It's starting to — pardon the expression — resonate that our departed Seattle SuperSonics hence will be known in OkieHoma City as the Thunder. Perhaps it's worth noting that both nicknames are sound-oriented and that, indeed, thunder is a mere sonic noise while SuperSonics is, well, supersonic.
In any case, not everybody seems enamored with the new nom de guerre (albeit, a guerre that may already be lost this coming season since the Soops were losers of 62 of 82 games in 2007-08 and don't promise to improve much just because they'll be playing in a new city — well, town, anyway).
This review from the Web site Odds and Sods:
The Oklahoma City franchise formerly known as the Seattle SuperSonics will now be called "The Thunder." Could they have a found a more soulless, expansion-franchise-sounding name? Or at least not have ripped off the Tampa Bay Lightning?
What happened to the good old days, when teams had proper names? Teams were identified by the colors of their socks, or objects of universal fear (Lions, Tigers, Bears, People with Red Skin). Teams even had names that made no sense (Red Wings).
Now, in the age of the advertising executive, we get numb, nonentity names. Our sporting lexicon is reduced to what some yuppie executive thinks will sell the most t-shirts to twelve-year-olds. "Hence, names like "The Thunder" and the Minnesota "Wild," whatever the [bleep] that means. They will probably select some cool edgy colors based on trends in marketing research as well. Look forward to Black and Magenta!
Pretty bitchy, that last dishing, especially since management for the Sonics during the late '60s didn't even bother with market research, evidently just flat out stealing the team's colors from the Oregon Ducks.
