Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam...

article by: stacia_doss.
I was in Oklahoma this past week.  My alma mater Memphis Tigers were playing in that very state on Friday while I was there, but I unfortunately wasn't in Tulsa. I was in Oklahoma City.

I couldn't be more proud of the Tigers, though, and their phenomenal performance against the Arizona Wildcats. On my ride back to "Native America" from Dallas, I listened to every play of the tournament game. It's just too bad when calls can't seem to go your way. Still, great job for making it so far, Memphis Tigers! They were underestimated, at first, and superseded the expectations of most. :)

What I thoroughly enjoyed about my weekend, however, was the Oklahoma City Thunder (vs. the Charlotte Bobcats) game my sister gave me the pleasure of attending. It was my first NBA game outside of Memphis' FedEx Forum, and I couldn't help but compare my experience to those I had last season working with the Memphis Grizzlies.

The venue: No doubt, the Thunderdome brings in a heck of a lot more fans than Memphis typically does. The sad thing is that Memphis is a good team, too. But the Tigers bring in more home fans on average than the Grizzlies do. The only time I witnessed sell-out games were if the Grizz were playing big-named teams like the Lakers or Heat. It pretty much hurt my heart to even think about it.

The Atmosphere: The fans were so amped and pumped. Even motivating music was playing during the game (and not just during time-outs). I could feel the real love from the fans and how it is truly shown to both them and the players during the entire game. I honestly cannot say I've felt the same during the Grizzlies games. In fact, I remember a time where free t-shirts had been given out to fans, and the players had made a couple of bad plays, so the "fans" started throwing them on the ground. At the Thunder game? Whether the team was doing great or a little shaky, it had full fan support during the game's entirety.

After experiencing my first NBA game outside of Tennessee, I just want the fans to do better. If a team that has shown significant improvement and a major increase in wins over the past few years still can't get much support, there's not a lot of hope for it's survival.

If not, I fear the team won't be in Memphis for too much longer.