7.10.2008

Exhibit 10.23

I don't have a favorite professional basketball team, mostly because I don't like the sport. While this small handicap has never kept me from casually following a team before--hello, Chicago Blackhawks--I've begun to feel like I need to hop on a bandwagon lest I find myself alone with Spike Lee and, faced with a dearth of other conversation topics, have to talk about Crooklyn.

So I'm thinking about jumping on this new Oklahoma City team's bandwagon, but I can't decide if it's worth it. The case:

Pluses
Kevin Durant
Good G.M.
What is sure to be an ecstatic fanbase
Closest team to Lincoln (well, more or less tied with Minnesota anyway)

Minuses
Team did more to destroy Seattle than the movie Singles
Will undoubtedly choose a horrible name/color scheme
No history at all
All the players are going to hate OKC

Those are some pretty daunting minuses. I know we're all thinking this, but rooting for this team will be a little bit like rooting for the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. It's a compromise solution springing from tragedy, nobody inside or outside the organization wants to be there except for a select few, and there's a distinct feeling that sooner or later everyone is going to come to their senses and we'll all go home.

That said, it's a pretty compelling opportunity to grow with a new team that isn't going to have the collection of stiffs and bad contracts of an expansion team. This whole thing might come down to the mascot. If they pick the Thunderbirds, I'm out. If they pick The Fabulous Thunderbirds and feature Jimmie Vaughan on their jerseys, I'm back in.

2 comments:

carlinthemarlin said...

I loathe the NBA with a passion I feel for few things in life. But if the Fabulous Thunderbirds are taking the court come whenever the fuck NBA basketball starts (really, I don't even care enough to know when they start playing games), I might have to at least half-heartedly root for them.

jimStock said...

The Warriors of Golden State have some room for you. Plus, proximity to Silicon Valley, so.