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It started with a simple tweet from Kevin Durant. “LSU > OU……” is what it said. And then KD tweeted to someone that responded to that, “its cool u jus mad cuz the sooners suck ahaha.” Then Sooner safety Tony Jefferson responded: “Kevin durant. Please stop talking trash about the sooners.. You play in Oklahoma. Regardless if you went to Texas. We support u #jerk.” Then he put a sad face.
And of course KD responded with: “get your panties out of a bunch.”
Which, as you might imagine, fired people up.
KD backed off it later tweeting, “Ok I’m sorry for “dissing” OU..I do live n oklahoma so ima just keep my mouth shut on that…I love yall in OK..hope yall love me back” but the damage was already done. (He also tweeted later at Jefferson, “No hard feelings..its a rivalry..if I went any other school I would love OU.”)
I hate that I’m even writing about this because it reeks of Nick Collison vs. Unnamed Radio Host. It’s a non-story. Something we shouldn’t at all care about. And as I say that, I’m about to write 800 words on it. I know, I hate myself for it too. I even sent myself an email telling myself what a moron I am.
But it’s a lockout and this is sort of the manufactured news of the day. Why were people mad? The response I got what that KD should support Oklahoma because he plays basketball here. Ragging on OU isn’t right if he’s going to live and play here. Three things:
1) KD didn’t trash talk Oklahoma. He bagged on the University of Oklahoma. It may be hard for some to understand it, but there’s a lot more to this great state than that school in Norman. And I say that as someone that graduated from there and takes a possibly unreasonable amount of pride in it. OU is indeed a large part of the state and a very important part to what Oklahoma is. But other than just the obvious — Oklahoma State, which is a fine institution of higher learning in of itself — Oklahoma is a big place with lots of stuff. Just because Kevin Durant doesn’t like OU, doesn’t mean he hates Will Rogers, Mickey Mantle, the Land Run, scissortailed flycatchers and Mick Cornett.
Look at it this way: If Blake Griffin said, “Man, USC totally sucks! Go OU!” should the people of Los Angeles collectively flip their poo? Should Griffin be expected to embrace everything about his new city?
2) Why, oh why, do Oklahomans get so defensive over everything? We made fun of a certain radio host for almost this exact same scenario. Nick Collison complimented Seattle’s weather and sort of said Oklahoma’s sucks in the summer. And it became A Thing. Why? Because someone said something sort of negative about the state. We were all almost universally on Collison’s side of things by the end of it as we chalked it up to a gross overreaction. Isn’t it pretty much the same thing all over but in place of weather is a university?
One of the very best things about Oklahoma is the incredible amount of state pride we have. People are damn proud to be from and live in this state. Maybe the only place that has more of it is Texas, but that’s more of an arrogant we’re-better-than-you-because-our-state’s-real-big-and-we-made-up-a-stupid-slogan way. I love this state. Everything about it. I’ve done some traveling to other places lately and nothing compares to the people of Oklahoma.
But as a result of that, we’re also very defensive about it. People are sensitive to any kind of backtalk against it. Whether it’s an inferiority complex or just an absurd amount of pride, I’m not sure.
3) KD went to Texas. He’s a Longhorn. He had his jersey retired there, is still taking classes and plans to have a degree at some point. He loves that school. And if you weren’t aware, Texas and OU don’t exactly get along. It’s never been a big deal that KD went to Texas because, well, he’s freaking good at basketball and that’s what matters. It’s pretty stupid for anyone to expect KD to like OU. Yes, I suppose it is part of the state he plays professional basketball in, but so is Tulsa and we all know that place sucks. (Just kidding.)
I think people are a little sensitive to this whole Texas thing with Durant because it’s something unspoken that we all sort of try to ignore. Every time Durant’s announced in the starting lineup — number thirty-five, from TEXAS — I can feel people cringing a bit. But then there are the moments where he flashes the horns, wears a shirt or tweets about it that throws it all right in our faces. And don’t think it’s just about OU fans either. Oklahoma State people don’t exactly have a favorable outlook of those weirdos in Austin.
Here’s the thing that a lot of people probably don’t want to hear: Thunder players don’t have to love Oklahoma. It has absolutely nothing to do with their contracts or how they perform on the court. What matters is that they wear a jersey that says “Oklahoma City” on it. That’s it. Russell Westbrook could despise everything about the city but as long as he loves the organization, his teammates, coaches and the new contract he’s offered, that’s all that matters, isn’t it?
For whatever reason, Oklahomans are enamored with people complimenting and loving Oklahoma. I mean, I’d rather someone enjoy living here than hating the crap out of it, but it doesn’t necessarily matter to me. As long as they want to play ball here, that’s what I care about. But every time a new player comes, the media peppers them with questions like “So, do you love Oklahoma? Isn’t it so great? Do you want to live here for forever? Do you just stop and say ‘Boy, Oklahoma is great!’ all the time?” We’re absolutely eaten up with that and I have no idea why.
I love the pride in the state and I have as much as anyone, but I don’t need the validation from an NBA player to keep it that way. I know this state is an amazing place. The Thunder are now a major part of that incredible fabric. But players come and go. And quite honestly, I don’t give a crap if they liked OKC or Oklahoma. Because they don’t have to. Same thing goes for players that play in Memphis or Minneapolis or Portland or wherever. Of course it’s nice when they have favorable things to say about the place, but really, that’s not the point.
Enough of that. Here’s where I need to send myself another email that says, “Can we talk about basketball again?” I agree, me.
What massive overreaction are we talking about here? Was it ten tweets? Was it twenty? Was it 100? So far as I'm concerning, unless there were a few thousands people bagging on KD for his comments, then it's not worth mentioning. I think writers like to pick at this issue more than anything. It isn't a problem. For some reason the media expects 100% of Oklahomans and Thunder fans to be reasonable. Sorry, the number is more like 99% are reasonable. Cope with it, and quit tossing stories about the 1% out there like it's representative.
Lebron would be from Ohio, play in Ohio (at the time), and still be a bandwagon cowboy fan... smh. He's probably secretly a Lakers fan too
@girlballer
Thanks! I appreciate the positive feedback, and I'm happy to see that overall the responses seem to agree with my sentiments, even in Oklahoma. (I kid obviously.)
for3good :Who cares? College football is lame and until they find a proper way to crown a champion, it will continue to be lame. Where’s my NBA season?
+1
This is so typical of OU fans. Attention: Everything does not revolve around OU football. Get over it. As a life long Dallas Cowboys fan, it is hard to listen to Kevin root for the Redskins but it has nothing to do with the Thunder and in no way clouds my feelings for Kevin. What about looking at it from the other direction? Kevin has to constatnly experience that irrational hate for all things Texas that seems to permeate everything in Oklahoma. You don't hear him taking offense at all the vitriol. This is what makes OU so easy to root against for non OU fans living in the state.
Who cares? College football is lame and until they find a proper way to crown a champion, it will continue to be lame. Where's my NBA season?
@ Jax Raging Bile Duct
You're right.
I sure hope they get this lockout thing settled soon, may help with these panic attacks. Before any one says anything about get a life or don't be absorbed with sports so much, remember I live in Oklahoma, it's about all we have.
And if it wasn't clear, that last bit of my post should have been followed by the most sarcastic winking smiley you've ever seen.
@stickman
It's not you. Your OU/OSU friends may not like everything you like (ie. the Thunder), but it's no big deal. It happens with me and my music all the time. I show them what's really good, and they shrug with indifference and play what they like and I shake my head in shame.
You and I... we'll just have to keep remembering that we're better than our friends. That seems to help.
Sorry guys I guess I Guess I just don't have a clue. It's just that the Thunder's fan base are still growing. And I kind of feel like an unofficial ambassador of goodwill, getting the people I associate with interested in them. Most of them are only interested in OU or OSU. If some of them get alienated now before they really get to know them, they will be lost forever as fans. I just think it was a bad PR move. Don't get me wrong it in no way affects my feeling toward the Thunder, I'm just thinking about the Thunder's best interest and future as a whole.
Okies are very, very passionate about their sports. And I feel no shame about that. Probably why we ended up with the thunder in the first place.
To be fair to Oklahoma, Carson Palmer got the same reaction from Ohio State fans when he made a comment about how USC was going to beat Ohio State. Also Lebron James got plenty of criticism for rooting for the cowboys during the Browns-Cowboys game....so maybe its just Oklahoma and Ohio where this is an issue.
by Tony Jefferson's logic, OU and OSU shouldn't be allowed to talk trash on each other because they both play in Oklahoma.
"1) KD didn’t trash talk Oklahoma. He bagged on the University of Oklahoma." Exactly! I was born and raised in Oklahoma and graduated from OSU. I LOVE my state, but hate the University of Oklahoma. He's just being true to his school. I'm sure if OSU and Texas were huge rivals, he would have said OSU sucks. If Blake Griffin wound up playing for the Rockets, he wouldn't suddenly become a Longhorns fan.
as an AVID thunder fan, who is from D.C. and followed KD since he went to Montrose Christian, yea, its just talking trash. Last night i went wild on facebook and twitter during the redskins cowboys game saying all types of stuff.. Nothing more insulting than go redskins boo cowgirls... If KD played for the mavericks and said that would it be a big deal, would it mean he isnt loyal? Like once you sign a contract your no longer to be a sports fan? Plus, let us remember, KD is 22 years old. Didnt realise being an OU fan and a thunder fan were mutually exclusive... I wouldnt be suprised if KD is growing tired of the OKC microscope, people second guessing him all the time, when he clearly goes out of his way to show love and support to the organization, the city and the state. Sometimes, you can get spoiled by a good thing
Jax Raging Bile Duct :...the appropriate response to “LSU > OU” should have been “OU > Texas"...
That's exactly what I was thinking, too. This is just football smack talk. It's no big thing.
@ stickman
But the thing is KD didn't diss any individuals. I've had plenty friends at rival schools, but still when it came to sports, competitive banter was to be expected. Did it really look like he said, "Oklahoma University, from the president, down to the lowest GPA student, is a terrible organization". No. "OU sucks" was so painfully OBVIOUSLY playful, competitive chit chat, how could anybody with a clue take it to heart?
Jax Raging Bile Duct :As I said in Darnell’s piece yesterday, people are supposed to learn at some point in their life that not everyone they like will like everything they like.
Heresy!
as an OU grad and a huge fan I totally agree that LSU > OU. Come at me Tony Jefferson.
Inferiority complex? check.
Defensive? check.
Taking sports way too seriously? check.
You don't even have to go any further. I already know you're talking about Oklahoma. I've lived here for 30+ years. I know all about it.
As I said in Darnell's piece yesterday, people are supposed to learn at some point in their life that not everyone they like will like everything they like. Sometimes people they like will hate what they love. That dynamic will always exist, and though people have used it to divide themselves into social categories for ages, it's going too far to do it over something like college allegiances.
And the appropriate response to "LSU > OU" should have been "OU > Texas", not "OMG someone call the waaaaaambulance 'cuz I got sand in my..."
Well... you know what I mean.
Wish he'd gone to an SEC school.
@ OBCD.epidemic
WOW. I think your response here should be cut and pasted over Jenni Carlson's INEVITABLE screech about this in the OU-worshiping Jokelahoman!
Thanks for logging in too, I predict lots more articulate commenting out of you, that "submit comment" button is all too enticing!
I agree that from what I read from afar, OU people are overly touchy. Sheesh,,,lighten up.
Hahah. Fair enough, that's a position I sympathize with 100%. I want to be able to make fun of OU and have OU make fun of my school all in good sport. But I also want it to have absolutely nothing to do with my or anyone else love of the Thunder the next day, and I'd never think of flaunting my UT fandom at a Thunder game for that exact reason.
@ OBCD.epidemic
You are correct. It just feels like when there is trouble in the family and you just want everybody to stop fighting.
That's legit stickman, and I'm not accusing you of turning against him or anything, and honestly I understand the frustration, but remember that he's 22. Role model? Sure and honestly a darn good one mostly, but he won't fit everyone's ideal. Plus, isn't one of the things people love about KD the combination of his honesty with the fact that even given that honesty he's a legitimately good person? Does this change that? I mean lets not kid ourselves, it was a bad PR move. But, given his choice a basketball stud from Oklahoma would go to UT and not OU. Trust me, I understand the rivalry, but is that really an unpardonable sin at the pro level even to an OU fan? I agree it was probably poorly thought out, but I don't think it was an inherently bad thing to say. Let's also not forget that it was an OU football player that escalated it, and KD that backed down first. Still, I know it's always going to be a sensitive topic to some degree, and I understand thinking it would be much better if KD just didn't address it at all, and you're probably not even wrong, but I think attacking him over it (and I'm not saying you are, just talking about the general twitter uproar) isn't going to help us (yes us) at all, and I don't think it will help OU at all either.
I still love Kevin too, regardless of his justified devotion to Texas University I just don't want to see him alienate a bunch of okies. It will make it hard to talk Thunder with people if half of them start to hate him.
I've been reading this site on a daily basis for almost two years now and it's kind of sad that it took this article to finally get me to register for an account. I want to say before I get anything else that I love what the site has done, huge props Royce, and I love the Thunder.
Like GonePostal mentioned there are a fair number of us Thunder fans who are UT graduates and who followed KD to the NBA, though I have to admit I might have an even more unique experience here given that I was born and raised in Seattle and moved to Austin in my late teens. My last year at UT corresponded with KD's one year playing and I went to every game and followed KD's draft selection religiously, I thought Portland made the wrong choice at number one but I was thrilled because here KD was going to my childhood Sonics. I got back into the NBA, which I had basically ignored since the last lockout. I learned to love Nick because I remembered watching him at Kansas and the transition as a player he'd made was fascinating but amazing at the same time. I learned to love the sport at its highest level again. I got into advanced stats, and looking at individual plays and defenses and everything I'd mostly been to young to be interested in the first time.
Then they moved to Oklahoma and I was crushed. I tried to stop following mostly, but I couldn't help but at least check the box score to see what KD had done recently and slowly I fell in love with Westbrook even with his struggles, and by the time Harden was drafted I was the biggest fear the beard proponent in the world. I'd fallen in love with the Thunder, and I still am. (Locking out pending, lord knows the owners are trying to screw this up to the best of their abilities in order to win a yearly profit but long term irrelevance like the NHL). I'm in New York City now, and honestly I will never live in Oklahoma, but while previously, based on my background and my exposure to the state, I would never have even thought of visiting OKC I've now been six times and would love o visit again, maybe even without there being a Thunder game involved. The petty bickering over schools is absurd silliness: if asked to this day I'm going to say OU sucks, but I don't mean it in any way other than as a rivalry, and neither did KD as he made perfectly clear in his texts. Pursuing it beyond that, and trying to force KD into an apology will achieve nothing but alienating him and fans that come from a similar background as him and I don't think even OU fans honestly want that. For the record, OU football is a storied amazing program and they're having a great season so far, but that's irrelevant to the Thunder, and if you ask me tomorrow my simple answer will be OU sucks, see you in Dallas. Go Thunder. Much love to KD, Westbrook, Ibaka, Harden, Collison, Perkins, and everyone else.
I like KD and of course he can tweet whatever he wants. He's just a kid too. However, I think most of us don't care if he likes OU or not. We aren't asking him to become an OU fan or to stop being a Longhorn fan. Its just not good business to bite some of the hands that feed you.
@ Jimbo Slice
I know I'm always dissing Webster high school and all those kids because I played for Berryhill. not, But if I were it would not matter because I am not a supposed role model for them. As Kevin is for the kids in Oklahoma.
KD is an athlete. Athletics, especially basketball, is built heavily on talking junk. Talking junk is part of the fun. IE, for him to talk junk about his RIVAL SCHOOL is not only acceptable, but should be encouraged. For him NOT to diss OU almost goes against the code of having been a player of any sport at Texas. My school played my mother's alma mater in the Elite 8 a couple years ago and she still rubs it in my face all the time that we lost. It's the spirit of athletics. For people not to get that is mindblowing to be honest, but then again, 99% of the people blowing up on twitter probably never even did anything more than attend games, cheer, and get drunk in college.
I'm going to drop it because no one knows in what context the comments were made in. Probably just playful banter, but still.
I was just trying to point out that the youth look up to these professionals. And to have someone who you look up to dis your organization is hurtful.
“its cool u jus mad cuz the sooners suck ahaha." Ah right, my mistake. Then I'll retract my last comment, but still the defensiveness is absolutely pathetic.
“its cool u jus mad cuz the sooners suck ahaha.
"I doubt Demarco Murray is tweeting that the longhorns suck, or Blake tweeting that UCLA sucks." - Stickman
"LSU > OU...." does not equal OU or Oklahoma sucks. Not that it matters in the least who is ranked #1 after 4 weeks, but it's completely defensible (and probably right) to rank LSU ahead of OU.
I doubt Demarco Murray is tweeting that the longhorns suck, or Blake tweeting that UCLA sucks.
Thank you for being reasonable, Royce.
"Why, oh why, do Oklahomans get so defensive over everything?"
That is an excellent question. I think it's primarily the inferiority complex, but come on people. Don't take everything so seriously. Durant played at UT. He's having a bit of fun on twitter that really doesn't matter at all. I know as well as anyone that Oklahoma is more often the butt of jokes than praised for everything it has going for it, but loudly protesting that it's actually a wonderful state doesn't help at all.
For the record I graduated from OU as well.
I've been a huge Thunder fan from the beginning. I have season tickets. I frequent Oklahoma city, and Stillwater. And I am always surprised at the number of college aged people who say "right on man way to represent" because I'm wearing my Thunder hat and overalls (young people rarely initiate talking to me). I get the feeling that the Oklahoma youth are looking up to the Thunder players as sort of like Big Brothers. Maybe Tony Jefferson himself, or he knows a lot of OU students who do. I can see where it might hurt some feelings.
You'd be surprised how many Texas fans have become Thunder fans (myself included, and not just fans, but League-pass watching, jersey purchasing addicts) because of KD. For many of us, he has bridged the partisan divide and gotten some of us to begrudgingly admit that maybe Oklahoma does have some redeeming qualities after all.
Article on nets and lockout - http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7021031/the-nets-nba-economics
It doesn't bother me that this is an 'issue'. Like how we parse through celebrity twitter posts, coaches ban players from twitter, etc. - We are truly still learning and defining rules for social media in today's society. Like how years ago Facebook, E-mail and Texts we're used to rant and harangue and the backlash it caused eventually led to somewhat of a sterilization of content. These things are becoming increasingly 'more official'. I remember the day OU sent an E-mail out telling everyone that E-mails were considered 'official documentation'. I feel that this is the same way with sentiments regarding professional sports and city/state loyalty. We hate to do it, because it seems trivial and trite, but we are still learning. It feels weird (having an issue with a bulls hat for instance), but it does so for a reason. The discussion is young, the players are young, and professional sports in oklahoma is young. We are just learning slowly through trial and error. The hardest way, but most memorable.
Yeah, I was surprised about the outrage from the Bulls hat and even moreso from this gigantic overreaction. I don't care if he show's up in a Nuggets hat tomorrow as long as he still goes 100% for the Thunder on game day.
I've been waiting for you to say something about this. The reactions I was seeing on twitter was absurdly over the top, one even going so far as to say, "We pay your salary." Which is both insulting and inaccurate since he isn't getting checks from the organization right now and also it isn't like OU fans are the only people with tickets or who otherwise follow the team and contribute to the franchises value.
Also, all these people bringing up that he plays here, as if every other team wouldn't line up with offers should he demand a trade. Face Sooner fans, we need him A LOT more than he needs us.