The Oklahoma City Thunder this week revealed the new name of the franchise's D-League team, and it's safe to say the reaction was not what the team was expecting.
The D-League franchise formerly known as the Asheville Altitude and the Tulsa 66ers has relocated to Oklahoma City and was rebranded the Oklahoma City Blue.
And the city isn't all that the Blue share with the Thunder. The two teams also have basically the same logo design:
Hope they didn’t pay for that logo MT @UniWatch: Thunder’s new D-League team will be called the Blue pic.twitter.com/sIqC87VkYU
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) September 24, 2014
Not that the D-League is home to the greatest team names around -- it includes the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Iowa Energy and the Los Angeles D-Fenders -- but the new name for Oklahoma City's team was not received warmly on Twitter:
Finally, a job for Tobias Funke: Oklahoma City Blue mascot. pic.twitter.com/6isXSHmiL5
— Mike Prada (@MikePradaSBN) September 24, 2014
A: Oklahoma City Blue
Q: What did you think of Oklahoma City when you passed through it?
— Andy Glockner (@AndyGlockner) September 24, 2014
That new OKC Blue logo is something... pic.twitter.com/R8AME1PfE3
— Dan Levy (@DanLevyThinks) September 24, 2014
Gonna be totes awkward when the PA announcer asks, "Whose ball is it?"...
... "Blue ball!" #OKCBlue
— Jon Hamm (@JonMHamm) September 24, 2014
Sorry, guys. It was the best/worst I could do during my lunch break. #OKCBlue pic.twitter.com/QqmbHNEU0i
— Caleb Saenz (@calebjsaenz) September 24, 2014
I thought it couldn't get worse than NYK holding a contest and then naming their D-League team the Knicks, but here comes OKC with the Blue.
— Jared Dubin (@JADubin5) September 24, 2014
Oklahoma City Blue Meanies would have been better pic.twitter.com/VVFfHpMY3v
— Paul Flannery (@Pflanns) September 24, 2014
In case anyone was interested, here's the real reason the team is called the Blue:
"Blue is one of our primary Thunder colors, but it has become more than just a color for us," Brian Byrnes, Thunder senior vice president of Sales and Marketing told the team's website. "It has come to represent the passion, loyalty and unity of our fans and our community in their support for our team. Our players wear it proudly on their uniforms, our fans sport Thunder blue shirts, Thunder blue flags fly across Oklahoma and our statewide Blue Alliance fan groups show their connection to our team and what it stands for."
