If one was an Oklahoma City Thunder fan in attendance at the game against the San Antonio Spurs, they would likely consider it team spirit -- even solidarity.
But to others, at least yours truly, it was sort of spooky.
That would be the color scheme the fans sported in Chesapeake Energy Arena, home of the Thunder.
One entire section was clad in blue shirts, the next in white, and they alternated all the way around the building.
That begs a few questions ---- how does such a phenomenon come to be?
Are we to believe every person in every seat is a season ticket holder? Does the team pre-mail them to their most faithful followers with instructions to wear blue/white to any given game, depending on which section their seats are in?
Perhaps they're handed out at the various entry gates upon arrival. The ticket takers check which section a fan's seat is in and gives him/her either white/blue. Who knows?
What we DO know is the fans fall in line like lemmings -- or your average hard-core Republican or Democrat partisan. They don't know why they're marching up a cliff only to plunge to their doom or vote for certain candidates (sometimes eerily similar) -- they just do -- because they're "supposed" to. The team or party said so, and that's good enough for them. Did I mention spooky?
For the sake of argument, let's assume these shirts are handed out at the arena when fans show up for the game. But that begs more questions. If the fans already know they're going to get assigned shirts to don for the game, what are they wearing when they show up? Something else they pull the blue or white shirt over? Or are they bare chested or in bras only?
And what might happen if a fan had already plopped down the big bucks for a playoff ticket, but decided not to fall in line and didn't wear the shirt he/she was assigned? Would they be escorted out of the arena and flogged for insubordination?
Perhaps we'll never know, because participation appeared to be unanimous. One section all blue, the next all white, and repeated all the way around. It's probably a good thing the Thunder wasn't handing out white robes with tall pointy white hats to all those entering the arena. Such a clannish spectacle would have created quite the media buzz, not to mention being somewhat intimidating to many of the players.
But one never knows what a team will come up with next in the way of silly promotions. They DO know their fans are typically easily led by the nose and will buy into just about anything -- or wear anything they think somehow supports their team.
Alas, despite the Okies dutifully donning their white and blue to go watch their millionaires play, their team would go down in Game 3 to defeat at the hands of the Spurs.
Did they get to keep the shirts on the way out or are they taken back to be re-issued to the next crowd? Unknown.
Hey, if they want to do something original, surely Thunder management can come up with something more imaginative for Game 4 then blue and white shirts by section. Do it by individual seats with every shirt fitting into a grand color scheme.
How about something in a paisley? Or a giant gaping Kardashian butt that looks like it might snap shut on the whole court at any second. Now, THAT would be original. Scary for sure, but a lot more interesting than blue and white.
Parting thought. The Thunder plays in Oklahoma City -- right? So how did they wind up naming their home building Chesapeake Energy Arena? Last time I looked, Chesapeake Bay was still on the east coast. You know, Maryland, Virginia, and that area. It's a mighty long ways from Okieland. So what were they thinking?
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