Dear OKC Thunder fans

From A Jazz fan

Dear OKC Thunder fans,

Thank you. Thank you for the reminder… check that; thank you for the slap in the face and the ice-cold water on our sleeping faces.

The word passion is often over used to describe less than passionate realities. Not this time. The passion you put out to this paralyzing entertaining, but young Thunder team the past few years is astounding. Such a young franchise (or an old one beat up and re-built) often gets some excited NBA fans to follow right away, and drip by drip add in “home team” fans. But in OKC, a city known for overcoming adversity time and time again, someone turned the “big city/big market” sprinklers on and flooded the basement!

As an outsider looking in with no connection to your great Midwest town, I have no real reason to be an OKC fan… except for the fact that something has drawn us in. I use us, because there is an “us”.

The “us” is not just I and the few friends I waste too much time talking about Westbrook & Durant’s brilliant plays. It extends further than my limited following on twitter (@sportscavelive) or Facebook. It stretches a little more than the Salt Lake Valley. I know a good portion of Utah is on board, and hope our home team Jazz can emulate in some way what you have been a part of. When Durant quietly signed his extension without letting us know where is “talents” were going, it grew a little. When Westbrook first broke out those sweet interview specs… it spread a little more. When the beard took over the face, it took over a few fans too. After the fascination of “what’s in the backpack” took over a good portion of the web, we gained a few OKC bus riders. And when YOUR Thunder broke the mold of “what it takes to win in the NBA”… and still won, it became a passion again.

So although I may root against Durant when they come to play in SLC, from this moment on I’m not just a follower of the Thunder, I’m a fan.

-Sincerely,

A “new” OKC Thunder fan.