A few years ago ... if you would have told me that the NBA would someday have a team headquartered in Oklahoma ..... I would have thought you were crazy .....but of course that was before Katrina .... and before O.K.C. built a first-class arena.

Ford Arena ....in Oklahoma City is nice. I attended the Big-12 basketball tournament there last year .... and honestly .... I was surprised at how nice it is. Also downtown O.K.C. has been transformed over the past few years .... with the new minor league ballpark ..and all the shops and businesses surrounding it.

Oklahoma City did a great job of supporting the Hornets on a temporary basis ..... but it'll be a totally different deal trying to support the new team ....nickname still to be determined with year-round support. That's what it takes to maintain an NBA team. Not just "in-season" support ... but year-round support and that won't be easy with the Sooners and Cowboys athletic programs located close-by. It won't be easy .... but I believe O.K.C. can do it.

Now how about nicknames??

The Oklahoma Schooners...?
The Oklahoma Cousins...?
The Oklahoma Wannabes?
The Oklahoma Subsonics?
The Oklahoma Drillers?
The Oklahoma Harvesters?

My worst fear is that they'll pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a research firm ....and come up with some singular sounding name like ......
The Oklahoma Tornado.

I certainly hope not ....but I am happy for the NBA fans in Oklahoma City. They can finally boast of being a Major League City. Frankly though ... for the other residents of the state .... I doubt if they care all that much. Between the O.U. Sooners and O-State Cowboys they have plenty to cheer about all year long out in the rural areas. Besides ... this new team will only be the 2nd pro team in the market. At least I assume O.U. still pays at least some of it's football players. And all kidding aside ... in the Oklahoma City TV market ...the fact is .... whatever team OKC has ... it will always play second fiddle to the Oklahoma Sooners.

Let me know your ideas for nicknames of the new team.