Please welcome your Oklahoma City 'Hoodlums'.
Evidently, fans in Seattle are not the only ones dreading the move of the Supersonics to Oklahoma City. As The Oklahoman's NBA insider Darnell Mayberry writes, some citizens are worried that "the NBA's presence would increase Oklahoma City's crime rate and drag down the city."
Quoting one resident, "We don't want the NBA, with its image problems, fatherless children, egomaniacs and shootings. No thanks."
Another resident attempted diplomacy, by conceding that "of course, the NBA represents both the good and bad in society," before blasting the league for "[representing] a disproportionately large segment of the bad behavior than does society in general. They are a very visible example of gangster dress, guns, extramarrital (sic) babies..........."
In the same article, Mayberry points out that "[t]oo many examples were heard from callers of talk radio shows and seen on reader comments around the Internet. Suggestions for possible team nicknames included 'Posse,' 'Thugs' and 'Hoodlums.'"
Sounds like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Considering that the Hornets spent two successful seasons in Oklahoma City, such sentiments are likely coming from a minority of residents. Still, perhaps such blatant ignorance should give the NBA pause before diving right into a market that has the potential to shun the league at a moment's glance.
Link to The Oklahoman article found via The Sports Business Daily.
6 comments:
I'm glad several people defended the NBA in the comments section, but there are still TOO MANY idiots out there who stereotype the entire league (and you can see it also in this blog, sadly to say)..apparently the Hornets' stay in Oklahoma City was useless. The players and the entire Hornets organization acted classy, they helped the local community and never created troubles. And it was useless. I don't know what the NBA has to do at this point. Of course the NBA is more worried about image and keeps showing us those NBA Cares commercials. What should they do? They are desperately trying to show us that most of the players etc. are good guys (which they are).
But I don't think this perception will go away anytime soon. Other sports have way more problems than the NBA, yet the league with an image problem is the NBA? That's pathetic.
As a fan, I really feel very bad when people bash the NBA.
A guy named Chris posted this Bill Simmon's quote.
" from ESPN's Bill Simmons article on the NBA All-Star Weekend in New Orleans..I agree 150% with him "As one NBA higher-up whispered to me last weekend, "People still think we have an image problem, I just don't get it. Do they even watch us? Do they see the caliber of the guys we have now?" That's the issue gnawing at everyone working for the league right now. The NFL has considerably more thugs, Major League Baseball has a steroids scandal that basically has tainted the past 15 years of games, yet somehow the NBA is still perceived as the league with an image problem? For god's sake, if the NBA can't put that tag to rest this year, of all years, then it's never happening, and we'll have to accept there are deeper issues at work here. (Well, one deeper issue. And you know what it is.)"
Chris, Somewhere - Mar 10, 2008 3:25 PM
btw, people shouldn't be worried about NBA teams increasing the crime rate (hahahaha how stupid), people should be worried about the IGNORANCE that MANY (TOO MANY) people show.
if you read the comments, there's someone bashing the NBA for every crime totally unrelated to the NBA.
Just read this comment
"2 young womens' lives were cut short last week in the Southeast US , in one case an young african american male has been charged with murder and in another case a camera at a ATM captured what can only be described as a "pure thug" african american looking male trying to use the debit card( while driving her car ) of the apparently just murdered student body president of the UNC. Then we see the white Duke lacrosse players having to fight tooth and nail against a corrupt DA and Al Sharpton to clear themselves of the lies of an african american " exotic dancer" with mental health issues. Don't sit here and tell me that african american thug culture isn't spread by the NBA..."
and this one, posted by the same person (on a side note, this idiot must not know that Michael Vick and the Houston Astros don't have anything to do with the NBA)
To be fair Daniel the thug in the ATM pic WAS wearing a Houston Astros cap , in fact they even had a separate picture of the cap. It's really more of a black thing than an NBA thing ( violence ) I suppose, but the NBA does seem to glorify it more. Michael Vick is black isn't he as well tho ?
mister, bogata - Mar 10, 2008 8:52 AM
I did not know that OKC was the new home of the KKK.
Maybe it's because I've been working all day, but why hasn't much been made of this nationally?
The ignorance of this article and writer are phenomenal.
Sorry, I meant to say commenter, not writer.
The real issue is just how bad the SuperSonics are. Oklahoma City -- you ready for this?
http://www.nbaroto.com/2008/03/its-no-fun-being-seattle-supersonics.html
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