The connection between Thunder and the city is unique

Often we wonder about the connection between pro athletes and the cities they represent.

We know about the transient nature of the players, the “home” team is a “home” team basically during the season and until the contract runs out and there really isn’t any cosmic coming-together very often.

Which brings us to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the city they represent.

There is something there that is unique and it’s borne of tragedy and the small-city, big-league nature of the relationship.

Every player who joins the Thunder is taken to the memorial to the 1995 bombing that scarred this city and for a long time defined it.

It is a solemn and respectful and, in some ways, a wonderful memorial, it pays homage to those who lost their lives in that tragic event.

I’ve been there – walked up with Sam Mitchell and a handful of others way back in the day; wandered past it during a walkabout yesterday, too – and it really is something to experience. It gives to an idea of what happened here, how it devastated a city and, in some ways, brought it together.

And when players go see it, and they must, it has to hit them hard. It seems to have had an impact on Kevin Durant, as he told us a couple of days ago.

“Being somewhere, being in a community where you're going to live here for a while, we want to know the history, everything that went down here in Oklahoma and how they moved past it.

“You can tell by what happened in those events that the city got closer and closer, and you can tell just by landing here in Oklahoma City, just meeting people in the airport, that this city is a tight-knit family.

“With us coming here, it just made it even closer. It's just a blessing to be a part of a great city even though they went through a tough tragedy.”

Now, a lot of players bolt when the season is over for much of the summer, off to their real homes or other obligations and that’s fine and dandy.

It’s how it is everywhere in every sport, the players have other homes and families and responsibilities and few anywhere are true 12-month-a-year residents in the cities they represent.

But to know there is some kind of connection between the residents and the players, and the fact the transient kids realize what they mean to a city like this is something quite unique.

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And in today’s “what do you see on the streets of OKC” travelogue we have …

 

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Yeah, I know how to pick ‘em, don’t I?

Was listening to Kevin Durant in the interview room and looked down to see Netherlands down 1-0; I think LeBron James or Erik Spoelstra drone on when I checked to find it was 2-0.

From then the day was pretty much over and the writing in the room was accompanied by the white noise of the second half of the game.

Kind of anti-climatic, wasn’t it?

But I guess it’s not all bad. As Cathal points out here, this whole Euro2012 thing has kind of been turned on its head and it’s made for some compelling stories.

I particularly like the last few paragraphs of his piece, where he talks about Canada – or North America – not having anything like it and how we’re a bit poorer off for it.

We tend to antiseptically analyze our sports events and teams too often, worried about numbers and stats and intricacies of strategy a bit too much, leaving the true passion of the games a bit too far in the background.

I guess there probably is a middle ground between some of the “passion” we’ve seen from coaches and players in Europe and the oft-dispassionate dissecting of the games we get from players and coaches over here but we haven’t found it yet.

When we do, we will have reached a watershed point in our love of games, where we can truly balance the personalities and souls we watch and the physical magic they perform on the court or the field.

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Mail? Please.

Much of this afternoon is free and I need to get a lot of it out of the way.

The Oklahoma City-Atlanta-Miami trip tomorrow with a short turnaround in Atlanta is fraught with peril – I’m dead certain my bag won’t get to Miami, and am fully expecting to miss my connection as well – and I’ll want something to do.

You know the drill.

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Hey, did you watch the Dream Team thing last night? Heard it was on late in Canada and I wonder what you thought of it.

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HOTH news?

Not much.

Workouts drone on; no one’s really shone more than the others and if there are Dog Days in the pre-draft process, we’re in them.

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In our whole “Let’s go, Netherlands” kind of jinx (and it’s becoming something of a trademark of mine), I’ll all about Spain against the Irish today; knowing what a celebration on the streets of Dublin will be like.

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Right, the NBA Finals.

Things to watch for tonight (and, yes, we’ll do another IGBT so be here around 9 p.m. East) will be to see how long the Heat have LeBron guard Durant (it’ll be longer than the last game), how aggressive Dwayne Wade is going to the basket (I have a feeling he’ll live at the free throw line) and how OKC gets everyone involved, again, until it’s time for Durant to take over in the fourth (James Harden has to be better).

I don’t think there’s any way to really guess what the outcome will be but I think for this to be on the way to being an epic series, a 2-0 OKC lead would be great. Would put all kinds of pressure on the Heat going home and, I tell you, there just seems to be some kind of daily increasing pressure on that team that’s kind of fun to watch. They know what’s at stake, they know what will be said and written if they lose and it’s going to be fun if we get to watch it all unfold.

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In the hour or so it took me to type this here Thursday morning, I don’t believe a TOD starter was injured.

Guess that’s a good thing.

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Comments

[john]

Hey Doug, if you want to see Football “passion” head on down to Honduras game with a Canada jersey on or maybe take a job as a referee in Columbia where they lose their lives because of “passion”

I’ve saw the European passion first hand a few years ago when I happened to be in Germany after they played to a draw in a World Cup qualifying match. I watched from the safety of my Hotel room as those hooligans made the rioting idiots in Vancouver look like amateurs. They set concrete on fire, there were gangs of kids in German jerseys fighting each other! I’ll continue to enjoy sports as entertainment. They can keep their passion.

[marc in panama]

Hola Doug,

I am stunned that there is nothing mentioned here of Commissioner Stern's insensitive comment to Jim Rome yesterday on Rome's radio show. Regardless of whether it was a stupid question, (I actually think it should be addressed, yet perhaps the question should have been phrased as "how do you respond to the various fans, and allegedly NBA front office people who feel the draft was rigged so that New Orleans a team the NBA has run for 2 years and recently sold to a guy who just happened to be in the crowd, won the draft in a year where you were criticized for personally voiding a trade of a disgruntled superstar which could have possibly netted that them more assets than what they acquired with this draft win" but Rome didn't do that. For Stern to first admonish Rome for asking the question, and then throw out the lawyerly courtroom trick of "are you still beating your wife" as an aside flippant comment as to his disgust and derision of the original question being asked is, disgusting. Stern came off as an ass, more of an ass than Rome, and that's hard to do in my opinion. To be so smarmy by appearing to be a smart guy by using the horrible situation of domestic violence to belittle the host of a nationally syndicated radio show is beyond fathomable, especially since the NBA just got finished fining KG $25G's for not showing up to be interviewed after the game 7 loss to the Heat. Who fines the Commish huh? It has been my point for many years that Stern is way past his "best before date" as the NBA Commissioner. His comments yesterday go to show he is an uncouth lout who should apologize for his comments and then tender his resignation. There is nothing funny about what he said, nor was it smart. To be clear: Domestic Violence is not funny in any context. Ever.

Disgustedly,

marc in panama

[Rob]

this comment is to John,
I think you have a point with your argument, but it is not always the case..the memories I have from attending soccer matches when i was a kid are mostly happy ones (the sad ones are when my team lost)... I attend raptors and other nba games from time to time but the passion seem to be manufactured... it is unlike anything you witness in soccer,,, when the teams playing are representative of the community or the country they play in, .... thats why playing for their country means more for soccer players than basketball players in canada or the US,,,also here there would be no problem for example if a player played for both celtics and lakers ,,, but u d rarely see players moving between rival clubs in europe ,,, because teams mean more to them ,, I know that situations can get out of hand, but fair or not thats a reflection of social issues and has nothing to do with their passion for the sport.

[Dadeo]

Jim Rome beat his wife...wow, that would be disgusting. Asking a stupid question about fixing the draft is...well...stupid.

[jb]

I saw the Thunder and Heat's practice interviews yesterday - Lebron looks tired, like he's carrying so much weight on his shoulders. If I'm not mistaken, it looks like he is losing more of his hair....dude will need a bigger headband.
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Regarding the KD vs LBJ match up, James did a pretty good job on Durant last game- 0 for 2 with 2 turnovers(small sample size though). Just put James on Durant in the 4th, but James has to score too while playing shut down defense on Durant or else he will be crucified for not scoring enough in the 4th - it's the reality he lives in.
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Looks like Jays' season is basically done with 40% of the starting pitching staff hurt while the other AL East teams injured players are coming back.

[Peter]

Thanks for the picture of the memorial.

Blogger's note: More than welcome

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Rome v. Stern... Durant v. James... Ireland v. Spain... TOD v. themselves... hey, it takes two to tango and "Two Can Play", right, James Hunter? Hit it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYlFJyzV5Ic&feature=BFa&list=AL94UKMTqg-9CUzbO3s2QlDENhA6NVKJJ3
Cheers. Go Bubba Watson!

[marc in panama]

Hola Dadeo,

To my knowledge, Jim Rome has never been accused of domestic assault. What the Commissioner employed is a lawyers trick of asking someone "have you stopped beating your wife yet" a question that has no correct answer. If you reply in the affirmative, you are stating you have beaten your wife in the past, and if you reply in he negative you are saying you are continuing to beat your wife. As disrespectful as Mr. Stern found Rome's question of "is the NBA draft rigged" to follow his answer of "no, and shame on you for asking" with this lawyers trick is repugnant. As Doug has mentioned in this blog in defense of the NBA and why they wouldn't rig the draft, the NBA is a multi billion dollar enterprise, and who would jeopardize the integrity of he league by doing that. By the same measure, David Stern is the Commissioner of said league, and as such he should comport himself in an appropriate manner. By saying what he did to Rome, he failed to do so. There is no way a league who directs what is acceptable attire for injured players to wear on the bench, a league who fines owners hundreds of thousands of follars for comments about officials, or on going labour negotiations, a league which fines players for not speaking to media after a game, should be run by a man who voices his displeasure of a question raised about a process that many feel was at the least highly coincidental with an allegation that the person who asked the question is guilty of domestic assault. There were a thousand things that Mr. Stern could have said, just as there were a lot better ways that Mr. Rome could have phrased his question. In the end Mr. Stern got peeved and crossed a line that no one running a billion dollar industry should have crossed.

[Rob.V]

Passion?. I dont know anything about that anymore. Actually I remember T.O (us) being very passionate about the Jays in 92-93. One could argue that OKC is a very passionate city right now. You see, we wouldn't know much about this up here because that would mean that our teams might actually have had some success.
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It's an interesting thought though. I now believe that Sports are really meant for the young. I remember crying for the Leaves as a kid (literally). I remember caring. lol! But as you grow older and wiser (sadly) you realize that it's just a game, a business!... or maybe it's just the Raptors that have worn me down over the life of the franchise. Thinking about the time and effort that's gone into this team over their history right now? Man!!, that's depressing, but I guess 16-17 years does make me passionate doesn't it?... stupid??.
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I haven't been to Europe yet however they do seem to have kept that child like innocence or mentality (meant positively) when it comes to Sports... good for them!

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Hey, anyone else read this. Check out Nowitzki's last comment... it's classic!
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Dirk Nowitzki has paid close attention to Kevin Durant’s playoff run.
"KD," Nowitzki said, "is way ahead of my curve. He's arguably the best player in the league right now. I see a guy that really has no holes.
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"He's a 6-10 guy with a 7-4 wingspan who can shoot it from the parking lot. He's posting up now. In transition he's so long that, when he gets a pass from the 3-point line, it's a layup or dunk with one step. He's got the one- or two-dribble pull-up, which you need to be a great scorer, because you can't just shoot 3s or go to the basket if you want to be a great scorer, 'cause sometimes you can't get all the way to the bucket. He can go both ways, one or two dribbles and up.
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"He's way more of a 3-man than I ever was. He handles the ball way better on the break than I ever did. He's got deeper range. And he's doing all this at 23. He's won the scoring title three times in a row, so that means he won the first one at 21.
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I barely got through my rookie year. When I was 21, Gary Trent was still killing me in practice."
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[Lorie]

Hello Doug!
Oh, yeah, you can pick 'em, but can you re-string 'em and then tune 'em, too? :) And because that guitar celebrated George Harrison, and this is such a classic clip - featuring his son who looks so very much like George when I first saw him one Sunday evening very, very long ago - here's a bit more picking.
http://youtu.be/ifp_SVrlurY

[Dadeo]

Hola Marc, perhaps what Stern was cleverly (perhaps too cleverly) pointing out was that there was no acceptable answer to the question. At least none that would appease the conspiracy theorists and Rome knew that when he asked the question.

[john]

Marc in Panama,
Maybe "Thats a clown question Bro" is more appropriate when asked a stupid question?

[511]

Great comments today. Guitar solo was incredible, thanks Lorie (and Prince - do his talents even have limits or boundaries?). Rob V, something interesting as usual. And the rest.

But especially ... to ‘marc in panama’ at 9:06 AM. I agree. Thoroughly, unquestionably and yes, even passionately.

[LeeZ]

Bless you, Lorie. I've seen that clip maybe a dozen times, and your posting it today gave me an excuse to watch it one more time. Apart from the sheer brilliance, the sheer audacity, the sheer virtuosity of Prince's performance, the two things that absolutely stand out are, in order, the look of pure delight and awe on George's son's face when Prince really gets going, and the way Prince throws the guitar up in the air when he finishes and struts off stage. Now, I'm not much for strutting. But when you create that kind of magic, when you play the greatest guitar solo that the world has ever seen, then not only are you ENTITLED to strut offstage, you MUST strut. And in that one moment, who among you can honestly say that you wouldn't want to be Prince?

[LeeZ]

As for the Rome-Stern thing, Stern manages to do the unthinkable: make Jim Rome appear nice. I mean, Rome is the slimeball who got his ass handed to him on a platter when he interviewed QB Jim Everett and kept calling him Chrissie, over and over and over again. So for someone to come off as MORE of a sleazebag as Rome is a pretty mean feat indeed. But Stern manages that feat. Which isn't to say that the idea that Stern rigged the draft isn't ludicrous. Stern has been itching to get out for a couple of years now, to the point where he's groomed his successor. I think he should leave sooner than later. He did a great job in his time, but I think he's reaching a burnout.

[Andrew Gregg]

Hi Doug:

Lots of chatter about the Raps looking for a good 3 this summer. Gerald Wallace just became a free agent. Not sure if he's the perfect fit, but he's only 29, has good years behind him and I would expect some good ones ahead of him. Do you think the Raps should cause him? Especially since it looks like Gay and Igoudala might be staying put on their respective teams?

AG, Toronto

Blogger's note: I like him a lot; so do the Nets

[Mr. Cook]

I know you (and none of us, really) care for the pucks, but this is an aside from basketball that is also sort of an aside from the pucks: Yesterday morning, a local LA radio station (KSPN 710 AM) had on the King's hall-of-fame announcer Bob Miller to be interviewed and take calls. A certain special caller turned out to be another hall-of-famer -- long-time Los Angeles Dodgers baseball announcer, Vin Scully, who has been with his team for over 60 years. The audio (linked below) is as nice a public conversation as you get to hear in sports: http://espn.go.com/espnradio/losangeles/play?id=8044545

[sportschick]

About Euro 2012:

Down 4-0 late in the game, Irish fans broke into song – belting out 'The Fields of Athenry' at the top of their lungs. Kudos to them for supporting their team; win, lose or draw. From: http://www.tsn.ca/euro2012/story/?id=398412