This post originally appeared at NeedISayMoore.com, a blog writen by Red Nova Labs Editor C.J. Moore. NeedISayMoore.com is a blog about KU, KC Sports and College Basketball tempo-free analysis — never interrupted by sunspots. C.J. also writes about college basketball for Basketball Prospectus and will cover the University of Kansas basketball team as a beat writer for CBSSports.com's Rapid Reports this fall.
Blogger’s note: John Gasaway, who is the college basketball editor at Basketball Prospectus, has an away message on his gmail account that reads: “I will now nap until October.”
For fans of this blog, you’ve probably come to realize that I’ve taken a similar approach. My obsession is college basketball, and other than recruiting, which I’m not that interested in writing about (I do have something to say about KU's recruiting class and I’ll be getting to that at some point this summer), there is just not that much to write about right now.
I like baseball, but unless my bank account benefits from me writing about it, I don’t love it enough to devote the time. I like the NFL much more, but I have no interest in writing about the labor disputes. Like many others, I just want the players and the owners to kiss and make up and for there to be football this year. Wake me up when that happens. So all that leaves this time of year is the NBA, and honestly, I really do like the NBA. Much more so than most. I would even write more about it if I was able to watch more games. Unfortunately, I don’t watch enough games during the regular season, and honestly, most people in my part of the country (which is most my readers) would rather read about my bowel movements (I’ll leave that to the Facebook status writers of the world).
My goal this summer was (and still is) to write once a week, and I really hope you’ll continue to visit the blog. Now that I have put that in print, I have some accountability. And as for the NBA, I have been wanting to write about the Oklahoma City Thunder for a while now. I have been putting off these next two posts for a few weeks and I think they’ll be worth your time.
This first post should give you an idea about why I have taken more of a vested interest in the league the last few years. The next is about why I believe the Thunder – if they learn from this year's playoffs – can win multiple championships in the next few years. Maybe I’ll convince you to start paying attention to the NBA, or maybe it’ll just make you realize my blog hasn’t died. And if I don’t live up to my promise, be sure and write me hate mail or attempt to wake me up from my hibernation.
Before the 2009-10 NBA season, I decided I was going to pick one NBA team and that team would be my team. Growing up in Kansas City – post the KC Kings’ era – I never really had a rooting interest in the NBA, other than just cheering for the teams with former KU players.
But rooting for multiple teams felt a little dirty to me, an easy way out. Like saying, “Oh, my dad grew up in San Antonio, my uncle lives in New York and my mom took a trip to LA when she was pregnant with me, so I like the Spurs, Knicks and the Lakers.”
I needed to pick a team and needed to become completely loyal to that team. Unless, of course, a team eventually moved to Kansas City. Kind of like one day I plan to get married and be forever loyal to my wife, that is unless Brooklyn Decker falls madly in love with me.
Making such a commitment (just like marriage) deserved a lot of thought and deliberation. After weighing all my options, I decided to walk down the aisle with the Oklahoma Thunder. Here’s why:
1. Nick Collison is my favorite Jayhawk of all time. If I have a son, I will show him video of Nick Collison’s footwork in the post. If I have a daughter, I think I have my girlfriend convinced to at least consider Collison as a possible first name*. I also have given my girlfriend permission to sleep with Nick Collison if she ever has the opportunity**, because if I could be Eskimo Brothers with anyone, it would be Nick Collison.
*Cue my friends making fun of me for talking to my girlfriend about such things.
**The other night while watching the game, my girlfriend Kirsten decided that Nick Collison isn’t attractive. I haven’t been this upset with her since she picked Louisville to beat KU in the Sweet 16 of her bracket.
I realize that one day Nick Collison will have to retire or (Naismith forbid) get traded to another team. Before this year Collison signed a four-year extension with the Thunder, which means he’ll most likely be a lifer with the franchise, and I feel good about continuing to root for a franchise that was loyal to my favorite Jayhawk of all time.
2. Even though I consider Nick Collison the Thunder’s superstar – just read this article and you’ll see why – Kevin Durant, the man most would consider the team’s superstar, is a likable dude who I feel good about supporting. Every story I’ve ever read about Durant makes him out to be a great guy and I love watching Durant shoot the basketball. In 2008 when Durant played at the Fieldhouse, I couldn’t take my eyes off him in warmups. His jumper was so fluid, so natural. He effortlessly swished everything from all over the court. I had never been so entranced with watching someone warm up. Then he came out in the first half and scored 25 points. It’s the greatest half of basketball from one player I’ve ever witnessed. In most cases, I would have been pissed that someone was singlehandedly killing my Jayhawks, and he would have joined the list of fellow Jayhawk killers that I hate. But I couldn’t hate Durant. I felt lucky to be able to witness such a great performance. I was too in awe to hate. Plus, KU came back in the second half to win.
3. Oklahoma City is now the closest team geographically to Kansas City and close enough that I could realistically go to a couple home games every season. Sure, the Thunder got to OKC because their owner Clay Bennett shamelessly kidnapped the franchise from Seattle, a city that had always supported the team. I feel bad for Seattle fans and thought it was a pretty dick-ish move. However, I would wholeheartedly support some rich guy from Kansas City buying a struggling franchise, acting like he wanted to get an arena built and keep the team in that city, all while he’s lying out of his teeth because he eventually plans to move that team to Kansas City.
4. I didn’t want to pick a team just because they were good. I despise the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Cowboys and Lakers. What I think about someone who is a fan of one of those teams and grew up outside of those cities is similar to how I feel about gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe.
I’m currently interviewing candidates for a writing job at my company, and during the interview process if I came across one of these fans, I would consider it a huge character flaw and eliminate that candidate from contention.
The Thunder, I could confidently say, was not one of those teams. They were coming off a 23-59 season, and while it might have been trendy to be a Durant fan, no one could criticize me for jumping on the bandwagon when they got good. It just so happened that the Thunder had a breakout season immediately after I picked them. That’s just good timing.
And as you’ll read in the next post, I may have stumbled upon a team that is going to win multiple championships in the next 10 years, or I might be rooting for the 1990s Utah Jazz.
