The Thunder Will Break a Heart, or Two...

So, I was perusing the SonicsCentral forums, and stumbled upon a certain thread, regarding the team's move to Oklahoma City.

One comment read:

This sucks, indeed. It sucks even more to know that OKC will have a great team in the coming years. Our team.

(Emphasis is mine.)  Well, it's an interesting thought... "Our team." I have nothing against the Thunder, but I can imagine if the Nuggets were to suddenly move to, I don't know, San Diego (being a Bronco fan, this could only be more bitter a pill to swallow if they somehow became the Oakland Nuggets - or is it Thuggets? That would fit in the Raider Park).  Considering the possibility (slim as it may apparently be) that the Nuggets may go further than the Western Conference Finals this coming season, I'd hate to see Melo score 40-a-game, Chauncey playing the point like the wise ol' field general he is, and Nene hammering it down over (add that poor fellow's name here... *cough-Lebron "I'm gonna run behind him and smash it for über-highlight reel pwnage!" James-cough*), as the San Diego Whatsits sweep their way to their second consecutive Championship (shoosh. I'm an optimist).

I support the name coming after Denver, but I'm a fan of Denver as well.  And this is probably worse for many of you, those actually living in and/or around Nuggets Nation (I've always hated calling something "Nation", but oh well...). As some of you may know, not only am I a long way away from the Rockies (farther, actually, than I was during the playoffs, as I'm spending some time in Germany now), but I've spent so much time having to learn a new national anthem, that I've become jaded with nationalism and pride for a particular random location on Earth; but, that being said, I think I'll always have a thing for everything Colorado, just as I have a rather irrational love for the large, blue expanse of water normally called the Atlantic Ocean.

And the Nuggets are a part of that.  They're a part of Colorado, and therefore they're, somehow, a part of me.  And they're a darned big part of many of your lives, probably (likely) more than mine.  Many of you are buried in the large, soft (in a non-offensive way), warm (totally not a global-warming reference) duvet known as Nuggets Nation (*urg*), and we all drink from the crystal glass of basketball lore Nuggets (and Rockets) history. Denver Nuggets (and Rockets, dang it!) history.  Not San Diego Nuggets (or Whatsits, kaphooey!).

Just as that person said, I say, "Our team."  When I talk basketball, my team is the Denver Nuggets. Why? Well, it's quite a fascinating (and long) story. But I shant regale it, lest I steal Andrew's Thunder (no pun intended. Honest). Instead, I'll just say that they're from Colorado.  That fact got me interested, watching them play got me hooked.  Rooting for them, just as ferociously, at least, would be difficult if they weren't that Coloradoan team anymore. Furthermore, envisage this...

Carmelo Anthony scores 40 points a game, while grabbing 8 rebounds and tossing his teammates some freebies with all those double-teams coming his way.  Chauncey dishes out the assists, scores when he needs to, and controls every single minute of the game when he's on the floor.  Nene gets constant double-doubles, and a couple blocks to boot.  And Birdman soars for half-a-dozen (okay, a dozen! Yeah! 13-3 baby! Oh... wait. Sorry. Wrong blog.  Er... 79-3 baby!) blocks and scores a couple baskets of his own, while pumping the team up every time he gets the chance to flex his wings.  The San Diego Whatsits race to a title.

Isn't it so glorious?  Boy, those fans were really lucky! All that investment they put in that team! This one was really for them... it's truly a grand moment for the city of San Diego. (Because Zeus knows these grand moments aren't coming from their under-achieving football team - sorreh, I couldn't resist.)

Except, it really isn't like that. It wasn't them that drafted Melo, it was us. It wasn't them that brought Chauncey back home, it was us. It wasn't them that gave Chris Andersen a second chance and helped J.R. mature into one of the best shooters in the league (hopefully?), it was us! It wasn't them that supported them through the lean times and lived and breathed the sweat that ran down their foreheads for (hopefully!) over 82 games a year, it was us.  This isn't their team, this is our team. Our Denver Nuggets.

Er.

Well, my intentions have gone awry.  I had just wanted to make you consider what may perhaps be the feelings of a Supersonics fan, and, thanks to my propensity to go on long harangues when I'm supposed to be sleeping, I ended up writing more about the Nuggets than the Sonics.  Sorry.  But, anyway, I hope I made my point, and I'll leave you with this thought...

Right now, a Sonics fan, having fallen asleep once in the warm hug of his Sonics duvet and gotten drunk on decades-old Sonics lore, has to watch Kevin Durant, the player s/he once thought would be the person to bring that Championship to Seattle, play his heart out for another city.  And the team he once so fervently supported now plays in a different state and has a different name.  His team is young and talented, destined for great things.  His favourite player is poised for superstardom.  But neither are his. "Our team" has become "their team".

Consider this next time you think of the Oklahoma City Thunder.  And perhaps even the Nuggets, too.  (And long live the Cheddar Cheese. May it live long and prosper. And eradicate all of those that dispute its place as the king of all cheeses in the Milky Way.)


(Geez, I hope I don't read this tomorrow and realise I really should stop writing when I'm half-asleep. Well, I have already realised that I shouldn't write when I'm half-asleep, but I'm still gonna do it. Because I'm not Saddam Hussein and this isn't South Park.)