By Sarah SpainÂ
The team formerly known as the Seattle SuperSonics may have a new name…but will fans in Oklahoma City Love It Or Hate It?
On Friday, local TV station KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City announced that a source confirmed the team would be named the Oklahoma City Thunder. While O.C. team officials have yet to respond to the report, KOCO.com also sites a newly registered website as their evidence.
http://www.koco.com/sports/16925692/detail.html
“KOCO.com confirmed that the registrar for all of the NBA’s Internet domain names reserved okcthunderbasketball.com and okcthunderbasketball.net on July 10 …â€
… Over the course of the past two weeks, KOCO.com and SportsXtra have worked together to research what’s called ‘whois information’ on more than 200 domain names, with the focus primarily on possible nicknames such as Barons, Outlaws and Thunder. Most domain names and variations of them had been registered well before the settlement between the city of Seattle and the former Seattle Supersonics of the NBA.â€
It’s possible the newly registered domains are the work of yet another fan hoping to cash in, but the timing of the registry has fans all over Oklahoma buzzing.
Some locals seem excited about the endless pun possibilities: Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman wrote, “The team store can be ThunderWear, which will market Thundergarments … The beer at ballgames can be ThunderWater. Analysis of the payroll cap can be called ThunderFunded.â€
Sarah with “Oklahoma City Thunder” star Kevin Durant
Others — particularly those who dislike puns — are less than impressed with the name.
And I’m one of them.
The Oklahoma City Thunder? I hate it, for a number of reasons.
To read why, click here
http://theloveofsports.com/index.php/site/comments/love_it_or_hate_it21/
I like the new team name. its fitting cause thats the heart of “Tornado Alley” plus “Thunderstruck” is the official song of 3 teams that represent SICA- White Sox, Windy City Thunderbolts, Andrew high school Thunderbolts…of course that last one has nothing on the Stagg Chargers…now there’s a good team with a thunderbolt in the logo! LOL!
nice use of the picture of me and durant. brings up another name i heard floating around — the “durantulas.” part man, part spider, all venom.
I was partial to the Oklahoma City Slickers, but since their is a Minor (very Minor) League Soccer team named the Minnesota Thunder, the OKC NBA team has a very minor league-ish sound to it.
I also heard that the nickname was chosen through the use of a 64 name tournament. Is there any truth to that rumor? Where can I see the bracket to break it down Joe Lunardi style?