It evidently wasn't enough that eight people were shot in Bricktown shortly after the May 21 NBA game in which the Oklahoma City Thunder eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers from the Western Conference playoffs.
Now, a sports columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has told his readers that, while the Minnesota Timberwolves aren’t in the playoffs, there’s a lot they could learn from the example of Thunder fans: specifically, what not to do.
“Don’t act like an Okie,” wrote the Tribune’s Jim Souhan.
Jim’s helpful list of critiques included:
—dress yourself (“Be adults, not sheep,” he wrote, referring to fans wearing same-color T-shirts provided by the Thunder);
—if you can’t get a ticket, don’t gather like zombies (regarding Thunder Alley);
—don’t stand the entire game; and
—never chant “Beat L.A.!” (“Nothing makes a fan base sound more small-time,” Jim mused, “than borrowing a decades-old chant about those bullies from the big city.”)
The piece is obviously great trolling material, and it had its intended effect. NewsOK.com posted the article and the blog The Lost Ogle opined on it. Still, Chicken-Fried News suggests that OKC will truly be a “big-league city” when we can laugh off this sort of carping.
