Oklahoma is a state of thieves. We steal. It's what we do. The Sooners were a group of criminals that sneaked over the lines early before the land-runs, essentially stealing lands. The Myriad Gardens, designed in the 60's but not built until 1988 (just in time for the land-run centennial), was copied from the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark. When the city wanted to revitalize Bricktown, they copied San Antonio's river walk, creating a river flowing through Bricktown. We tried to steal the Hornets from New Orleans and will very likely steal the Supersonics from Seattle.
But now we've gone too far. This season, OKC's triple-A baseball team, the Redhawks, has been stealing the dubious Red Sox tradition of playing (and singing supposedly) Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline." This Thursday, the organization will make the theft complete when they hold "Neil Diamond Night" at the park, during which any person named "Caroline" will get in for free.
Perhaps this wouldn't seem so ridiculous if the song, or Neil Diamond, had anything to do with baseball. What makes it silly is the fact that the Red Sox tradition of singing the song (which they do before the 8th inning) is something of a fluke. The park started playing the song, the fans started singing along, the tradition stuck. No one really seems to know how it happened or why New England even tolerates Neil Diamond being played in their most holy sanctuary of Fenway Park (in fact, many die-hard fans simply refuse to sing along...But I kinda like it). The tradition belongs exclusively to Boston and no other Major League city. But that won't stop OKC from stealing it, just like they stole the Fenway Dog (which isn't even very good).
Oklahoma, when will we get our own traditions? When will we, a city larger than Cleveland, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Kansas City MO, Oakland, and Miami become a major league city in our own right?
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