Sam Anderson’s Boomtown remains undefeated. For the six or so Oklahomans who haven’t read it, Anderson, a New York Times Magazine writer, breathed life into the city biography in 2018 with his dazzling, quirky history of Oklahoma City that paid special attention to its professional basketball team’s early rise to prominence in the NBA and its leaders’ often silly ambitions to become a world-class metropolis.
I revisited Anderson’s book this week after I drove to Oklahoma City for the Thunder’s NBA Championship victory parade, a joyous, orderly affair that you no doubt saw plastered across whatever social media platforms you use. It was as much fun as it looked. Thunder fans from across the state arrived early, dressed in all manner of Thunder gear to luxuriate in the Thunder’s big moment.
Anderson notes in Boomtown that the way the Thunder first came to Oklahoma City—essentially via the theft of the SuperSonics from Seattle—fit the city’s whole schtick. From page 26:
The Thunder, like almost everything else in Oklahoma City, was not native to the region. Its transplant was sudden, violent, scandalous, messy and—for everyone involved—transformative.
That last word “transformative” captures a lot. In the 17 seasons of ball since the Thunder arrived in town, Oklahoma City itself has changed drastically, most notably developing an international profile on the back of its association with the Thunder. A city previously known best for a horrible tragedy rose to become the world champion.
You don’t arrive at such a moment without big ambitions. And more often than not, your big ambitions are going to result in a whiff. Boomtown is full of stories about Oklahoma City’s major, ambitious whiffs, and Oklahoma history is littered with even more. Take for instance Stanley Draper’s plan to build an artificial mountain in the middle of the Great Plains. Or Oral Roberts’ City of Faith towers. Or Operation Bongo II. Or whatever this is, probably.
Seen from here, the Thunder stand out as the rare exception, the Okie dream that came true. And on Tuesday the fans came out to share in the dream, co-mingling their hopes and joy. There was a high school marching band with dancers and baton twirlers, day parties outside of apartments, flatbed trucks and double-decker buses, groups of families, young people, old people. College reunions, high school reunions, family reunions all overlapping on each other. It was beautiful to see people brought together by sports, especially at a time when corporate interests are seeking to commodify, gamify and individualize the sports watching experience.