Friday Bolts

• D.J. White will be out 4-6 months after undergoing surgery on his jaw. Ouch. Big man depth was already pretty slim, but not it's even worse. Always sucks when one of your top picks really doesn't get any tick in his opening season. Shame.

• ESPN the Magazine has some fun facts on the Thunder: "In our neverending quest to provide content that's both informative and entertaining, we're rolling out a 'Fun Facts' on every NBA team. No idea what that means? Check out the entries for the WashingtonWizards and Memphis Grizzlies. Up now: the Oklahoma City Thunder, also known as The Team That Abandoned (depends on how you look at it) The Emerald City. We'll keep it fun, though. We promise."

• A secret weapon?!?! Go on...: "P.J. Carlesimo insists he hasn’t settled on a starting unit and a second string. But what became surprisingly clear following Wednesday night’s preseason opener is the Thunder coach could have ample ammo off the bench this season. The goal for the Thunder is now duplicating that productivity in tonight’s second dress rehearsal, against the Sacramento Kings."

• The braintrust at the Oklahoman weighs in on the Thunder's first game: "Tramel: The best solution at center for the Thunder is for Clay Bennett to use his influence with David Stern to get the NBA to begin playing 4-on-4. With the players getting so big and fast, sometimes the court gets too crowded. So let's play 4-on-4, open up the game and the Thunder won't have to worry about the center position. Otherwise, it's going to have to be Nick Collison." Oh Berry, you slay me.

• Another awesome NewsOK production here: The Thunder dancers get a makeover. I know. Hold on to your butts.

And for all six of you that come here to read what I'm feverishly writing, I won't be here to recap tonight's preseason game against Sacramento and likely won't be here to recap tomorrow night's either. I'll be in Dallas screaming my face off for the Sooners.

Thursday Thunderbolts

Well, the Cubbies lost game one, so I'll be bummed all day today. Big Z needs to save us in Game Two. Anyway, on to the Bolts.

• UPDATE: Single game tickets to go on sale Tuesday: "At 10 a.m. Tuesday, fans can purchase single game tickets through Jan. 18. The Thunder is offering up to 1,500 tickets for each game, including opening night. About 200 tickets will be reserved for game day walk-up sales. Single game tickets will start at $10 and a limited selection of seats are expected to be available throughout the building. Fans can purchase tickets online at thunder.nba.com, at the Ford Center box office or by phone at 1-800-4NBA-TIX. There is a limit of four tickets per transaction."
  


• Recliner GM has a little season preview of the Thunder: "The Thunder drafted Durant and Green last year (and Westbrook this year), to be the cornerstones of their franchise. Durant showed enough potential last year to be considered a star in the making, and Green showed flashes as well. This will not be a very good team, and at this point for the franchise, all the OKC fans are looking for is some hope. If Green can improve on his solid rookie season (10.5 points, 4.7 rebounds), they can certainly dream about the potential of these two down the road. In order to do so, Green will have improve his poor shooting % (42.9%) for a 6′9 forward."
  

• Sportsline.com has a quick preview capsule: "Player to watch: Joe Smith is a pro's pro, just the kind of player who can help a contender. The Thunder is the furthest thing from a contender, which would make him a veteran on a young team. Nothing like trade rumors in October."
  
  
• A peak at the starting lineup? Not so fast says P.J. Carlesimo.
  
  
• Thunder fans excited to see Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol may have to wait. According to the Oklahoman, Lakers' coach Phil Jackson is considering holding the two stars out. "This week I'm just seeing how they feel, how's their energy level, and then we'll adjust," Jackson told NBA.com. "I was told not to say that I wasn't going to play Kobe in exhibition games. So I'm not going to say Kobe's not going to play in this exhibition game or that exhibition game. But there is a chance they may not play in an exhibition game."
  

• A first look into preseason training camp. Looks like they're having a good time. I just hope they're getting better at dribbling, passing, shooting... you know, basketball.
  
  

• And Day Two video with amazing, scintillating breakdown and commentary by Berry Tramel and walking mouth-fart, Darnell Mayberry.
  
  
• Mike Baldwin of the Oklahoman on Earl Watson's teaching ability: "I came in the league with Gary Payton so it will be easy for me to teach him the position, which to me is one of the hardest positions in the NBA,” Watson said. "The transition from college to the NBA at that position is as much mental as physical. It's an opportunity for me to teach him and get better myself.”
  
  
• Blue Blitz has started a "Getting to Know You" spot and the first feature is P.J. Carlesimo: "Anyone who has heard the name P.J. Carlesimo before he became the coach of the SuperSonics last year, probably knew about the time he was choked by Latrell Sprewell. In fact, that's probably the only thing they knew about him. But, lets start at the beginning..."
  
  
• One quick note: It's time to move on folks. I'm sick of every article about the Thunder having some little snip or quip or lip about the team. Enough. We get it. You think Clay Bennett stole them. You think the name sucks. You think the logo sucks more. You think the road jerseys look like Kramer's technicolor coat. You think OKC doesn't have internet and we still have black and white TVs. I get it. But just once, I want to read a preview article, a column or something that isn't tongue-in-cheek making fun of Oklahoma or the team. We're a team. We're named the Thunder. I cringe every time I type it or read it, but it's time to get over it. Move. The Eff. On.

Stop the 'Madness'

Just in case you've been dead the last two weeks and missed every issue of The Oklahoman there's this new Thunder fan website called Thunder Madness (http://thundermadness.com/). It's been advertised about as much as Righteous Kill and is equally as crappy.

Now I don't know this for a fact, but by all appearances, Thunder Madness looks to be the brainchild of those at The Oklahoman. It's had awkward advertisements in the paper where NO advertisement has ever been (like within a story). There's all the Wimgo ads on the website. Staff writers for The Oklahoman are some of the main posters on the message boards. They have the newsok.com Thunder videos up within seconds of them actually going on NewsOk. But then there's the big-time kicker - the thing that shores it all up.

Down at the bottom the site is registered to OPUBCO Communications Group - the folks that publish The Oklahoman. And if you click report issue (like that this site is a total piece of crap and an embarrassment to the state) the email address it directs you to is webmaster@newsok.com.

Wrong. Totally wrong.

Now granted, I've never been part of a big league city so this may be common place, but regardless, it needs to stop. Newspapers should not ever be involved in a fansite. Ever.

The correct process for this fansite thing, is that fans are the ones that buy the webspace, pay the dues, buy the jerseys, buy the tickets and run the website. Hence it being call "fan" site. Not some guy that's getting a paycheck from the Oklahoman. I'm no expert but in my four years at one of the best journalism colleges in the country, I learned that journalists - sports or not - are supposed to try to their darndest to be unbiased and fair. It was tough for me at OU to cover the football team because I literally breathe everything Sooner football. My eyes water and I swallow hard ever time I watch this video. So being fair for me was like a dad coaching his son. You want him to do so well and play all the time but you try as best you can to be fair.

So for the Oklahoman to pull this crap - that's disturbing. How can we expect them to do what journalists are called to do - report - if they are publicly as big of fans as we are? How will Mike Baldwin react if Kevin Durant gets busted with drugs? Will he act like some PR dude for the Thunder and spin is positively? I can't say he wouldn't because all signs point to him being too much of a fan to be objective. What if the Thunder goes 18-64 this season and 16-66 the next? Will The Oklahoman have the basketballs to call for P.J. Carlesimo's neck? Will thundermadness.com delete any posts by fans calling for The Beard to be fired? There's supposed to be separation between the writers and the fans - that's why they work for The Oklahoman and we don't.

The Oklahoman has seen a state go crazy and is looking to swoop in and make a dollar. The see the opportunity to cater to fans by building a fansite, not by doing their job. If you want fan involvement, let the fans handle it. There's already a number of blogs running and a great Thunder forum - http://www.oklahomacitythunderforum.com/. If you want to post and talk about the team (which I hope everyone does) then go there. Not some place run by the major newspaper in Oklahoma.

Boycott thundermadness.com. Let Mike Sherman (the Oklahoman's sports editor, not Texas A&M's terrible coach) know what a joke this is. It's wrong and it needs to be stopped.