Hooray!! Hooray!! Hooray!!

What will the NBA players do in the heartland?  Maybe stay out of trouble. 

All of you hammering the midwest, what do  you know?   You have what you have, and you like it.  We are the same way.  I am proud to say I grew up in the heartland and wouldnt trade my midwest values or lifestyle for anything. 

Personally I think you have not looked into it very well. If you go to http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763098.html you will see that Oklahoma City is larger than some other NBA cities in population such as Atlanta, Sacramento, New Orleans, Cleveland, Miami, and Minneapolis. There are some decent size suburbs to add to the population and Tulsa is only a little over an hour away. Also, it is doing well with the current economics due to the oil companies here. One NBA city that is not listed on the link above is Salt Lake City. The Utah Jazz always seem to be in the mix and had little problem keeping their talent. Oklahoma City is becoming a basketball town. When the Hornets were here, many of them wanted to stay. Chris Paul still returns to do a basketball camp for youth because he loved the people. Not everything is money for everyone. I am not saying you are wrong, Kevin Durrant may very well decide that he would play somewhere else. It will be his decision, but I am sure the ownership and the people of the city will make it a tough decision should he decide to leave. There are some global companies in Oklahoma City; Seagate, Hertz, Sonic, and Dell to name a few. Google is preparing to build a facility near Tulsa. There is literally a dozen Universities both large and small in the area. Oklahoma city has some nationally recognized health research facilities. During various times of the year there are jazz festivals, arts festivals, sporting events. We have hosted the NCAA tournament, Olympic Trials, and many conference tournaments for the Big 12, and the NCAA softball world series every year. We have been the home to Olympic medal winners like Shannon Miller and Bart Connor (I know it is gymnastics but who would have thought of Oklahoma City for gymnastics?). We have been the birth place of astronauts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Cooper, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_K._Garriott, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_R._Pogue, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_Lucid, not all have stayed but many received a start here. <o:p> </o:p>

The point is, no place is one-dimensional. Just because you may not know what makes a place special doesn't mean it isn't special. It takes effort to learn about a place.<o:p> </o:p>

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What everybody is missing is that we brought the Hornets to the #3 spot in attendence for 2 YEARS even knowing they will leave. They were not burning up the court either.

Seattle had the 28th spot. Nuff said.

So Salt Lake City is a hotbed for activity for millionares? Not. Yet they put up winning teams. Did LA support the Clippers? Not for a long time. Sacramento? You are saying that place has plenty to do ALL THE TIME? Please.

The things I pointed out to do in OKC draws thousands and thousands of people on a regular basis. That was the point. Guess you missed that.

Obviously, Seattle could not put their attendence figures where their mouth is, and it is time to show you folks how to do it right.

You know, I read about sports about as much as anybody around here, and I just do not see that much happening, sports wise, up in Seattle outside of your major league teams. What I do read is that the Seahawks were playing to empty seats last year, the Mariners rarely fill the place anymore, and the Sonics, well, obviously, could not draw even though Seattle is SUCH a hotbed of activity.

Since yesterday, when the announcement was made of the move, over 11,000 people have called about season tickets.

The team has estimated that season tickets will be SOLD OUT within the first week or two, at most.

First, I will tell you that I am Texas fan so there is no love lost for Oklahoma.  However, I think that most of the posters who are saying an NBA franchise can not make it in OKC are simply saying it out of bitterness and don't know a thing about the city.  If I were from Seattle I would say it myself.  People in Oklahoma are sports nuts and OKC is definetely a big enough city to support it.  The NBA is there to stay in OKC.  Personally, I"m glad they are moving to OKC because I live in Amarillo which is about a 3 1/2 hour drive away.  Two years ago, when the Hornets were there I took my nephews to a game and the arena was rocking.  The arena is also located in a cool downtown area where there are lots of sports bars, retaurants, etc. 

Seattle had a chance to keep the team.  Most of the posters are blaming the politicians (which is understandable) but if I recall correctly, I think the people of the city voted down a measure to upgrade the arena.  The exact opposite happened in OKC when they voted.

Right on, dude. These folks just do not know what is going t