Oklahoma City .....

[RyanB06]

"Irish" is not singular, however.

[TNT44]

I think they should go with the OKC Thunderemus.

[BB61]

[BallWonk]

Aw, please let that not be the name. Congress will have to officially revoke Oklahoma's right to consider itself part of the "American heartland" if it gets a men's pro sports team with a singular nickname. In real America, men's team names end in an "S" unless they're playing soccer. Thunderbirds, Thunderstorms, Thunderhawks, Thunderheads, even Thunders, but please not Thunder.

*cough* Fighting Irish *cough*

The Fighting Irish are a pro team now? Anyway, point is, Irish is not a singular noun. As a noun, it's "The Irish are fighting." Thunder, on the other hand, is singular. "The thunder is scaring the cattle."

Anyway, are the Miami Heat and Utah Jazz like so well respected for the awesomeness of their names that OKC would turn down the dozen or more perfectly good plural names suggested so far to go with a singular name? Is the thinking, "Just look at all the Tampa Bay Lightning merchandise you see around the country; folks are gonna love the Thunder, too."

[Audiodrama]

Aw, please let that not be the name. Congress will have to officially revoke Oklahoma's right to consider itself part of the "American heartland" if it gets a men's pro sports team with a singular nickname. In real America, men's team names end in an "S" unless they're playing soccer. Thunderbirds, Thunderstorms, Thunderhawks, Thunderheads, even Thunders, but please not Thunder.

Miami Heat

Utah Jazz

Orlando Magic

Tampa Bay Lightning

Minnesota Wild

Colorado Avalanche

Names without "S" at the end work fine, it just so happens that "Thunder" sucks.

[BBTV]

Aw, please let that not be the name. Congress will have to officially revoke Oklahoma's right to consider itself part of the "American heartland" if it gets a men's pro sports team with a singular nickname. In real America, men's team names end in an "S" unless they're playing soccer. Thunderbirds, Thunderstorms, Thunderhawks, Thunderheads, even Thunders, but please not Thunder.

Miami Heat

Utah Jazz

Orlando Magic

Tampa Bay Lightning

Minnesota Wild

Colorado Avalanche

Names without "S" at the end work fine, it just so happens that "Thunder" sucks.

They work fine? Or is it that we're just used to them? I happen to think all of those names suck, it's just that I've come to accept them (except for Wild - that's just horrible.)

[Gothamite]

They work fine? Or is it that we're just used to them? I happen to think all of those names suck, it's just that I've come to accept them (except for Wild - that's just horrible.)

That's my take on it as well.

Those aren't good team names.

[Ron Mexico]

Aw, please let that not be the name. Congress will have to officially revoke Oklahoma's right to consider itself part of the "American heartland" if it gets a men's pro sports team with a singular nickname. In real America, men's team names end in an "S" unless they're playing soccer. Thunderbirds, Thunderstorms, Thunderhawks, Thunderheads, even Thunders, but please not Thunder.

*cough* Fighting Irish *cough*

The Fighting Irish are a pro team now? Anyway, point is, Irish is not a singular noun. As a noun, it's "The Irish are fighting." Thunder, on the other hand, is singular. "The thunder is scaring the cattle."

Anyway, are the Miami Heat and Utah Jazz like so well respected for the awesomeness of their names that OKC would turn down the dozen or more perfectly good plural names suggested so far to go with a singular name? Is the thinking, "Just look at all the Tampa Bay Lightning merchandise you see around the country; folks are gonna love the Thunder, too."

That's funny, the Heat have no problem moving D Wade jerseys and I'm sure Beasley will sell pretty good too. I remember back in the 90's you couldn't walk two blocks without seeing either a Shaq or Penny Magic jersey.

I don't even like Thunder as a name, but your reasoning is very flawed. Your first point of teams not being "respected for their names" is incredibly subjective. What does it mean if you don't "respect" someone's name? Does that somehow translate to lost ticket sales, TV ratings, etc? Do THAT many people outside this board really care as long as the team is good/has players fans like? I don't respect the name Redskins, but that doesn't matter to the team or fans of the team.

I remember when people said they couldn't support a team with a dumb name like the Wild. They've since sold out every game seven years running.

And you don't see much NHL merchandise for any team nationwide. If you live in an NHL city, you'll see that city's team, but not a whole lot of generic NHL merchandise.

[CC97]

And you don't see much NHL merchandise for any team nationwide. If you live in an NHL city, you'll see that city's team, but not a whole lot of generic NHL merchandise.

Not so much the case here... eh?

[TruColor]

The Fighting Irish are a pro team now? Anyway, point is, Irish is not a singular noun. As a noun, it's "The Irish are fighting." Thunder, on the other hand, is singular. "The thunder is scaring the cattle."

Well, they might be. Depends on who ya ask.

I was mostly joking.

[Ron Mexico]

And you don't see much NHL merchandise for any team nationwide. If you live in an NHL city, you'll see that city's team, but not a whole lot of generic NHL merchandise.

Not so much the case here... eh?

LOL, true. In the US you don't see much nationwide. In the Canadas I hear you guys also wear hats on your feet and hamburgers eat people.

[scottysprings]

And you don't see much NHL merchandise for any team nationwide. If you live in an NHL city, you'll see that city's team, but not a whole lot of generic NHL merchandise.

Not so much the case here... eh?

Yeah, when I visited Montreal and Quebec I was blown away by the availability of hockey jerseys, and not just for the Canadiens, all teams. Another thing that surprised me was all the soccer jerseys available, I mean you guys suck at soccer

[simpsontide]

Alabama Crimson Tide.......case closed

[mrfab]

I don't have a quote link but I recently read online OKC NBA's Mr. Bennett said he's partial to team names that end in "s", so take that for what it's worth re: singular names, or would that be "a singular name", I dunno. On a pure hunch basis, I think we'll soon hear about

"YOUR NBA Oklahoma City Thunderbirds!".

I know it's Seattle's junior hockey team name and would seem like continued city-sports' rapeage. Like that's mattered to the NBA so far . . .

I'm just sayin' is all . . .

[hettinger_rl]

Aw, please let that not be the name. Congress will have to officially revoke Oklahoma's right to consider itself part of the "American heartland" if it gets a men's pro sports team with a singular nickname. In real America, men's team names end in an "S" unless they're playing soccer. Thunderbirds, Thunderstorms, Thunderhawks, Thunderheads, even Thunders, but please not Thunder.

Miami Heat

Utah Jazz

Orlando Magic

Tampa Bay Lightning

Minnesota Wild

Colorado Avalanche

Names without "S" at the end work fine, it just so happens that "Thunder" sucks.

They work fine? Or is it that we're just used to them? I happen to think all of those names suck, it's just that I've come to accept them (except for Wild - that's just horrible.)

What about the "Boston Red Sox" and "Chicago White Sox." They may be plural but they don't end in "S."

[chakfu]

Not exactly where the topic is going right now;

But, does anyone else presume that the owners have had an identity ready to go for a quite a while, or at least a nickname and colors?

[ldswoosh33]

They got to. They're just keeping it away from the public, so they get people talking about it. I read this book once called The Franchise (just fiction)where the owners choose way before they even bought the team.

[mfoster]

A search of the USPTO database still reveals nothing, though I'm only searching for Oklahoma City hits (under the assumption the team will abide by the lease agreement and be the "Oklahoma City ____________")...

[BBTV]

Actually, the more I think about this, the less I think that they should go with something like Outlaws, Thunderbirds, Barons, etc.

Now I've never been to OK. I'll admit that the first thing that pops in my mind when I think of OK is Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel. I'll also admit that I'm certain that isn't a fair generalization. Unfortunately, the fact is, an awful lot of people in large metro areas think of OK (and other neighboring areas) as hee-haw f-your-sister in the tumbleweed then shoot yer six-shooter in the air territory.

Getting a major-league franchise is the PERFECT way to portray a different image to the rest of the country. Find some aspect of the area that isn't stereotypical western. Not knowing much about OK, I'm not sure what that is, but I'm sure it's there. It may not change the predispositions of the current generation, but I know that my first impression of cities as a kid was through association with sports. That's how I formed many stereotypes (some positive, some that were so wrong that I had to work hard to break them.) Come up with something good, and kids all across the E and W coasts may have a drastically different first impression of the area than I had.

Think outside the box, OK.

[neo]

We could all go to hell and call them the Oklahoma City Bombers?

Too soon?