Contest: Name the Oklahoma City NBA Team!

Another contest from American History Y? One of the most appalling sports stories of recent years (and that’s saying a lot) is the way the NBA approved the sale of a great old franchise, the Seattle Supersonics, to a consortium of owners from Oklahoma City who swore up and down that the team would stay in Seattle. Unsurprisingly, the owners then held the city hostage by demanding hundreds of millions of tax dollars for a new stadium and threatening to move to OKC. E-mails uncovered in the ensuing lawsuit showed that the owners never intended to stay in Seattle. In a real blow to the plexis of fans everywhere, Stern and the NBA owners then approved the move to OKC and the owners reached a settlement to leave the Supersonics name, colors and history in Seattle, where the team had been for 41 years. (Does this make any sense? Seattle is the 14th largest TV market in the country and OKC is the 45th! How are things working out in Memphis for the Grizz?) This means that the Oklahoma City team, replete with star Kevin Durant, needs a new name.

What names do you suggest for the OKC NBA Team?

I’ll start us off with some suggestions: The Oklahoma City Oklahomans (go, Texans!), The Outlaws, The David Sterns, The Oklahoma Musicals, The OKC Filthy Lying Owners, The No-Way-We’re-Staying-More-Than-Ten-Years.

VP: Who Obama should pick 4.0 – Webb no more!!

Oh, mourn the fallen #1! In big, big news, Jim Webb said Monday that he directly told Obama’s campaign “unequivocally” that “under no circumstances” would he be a candidate for Vice President (this after Claire McCaskill jokingly called to him “Oh, Mr. Vice President. Mr. Vice President!” on the Senate floor). This news shakes up the Veepstakes in more ways than just sliding everyone else up a notch. Somewhere, Evan Bayh and Tim Kaine are licking their chops.

In other news, at a rally in Unity, New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton put on an impressive performance as staunch supporter and ass-kicking sidekick. It’s enough to get people chattering about her VP chances again, but probably not enough to make Barack and Michelle forget about all the things she said during the long primary campaign (or forget about Bill). Word is that Obama insiders shopped around the idea of Republican Chuck Hagel as Veep, and it was not well received by Dems on the Hill. Hagel is, after all, very conservative on social issues. Several polls in Indiana show Obama with either a small lead or within striking distance there. This could certainly boost the chances of Evan Bayh, who is already a great pick on paper. In geography and speaking style, Bayh could be the Al Gore to Obama’s Bill Clinton. Wesley Clark effectively killed his chances for the #2 spot when he inartfully phrased a comment that John McCain’s military service alone did not qualify him to be President. This forced Obama off-message and made him spend more time praising his rival. Polls in Montana show Brian Schweitzer up very big on his rival for re-election as governor. The fact that he’s such a shoe-in to retain his current job just seems to make it less likely that he will be pulled away for a national campaign.

With that, here’s version 4.0 of “Who Obama should pick“: