Well, the Oklahoma City Thunder's dream season ended two days ago when the Miami Heat closed them out in a 121-106 drubbing in South Beach.
It's disappointing, yes, but the Thunder's fairytale drive into the 2012 NBA Finals is much more than a pro team driving through the regular season, making the playoffs and then ascending to the finals only to fall short. It's a story of a state united for one bright shining moment.
Oklahoma has never been a state much regarded in the eyes of the "recognized" major league sports. As far as it goes, aside from a brief run in professional soccer in the late 1970s and early 80s, the Thunder are the first true major league sports team to dock in the Sooner State, and for the last few months they have risen from being a team talked about around the water cooler to one that is in the spotlight on a national scale with a chance of winning a world championship.
The best part: It's all so new to us.
In Oklahoma, before the Oklahoma City Thunder the unification of this state on the sports stage was whenever one of the colleges was in a bowl game for a national champions, or the NCAA Basketball tournament, or something that gave the state notoriety on the national level within the boundaries of a college program. That extended down to the fans of the team which is clearly defined by loyalty to either the Oklahoma Sooners or the Oklahoma State Cowboys, and it lasted for the lead up to the game and very shortly thereafter.
In the case of the Thunder, you are talking the entire state.
In the days leading up to the Finals and during that series, when you drove about Tulsa you saw fans (myself included) sporting a t-shirt, ball cap or some other gear emblazoned with the Thunder emblem. Cars were adorned with flags and festooned with window decals bearing the same logo, (one pickup truck I saw had a yard flag flying from the bumper on a flagpole). It was refreshing to see that. Really refreshing. You felt like you were part of something.
It extended into the arena as well. My girlfriend and I traveled to Oklahoma City in April to watch a game, the first time I saw a for-real game that counts and not an exhibition. There has been a long and most of the time bitter rivalry between those who live in Tulsa and those who live in Oklahoma City, especially when it comes to sports. Indeed, I have traded on the rivalry in hockey for nearly 20 years. In the Chesapeake Arena the night we went didn't show bias either way.
The atmosphere was electric. Not exclusively because the Thunder beat the Sacramento Kings quite resoundingly, but because it was so unified. It made me proud to be an Oklahoman, not to be hokey. 18,000+ fans cheering loud and proud. To borrow a phrase from Al Michaels, describing the crown at the 1980 Miracle hockey game the sound had form. Sure, it's something that is ordinary in cities who have long established major league professional teams but even with four years in the can after moving from Seattle it is all still so new to us.
I pray that it never becomes blaise' in the Thunder nation. It shouldn't be ordinary. During the playoff run this season other members of the national media made fun of the Thunder in the way they have promoted the Thunder and how we as fans have acted. That's fine but for them to make fun of us supporting our team it's really an indictment of how boring their presentation is.
When the day comes that the Thunder etches their name on the NBA Championship Trophy we will celebrate in Tulsa, Lawton, Bartlesville, Sapulpa, Muskogee, Norman and all over the state because we support our own and we take care of our own.
THUNDER UP!
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