Here's a little secret. We like the Thunder in Oklahoma City. In fact, we probably like the Thunder a little too much. At first, our town's obsession was kind of cute, but now it's become creepy. It's like the Thunder is our cute little baby, and we've all turned into a crazed parent from Toddlers & Tiaras.
News 9 has definitely picked up on this dangerous obsession we have we Berry's Boomers. They are so desperate for ratings that they try to tie every possible news story back to the team. For example, they recently provided excessive coverage to a shady out-of-state filmmaker just because he chose to shoot his "movie" in Oklahoma as opposed to Miami. They failed to report that he has been charged with fraud and sued by investors involved with his other "filmmaking" projects.
It makes you wonder what's next. Maybe they'll send Jim Gardner to cover a fender bender involving a car with a Thunder flag, or maybe they'll do a report on a guy who had a heart attack during a Thunder game. Oh wait, they already did that...
An Oklahoma City Thunder fan says his brush with death during game five of the NBA Finals should serve as a lesson to others.
Sixty-eight-year-old Paul Pierce, of Taloga, Oklahoma, says he can't wait for the Thunder's next basketball season to start. That's because he nearly died of a heart attack the night the Thunder's last season ended.
Pierce was at home watching the Miami Heat clinch game five of the NBA Finals when he felt sharp pain in his chest. While he initially resisted, his wife of 50 years drove him to Seiling Hospital.
Pierce caught a break that night because his family doctor John Hester was working. Hester stabilized Pierce.
Four days later, a surgeon at St. Anthony's in Oklahoma City performed a quadruple bypass.
"It sure is cheaper and easier and less painful if you go when the pain starts," Pierce said.
Dr. Hester says if Pierce didn't come to the hospital that night, he surely would have died.
I'm happy the guy lived and everything, but how's this news? People have heart attacks all the time. In fact, Oklahoma is second in the country in heart disease deaths per capita. Why not report on any of the over 9,000 people who die from heart disease each year? Oh wait, because they didn't have a heart attack while watching a Thunder game on TV.
I can see the relevance of Pierce's story if it was packaged around a general awareness report on the heart disease epidemic in Oklahoma. But it wasn't. News 9 didn't mention that heart disease is the leading cause of death in our state, they didn't list warning signs for heart attacks, they didn't even say what to do if you had one. It was just Thunder Thunder Thunder, heart attack, wanted to watch Thunder, went to hospital, surgery, no out of body experience, Thunder, Thunder, Thunder.
Basically, this is just lazy reporting. When you consider that the story was filed by Steve Shaw, this shouldn't be surprising. He's the same tool behind the two stories on the "movie" filmed in Bricktown. If you're a PR pro and want to get him to cover one of your stories, just figure out a way to tie it to the Thunder. Or better yet, just give him free tickets to a game and ask him to forward your story to a qualified reporter who knows what they are doing. It will probably work out better for you that way.
Anyway, you really do have to wonder what's next for News 9. I wouldn't be surprised if they change the name of the station to Thunder News 9, hire Rumble as a morning anchor and force Kelly Ogle to grow a James Harden Beard. In all honesty, all those things would actually be kind of cool. I'd watch it. Maybe they could have Lauren Nelson dress like a Thunder Girl, too.
