Thunder vs. Bedlam Rivals: The people have voted

[OUHoops]

http://blog.newsok.com/berrytramel/2012/02/16/thunder-vs-bedlam-rivals-the-people-have-voted/

Thunder vs. Bedlam rivals: The people have voted
Posted by Berry Tramel
on February 16, 2012M at 12:30 pm

ESPN ran an interesting poll the other day. It asked viewers/readers to vote on which in-season sports interests them the most at this time of year.

Here are the results: NBA 37 percent, college basketball 36 percent, National Hockey League 15 percent, soccer six percent, other six percent. Total votes cast: 159,351. So that’s a pretty big base.

But here’s what’s fascinating. In Oklahoma, 1,294 votes were cast. And the NBA outscored college basketball 65 percent to 19 percent. That’s an amazing disparity in a place where just four years ago there was no NBA basketball. A place where just five years ago there had never been NBA basketball.

And the Oklahoma devotion to the NBA was the biggest of any state.

That’s wild. Places where the NBA has a good stronghold and where college hoops aren’t all that hot – Texas, Oregon, California – don’t have the percentage of devotion to the pros that Oklahoma had, according to the poll.

Now, if the Thunder loses steam in the coming years, that could change. If OSU and OU return to their winning ways of yesteryear, that could change. If in five years Kevin Durant is a Knickerbocker and Russell Westbrook is a Laker, all bets are off.

But for now, this is a valuable lesson for the college programs. They’ve got to scratch and claw to get back into relevancy. They’ve got to be more competitive. They’ve got to be as consumer-friendly as possible. They’ve got to look out for their sport as a whole, everything from scheduling to rule changes, and make sure college hoops attracts new fans and lures back old fans.

It’s a perfect storm for the downward spiral of college basketball. College football remains supreme at OU and has gotten there at OSU, too. The Thunder is an NBA title contender with a bevy of likable superstars. The Bedlam rivals stink in hoops. We saw that in the most recent weekly television ratings for Oklahoma City: the top three sports telecasts for the week were Thunder games, all played out West with 9:30 p.m. (Oklahoma time) tipoffs. The college basketball games were nowhere to be found.

It won’t be easy to emerge from such a malaise.

 

[AdaSooner]

OUCH! The upswing in fan support for the Thunder couldn't have come at a worse time for OU and OSU. :facepalm

 

[SoMuchDramaInTheLNC]

Well, don't hire ****ty coaches and lose all the time. (not referring to LK)

 

[SoopaSooner]

College hoops has lost it's star power. If a player is good their in the league in one or two years. You have a bunch of teams filled with good but not great players and the product isn't what it could be. I don't see it changing unless a rule is made.

 

[ousooners1baby]

So what? It's like a new toy. The new will wear off a little. It is magnified with a good NBA team and crappy ball being played at the collegiate level.

 

[Swans]

Professional rasslin would outpoll the real thing at the college level also. I'll stick with real basketball.....especially when it returns to Lloyd Noble.

 

[thebigabd]

So what? It's like a new toy. The new will wear off a little. It is magnified with a good NBA team and crappy ball being played at the collegiate level.

The NBA will never lose its star power, because that is where the stars play.

You can pay money to go watch Kevin Durant, or you can pay money to go watch Cameron Clark. Guess who wins that battle.

 

[NickZepp]

Yep if we had college ball like we had 10 years ago with both OU and OSU and were consistently that good we would see both schools sell out regularly. But both schools have just had big downfalls.

 

[ousooners1baby]

I beg to differ big. If KD wasn't around and the team was still 23-59 the crowd would be less than supportive. Ask Seattle why their team left. I am not saying no one would go, just less people. Then more would probably frequent other events.

I personally would rather go watch the team that I root for 365 days a year, no matter what sport, than go watch a show. Don't get me wrong I like NBA basketball. I just like OU better. I like the Thunder but I root for the Clippers when they play. why, because of Blake Griffin and his personality. Also has a little to do with the University of Oklahoma.

So Boomer

 

[MsProudSooner]

I beg to differ big. If KD wasn't around and the team was still 23-59 the crowd would be less than supportive. Ask Seattle why their team left. I am not saying no one would go, just less people. Then more would probably frequent other events.

I personally would rather go watch the team that I root for 365 days a year, no matter what sport, than go watch a show. Don't get me wrong I like NBA basketball. I just like OU better. I like the Thunder but I root for the Clippers when they play. why, because of Blake Griffin and his personality. Also has a little to do with the University of Oklahoma.

So Boomer

Sooner!

+1