OKC Thunder T-shirt thanks Seattle for Sonics, Seattle flips out | Seattle PI Sports Blog - seattlepi.com

 

On Sunday, OKC-based T-shirt company Warpaint Clothing tweeted a photo of a shirt design that immediately rattled Seattle basketball fans. On the front, there’s a blue logo reminiscent of the old Sonics insignia: a skyline silhouette inside a basketball. But it’s not the Seattle skyline, it’s the Oklahoma City skyline. Below the logo it says “OKC Thunder.” On the back of the shirt, it says, “Thank you Seattle — OKC.” Here is the shirt listed on Warpaint’s website. I would love to embed an image here of the shirt, but something about this Warpaint tweet is giving me second thoughts: KING 5 News @KING5Seattle 21 May 12 @warpaintrags What led you to come up with the t-shirt? warpaint clothing co@warpaintrags @KING5Seattle no comment and DO NOT USE OUR PICTURE OF THE SHIRT . 21 May 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite Warpaint wrote that tweet to KING-5 TV during a massive onslaught of responses — some positive, but mostly negative — after the company first tweeted the design. The controversy was sparked, it seems, by New York Times reporter Howard Beck when he tweeted about seeing the shirts on Sunday. “That shirt has really stirred up some s**t,” Warpaint eventually tweeted Monday. “Got hate mail from sonics nation. Hahahahahaha.” warpaint clothing co@warpaintrags So much hate in the world. No disrespect meant. We appreciate where our team came from actually. Put your energy into something positive. 21 May 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite Clearly, the tension is a bit high in Seattle as the Thunder roll through the NBA Playoffs. On Monday, OKC surged past Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers 106-90 to advance to the Western Conference finals for the second year in a row. Even as Seattle works to nail down a new sports arena and NBA team, local basketball fans are obviously still very bitter. If you have a little time, reading through some of the conversations on Twitter is fairly entertaining. It seems that, at some point, Warpaint took the T-shirts offline after receiving a lot of threats. But by Tuesday morning, the shirts were back online and available to buy for $32. Matching tank tops also are available for $32. Warpaint is not affiliated with the Thunder NBA team.