Q. What's In A Name? A. OKC's sports legacy

Ok, I can't take the suspense any longer!  No, I'm not wanting impatiently for the new Oklahoma City NBA team to announce a nickname, mascot and colors.  The suspense I'm sweating is how the players and the rest of the sports nation will react when Clayton Bennett and friends announce the team's nickname, mascot and colors.

You see, here's my deal.  Yes I'm glad OKC has a permanent NBA team.  Yes I'm glad it's just another feather in the cap of Bricktown and Oklahoma City.  And no, I'll probably never be able to afford tickets - but that's not my point.  My point is that more important than all the legal maneuvering in a Seattle courtroom and the need for a good working Insta-Check machine to verify Clay's $30,000,000 check, is the need to come up with the PERFECT nickname, mascot and colors. 

The last people I want laughing at the logo of a farmer pushing over a cow with the nickname "Cow Tippers" stitched across the front - are the players.  We are moving them from west coast Seattle.  They are professional athletes and they already make a ton of money, some without even stepping on an NBA court for the first time yet.  And often their egos can become inflated with every zero and comma added to the end of their salary.  If they're happy, the team is happy .. and frankly a happy team tends to win games.  And if they win games, then this community will be embraced by the rest of the sports world and ESPN anchors much faster than anyone could expect. 

Please, please, please beg, dream, hope - whatever it takes - that the Oklahoma City NBA family doesn't pick Lightning, Twisters, Storm, Roosters, or anything that might make us sound like a soccer team or a bunch of hicks.  It is basketball, and we are not hicks.  If I were allowed to take a quick stab at a nickname, Oilers or Outlaws come to mind.  I know they've been done before, but the tried and trusted route isn't such a bad idea for our first ‘real' attempt at one of the three major league sports.

Growing up, I know our Little League coaches told us "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you played the game".  Sorry, but these days it's a different game, with a different saying.  "It's not whether you win or lose, but which nickname, mascot and colors you pick".