm guessing when you say they approved $60 million for a new stadium downtown that you are talking baseball.

Yep - they just approved the baseball stadium last night - 4-3 :rolleyes:

Everyone that has contacted my boss is uber pissed about this

And yeah the BOK center is slated to be complete in August

First concert was supposed to be Garth Brooks - (okie) but instead its the Eagles

18k seats - and now they are adding a baseball stadium - its total BS - as of right now you cant go downtown on a heavy court day and find parking - the courthouse is about 2 blocks from the BOK center - i wonder what will happen if the Drillers have a day game, its a heavy court day and some event is going on at the BOK - i can tell you I wont be going - not to mention the BOK is right across from the bus station (home of the homeless) - oh and lets not forget the lovely smell that drifts in from the refineries that are right across the river - this town is so f'n retarded it sickens me -

Oh and to top it off they want a 2 BILLION dollar street package to pass - yeah the streets here are about as good as the education

And then theres the Great Plains Airlines fiasco - the City just approved a 7million payment to the Bank of Oklahoma (a bank i will never ever ever ever ever use) for a debt the city should never have been responsible for - now the citizens get to pay that off too

[ChampWJ]

I think Oklahoma City Potholes fits nicely. ;)

[Broncospsycho77]

The Oklahoma City Toby Keiths.

The OKC !s

[NightTrainLayne]

The Oklahoma City Toby Keiths.



I hate his bar and grill. :mad:

[Broncospsycho77]

I hate his bar and grill. :mad:

What idiot wanted the rights to a Toby Keith Bar & Grill?

[Magnificent Seven]

How about the Oklahoma D-Generation X. Therefore, all players would chop their crotches and say I have two words for you! SUCK IT!

I am kidding. LOL

[Broncospsycho77]

The Oklahoma City Semi-Texans

OKC Mighty Ducks

Oklahoma City Grapes of Wrath

[NightTrainLayne]

What idiot wanted the rights to a Toby Keith Bar & Grill?

Toby Keith.

It's called Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill. Just like the song.

Food's not great and service is just OK. But there's like a 2 hour wait to get a table.

They have one in Vegas and I think Memphis too, but since Moore is his hometown he started it here.

[Broncospsycho77]

Toby Keith.

Ouch. Well, I did go to one of those Jimmy Buffett's Cheeseburger in Paradise bars, and it wasn't bad at all... unoriginal and fruity... but not bad at all.

[SmilinAssasSin27]

I won't even ask about colors for the ButtPluggers.

Yeah....I don't think pink and brown would look good on an NBA uni. Now purple and brown...

[Broncospsycho77]

Yeah....I don't think pink and brown would look good on an NBA uni. Now purple and brown...

Purple and brown is the new teal and green.

[honz]

Someone on a Jazz message board said that they are going to be the OKC Thunder, but I have yet to see this reported officially anywhere.

[Timmy!]

I vote for the "Double Wides."

[SmilinAssasSin27]

It is Thunder...per prosportsdaily.com

[honz]

It is Thunder...per prosportsdaily.com
What a turrible name. It sounds like a DLeague team name or WNBA team name or something.

[BroncoAV06]

D-Leauge indeed. I thought the Barrons would of been interesting, not alot of those names out there in any other level of sport. Followed by the Outlaws.

[SmilinAssasSin27]

It will all depend on the logo and colors. I don't hate Thunder, but it could easily be done poorly in the graphics department.

[SmilinAssasSin27]

Outlaws would have been the best of the options given...IMHO.

[BeefStew25]

I think the OKC Meth Heads would have really driven apparel sales.

[honz]

Outlaws would have been the best of the options given...IMHO.
I liked Outlaws as well.

[claymore]

Everyone will get used to it. Just Like when we named the Colorado Rockies the Rockies. I thought it was gay at the time, and still wish it would have been the "Mile High Marauders" Instead.

[honz]

Everyone will get used to it. Just Like when we named the Colorado Rockies the Rockies. I thought it was gay at the time, and still wish it would have been the "Mile High Marauders" Instead.
And you thought Colorado Rockies was a bad name???:eek:

I hope you don't have any kids!:laugh:

[MOtorboat]

Everyone will get used to it. Just Like when we named the Colorado Rockies the Rockies. I thought it was gay at the time, and still wish it would have been the "Mile High Marauders" Instead.

We-tard-ed.

I loved the Rockies when they announced it.

[Rex]

We-tard-ed.

I loved the Rockies when they announced it.

Clay's brain is soft.

Thunder is ghey

[BigDaddyBronco]

I wonder if "The Thunder Rolls" will be their team song. Isn't Garth Brooks from Oklahomo?

[NightTrainLayne]

I was out of town most of the weekend, and didn't catch the story on this until last night.

It's still not official, but it is being reported that Thunder is the name.

It's not my favorite, but it did win a poll in the local paper as the fan's favorite, so I guess most folks here like it.

If the reporter who broke this is wrong, it would be pretty darn embarrassing, so I'm guessing he is pretty sure or has a well-placed source.

[NightTrainLayne]

I wonder if "The Thunder Rolls" will be their team song. Isn't Garth Brooks from Oklahomo?

Yes, Garth Brooks was born and raised in Yukon which is on the west side of OKC, and has a ranch where he lives between OKC and Tulsa.

I had the same thought.

[OB]

Yes, Garth Brooks was born and raised in Yukon which is on the west side of OKC, and has a ranch where he lives between OKC and Tulsa.

I had the same thought.


He has a place in Owasso which is just North of Tulsa - Freakin HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!

People in town see him all the time - says he is a super nice guy

Ex and ex-inlaws still live there i think

Quite a few years back my dad put the septic system in for his in-laws

I dont like country music though so i really didnt care - but its cool to know he is still kinda a down to earth guy

Thunder :confused: maybe it will grow on me :whoknows:

[DallasChief]

The name Thunder is just an excuse for all the Okies to sit around the trailer park and fart and claim it's team spirit.

[Rex]

The name Thunder is just an excuse for all the Okies to sit around the trailer park and fart and claim it's team spirit.

NTL...is that you?:rolleyes:

[ChampWJ]

At least they didn't resort to something ridiculous like the arena league team in OKC, the YardDawgz. Seriously?

[DallasChief]

NTL...is that you?:rolleyes:

NTL is from KS. We're too classy for that type of behavior. :cool:

[Rex]

NTL is from KS. We're too classy for that type of behavior. :cool:


Well, it was about as funny as one of NTL's little comical quips.

DC, which is funnier: NTL or Natural Disasters?

[MOtorboat]

NTL is from KS. We're too classy for that type of behavior. :cool:

You just keep telling yourself that, there, Cowboy.

[DallasChief]

You just keep telling yourself that, there, Cowboy.

You need to go eat a biscuit or something. You're very bitchy today.

[Rex]

You need to go eat a biscuit or something. You're very bitchy today.

fricken uppity midget with an attitude problem...nothing worse.:tsk:

[MOtorboat]

You need to go eat a biscuit or something. You're very bitchy today.

So, are you off the leash at work, or what?

[Rex]

So, are you off the leash at work, or what?

No. His wife made him stay home and clean the house.:shocked:

[MOtorboat]

No. His wife made him stay home and clean the house.:shocked:

:rofl:

[DallasChief]

So, are you off the leash at work, or what?

I'm at home with a sick kid.

My wife absolutely can not miss work on Mondays... so, here I am.

[Rex]

:rofl:

Dont kid yourself, DC only does what Mrs. Dallas says. He is a kept man.:tsk:

[NightTrainLayne]

Dont kid yourself, DC only does what Mrs. Dallas says. He is a kept man.:tsk:

From the pictures I've seen there could be worse things than being kept by Mrs. DC. :D

[tubby]

I'm at home with a sick kid.

My wife absolutely can not miss work on Mondays... so, here I am.

So you took the whole day off just to trim you CongoBush?

I suppose it was necessary........

[NightTrainLayne]

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-33-95/Oklahoma-City-Thunder-Marshalls-Energy-Wind-Barons-Bison.html

Thank goodness, looks like my favorite name "Barons" is still in the running. I like Barons and Marshalls much better than Thunder, but I can't figure out why they'd spell Marshalls with two L's. That's the way the Department store spells it, not the way Wyatt Earp spelled it. :confused:


Oklahoma City Thunder/Marshalls/Energy/Wind/Barons/Bison

July 25, 2008 4:09 PM


There have been reports here or there that the team that used be knows as the SuperSonics would be called this or that. They are mostly based on anonymous sources, or some evidence that somebody or other registered this or that web address.

I'm holding out for some better, more solid information before I rename that category over there on the right.

An alert TrueHoop reader (thanks Todd) has some insight of a kind. He points out that an NBA attorney recently made a number of filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

You can search the database yourself. If you know how to search (it's a little complicated, but hang in there) you can see active trademark requests, filed July 21, for the following names:

Oklahoma City Thunder
Oklahoma City Marshalls
Oklahoma City Energy
Oklahoma City Wind
Oklahoma City Barons
Oklahoma City Bison

There is also an inactive request, filed by the same attorney, for the name "Oklahoma City SuperSonics."

Most unusual is that, unlike trademark applications for other NBA teams, these have been applied for by the NBA Development League. (And this whole time I thought all that fuss was about an NBA team! No, just kidding. Insert joke here about the quality of the Sonic roster.) I am not sure if that means anything or not.


So, Thunder, Marshalls, Energy, Wind, Barons, Bison ... I'm going to put on my PR hat and declare that if these are the options, this team is certain to be called the Thunder, the Marshalls, or some name that has not yet come to light.

Energy, Wind, Barons, and Bison all have fatal flaws, in my mind:

Energy: Energy has a nice tie-in with co-owner Aubrey McClendon's business, and the big employers in the region. But it is not a cool word in this context. Using "energy" as a "rah rah" word for athletes strikes me as kind if eighties (like, in fact, "rah rah" itself). This video, in my mind, would set the mood in the locker room of a team called the "Energy."
Wind: Wind? Really? Wind? Synonym of breeze? Maybe they're registering this for the dance team? Or as a desperate ploy related to promote an owner's alternative energy business? Because a team called the wind can never lose a game. Every headline will be "Lakers Break Wind," "Celtics Break Wind," "Pistons Break Wind," etc. That's not good for the NBA. This one is almost more palatable if we interpret it as the verb, with the long "i" sound, as in "wind up toy."
Barons: Clay Bennett and his cronies have behaved in a manner that many have likened to Robber Barons. I dare them to name the team the Barons.
Bison: The tradition of the bison could not be mightier. Nevertheless, it is a reality that in 2008 rich white men can not be seen to be sending a predominantly black group of employees into the workplace with the word "bison" across their chest. No way that happens

[BigDaddyBronco]

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-33-95/Oklahoma-City-Thunder-Marshalls-Energy-Wind-Barons-Bison.html

Thank goodness, looks like my favorite name "Barons" is still in the running. I like Barons and Marshalls much better than Thunder, but I can't figure out why they'd spell Marshalls with two L's. That's the way the Department store spells it, not the way Wyatt Earp spelled it. :confused:
I like the Barons. They could play that clip from "There Will Be Blood" during their intro's where Daniel Day-Lewis's character is drinking the other guy's milkshake. Nothing like a homicidal oil baron to get fans on the edge of their seat. :D

[NightTrainLayne]

I like the Barons. They could play that clip from "There Will Be Blood" during their intro's where Daniel Day-Lewis's character is drinking the other guy's milkshake. Nothing like a homicidal oil baron to get fans on the edge of their seat. :D

"I drink it up!!!!"

[BigDaddyBronco]

"I drink it up!!!!"
It's called drainage!

[Lonestar]

I would be in favor of the tornado's and name the area tornado alley..

OR the Storm.

I do like the play on words in the article above..

Celtics pass wind or break wind way to funny..

[NightTrainLayne]

OK, Clay Bennett has a special announcement he will be revealing at 5:00pm on the local sports radio station.

I'll bring a live update if I don't get interrupted.

[MOtorboat]

OK, Clay Bennett has a special announcement he will be revealing at 5:00pm on the local sports radio station.

I'll bring a live update if I don't get interrupted.

I'm shaking with excitement.

:rolleyes:

[NightTrainLayne]

I'm shaking with excitement.

:rolleyes:

I thought you editor-type folks got off on this kind of as-it-happens reporting?

Of course, nothing rivals the County Fair quilt judging.

[NightTrainLayne]

Nevermind, false alarm. Just anouncing that the "Sports Animal" will be the official radio partner for broadcasting the team's game. Still no word on the team name.

[Lonestar]

Great article in NYT travel section
Oklahoma City Is Booming With Oil and a New Exuberance
Paul Hellstern for The New York Times


By FINN-OLAF JONES
Published: August 8, 2008
IT took approximately a day for the song — and who doesn’t know that song? — to clear my head once I’d arrived in Oklahoma City. This revitalized metropolis does seem to have a constant wind that comes sweepin’ down the plain, but the windfalls from its booming economy have brought enough new grand urban projects, gleaming museums and sophistication so that one suspects the only folks tempted to yell “Ayipioeeay” are visitors.

Oklahoma City Rising just outside the Will Rogers World Airport terminal is the first evidence of the reason for Oklahoma City’s recent resurgence: an oil rig. The rigs are all over town — even on the State Capitol grounds. A lot of pricey crude and gas bubble beneath Oklahoma.

“When I moved here, there wasn’t much here for someone who was more used to London’s pace of life,” said Dina Hammam, known as Dinky, a social worker and socialite-about-town who arrived from England six years ago. “The transformation has been incredible. Just look around.”

A glance around her breakfast spot, the noirish-cool Lobby Bar in the newly renovated Will Rogers Theater, revealed a restored Art Deco mural of Will himself (local cowpoke made good) and a cafe brimming with Wall Street types and their stylish spouses. The theater looms over an affluent corridor of North Western Avenue that continues along the Tara-sized mansions dotting Nichols Hills. Although the Mockingbird Manor antiques co-op up the street carries handmade blankets, and the French Cowgirl sells tooled cellphone holders to match your saddle, a cosmopolitan elegance presides over this part of town, with foreign restaurants and accents throughout.

Newcomers to Oklahoma City might at first have a hard time guessing what part of the United States they’re in. A generally flat cityscape and the Chicago-style Art Deco architecture downtown, coupled with the friendly-but-not-too-friendly nods and hellos, hint at the Midwest. Jazz, blues bars and ubiquitous barbecue joints suggest the South. But the wide vistas, blast-furnace winds from the surrounding red-dirt prairie and preponderance of American Indian shops (Oklahoma has 38 sovereign tribes), pickups and cowboy hats indicate that you are indeed in the West.

And a Western kind of audacity pervades, from the 55-foot-tall glass Dale Chihuly sculpture in the Oklahoma City Museum of Art — which boasts the world’s most comprehensive collection of Chihuly’s works — to the exuberant parades and festivals that seem to be a constant. While I was in town, a nationally known local psychedelic band, the Flaming Lips, screened a homemade movie and music extravaganza, “Christmas on Mars,” to a raucous crowd at the deadCENTER Film Festival. At the same time, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum was hosting a gathering of contemporary Western artists — imagine a group of people resembling the cast of a Sam Peckinpah movie with paintbrushes. There is also a frisson in the air over the news that the city has managed to snag a National Basketball Association franchise, with the SuperSonics moving here from Seattle next season.

On the banks of the Oklahoma River, a football field-sized monument is under construction to commemorate the great Land Run of 1889, when 10,000 pioneers rushed into town on a single day.

The riverfront has come alive since 1999, when a canal was completed to attract visitors. A derelict warehouse area has been transformed into Bricktown, a lively focal point for night life, teeming with homegrown jazz and blues joints served by taxi boats. One of the more colorful stops is a bowling alley called RedPin — a 10-laner masquerading as a nightclub where even the rented bowling shoes are hip-looking high-tops.

TO regain “True West” bearings, head south of the river, where a bronze sculpture of a galloping cowboy herding a steer to market presides next to the entrance to the Oklahoma National Stockyards. The century-old yards are still used for enormous cattle auctions several times a week, but you can also buy yourself a spot on the food chain one block farther up at Cattlemen’s Steakhouse. Long lines form for lunch and dinner (no reservations taken), so try breakfast. Curiosity got the best of me when I saw calf brains on the menu. “Usually it’s just the old-timers that want this,” the waitress said, handing me a plate of what looked like oatmeal. For the record, it has a slight livery aftertaste and isn’t half bad, though I still felt obliged to wash it down with a couple of mugs of hot coffee and a plate of eggs with a magnificently aged and tenderized steak.

There’s much more to feed your inner cowboy. Across the street, at the National Saddlery Company, hand-tooled saddles run from $1,500 to $30,000 for a masterpiece with silver trimmings. Down the street, Shorty’s Caboy Hattery will supply you with a custom-made cattleman’s hat described to me by Mike Nunn, behind the counter, as “the only hat that will stay on your head in Oklahoma wind.”

On the next block, Oklahoma Native Art and Jewelry carries a broad variety of items from Oklahoma’s tribes. I was particularly smitten by the white pottery pieces with horse hairs burned onto their surfaces in Jackson Pollock-like swirling patterns — a technique pioneered by the store’s owner, Yolanda White Antelope. Her son, Mario Badillo, was seated at the store’s jewelry bench concentrating on a line of silver animal jewelry whose overlay had distinct sculptural qualities. “I was a rock sculptor when we still had our downtown studio,” he told me. “But then the bomb exploded and my leg got crushed when the wall caved in. It was too hard to move around after that so I became a jeweler instead.”

The bomb. All the locals seem to know exactly where they were at 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, when Timothy McVeigh detonated an explosive-filled truck beneath the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people and damaging 312 surrounding buildings. Mr. Badillo was one of several people who told me that they still couldn’t force themselves back to that spot.

At the Oklahoma City National Memorial that now covers the site, a gently flowing reflecting pool and two massive gates preside over 168 empty bronze chairs — one for each victim, the 19 smaller ones denoting children. After dusk, altar-like lights beneath the chairs suggested gently hovering souls.

Oklahoma City ANOTHER stirring monument, James Earle Fraser’s famous 18-foot statue of an American Indian slumped on his horse, “The End of the Trail,” greets visitors in the lobby of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. I planned to spend a couple of hours there, but after a whole day I still hadn’t reached the end of the trail myself. Exhibits in tentlike pavilions around a central courtyard cover everything about cowboys from their roots in Africa and England to how they operate on contemporary corporate ranches.

I had an air duel with a couple of passing kids outside the saloon in Prosperity Junction, a replica of a turn-of-the-century cattle town; examined guns used in famous movie shootouts in the Western Performers Gallery — John Wayne’s personal arsenal was particularly impressive; and learned that denims got their name when a French cloth called serge de Nîmes became popular for ranchers’ pants. The American West Gallery, a 2,000-piece cowboy Louvre of Western art, includes works by Frederic Remington, Albert Bierstadt and Charles M. Russell.

“Make sure to check out the auditorium before we close,” a guide suggested when I was still far from finished browsing, and in I went to be bowled over by five 46-foot-high Wilson Hurley triptychs of sunsets at Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon and other iconic Western spots.

Modern cowgirls and cowboys of every age group and shape were hootin’ and hollerin’ at Club Rodeo, an acre-sized honky-tonk south of downtown near the airport. This is a friendly spot where fellow carousers will help you figure out some pretty elaborate two-stepping or waltzing to local “red dirt bands” whose country sounds are imbued with a blues-inspired twang.

The mood turned real cowpokey when the dance-floor lights went dark to be replaced by spotlights on a tennis-court-sized rodeo ring. The revelers shifted to the ring with their dollar beers, and some took turns trying to hang onto bucking broncos for longer than eight seconds. Loud cheers greeted Skunk, a black bull with a white stripe and a reputation for orneriness. The guy set to ride him decided to trade his cowboy hat for a helmet — a smart idea. Three seconds later he was catapulted into the dust. The next ride started, and the crowd whooped it up.

Come to think of it, given that it seems to be having the ride of its life, one could say that about the whole city.





http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/travel/escapes/08American.html?ref=travel

[ChampWJ]

-revitalized metropolis
-booming economy
-grand urban projects
-sophistication
-recent resurgence
-cosmopolitan elegance

:laugh: This is OKC we're talking about here, not Paris or Rome. Good God that was one of the most ridiculous articles I've seen in a while.

I can't wait to get the hell out of here next week finally and move back to Denver where some of those adjectives don't seem foreign.

[NightTrainLayne]

-revitalized metropolis
-booming economy
-grand urban projects
-sophistication
-recent resurgence
-cosmopolitan elegance

:laugh: This is OKC we're talking about here, not Paris or Rome. Good God that was one of the most ridiculous articles I've seen in a while.

I can't wait to get the hell out of here next week finally and move back to Denver where some of those adjectives don't seem foreign.

OKC's done a lot. They're not Denver yet. I'd rather live in Denver too if I could just uproot my business and move, but it's not in the cards.

BTW, they announced the name last night for sure.

In case no-one's heard yet, it's the OKC Thunder.

[ChampWJ]

OKC's done a lot. They're not Denver yet. I'd rather live in Denver too if I could just uproot my business and move, but it's not in the cards.

BTW, they announced the name last night for sure.

In case no-one's heard yet, it's the OKC Thunder.

Yeah, I saw that. I like the name. The logo is another story. Talk about bland and not representative in any way of thunder. I wonder when they'll release the uniforms and whatnot.

[sneakers]

Reminded me of the WLAF team, the Orlando Thunder....


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Thunderhelmet.gif

(I really liked their crazy team colors as a kid).