OKC.

NYT front page.

During the aftermath of the horrific and infuriating Boston bombings, I tweeted something about how the Celtics and Red Sox playing hard and playing proud — win or lose, wouldn’t matter — would be a city-uniting, temporary solace.

I worried that tweet would anger non-sports fans, who may be offended that I equate watching sports with post-tragedy-healing.

But then a friend, a very Boston individual, the music master known as “M.”, favorited my tweet. Another HK journo who attended school in Boston, responded to my tweet with “As someone who’s lived in Boston, I can say that the sooner sports come back the better.”

I remember New York City uniting as one in the Bronx on September 17th, 2001, during the first Yankee game after 9/11. I remember Memphis’ 2011 run — otherwise known as the Eddie Winslow Hashtag phenomenon of 2011 — coinciding with major flooding of that city, and how those citizens bonded over the Grizzlie’s improbable playoff run.

Too bad then, that Russell Westbrook’s injury has knocked the Thunder out of the playoffs. I’ve never been to Oklahoma or OKC, but I do know they love that team.

And they’re needed right now.

Almost exactly a year ago, I blogged about how the Oklahoma City crowd going euphoric during the closing seconds of the Thunder’s series-clinching win over the Spurs was the most beautiful thing I witnessed that week — until later that night, when I went home to see the wedding website of my childhood friend and his love — and I still remember, vividly, the tears running down the cheeks of many fans as Durant hugged his mom.

tears of joy, after winning the western conference finals

I also remember the sadness after they lost the finals too.

tears of pain, after losing the finals

It is a shame that OKC won’t have this to provide temporary relief these next few weeks, months…