In case you haven’t been scoring at home, the city of Dallas is reeling from some pretty big blows to its self-image. Big D’s downtown is losing the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, the NHL’s Dallas Stars, AT&T’s corporate headquarters, as well as Comerica bank and the iconic Neiman Marcus store.
Whew!
That’s a huge hit, even for a city as big as Dallas, with 1.3 million residents and a DFW metro area population of more than 8 million people.
Here’s what has gone down:
First, AT&T announced it was moving its corporate headquarters out of downtown Dallas and relocating to the northern suburb of Plano. Plano! Let someone in, say, Bend, Oregon, try to figure out where Plano, Texas, is when they see it in the dateline of future AT&T news releases.
Then, in the wake of its February acquisition of Dallas-based Comerica financial services company, Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp announced it was moving Comerica employees out of the 60-story Comerica Tower to Preston Center, far north of its current downtown location.
The next blow to its image was the announcement last week that the famous Neiman Marcus downtown Dallas store that has been in operation since 1907 will close down in September. The retailer’s corporate owner, cited a “changing environment and declining foot traffic” in downtown Dallas.
Then Dallas was hit by what may be the two biggest blows, at least for sports fans like me. The Mavericks and the Stars announced this past week that they are abandoning American Airlines Center for yet-to-be built arenas in North Dallas and in the suburb of Plano.
Both franchises claim that the 25-year old American Airlines Center was not built for the ‘modern fans’ who demand more amenities like upscale dining and beverage options, as well as “social areas” that allow fans to mingle during the game.
But it goes beyond the arena experience. Each franchise envisions an ‘entertainment district’ built around their arena that features restaurants, bars and other business to draw people to the venue.
Similar stadium-and-entertainment districts are popping up in other cities with professional sports franchises, including OKC where the OKC Thunder is expected to demolish Paycom Center and create an entertainment district after its new arena opens. (Don’t we already have a downtown entertainment district in Bricktown?)
Here’s what I’ve read about the Mavericks move: The team plans to build a multi-billion dollar arena and entertainment complex on the 104-acre site of the former Valley View Mall, approximately 10 miles north of downtown along the Dallas North Tollway and I-635. Unlike the American Airlines Center, located along the Dallas Area Rapid Transit rail line, the new site offers little public transportation options. So fans likely will have to negotiate crowded freeways before enjoying NBA games and the entertainment options. Read more about the move at ESPN.
The Mavs made no mention of operating a casino in their news release, for which the team’s ownership had been advocating. Mavericks CEO Rick Welts was quoted in a Dallas Morning News article: “I think if Dallas had it all to go over again, I think there might have been a little bit of a different approach on American Airlines Center. It does not serve … the needs or the expectations of a sports fan in 2026 who goes to a professional sporting event. We don’t have any of the hospitality amenities that one would expect in other markets, and I think we’re really looking forward to that.”
As for the Stars, here’s what I’ve found: The NHL franchise has signed an agreement with the city of Plano to move to what is now known as the Shops at Willow Bend in Plano, a retail center that is on the decline. The Stars envision a new arena and entertainment districts, similar to what the Mavericks plan on the Valley View Mall site a few miles to the south. Read more at ESPN.
Dallas residents vented their frustrations on the spate of exits from downtown at a recent city council meeting.
“The Valley View Mavs, the Plano Stars, Fox 4 gone, AT&T gone, Neiman gone,” said Sana Syed, the President of the Dallas Farmers Market Stakeholders Association. “What an embarrassing and painful city this week.”
Said Star-Telegram columnist Mac Engel: “Both the Mavericks and Dallas Star have stated their intentions to leave the American Airlines Center after their respective leases end with the facility in the spring of 2032. If they both leave, it would turn downtown Dallas into an evacuation site almost every night at 5 p.m.”
So, what’s behind the mass exodus from downtown Dallas. I asked a friend I’ll call “Andy” who lives in the DFW metro to share his perspective. Parking challenges for employees and the large number of homeless people inhabiting the area play a role, he said.
Workers have to park blocks from their offices and then are harassed by the homeless as they walk in, Andy told me.
So, employers are choosing to locate elsewhere like suburban communities far removed from downtown and the challenges it presents in 2026.
The decline of downtown Dallas brings to mind OKC’s downtown when I first came to town in 1983 to work for The Daily Oklahoman at its then-downtown newsroom. Downtown was dark and mostly abandoned after 5 p.m., with few restaurants, only one hotel — the Sheraton.
Fast forward to 2026 and we can see the renaissance brought to OKC by passage of the original MAPS program in 1992. Today, our downtown thrives with a busy entertainment area in Bricktown, multiple hotels and restaurants scattered throughout. Yay for investing in ourselves.
We have our own issues with homelessness, but there are organizations like Curbside Enterprises and SidexSide OKC that offer a path to housing and employment. We’re not running away from the problem.
So, while downtown Dallas declines, downtown OKC continues to rise up with new sports venues, an awesome park and convention center that give people a reason to come on down. (I’m not counting the exodus of Devon Energy because I see that as related to a corporate merger)
Can Dallas reverse the exodus and have a downtown worthy of its ‘Big D’ image? Stay tuned.
The site of the former Myriad Convention Center is empty as it awaits construction on new arena.
A few weeks ago, my friend Ed and I had an appointment in Midtown OKC when we decided to go take a look at the site of the Incomparable Myriad to see the progress made on its demolition.
As you probably know, the gigantic concrete box that opened in 1972 as the Myriad Convention Center was demolished to make way for a new billion dollar arena built for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Along its 53-year journey, the name transitioned from the Myriad to the Cox Business Center and finally to the Prairie Surf Studios.
I admit I was surprised when we approached the 2-square block site of the Myriad and there was nothing but a gigantic empty lot. The site looked even larger to me than it actually is, because now it’s a sea of dirt stretching from E.K. Gaylord Blvd. to Robinson Ave.
Ed slowed down to let me jump out to take some photos while he drove around the block(s). When I got back into the car, we shared some of the experiences we had at the old arena.
Then Ed said, “you should write a blog post about your Myriad memories.”
So, that’s the purpose of this post. I’m sharing my favorite memories of the building that date back to the late ’70s. But I’ve also asked Ed and several other Oklahomans to share their Myriad memories.
I’ve got three memories that stand out to me.
My first visit to the Myriad took place in roughly 1979 or ’80 when I accompanied a group of folks from Fort Smith, Ark., to attend the National Finals Rodeo. I was a young sports writer at the Southwest Times Record and was sent on assignment with the Fort Smith Old Fort Days Rodeo committee to experience the NFR.
What stands out in my mind is the location from which I witnessed the rodeo. They stationed me on the actual arena dirt behind the protection of metal fencing. So you might say I had an up-close-and-personal look at the National Finals Rodeo.
My second Myriad memory is attending a John (Cougar) Mellencamp concert at the venue in February 1986. I’m not a big concert goer, but I was (and am) a fan of John Mellencamp’s music, so I enjoyed being part of a full house, both on the floor and in arena seats. I was struck by how awesome the violinist (fiddler?) was who accompanied him on several songs.
Finally, my favorite Myriad memory is that of New Years Eve 1990. I took my future wife, Paula, to see the Oklahoma City Cavalry on our first date. I know, I’m a real romantic. Turns out, Paula may be a bigger basketball fan than am I, and has seen far more OKC Thunder games at Paycom Center over the years than I have.
Now I’m turning this over to 10 Oklahomans who share diverse memories from their experiences at the Myriad over the decades.
First up is Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, who is also Dean of the Oklahoma City University School of Law and author of the book: Big League City: Oklahoma City’s Rise to the NBA
If you get a little misty-eyed about the Myriad, it’s understandable. It may not have been much to look at, but it was the center of our community’s life in a unique way that will never happen here again.
The Myriad opened in 1972. Until the opening of the Ford Center in 2002, it was the city’s primary arena. Until the opening of the Oklahoma City Convention Center in 2021, it was also the city’s primary convention center. And until the city’s explosion in growth around the time of the Thunder’s arrival in 2008, the demand on the Myriad’s schedule was mostly for community events. All of this is worth noting, because it means that for about four decades, practically every major moment we experienced as a resident of this city was at the Myriad. The Myriad occupied an emotional place in Oklahoma City life that no venue will ever occupy again. In 2026, we utilize many venues to host that which was once held at the Myriad. And increased demand for national entertainment events and conventions means that community events once held at the Myriad are less likely to occur at its successor venues.
It is probably also worth noting that the prime decades for the Myriad were some of the worst decades in the city’s overall history. From a historical perspective, we can appreciate that. But within that narrative, we were living our lives. The milestones of our individual lives were largely unencumbered by the greater challenges facing our city. And those milestones occurred at the Myriad. Any OKC resident born between 1950 and 1985 is going to have a very long list of personal experiences tied to the Myriad. For me, it will always be the place I graduated high school, took the Bar exam and delivered my first two State of the City addresses. It was where I attended countless memorable athletic events and concerts. It was the focal point of our city’s shared experience. We’ll each carry those warm feelings forward as we experience the glorious new future destined for this site in the heart of our city.
Ed Godfrey is a now-retired longtime reporter at The Oklahoman who shares an unforgettable memory of the Myriad from 26 years ago.
Memories of the Myriad? There are many. I recall a great Whitney Houston concert there in 1987 and a tremendous Reba McEntire performance the following year.
But my most vivid memory came on March 13, 1998. I was the county courthouse reporter for The Oklahoman newspaper and covering a trial when the jury went out to deliberate that afternoon.
I left my pager number with someone in the judge’s office and asked to be paged when there was a verdict. With time to kill, I made the short walk to the Myriad to meet some colleagues from work and go to an NCAA basketball tournament game between 13th-seeded Valparaiso and 4th-seeded Ole Miss.
Thankfully, the jury didn’t reach a verdict before the end of the game, because it allowed me to witness one of the greatest buzzer beaters in NCAA history.
Valparaiso trailed 69-67 with 2.5 seconds left and had to inbound the ball from under its own basket and go the length of the court. I thought the game was over, as I’m sure everybody in the Myriad did.
I mean, how would Valparaiso even get a shot up, other than a Hail Mary, with just 2.5 seconds left? Ole Miss put a defender in front of Valparaiso’s Jaime Sykes, who was inbounding the ball.
Sykes heaved the ball over the halfcourt line to a leaping Bill Jenkins, who caught the pass and tossed it to Bryce Drew, who was streaking beside him, before Jenkins’ feet even hit the floor. Drew caught it and immediately fired up a 23-foot 3-point shot to win the game.
The Myriad erupted. No one could believe what they had just seen. I don’t remember the verdict that day in the trial I was covering. I don’t even remember who was on trial or what it was about.
But I will always remember that shot and the noise in the arena at that moment
Don Mecoy had a long tenure at The Oklahoman as both a reporter and editor, closing out his career as the newspaper’s managing editor.
The Myriad, while incomparable in name only, was a happy place for me. I attended scores of events there over the decades, including graduation ceremonies, sporting events, business conferences and concerts.
I even worked there. As a reporter, I covered a 1991 appearance at the downtown arena by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. I was posted at a table along the front of the stage, with the 12,000 attendees at the National Baptist Conference seated behind me.
At one point, Jackson asked all the men in the arena to stand. I am a man, so I stood.
“Look at all these beautiful Black faces,” Jackson implored the crowd. I am not Black, so I eventually sat back down.
But I digress. My favorite event that I ever attended at the Myriad was a Yes concert. I was a pretty big fan of the prog-rock band. But the performance, delivered from a rotating round stage in the middle of the arena floor, was much better than I had expected.
I even looked it up to make sure my memory hadn’t been faulty. It was indeed at the Myriad on June 5, 1979.
Coincidentally, that’s my wedding anniversary – just 14 years before the fact, and about six years before I even met my wife.
Scott Munn is also an alumnus of The Oklahoman, toiling for decades on the sports desk as both a reporter and an editor.
There were a few people who suggested that I keep a cot in a closet. For a few years in the early to mid-1990s, I was at the Myriad every night of the winter, covering either the Blazers hockey team or the Cavalry basketball team.
The Blazers would play Friday night, the Cavs on Saturday, etc. I was able to see Ryan Minor’s brief stay with the Cavalry before he went on the play baseball for the Baltimore Orioles and become the answer to a trivia question — who replaced Cal Ripken Jr., after he ended the consecutive games played record?
I witnessed Smokin’ Joe Burton develop from a rookie forward into the greatest player in Central Hockey League history. Fights. 10,000 people in the stands almost every game. The atmosphere made you feel like you were at an NHL game.
The Myriad had typical arena smells. Fried onion burgers, hot popcorn and Little Caeser’s Pizza. Even the parking garage under the arena had an odd, indescribable smell, which I think was a combination of automobile fuel and mold.
I really hated to see the Myriad go down. I saw a lot of games, stood for my share of national anthems — both American and Canadian (yes, I can sing “Oh Canada”). I tried to get one of those orange folding chairs from press row, just for memory-sake. But my “connection” never got back to me, so I figure those chairs went to the landfill like the rest of the grand old place.
Larry Newman is retired from a long career in the technology industry, but also worked part time on The Oklahoman’s sports desk while an OU student in the early 1980s.
My favorite memories of the Myriad involved time spent with my dad. We had season tickets to the Oklahoma City Blazers and Stars for about seven seasons in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
We rarely missed a game and enjoyed watching many great players when Oklahoma City was the farm club of the Calgary Flames and Minnesota North Stars.
Dad went to heaven three years ago, but the cherished memories remain vivid.
Steve Buck is a longtime friend, avid sports fan and public servant who worked for two governors and now is CEO of Care Providers Oklahoma.
Growing up in Altus, going to the Myriad was a magical treat. Even as I aged, I could never call it anything but “The Myriad” (sorry Cox). I experienced so many great events from hockey matches to CBA Hoops (Go Calvary!) and NCAA tournaments to State FFA conventions.
But the concerts are the events I remember the most. I saw some great ones, but by far the most historic was the May, 1991 event dubbed as “Farm Fest ’91”. One of my good friends helped organize the event to support our state’s farmers and the line-up of Oklahoma connected country superstars was unbelievable … Garth Brooks. Vince Gill. Restless Heart. Joe Diffie. Just an incredible night of music and an extraordinary reflection of the star power that calls our state home.
Marc Anderson and his wife, Michelle, served as Den Masters to my son’s Cub Scout Pack in the late 1990s.
I moved to OKC in 1991 and as I became entrenched in the community I would attend games at the Myriad with friends. Here are some core memories of the arena:
The May 1999 tornado and being evacuated to the parking garage during the game (Blazers?).
Also, graduations! My son, Reece, graduated in May 2014, daughter Quinn in 2016 and youngest son Beck in 2017, all at the Myriad.
There are some secondary memories, as well. Blazers hockey games, Oklahoma Calvary games and the arena’s final days as the Prairie Sky Studio, because my son, Beck, worked there for two years.
Kent Taylor is another longtime friend who is retired from a career in the oil and gas industry.
As an Okie who grew up watching football, baseball, and basketball, I was introduced to hockey at the Myriad Convention Center. An older couple from our church first invited my wife, Jamie, and me to our first game. Over the years, we attended a number of Blazer games.
I also recall attending the men’s gymnastics competition during the Olympic Festival in 1988 or maybe it was 1989. The Olympic Festival provided the opportunity for Oklahoma City to showcase itself to the country. Maybe the Olympic Festival was the springboard that birthed the renewal of downtown OKC.
Steve Hill served as Chief of Staff to two Oklahoma City mayors, Mick Cornett and David Holt, and before that was a renowned newspaper columnist and cartoonist.
I saw so many great shows at the Incomparable Myriad.
I saw Queen, twice. I also saw ELO, Neil Young, Thin Lizzy, and Whitney Houston. I think tickets were $12 for most of those shows.
I interviewed UB40 in the Green Room at the Myriad. By “interviewed,” I mean recording a conversation fueled by a ridiculous amount of Heinekens.
UB40 was opening for the Police. Mickey Virtue, the band’s keyboard player, told me to come sit on top of the on-stage speaker monitors during their opening set. So I did. Stayed there for the Police, eliciting a funny look from guitarist Andy Summers. Best seats ever.
I was friends with the Cavalry ownership group when the CBA came to OKC. I wound up selecting and playing the music during games.
OKC’s Steve Burtt was checking into a game. As he waited for the ref to motion him in, he told me he liked the baseball cap I was wearing.
“You want it?” I asked.
“Yeah!” He replied.
I tossed him the hat off my head. He grabbed it and ran back to the bench to stow it before checking in.
The CBA.
Best part of the Cavs experience was lunchtime pick-up games on the Myriad court with my buddies Mick Cornett, Dean Blevins, and other media guys.
I forget the OKC Barons played at the Myriad/Cox Convention Center in its latter years — that team was insane with future NHL stars Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and Justin Shultz starting for the Barons. Loved going to Barons’ games.
Russ Florence is a longtime friend, music aficionado, writer and all-around renaissance man who also serves as OKC-based partner, President and CEO of the consulting and PR firm, Schnake Turnbo Frank.
Russ wrote a story for The Oklahoman last year about a 1977 concert experience he had at the Myriad as a 13-year old. Here are some key paragraphs and a link to the entire story on The Oklahoman’s website:
Afterward, Gary and I walked out the north doors of the Myriad, into the downtown streets with thousands of long-haired fans. We were probably the only ones looking for our parents. Neither of us recalled instructions about where to meet them. Just, you know, “find us afterward, somewhere.”
Amidst the revelry and the traffic, we looked toward the corner of Sheridan and Robinson, and Gary pointed. “There they are,” he said. Indeed, there were his parents, idling in their giant Ford LTD, cigarette smoke rolling out of their windows. They didn’t have a care in the world. How did they know when the show would be over? How did they know we would find them? Where did they go while Gary and I were at the concert? I’m envisioning a couple of Crown and Cokes at a dark, wood-paneled restaurant on the city’s west side, or a little beer joint that played George Jones on the jukebox.
“How was she?” Gary’s dad asked.
“He,” Gary said. “Alice Cooper is a ‘he.’ He was good.”
Thanks to these fellow Oklahomans who shared their memories of the Myriad Convention Center built across decades of sports events, concerts, graduations and more. And thank you, Ed, for suggesting this post.
If you have your own memories of attending an event at the Myriad, please share them in comments below.
Aerial view of the brand new Myriad Convention Center in 1972.
I’ve been everywhere, man I’ve been everywhere, man Crossed the desert’s bare, man I’ve breathed the mountain air, man Of travel I’ve a-had my share, man I’ve been everywhere — “I’ve been everywhere” as sung by Johnny Cash
If you ask Stigler, OK, native Hershel Prentice where in the world he’s been lately, he’ll gladly tell you.
“I was in Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Montenegro about a year ago,” he told me.
I listened with awe as Hershel recounted some of his travel experiences as I sat down with him at the home of our mutual friend, Ed Godfrey. Ed, with whom I worked for many years at The Oklahoman newspaper, is also a Stigler native and has known Hershel for even longer.
“I’ve been to about 90 countries so far,” Hershel said. “I’ve stood in Red Square in Moscow. I stood in Tiananmen Square in Beijing and I’ve been on the Great Wall of China.”
Did you catch that? Hershel has visited 90 — 90!– countries around the world. He told me that he lives out of hotels about half the time.
How does this happen, a country boy from rural Oklahoma literally traveling across the nation and the world virtually nonstop for decades?
A couple of things to note: Hershel is retired after 29 years of service with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. A graduate of Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, he has no living immediate family.
Hershel said he often made road trips with his grandparents as a child, which sparked his love of travel, seeing new places and meeting interesting people.
“And I like maps, globes, far away names, Budapest, Istanbul,” he said. “I’d hear those names and knew I would go someday.”
His parents, who owned a trucking firm, are deceased, as well as a sister, his only sibling. He lives in the Stigler house that belonged to his parents, although it seems to be only for temporary respite between trips.
Hershel has a philanthropic side, too, in support of his hometown. He funds a scholarship for Stigler high school graduates to support their college education. And he’s a regular at Shelly’s Cafe whenever he’s in town.
“I’m the first customer,” he said. “5 a.m.”
When I asked Hershel how old he was, he was reluctant to reveal his age.
“I don’t do chronological things, I do situations,” said this International Man of Mystery.
So, what year were you born in?
“Just pick a number.”
All right, 1950. “OK,” Hershel said to the random number that I pulled out of the air. I’ll go with it. That would make him 75 years old, or somewhere in that neighborhood.
Never married, Hershel said he prefers to travel alone.
“Fast and free that way, when you’re alone,” he said.
Yeah, but don’t you get lonely?
“Not really.”
Hershel’s travel is arranged by a Fort Smith, Ark., travel agent. Most of his world travel is done as part of group tours with a set itinerary. That ensures he’s not totally alone on his sojourns, although he said he uses free time to explore on his own.
How has he been treated as an American tourist in all these foreign lands? He says he’s been treated well everywhere and never feared for his safety, including in Cuba, where he went as part of a program arranged by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Here are some fun facts about the International Man of Mystery’s travels both here and abroad:
Hershel has visited all 50 states, visiting famous and little known museums, national parks, Civil War battlegrounds and much more. He’s seen baseball games in all but eight Major League parks, along with dozens of minor leagues parks across the country. He’s been to NBA, NFL and college football games, NASCAR events, toured multiple halls of fame, every presidential library and points of interest like the site of Custer’s Last Stand in Montana or the big ball-of-yarn museum in Kansas. He’s visited every county seat in Oklahoma, as well as in Arkansas.
He’s made friends and met many interesting people along the way. Sometimes, he’s run into fellow Oklahomans in, say, Europe or Asia.
“People that you meet who are visiting Auschwitz, people that would go pay money and time to go do that, they’re gonna be pretty interesting,” he says. “Or you’ll have a common factor. If I meet someone on a trip, I tell them I’ve been by their house, because wherever someone is from, i’ve been by there or near there.”
The most interesting country Hershel has visited?
“Probably Cuba,” he said. “It’s just amazing how they live there, how it was for a long time and how it is now. They don’t have Internet, you couldn’t use a credit card; they didn’t have that infrastructure. We had to use pesos or American money or Euros. They like the Euro more than the dollar.”
He visited Havana, along with the infamous Bay of Pigs, Hemingway’s home, and coastal areas along the island.
I became acquainted with Hershel Prentice a few years ago through Ed when we all went to an OKC Dodgers (now Comets) game together. Hershel’s also a big fan of the OKC Thunder, and sent me a photo of himself at a recent game at Paycom Center. He has called Ed from many museums, ballparks and foreign cities. He often brings him souvenirs from his travels.
Hershel showed me a set of refrigerator magnets decorated to represent the flags of about a half dozen Scandinavian countries. Of course, he’s been to all of them.
So, what’s on Hershel’s travel itinerary for 2026? For now, he’s looking at traveling to Uzbekistan and Kaspiysk, located in former Soviet Union territories and now independent Russian states.
Still, I wanted to know what compels him to stay on the move. His answer was about modes of travel as much as about locations. He likes planes, trains, trolleys, subways.
“Anything that moves,” he said. “I like it when it takes off, that little thrust, the movement. Here we go to a new place, new time, new day, new people. Being free.”
Hershel, you really are the International Man of Mystery.
Hershel Prentice at the Dardenelles Strait in Turkey in 2024.
A screenshot from the 3 Old Geezers recent podcast recording session
Along with my friends Steve Buck and Ed Godfrey, I will celebrate a special anniversary on Nov. 6. Two years ago we launched the 3 Old Geezers podcast, which took years of sport debate via group text messages to a worldwide audio forum.
Steve serves as our host and keeps things on track, while Ed fills the podcast with humor and angry get-off-my-lawn rants about, well, anything and everything. I mainly serve as their foil because my perspective doesn’t fit in their neat little boxes.
I wrote about the 3 Old Geezers podcast back when we started at the end of 2023, and you can read it here.
We have no set agenda each week, except to cover the latest Thunder news, as well as that of other pro and college sports. We also may go off on an occasional non-sports rant.
Here are links to our two most recent episodes so you can discover for yourself what we’re all about. These links are to Apple podcasts, but we’re on Spotify or most places where you listen to your favorite content.
Here’s what my fellow Geezers say about the podcasting experience:
From Geezer Steve: “Having the opportunity to hang out with Jim and Ed regularly is something I cherish. Always spirited. Always funny. Just three guys who love sports bobbing and weaving through a conversation. When the idea surfaced one day that we should record our ramblings, the idea seemed like a natural. So, regardless our listener count, we keep going because its a chance to spend time with good friends. And time with friends is something I am learning to cherish more each and every day.”
From Geezer Ed: “Frankly, I am doing a podcast because I enjoy the company. And after 40 years in the newspaper business, I like telling stories, and now I can tell some whoppers. Besides, I can’t let Geezer Jim’s goofy opinions go unchecked. I enjoy the company and the conversation.”
My reasons for doing the pod are similar to Steve and Ed in that I enjoy hanging with the guys, as well as airing my thoughts on sports subjects, whether they are in line with conventional thinking or not.
For the most part, we’ve kept an every-other-week podcast schedule, except for an extended break we took over the summer, before relaunching the pod on Oct. 17.
We’re committed to posting a new episode weekly throughout the OKC Thunder season, which means we’ll have to do some remote when one or more Geezers are tied up with work or out of town. Episode 45 was recorded with Steve calling in from out of town, so we’re off to a good start.
I hope you listen to and enjoy the sample episodes using the links above. Then subscribe and keep up with our Geezer rants, raves and get-off-our-lawn takes.
The 3 Old Geezers podcast is presented through the generosity of MentaliTEA and Coffee in Bethany. I hope you will visit them and enjoy a coffee or tea and something tasty off their food menu.
Screenshot taken from deep fake video of Ja Morant post-game interview
My wife sent me a video interview she saw last week with Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant that was pretty shocking.
In what appeared to be a post-game interview with the media after the Grizzlies’ loss to OKC, Morant made some outrageous comments. He said that Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was not MVP-worthy, that the Grizzlies had no chance in the series and that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had taken away his motivation.
It was such an eye-opening interview that I forwarded it to my friends Ed, Steve and Casey.
Trouble is that it was a totally fake video created with Artificial Intelligence. Ed tipped me off because he immediately started searching for articles about what Ja had said and found none. Zero.
But I fell for it, and I hang my naive head in shame.
I invite you to click on the video below and tell me that you could spot it as a fake, aside from Ja’s outrageous comments. Ja’s voice and the post-game setting are both realistic.
I find the fact that this fake video was so well done to be disturbing for what it portends about the future. It is part of a growing phenomena commonly known as deep fakes.
The Ja video was pretty harmless, but what if someone created a fake video of a presidential candidate saying incredibly racist things that he or she would never utter?
We can see where this is headed. I’ve read that such videos already exist.
Want an example? The video in this link isn’t exactly a political deep fake, but it that made the rounds shortly after the death of Pope Francis, created around his meeting with Vice President J.D. Vance the day before he died. The creators took an historic meeting and turned it into an attempt at humor that is pretty disrespectful.
Screenshot from Threads of deep fake video of Pope Francis taking a swing at VP JD Vance
I decided to seek an expert’s opinion and reached out to John Hassell, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Software Development and Integration at the University of Oklahoma Polytechnic Institute in Tulsa. If you are not familiar, the Polytechnic Institute is OU’s newest campus that offers a host of technology degree tracts, including Artificial Intelligence.
Dr. Hassell has incorporated AI into software development for the past couple years, and shared his thoughts on the subject with me in a 2024 blog post.
When I asked him about the Ja Morant deep fake, he immediately put me in touch with Colin Torbett, an OUPI student who possesses a master’s degree in data science but is now pursuing another undergraduate degree in cyber security.
“Colin is actually doing research on that very topic now,” Dr. Hassell said.
So, Colin connected with me and shared some thoughts on the emerging flood of AI generated deep fakes.
“These fake videos (but also images and audio recordings) are called ‘deep fakes’ because they use an AI technique called ‘deep learning’ in order to create a fabricated, digital artifact,'” Colin told me. “They are indeed pervasive and I see new ones appear everyday on social media, though I typically find one’s which are humorous, benign, and easy-to-spot as fake. On the other hand, some are more nefarious and easily pass as real at first glance.”
A cyber security major at OU’s Polytechnic Institute campus in Tulsa, Colin Torbett is researching the deep fake phenomenon
Colin described a deep fake he recently saw that claimed to be an interview with a young woman on her dating preferences. Apparently, it was a well done video, but the person holding the microphone for the interview had six fingers. Dead giveaway.
“It does illustrate how pernicious deep fakes can be — and how easily duped anyone can be,” he said. “This can only become a concern for politics especially with all the chaos in the last decade. Obviously, fake video or audio of speeches would be detrimental — if not fatal — for a political career, but would sow discord among voters and the general public.”
My question: how can these deep fakes be more easily detected and even stopped before they are in widespread distribution?
“While there is no immediate antidote to the problem, I am confident that cybersecurity researchers and computer scientists will create digital watermarks and signatures which validate any digital piece of information (video, audio, document, email, etc.) as authentic,” Colin said. “The digital infrastructure and software for these solutions is still in it’s infancy, being developed by startups and university researchers. It might take 5-10 years for this technology to be refined and widely adopted.”
Wait. Five to 10 years for a real solution? The bad guys are going to have quite a head start.
“In the mean time, my only advice (unsolicited, I admit) is to take everything online with a few grains of salt — especially if it confirms something one already believes,” Colin said. “It’s easy to dismiss something if runs contrary to a belief about the world, but being skeptical about information that affirms a deeply held worldview is an effective antidote to confirmation bias, and the deep political entrenchment we see reinforced by social media today.”
Colin has worked for technology-based firms for about a decade, beginning with an internship at OKC’s Spiers New Technologies in 2015. He gained his interest in deepfakes and AI while in graduate school, earning his MS in 2017.
“Since then, deep fakes have exploded and are becoming a serious concern,” he said. “My interest revolves around helping to create a novel solution for a pervasive problem that affects everyone. What I really want to do is what every good engineer wants: to use my skills and science to solve complex problems for the world.”
I hope that one day Colin Torbett leads his own high tech company that creates antidotes to deep fakes and will keep videos like the Ja Morant interview out of my timeline.
Then I won’t get fooled again. Maybe.
BONUS CONTENT: My friend Don Mecoy shared a video with me that provides a deep dive into deep fakes and how they are evolving and their threats to society. Watch the video below:
EDITOR’S NOTE: In what has become an annual column of its own, I look back over BlogOKC in 2024 and list my 10 favorite posts. Not most popular, but those that meant the most to me. I went back and forth, adding some then eliminating them, because each of them meant something to me. I hope you enjoy browsing the list and clicking on the headlines to read the full post. My list of personal favorites also includes a wonderful guest post by my friend, Don Mecoy. Enjoy!
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said the ‘Golden At-Bat’ is being discussed
When I was a young would-be sports writer just out of college working for the Southwest Times Record newspaper in Fort Smith, Ark., my editor sent me out to cover the state small school baseball tournament.
I had not seen much high school baseball through the years, so I was caught by surprise by one particular rule the small schools played by.
It was called the “Courtesy Runner.”
The Bricktown Ballpark scoreboard shows the team’s new name at reveal event.
The Oklahoma City Baseball Club revealed its new name, “Comets,” in a ceremony Saturday evening at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark witnessed by at least a couple thousand enthusiastic fans.
I was among those who showed up for the Big Reveal, so I can attest to the collective cheer that went up when the “Comets” name and logo appeared on the scoreboard screen.
I was not expecting “Comets,” although I’m not sure what I expected. Maybe “Flycatchers,” which my friend Ed Godfrey had predicted as the future team name. Or the “Waving Wheats” or something that related to Oklahoma.
From left, Scott Kirk, Jim Stafford, Peggy Marler, Ron Hadfield, Corliss Hudson Englert, Brad Englert, Cheryl Mann Bacon
Ron Hadfield is a long-time friend who was my student editor on the Abilene Christian University newspaper, The Optimist, in 1977. Ron recently was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the ACU Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony that I was privileged to attend.
I showed up on ACU’s doorstep in 1976 as a transfer student with a dream to some day become a newspaper sportswriter, but with virtually no writing experience.
Ron likes to tell the story that on the first assignment he sent me out on, I turned in some terrible copy and proudly showed him the quotes I made up.
I deny the accuracy of his memory.
Brady Spencer with his son, John, outside Kansas City’s Union Station during the 2023 NFL draft.
A recent update in The Oklahoman newspaper on the new OG&E Coliseum under construction at the State Fairgrounds identified it as a venue designed by a firm named “Populous.”
In an even more recent story, I learned that Populous has been hired to design the new $71 million soccer stadium just south of OKC’s Bricktown.
I think I’m noticing a trend.
So, what exactly is Populous?
Solomon rolls his new backpack up to OKC’s Omni Hotel on Friday morning.
This is what happens when his GiGi is out of town on business and Papa is left in charge of entertainment on a Friday for our grandson, Solomon.
So, when it was just us two early Friday, Solomon said he wanted to go on a road trip. He suggested “the beach” and then Branson.
I said we couldn’t do either of those today, but maybe we could drive up to Guthrie and find a place to eat.
Solomon sort of accepted that, but later told me he wanted to go to that “nice Thunder hotel downtown.” All of us had stayed the night at OKC’s Omni Hotel last year when my wife, Paula, was booked there for a convention meeting.
A black ’65 Mustang that looks exactly as I remember the one driven by my Aunt Dee.
This is a story of the Ford Mustang. Or, rather, two Ford Mustangs. One of them did not have a happy ending, and I was in it.
If you are hazy on your Ford Mustang history, I’ll catch you up to date a bit. The Mustang was conceived by team at Ford led by Lee Iacocca, who later gained fame as the man who saved Chrysler.
The first Mustang was introduced to the public in April 1964, as the “1964-1/2” Mustang. It was an instant hit. The public fell in love with it because it had a unique, sporty body style compared to what U.S. autos had been, which were cars shaped like boxes and quite unattractive.
My dad was among the millions of Americans who were taken by the Mustang and eventually bought one when he was stationed on the island of Okinawa while in the military. I’ll come back to that.
I read a magazine article when I was in college in the 1970s about a scrappy startup called Apple Computer, founded by two guys named Steve who built their first computers in the garage at the home of one of the Steves.
I couldn’t get enough of their story; the David-vs.-Goliath way that Apple blazed the personal computer trail that forced the industry behemoth at the time, IBM, to play catchup. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were my entrepreneurial heroes.
So, I admit that I am a long-time Apple fanboy and remain one today.
But my fandom has run smack into some ugly reality. Apple is no longer the scrappy industry underdog. In fact, it is one of the world’s largest companies by market value. Yet, it has begun to flex its financial muscles like a bully that nobody likes.
Here’s a bit of nostalgia for you. When I walked into the Southwest Times Record newsroom for the first time as an employee in 1978, I encountered a bustling community of talented writers, editors and photographers all scrambling to publish local news seven days a week.
The Fort Smith newspaper was a great place to learn the craft as my first job out of college. There are many folks among my former colleagues there whom I will never forget. I worked at the SWTR for five years in a variety of positions before moving to Oklahoma City and working for The Oklahoman for almost a quarter of a century.
So, it’s been disheartening to watch the SWTR decline as a community force over the past few years as the number of subscribers declined and employees were laid off. It’s a situation not unlike that in many other cities across the nation.
Evard Humphrey and his No. 12 super-modified sprint car
Editor’s Note: Don Mecoy is a friend and former colleague at The Oklahoman who retired as the newspaper’s managing editor at the end of 2022. A recent conversation about sports heroes from our youth when Don was a guest on the 3 Old Geezers podcast sparked his memory about a local race car driver fromthe late 1960s. Don wrote this guest blog post about that driver and those memories.
By Don Mecoy
I had my share of sports heroes when I was a kid. Roger Staubach, Lou Brock, Johnny Bench and Joe Washington were among my faves. But my personal hero — and it truly was personal — was a guy you probably never heard of: Evard “Kerfoot” Humphrey.
Evard was the driver of the No. 12 super-modified sprint car that ran every Friday night at State Fair Speedway during my youth in Oklahoma City.
Advertising banners cover the entire upper deck seating area down the first base line of the Bricktown Ballpark.
I was enjoying a summer evening at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark with a friend last year, savoring the crowd, the game and the park’s immaculate green pasture.
Then my eyes landed on the upper deck along the first baseline that extends out into right field. There were no seats or bleachers visible. Only advertising banners draped across each section.
Don’t get me wrong. Oklahoma City has a beautiful ballpark that has retained its attractiveness since it opened in April 1998. However, the tarps do nothing but detract from the ballpark’s charm.
OKC Thunder City edition uniforms through the years.
Together with my friends Steve Buck and Ed Godfrey, I cohost a podcast known as the 3 Old Geezers.
Steve and Ed are only pretend Geezers, while I am the real deal. Or as Ed says, I live in downtown Geezerville. That’s ageism, Ed!
Anyway, all of us are OKC Thunder fans, and much of our podcast discussion revolves around the team, the players and the potential for success as the season progresses.
We also share an interest in Thunder branding and the various uniform schemes the team uses. For instance, I’m a big fan of the team’s “Sunset” uniform, which might be seen as orange by some folks.
All of which brings me to the annual “City” edition uniform the Thunder unveils as each season begins. The 3 Old Geezers recently critiqued the 2024 City edition. on the podcast (LISTEN!)
Someone suggested that we rank the City edition uniforms from 2017-2024 by our personal preferences. So here are mine, ranked No. 8 to No. 1:
No. 8 2020: I take issue with leaving the word “City” off of a uniform of the team known as the Oklahoma City Thunder. Makes no sense unless you think the folks in Tulsa or Elk City will buy into the team even more than they already do when they see “Oklahoma.”
No. 72021: Not sure what statement a gray-on-white City edition uniform makes, except that it doesn’t stand out to me.
No. 6 2022: I have nothing against this uniform, except the lettering looks too much like what we’ve already seen, And it uses “Thunder” instead of OKC or Oklahoma City.
No. 5 2019: White lettering on a gray uniform doesn’t do much for me. At least it says “Oklahoma City.”
No. 4 2017: I’m just not a fan of racing stripes on a gray background. But it gets extra credit because it says “OKC.”
No. 3 2024: I really like the color scheme but can’t rank this one higher because leaves off the word “City” AGAIN.
No. 2 2018: The lettering and the turquoise make this one of my favorite City edition unis. And I like that it reads “OKC.”
No. 1 2023: I love this City edition version. It’s got orange and yellow trim on the navy jersey with bold orange “OKC”. That’s good enough for me.
Here are the takes from my fellow Geezers:
Steve Buck
Geezer Jim asked Geezer Ed and me to rank our team’s city jersey series. I am not a graphic artist so I’m sure my limited mind has missed some really cool elements that others love, but my rankings fell out pretty darn clearly.
No. 8 2020: Just not much to like on this one. Looks like the packaging to a Hot Wheels car. Points deduction for reading “Oklahoma”
No. 7 2017: I almost moved it higher because the year matched Poku’s number but common sense prevailed. I can’t find any connection to Oklahoma City and it just doesn’t look very sharp.
No. 6 2021: Not awful but not that attention grabbing either. The vertical look makes it somewhat unique but I prefer a bit of color in my uniforms and this is just too blah.
No. 5 2019: Almost crept into my top half of rankings. Like ’21 there is jut not a pop in terms of color but the arched Oklahoma City is just fine with me.
No. 4 2024: First too similar to ’23 so I had to provide some penalty for copying the prior year’s efforts. I like the colors and the detail on the sides are a nice nod to OKC. Speaking of…why didn’t it say Oklahoma City instead of simply using Oklahoma. Like the ’20 version, points deducted.
No. 3 2022: This one could’ve easily been my #2 choice. The blue and red pops against the dark gray. Just a super crisp look that was a wonderful look on the floor.
No. 2 2023: I loved every element of this jersey. The dark blue with all the intricate details was so solid. The accent colors stand out beautifully. The diagonal in motion OKC is really on nice.
No. 1 2018: Yes, the color scheme has nothing to do with our current colors other than a few subtle uses in the accents but the design is fantastic and this jersey screams OKC like none other. It was unique in the league and a true reflection of honor and respect for our community and state. Bring these back. For my votes, this was the hands down winner.
Ed Godfrey No. 8 is the first city edition jersey to not include “City” in the name, the 2020-21 version. Again, they are the Oklahoma City Thunder, not the Oklahoma Thunder. I think the jersey is ugly.
No. 7 is the first city edition jersey, the 2017-18 gray uniform. An orange and blue stripe with the OKC logo above it. Meh.
No. 6 is the simple all white city edition of 2021-22. I’m not a big fan of the all-white look with the OKC logo displayed vertically on the jersey, but it’s OK.
No. 5 2024-25 is the latest city edition jersey. I love the look and the colors that pop. This jersey would rate higher if it had the word “City” on it and not just “Oklahoma.” A city edition jersey without the word city?
No. 4 is the 2023-24 version. I like the vibrant colors of yellow and orange and the design is interesting and artistic.
No. 3 is the 2022-23 City edition jersey. A simple, but solid look with “Thunder” emblazoned across the chest. The “Oklahoma Standard” badge is displayed on the jersey.
No. 2 is the 2019-20 slate gray City edition tribute to the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The gray uniforms with gold lettering and white accents are fantastic.
No. 1: My favorite City edition jersey is the 2018-19 turquoise version that paid tribute to Oklahoma’s Native American heritage. I love the color and the diamond influence in the OKC logo. It’s a sharp look.
So, what’s your favorite and least favorite among the Thunder’s City edition uniforms? Leave your thoughts on the City editions in the comments.
Paula Stafford stands close to the television as the Thunder-Mavericks games plays ojn
Watching the televised Thunder-Dallas game with my wife this past Saturday afternoon turned out to be a personal treat for me.
Not because the Thunder won or lost (they lost).
Paula and I were both disappointed to see our Thunder lose and go down 2-1 in their NBA second round playoff series to the Mavs.
Rather, it was the rare shared experience of watching a game together and being able to see Paula’s passion for the Thunder as the game progressed.
As a fan, Paula is a Thunder veteran. She’s attended a vast majority of Thunder games in the arena since the team relocated here in 2008. This year she saw most of their home games live as she accompanied her mother to the Paycom Center.
I mostly watched from home, and saw only a handful in person.
So, we watched separately most of the time. As for televised out of town games, they are usually played at night when we are trying to wind down and get our 4 year-old grandson in bed for the night.
It’s even worse for the playoffs when start times for NBA Western Conference teams like the Thunder are at 8:30 pm or later.
So Saturday afternoon brought us together in front of the TV for a rare shared watching experience.
Paula made it fun by wearing her passion on the sleeve of her Thunder T-shirt, so to speak.
Before the game, she offered a coaching tip to Thunder coach Mark Daigneault. Send Gordon Hayward out on the court to give Luka Doncic a couple hard fouls early and protect Lu Dort from accumulating fouls.
And when the Thunder have the ball, go hard at Luka, whom she perceives as soft on defense.
Later, we both decided that Hayward wasn’t tough enough to rough up Luka, so we settled on Kenrich Williams as a good matchup.
Daigneault did not heed her coaching tip.
Still, the Thunder hung with the Mavs throughout the game, even taking the lead several times.
Paula took to barking whenever Jalen Williams — J-Dub to fans — made a great play. J-Dub started the barking trend in post-game interviews, and it has spread to fans, even those at home.
As the game progressed, Paula would call her sister or our friend Donna and break down what just happened with them or celebrate a good play. Sometimes, they called her.
She chanted “Let’s go Thunder” periodically like they do in the arena, or “Rebound Thunder!” when they needed a boost.
The phone line was hot. In fact, out of the blue, her sister, JoAnne, suggested that the Thunder put Hayward on Luka to give him some hard fouls.
Where had I heard that?
But the Thunder couldn’t hold off the Mavs in the second half, and Paula was indignant over how the game was called by the refs.
“It’s hard to win when you are having to play against both the Mavericks and the refs,” she said. “Every call has gone Luka’s way because he’s getting star treatment.”
And so it went. I enjoyed watching her reaction as much as the game itself.
When it was over, Paula called her sister and our friend Donna, and they all commiserated over the loss and the unfair star treatment Luka received. The consensus was that Luka is a drama queen. I concur.
As for me, I enjoyed Paula’s enthusiasm for the Thunder to the end of the game and beyond.
Before there was a 3 Old Geezers podcast there was the 3 Old Geezers text exchange, a sort of daily debate over the Thunder and the world at large.
The group included my friends Steve Buck and Ed Godfrey, who disagreed strongly with my stance against tanking — which translates to losing on purpose to get a better draft position — by the Oklahoma City Thunder, or any NBA team, for that matter.
We went back and forth for a couple of years with Steve often reacting with ‘we need to take this debate to a podcast.’ It was a nice thought, but none of us had any podcast experience or equipment.
Then Steve came up with a couple of microphones and technology to connect to a recording device like a computer.
We had no more excuses.
So, last fall we launched the 3 Old Geezers podcast — LISTEN HERE — which has had only moderate success. But it allows us to vent our old man rage in get-off-my-lawn type rants.
Ed’s righteous indignation over perceived ills like bad officiating in college softball or the challenges of new technology have been well worth the effort. His humorous Old Man rants are exactly why I’m participating.
Steve hosts with a steady hand, suggesting appropriate and timely topics, while I’m mostly reacting to what’s been said or forgetting the Mayor’s name or even the web address of this blog. It happens.
Anyway, last week, Steve suggested we include some of our text exchanges in this blog to provide insight into where our material comes from.
Great idea. I’ve gone back through our Geezer text string and come up with some material that has led to blog discussion. Here’s a taste:
JANUARY 9 Jim Stafford: This is from a Geezer’s wife last night after she came home from the game: “I’m so impressed with our coach because of how many players he uses in a game. Instead of using just the starting five with two or three of the same substitutes like our old coaches, he uses a lot of players throughout the game, and you never know which one might come in.”
Ed Godfrey: He will be relying on that bench this month with a heavy slate of games.
Steve Buck: Paula knows. Jim on the other hand yearns for the Scottie Brooks days of predetermined rotations
Jim Stafford: I love Foreman Scottie! He was my favorite coach until Mark Daigneault came along.
Ed Godfrey: WHAT? Daigneault is your favorite coach now? Next thing you know you will be telling us Chet Holmgren is better than Mike Muscala.
Steve Buck: #truth
Jim Stafford: I like Daigneault’s courtside demeanor. Man, you can’t get him flustered. I’m still mulling over Chet vs. Muscala.
Back to reality. Here’s the latest on Muscala that I sent my Geezer partners:
As I said online, it’s a Christmas miracle!
More text debate:
JANUARY 29 Ed Godfrey: They changed the comics today. No Shoe! No B.C.! No Wizard of Id! Who wants Pearls Before Swine? Non Sequitor? Jump Start?
Jim Stafford: Welcome to the 21st Century
Ed Godfrey: Who reads newspapers? People from the 20th Century!
Screenshot
So, are you getting the drift? The Geezer text stream never ends. Here’s one more for good measure:
FEBRUARY 20
Ed Godfrey: Just asked Alexa to play Eddie’s playlist again. She played an Eighties playlist. I give up.
Steve Buck: What exactly is on Eddie’s playlist?
Ed Godfrey: Chris Stapleton, Tyler Childers, Turnpike
Troubadours, Johnny Cash, Coltor Wall, Zach Bryan.
Steve Buck: Yeah…no overlap with 80’s lol
Screenshot
So, there you have it. Our failures to communicate in unending text rants found their place in a podcast.
New Seattle Supersonics owner Clay Bennett showcases a Sonics jersey after purchasing the NBA franchise in 2006.
EDITOR’S NOTE: When it was announced in July 2006 that a group of investors from Oklahoma City had purchased the Seattle Supersonics NBA franchise, everyone in OKC knew what that meant. The team would relocate to Oklahoma City sooner or later. Probably sooner. That happened in 2008. Sorry Seattle. I was working in The Oklahoman newsroom at the time as a Business News reporter, and hit upon the idea of buying some potential Internet domain names that the future OKC Sonics (we thought) might want. Then I could sell the rights to that domain name to the team owners for a nice profit. Buy low, sell high. It didn’t work out, but I did get a nice story out of my brief tenure as an Internet domain name squatter. It was published as a column in The Oklahoman back in 2006. And that was the sole purpose of buying a domain name. This is that story.
By Jim Stafford
Like a tsunami traveling across hundreds of miles of ocean, it didn’t take long for ripples from last week’s $350 million acquisition of the Seattle SuperSonics to wash into Oklahoma.
A group of Oklahoma businessmen now own the Sonics, and less than a day after the deal was announced another group of enterprising Oklahomans spotted opportunity in a possible relocation of the team to the Sooner State.
We huddled in The Oklahoman newsroom.
A colleague I’ll call “Don” suggested that we research available Internet domain names using such words “Oklahoma, OKC, Sonics and Super-Sonics.” We could pool our resources and buy up the most promising real estate.
“I’m in,” I told him. The new team owners will need some prime Internet real estate if they relocate to Oklahoma, and we wanted to own it when they got here.
So began a race not unlike the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889, although the mode of transportation this time was a high-speed Internet connection. Using the domain broker GoDaddy.com, we did a search of virtually every combination of Oklahoma, OKC, Oklahoma City, Sonics and Super-Sonics.
Apparently, some Sooners had already anticipated the deal and staked out some virtual land before we got into the race. Names like oklahomasonics.com, okcsonics.com and sonicsokc.com were all gone. Even okiesonics.com was no longer available.
We settled on okc-sonics.com as the best of the unclaimed property. We formed a 50-50 partnership and sealed the deal through GoDaddy. Total investment: $9.40.
When word spread that a pair of Internet real estate moguls inhabited the newsroom, several of our colleagues began clamoring to join the investment group. They wanted in for $1 each, but Don and I decided the value already had risen beyond the original purchase price.
We decided to expand our investment empire the next day and claim another domain name. This time we went for sonics-okc.com. Another $9.40.
An editor who heard of our venture happened to wander by the business news desk. What were our intentions in owning these domain names, he inquired.
We’re not going to hold anybody up, we assured him. If the new owners of the Sonics want one of these domain names for the team’s Web site, we’ll demand nothing more than season tickets for each of us. And our spouses. On the floor. Plus parking.
The editor decided to play devil’s advocate. “Let me ask you this,” he said. “On whose computer and whose time did you make this deal?”
Gulp. The devil IS in the details.
Uh, we only took this move to assure the new Oklahoma owners that prime domain names will be available to them if they need it. Just kidding about the season tickets. HA! HA! We won’t really need to be on the floor anyway. And we can pay for our own parking.
Meanwhile, Don began looking for a possible exit strategy. He located the domain name auction site afternic.com where homesolutions.com recently brought a bid of $9,210. Therapy411.com reeled in a $2,000 bid.
Suddenly, new opportunities seem possible. We will wash our hands of this Sonics deal just as soon as our auction is over.
The auction won’t end until our reserve price is reached. We will set it just high enough to cover a pair of season tickets. Parking included.
Afterward, Gary and I walked out the north doors of the Myriad, into the downtown streets with thousands of long-haired fans. We were probably the only ones looking for our parents. Neither of us recalled instructions about where to meet them. Just, you know, “find us afterward, somewhere.”
No. 8 2020: I take issue with leaving the word “City” off of a uniform of the team known as the Oklahoma City Thunder. Makes no sense unless you think the folks in Tulsa or Elk City will buy into the team even more than they already do when they see “Oklahoma.”
No. 7 2021: Not sure what statement a gray-on-white City edition uniform makes, except that it doesn’t stand out to me.
No. 6 2022: I have nothing against this uniform, except the lettering looks too much like what we’ve already seen, And it uses “Thunder” instead of OKC or Oklahoma City.
No. 5 2019: White lettering on a gray uniform doesn’t do much for me. At least it says “Oklahoma City.”
No. 4 2017: I’m just not a fan of racing stripes on a gray background. But it gets extra credit because it says “OKC.”
No. 3 2024: I really like the color scheme but can’t rank this one higher because leaves off the word “City” AGAIN.
No. 2 2018: The lettering and the turquoise make this one of my favorite City edition unis. And I like that it reads “OKC.”
No. 1 2023: I love this City edition version. It’s got orange and yellow trim on the navy jersey with bold orange “OKC”. That’s good enough for me.
Jim Stafford's BlogOKC 