Remember the good old days when new professional sports franchises came up with edgy nicknames that struck fear into hearts of opponents? I’m talking about teams like the Houston Colt .45s (1962), the Buffalo Sabres (1970), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1976), the San Jose Sharks (1991), the Toronto Raptors (1995) and the Nashville Predators (1998). Sure – sword, gun and dinosaur nicknames hardly made any sense, but at least they were unique.

Well, last week the NBA officially welcomed the Oklahoma City Thunder (formerly the Seattle SuperSonics) into the Northwest Division for the upcoming season. Wow. The Thunder.

The following conversation most likely took place between my father and myself … about 14 years ago.

“Dad, did you hear that? What was that noise? I’m scared.”

“Why? It’s just thunder. It can’t do anything to you. I most certainly didn’t raise my son to be afraid of a sound.”

He was right. Thunder can’t do anything to anyone. So why would Oklahoma City choose to associate itself with this weather-related concept?

Thunder forward Damien Wilkins told NBA.com the team’s name represents passion, and it also has something to do with the amount of noise that will be made in the Ford Center this season.

No, Damien. Your franchise selected a safe, neutral nickname. The Ford Center is now cornered into over-playing AC/DC during every timeout.

The five other choices for Oklahoma City were the Barons, Bison, Marshalls, Wind or Energy. I guess choosing Thunder over the Wind or Energy was a no-brainer, but the other three names had some promise. Imagine the logo for the Oklahoma City Barons: a group of men with goggles and a scarves swooping in airplanes. But not too many teams take risks like that, even though it would most likely result in merchandise flying off the shelves. Everyone would want a Barons jersey or scarf.

Oklahoma is in Tornado Alley – so why not the “Cyclones” or “Twisters”? I guess the NBA owed native Oklahoman Garth Brooks a favor.

Speaking of celebrities, Chuck Norris was born in Ryan, Oklahoma. So why not the Oklahoma City Tough Meets Classy or Oklahoma City Roundhouse Kicks?

Oklahoma is known to some as the panhandle state. Why not go literal and call themselves the Oklahoma City Panhandlers?

I’m not the only one who’s thinking all of this either. In a recent ESPN.com poll titled, “Do you like Oklahoma City’s nickname?” 49 percent of the approximate 12,500 voters said they “hated it,” while 43 percent said “It’s OK.” That leaves the eight percent (Damien Wilkins and family) who said they “love it.”

Another interesting question in the poll asked voters to report which type of nickname they prefer. Animals (i.e. Panthers) came in first, with occupations (Packers) in second, followed by concepts (Thunder) and colors (Reds).

Speaking of colors … don’t look at the Thunder’s logo. It’s incredibly boring. What saddens me most is that the franchise could have partially redeemed itself if it had come up with a striking insignia. But it didn’t.

“The colors reflect much about Oklahoma,” Thunder Chairman Clay Bennett said at the announcement ceremony. “Our primary color is the blue of our state flag, the sunset of the red and the orange.”

I guess the Thunder don’t want any Sooner or Cowboy fans to get too riled up over color favoritism regarding the shade of red-orange.

“Not too red and not too orange,” Bennett added. “And the beautiful Oklahoma sun reflected in the yellow.”

Even though Bennett compared the Thunder’s logo to that of a majestic scene, I don’t see it. It’s a “not too red and not too orange” basketball within a blue triangular shield. “OKC” in white text streaks across the ball, and the bland text of “THUNDER” in blue is above the shield. I would have expected some sort of jagged or popping text to overwhelm the logo.

Who knows? The Tampa Bay Rays dropped “Devil” from the name and now they’re in first place. Maybe a team’s talent has nothing to do with its nickname or logo. Maybe athletes really don’t care what team they are on, just as long as they can compete and get a fat paycheck.

But the non-plural team from Oklahoma City won’t be in playoff contention any time soon – not after last year’s 20-62 record in Seattle. So if you’re not going to win, you should at least have a solid name and logo (thank you, Atlanta Thrashers). It would be one less thing people like me would criticize.

Ryan Dixon is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected]