The Blake Show 2015-16

[BCSooners]

He is off to a monster start. I think people are getting mixed up on the discussion regarding Blake. Some are saying they just aren't the biggest Blake fan. I could be wrong but I don't think anybody questioned his playing abilities. I just stated early in his career the flopping and constant complaining he did was weird since I don't remember him ever doing that at OU. Since it was Blake and he's from OU I continued to be a fan of his and love his maturation as a player. If he wasn't an OU player I would have disliked him early on, like I do Chris Paul.

 

[TINY]

Theres no bigger fan of Blake, the thunder, and the Sooners than me. You can love all 3, I promise!

 

[usedtobe1]

Theres no bigger fan of Blake, the thunder, and the Sooners than me. You can love all 3, I promise!

Agreed

 

[skyvue]

He is off to a monster start. I think people are getting mixed up on the discussion regarding Blake. Some are saying they just aren't the biggest Blake fan. I could be wrong but I don't think anybody questioned his playing abilities. I just stated early in his career the flopping and constant complaining he did was weird since I don't remember him ever doing that at OU. Since it was Blake and he's from OU I continued to be a fan of his and love his maturation as a player. If he wasn't an OU player I would have disliked him early on, like I do Chris Paul.

I'd say someone claiming the Thunder's success is more relevant to OU than Blake's is mixed up. I'd say anyone focused on Blake's purported "whining" while ignoring any number of other players (especially Russell Westbrook) who do it as much as Blake ever has is mixed up.

 

[usedtobe1]

I enjoyed the announcers last night commenting on Blake. On one play where Blake got scraped across the eye, an announcer said Blake probably got fouled as much as anyone in the NBA without getting the calls...... because of his aggressive style.

Later, one announcer asked if Blake was the best player in the league. The other announcer said maybe if Stephen Curry wasn't playing so well.

Another time they commented that Blake was an all-star each of his first 5 years, and not many players can say that (e.g. KD). Of course, he got to "redshirt" his first year in the NBA.

He's turned into a heck of a player.

 

[Northbase]

Theres no bigger fan of Blake, the thunder, and the Sooners than me. You can love all 3, I promise!

This. Boomer!:OU-logo:

 

[MO]

Long term, I won't persist in being argumentative. That would seem disrespectful to the purpose of this board. Nevertheless, for time being, let's explore this issue a bit. OU basketball has a lingering problem. The problem is me, the many, many more like me and the many, many more like that will be made in the future. Keep in mind, I'm talking about fans in the house.

I went back and added it up. My first year with season tickets was 1979, the last year of Dave Bliss. I bought my last season tickets for OU for the 2008-2009 season. I also bought season tickets that year for the Thunder, just to get in line. I gave all of them away except 2 games, because frankly, my loyalties were to OU. In 30 years, I missed three OU games, once with the flu during Kelvin's reign and the nights I went to see Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant play in OKC in 2008-2009. My point is it doesn't get much more dedicated than that. OU would be well served to listen to the point of view.

OU simply can not stand pat on this "tradition" they peddle. The people on this board are purists and loyalists, but they probably do not approximate the average fan. OU needs to get innovative to draw interest from a wider audience. OU needs a new arena. One with plenty of eating establishments around it. They need freaking NEW music at the games and for heaven's sake change it from time to time. To be extremely radical, OU needs to take "making money" out of the equation. Get ticket prices down to a point for every game, so you can create a new generation of fan. Make them $2 a seat, night in night out.

The bottom line is the Thunder play more competitive and exciting games. Their games are much more fun. And, don't give me crp about the NBA and the type of game. The NBA showcases the best athletic version of the sport.

The point is OU needs to accept the Thunder as competition and build events that deliver as much fun. It can be done. They just aren't doing it. I fully appreciate what Lon has accomplished. I wandered over there the other day to see what they had. He's done a great job, but putting together the team possible in OU's current program energy is not enough. Take the Thunder straight on and build a completely new product at OU. It's great to experience a high end steak house, but if the tacos are done right, the Mexican food place can be great, too.

Be the first college team to create a completely new experience. Recruiting will skyrocket and donor money will follow. I was donor money for thirty years, but OU insisted on serving me the same old tacos.

 

[BCSooners]

I'd say someone claiming the Thunder's success is more relevant to OU than Blake's is mixed up. I'd say anyone focused on Blake's purported "whining" while ignoring any number of other players (especially Russell Westbrook) who do it as much as Blake ever has is mixed up.

I'm not talking about thunder vs OU, I'm talking about BG. I hate all the whining in the NBA, just glad BG seems like he's picking his spots now instead of all the time.

 

[BigTime]

Good Lord. All this thread is supposed to be is for those interested in tracking Blake Griffin.

OU is not trying or is not going to outcompete the OKC Thunder. It's apples to oranges. Luckily there is enough around for both to co-exist. OU does need to downgrade its seating capacity for both men's and women's basketball but we've known that for years.

MO,

It sounds like your mind is made up. OU is not going to do the same stuff as OKC. Lol it's the freakin NBA.

Myself and many other OU basketball fans are going to enjoy this season and it is almost universal that Lon Kruger is doing great work and putting out an enjoyable product made up of respectful, hardworking, scholarly young men.

 

[skyvue]

The people on this board are basketball fans who have an attention span longer than 30 seconds and therefore don't need to every single second of their two+ hours in the arena filled with extraneous distractions.

Fixed that for you.

I will say you really think outside the box: OU must build a new arena AND charge just $2 a ticket? That would be a quite a miraculous feat, no?

Enjoy your Thunder games. Honestly, fans like you who can only complain about the college hoops experience even when the team is in the top ten nationally are better off focusing on the circus that is Thunder games. I'm almost looking forward to the day the Thunder are just a middling team (or worse). You guys won't know what to do with yourselves.

 

[MO]

Fixed that for you.
.

Hey brother, that doesn't seem quite right to fabricate a quote from me.

You might ask why my rant. I went to the scrimmage the other day. From an attendance point of view, it was embarrassing. I think I was one of 10 people on the sign up sheet for the autographed basketball. People can continue to talk from afar about Griffin's importance to the program and interest in all the teams, but in house interest still appears to be a big problem. That needs to be fixed. Wouldn't that be good from both our perspectives regardless of how diverse.

 

[BigTime]

Hey brother, that doesn't seem quite right to fabricate a quote from me.

You might ask why my rant. I went to the scrimmage the other day. From an attendance point of view, it was embarrassing. I think I was one of 10 people on the sign up sheet for the autographed basketball. People can continue to talk from afar about Griffin's importance to the program and interest in all the teams, but in house interest still appears to be a big problem. That needs to be fixed. Wouldn't that be good from both our perspectives regardless of how diverse.

I am glad you went to the scrimmage. It was not highly publicized. There was no write up on SS.com about it. It was not ideal to attract fans for several reasons. There were 8k at the Greek/Pep Rally/Dunk contest the night before so I'm sure the recruits had a good time.

college basketball is not going to outcompete the NBA. Period.

Your posting history shows you complaining about this kind of stuff for several years. We get it. You aren't happy.

I am not sure why you feel the need to vent this on a Blake Griffin thread. Feel free to start your own.

 

[skyvue]

Hey brother, that doesn't seem quite right to fabricate a quote from me.

You might ask why my rant. I went to the scrimmage the other day. From an attendance point of view, it was embarrassing. I think I was one of 10 people on the sign up sheet for the autographed basketball. People can continue to talk from afar about Griffin's importance to the program and interest in all the teams, but in house interest still appears to be a big problem. That needs to be fixed. Wouldn't that be good from both our perspectives regardless of how diverse.

I wasn't fabricating a quote from you, and everyone here understands that. FIFY (or Fixed It for You) is an (admittedly snarky) meme frequently seen on boards like this one to respond to a previous post. I'm surprised you've never encountered it before.

You've gone over to the other side. You're a Thunder fan above else, to the degree that you expect OU, a collegiate program, to mirror the NBA experience. And somehow OU's supposed to do that while charging $2 a ticket AND building a new arena in a mystical, mythical neighborhood that is easily accessed, has plenty of amenities and also boasts a undeveloped area big enough for a basketball arena.

As for attendance at the scrimmage, if you had season tickets for 30 years, then you know full well that the OU fanbase isn't yet thinking basketball. It's football season, and football is still king at OU (and throughout the state of Oklahoma, frankly). The basketball program should continue to strive to improve that situation, but it's an uphill battle of Sisyphean proportions and always has been.

 

[MO]

The LNC was ever bit as electric with some of Billy's teams as Chesapeake Arena is now with the Thunder. OU can compete with the NBA. They just can't do so with old thinking. OU fans can't do so by knocking the Thunder. Oh well, I thought I should say what OU is doing is not working, regardless how good a job Kruger is doing. I'll leave the discussion.

Thanks for the reply, Skyvue. No I never knew what that meant, but gee I am 66 years old

 

[skyvue]

The LNC was ever bit as electric with some of Billy's teams as Chesapeake Arena is now with the Thunder.

The LNC was often electric during Tubbs' tenure, and it often is now. But at no point in OU hoops history, including the Tubbs era, did a barely publicized basketball scrimmage on the morning of a home football game day ever draw many Sooner fans.

 

[Sooner04]

The LNC was often electric during Tubbs' tenure, and it often is now.

Let me preface this by saying that I've missed about ten home games since I secured my driver's license in 1998:

I taped a bunch of the Tubbs games when Sooner Sports TV offered them on Uverse 1751 last winter. Nothing we've done in the last ten years even sniffs the atmosphere of the Tubbs heyday. Nothing we've done in the last ten years comes close to the atmosphere during Kelvin's early tenure.

It's a different time, a different student body and, really, a different sport.

Not saying the joint was bouncing for every game back then, because we all know it wasn't. All I'm saying is our best now is not close to our best back then. I do not like the Thunder (I was and still am a Sonics fan), but I've got no problem admitting they've developed a great home-court over their brief existence.

What a great thread this would be for the NBA board.

 

[BigTime]

04,

Thoughts on Blake Griffin?

 

[Sooner04]

Great player. Way too much flopping. Way too much complaining to the officials.

Probably tied to the fact that he spends a lot of time around Chris Paul, who I view as the punk of punks in the NBA.

 

[skyvue]

It's a different time, a different student body and, really, a different sport.

Fair enough. I've caught only the occasional home game over the years, living out of state as I do. But I watch every game on TV, and the atmosphere at LNC's been pretty darned ramped up plenty of times over the years.

But even if we agree that you're right, then for fans like MO (and he's not alone) to repeatedly cite the excitement of the Tubbs era as if it's replicable today is a bogus argument. If it is such a different time, student body and even sport as you claim, then the atmosphere at LNC needs to be judged by today's standards, not those of 30 years (or more) ago (or of an NBA team that is headquartered in downtown OKC).

Tubbs had some of the same things going for him that the Thunder has today. In addition to fielding very talented teams, he and the Thunder both benefited from being the new game in town, the shiny object that attracted lots of attention. OU had not been good in decades (we had a couple of upticks in the 1970s, but they were relatively minor and didn't generate much of a buzz), so when Tubb's teams were suddenly winning and winning big (and with an extravagant and exciting new style of play), it generated a lot of excitement.

But no one's going to match that today. No OU team can be the new shiny object of distraction that the Thunder are and Tubbs' '80s team were. Sampson couldn't (he had a good chunk of our fans complaining almost from the jump, simply because he wasn't playing Billyball; many still haven't forgiven him for that).

But no one's playing Billyball today, so if that's what it takes to create a level of excitement sufficient to please the likes of MO and other "fans" who are distracted by the Thunder's three-ring circus, then it's a lost cause. True fans are satisfied by winning basketball, played and coached well, and we certainly have that now.

I don't even know what to say to (or about) someone who complains about the music that gets played at OU games, the lack of shopping options near LNC, and the fact that tickets cost more than $2 a pop.

 

[MO]

Come on now, you still talking about me. I'd be perfectly happy to discuss those points, but I disengaged from the conversation as per request.

How does Blake look this year? Decent, I suspect, not that it will matter.