The Lingerie Football League was intending to grant OKC an expansion team, one of only four franchises that would be awarded. The current cities with franchises are as follows:
Eastern Conference:
Tampa Breeze
Philadelphia Passion
Miami Caliente
Orlando Fantasy
Baltimore Charm
Western Conference:
Chicago Bliss
San Diego Seduction
Los Angeles Temptation
Dallas Desire
Seattle Mist
I don't see a weak link there. Also, the championship will be played out during the half-time of the Super Bowl, talk about publicity. It would have been a win-win. A chance for OKC to join a prestigious list of cities, a unique sports amenity that guys would dig, and an expanded tax base from having a very unique business locate in OKC. They weren't even asking for an incentive.
Instead of the great publicity we would have gotten for OKC as a cool and hip place, we get this: OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett told OKBlitz.com Thursday that he does not plan to allow a Lingerie Football League team to come to the city. And to quote the LFL CEO: "Oklahomans should be provided the opportunity to choose for themselves and not dictated to. I thought our plans were for expansion into Oklahoma City, not North Korea."
Buzzkill.
I agree with Mortazza, the LFL CEO, and not just on the point that an LFL franchise would be great for OKC. I agree on the simple principle that I don't like the idea of Mayor Mick casting the vote for what kind of entertainment OKC residents should be subjected to. I think they are capable of making that decision for themselves with their pocketbooks and their feet, although apparently Mayor Mick disagrees. Look, we've always known he's a pretty conservative guy, or at least very prone to pander to the "Christian Conservative" fringe. That's always been O.K. as long as he acted impartially as mayor, because our main issues are about growing our city and in particular our downtown, not divisive social issues and all that stuff. We don't talk about things like abortion and gay marriage on the horseshoe, or at least people not named Brian Walters don't, so there's never been a problem with elected Attila the Hun as mayor. Now apparently there is if Mayor Mick is going to overstep his boundaries and use his position and his influence in order to prevent the LFL from coming to OKC.
And here's the funny thing about family values: they only work against things people have a prejudice against. Nobody has a prejudice against gorgeous women in lingerie in a male-dominated city. Mayor Mick, in his efforts to increase his statewide appeal by pandering to the family values cartel, has come up with a scheme that is sure to backfire, and I plan to do my part to make sure it does. This is going to start becoming a rising issue, the disenchantment with Mayor Mick, if stuff like this keeps happening. THIS IS NOT NORTH KOREA. Mayor Mick, if you want to prevent semi-adult recreation from coming to OKC and putting OKC on the map as a hip and cool city, go be mayor in North Korea and get yourself a nice Kim Jong-Il haircut. It will suit you nicely in your burgeoning political aspirations.
I hope that the LFL will still be able to pull through. I hope that people other than myself will fight for the Lingerie Football League's rights to come to this city and that they won't be discouraged from even bothering with this Mayberry. I think the LFL could be a great marketing asset for us and it is obviously far more feasible than the OKC Grand Prix, which the City Council killed last month.
P.S. So far votes in favor of the LFL outnumber votes against 9-2-2.
2 comments:
Nick: While I totally agree with your post, my small quibble is that you did not elaborate about the conditions that result because of not just OKC's but ALL of Oklahoma's extreme far-right conservatism.
I have said for over a decade that in a nutshell, the reason both the state and OKC do not grow faster than they have is that hee-haw, hypocrisy, conformity, and bar-b-que do NOT make for big or enthusiastic drawing cards that appeal to hip, creative, progressive nonconformists which are exactly was our society needs to develop TRUE and comprehensive diversity.
Until the majority of Oklahomans realize that the state Capitol is located on 23rd and Lincoln, instead of 38th and May, Oklahoma's "Christo-Fascists" and their ideals and philosophies will continue to make us look like little more than country bumpkins unwilling to leave the 1800s behind, socially, politically, economically and culturally.
Give him hell! This stae has buried its head in the sand for far too long.
Ovoritw, I really try to not get political. I understand all of your feelings on the subject, though. When it comes to politics, really my only perspective is what it takes to improve communities. The reality of the situation is that in Oklahoma, that means working WITH a lot of conservatives...
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