OKC Thunder Stealing Warriors Mascot
The mascot in questionIf and when the new Oklahoma City NBA franchise confirms this afternoon that they are indeed going to be called “The Thunder,” they will apparently be stealing the name of the Golden State Warriors mascot.
Matt Steinmetz of The Examiner isn’t having any of it:
The NBA team in Oklahoma City will get its official nickname on Wednesday, and all indications are that it will be “Thunder.”
That’s right: Thunder.
That decision probably didn’t sit well with the Golden State Warriors. Not to mention the guy who wears the suit.
Why?Because “Thunder” is the name of the official Warriors team mascot - NBA-approved, by the way.
Not only that, the image of Thunder is prominent in the Warriors’ primary logo - the one with him holding the lightning bolt above the word “Warriors.”
The Warriors - like all teams - have a secondary logo, and theirs is called the “flying W,” which is the one with a lightning bolt ripping through the “W,” superimposed on a basketball.
Interestingly, the Warriors use the “flying W” logo more frequently than their primary logo with Thunder.
But that doesn’t just mean you cast him aside, right?
It will be interesting to see how the NBA handles this little issue … if at all. Can it really have a team in one city with the nickname of “Thunder,” and an official NBA mascot for another team named “Thunder?”
That doesn’t seem right. Unless there’s some kind of trade brewing.
Let’s put it this way, the Warriors better be getting something out of this. And hopefully it’s not at the expense of the guy in the suit.
Source: Examiner.com
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:12 am
Michorizo says:
Change the mascot’s name to “Chocolate Thunder”
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:16 am
chrisGO says:
damn, first they steal Seattle’s team and now Golden State’s mascot…what next- Detroit’s PA guy?
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:24 am
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
Thunder is such a lame name. I hope they’re color scheme is not equally lame or I don’t see anybody outside of OKC buying that gear.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:26 am
it aint easy being green says:
the “thunder” sounds like either a wnba team name, or the name they would give a team in some lame movie
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
chrisGO says:
post #4
yeah, i know what you mean. like one of those names given to a team in one of those video games without an NBA License…word to Double Dribble
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 am
loganlight says:
I’m pretty disapointed with the name… No logo or color scheme can really make it cool. They should have gone with the Barons.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:04 am
ERIC says:
Barons or Marshalls would have been much cooler
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:06 am
ERIC says:
Not to mention, in an interview, Clay Bennett said his preference was to have the team name end with an “s”. I guess he didnt get his wish this time around.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:23 am
J Tok says:
The Thunder, sounds like a D-League team with Chris Gatling and Shawn Kemp as their starting front court.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:30 am
QuEst?? says:
just make a chinese bootleg version of the mascot, invert the colors and call it lightning
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
dukesman2000 says:
So what, change the freaking mascots name. Who cares about GS anyway? When Boom Dizzle left the fans did too.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
blah says:
it would be cool if they’ve been purposely leaking all this thunder stuff just to get everyone to hate it so much, that the actual name is good by comparison- no matter what it is. That would be a smart marketing move.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:50 am
that's whats up says:
yeaaaahhhh boooooyyyyy!!!
Their cheerleaders are called “The Thunder Thighs”!!!
Buffet is open !!!
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:57 am
hahns says:
should have been the okc barons
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
It almost is a D League name. The Albuquerque D League squad is named the Thunderbirds. In fact, that’s a better name than Thunder. Their logo isn’t that bad either. Funny their cheer squad is called the Storm Chasers. Probably because they’re so ugly they chase away the weather.
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Prof. TX says:
It’s pretty clear that Stern will let his friends do whatever they want. If you can steal a team, you can certainly steal a mascot.
Here’s another question, why is this team still in the same division with teams like Portland? Shouldn’t there be some realignment from the new location?
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Celts Fan says:
Here’s a thought, get a better team name. Thunder is AWFUL.
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
HATE!!!! says:
OKC OUTLAWS WOULD’VE BEEN THE BETTER NAME. WOULD’VE MADE FOR A BETTER MASCOT TOO.
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Drink The Haterade (Kobe Rocks) says:
I think on NBA2K7 they had a team with the thunder logo. I am almostg positive. Good catch 5
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
shake&bake says:
So they stole the Warriors thunder.
LOL @ #13 - Thunder Thighs: The NBA needs some thick cheerleaders.
I agree with #18 - Outlaws is much better.
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Brown says:
Shouldn’t the fan backlash at this stupid name mean something to David Stern. Fans ain’t gonna give two shits about this team. They’ll be on the same level as Memphis. There’s gonna be more yellow and green Durant jerseys in the crown than whatever lame colors they end up choosing.
@dukesman2000
Warriors fans are die-hard. We have to be with all the shit the organization puts us through. We ain’t left, we just might not go to the games as much if they’re worse this year than last.
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:03 pm
206 says:
OKC BOMBERS FTW…LOL
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Meica says:
Ugh. Well, hopefully this could mean that Golden State might consider going back to their pre-Mullin/Hardaway days when they had the coolest basketball uniforms of all time. What does “Thunder” have to do with the Warriors (let alone San Francisco/Oakland) anyway?
Didn’t NBA.com accidentally list OKC as the Bandits on their schedule?
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Kobeef says:
@ChrisGO
Good point. Maybe they should be called the OKC Criminals with all the theivery that is going on here.
This name sucks. Of all the icons for a team in OKC this has to be the least unique or complimentary option. Bisons, Barons, Marshalls all had at least some historic connection to the city. Last time I checked thunder has occured outside of OKC.
And also, why do teams use the lightning bolt for “thunder” - thunder is the sound, lighting is the flash…idiots.
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:57 pm
fatty says:
bring back the city jerseys
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Michorizo says:
What about the tsunamis?
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Ashlov says:
The Warriors have one of the worst jerseys/logos in the NBA. They need to change that crap anyhow.
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Bombastar32 says:
What’s next the Las Vegas Lightning? A lil thunder and a lil lightning.
LAME!!!!
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:11 pm
ya boy says:
Bombastar, you crack me me up.Wait till the NBA expands to Europe. You gon absolutely love that thunder and lightning compared to the new beijing sunflowers,moscow smirnoffetes,and the incredible polish wintereezes.