When the countdown clock reset last night, there wasn’t a whole lot of time on it. At the end of the Spurs/Grizzlies game, the clock only had about 37 hours on it until tipoff of our first home game of Round 2.

Getting tomorrow's program ready

For downtown OKC, tomorrow morning resembles a bit of a perfect storm. Yesterday, as we looked at maps of traffic closings for the Memorial Marathon, Project 180 construction and the OKC Festival of the Arts, my head started to spin. Add in the short turnaround time and the fact that the weather tomorrow is supposed to be less than idyllic, and the possibility of a Sunday game was starting to look like a difficult task.

But today, a couple of us are in the office; some other folks are going to stop in on team practice, still others will be doing event prep at the arena. Now that we’ve got a task at hand that has a date, time and opponent attached to it, all our planning is kicking into gear – and our usual excitement for a Thunder home game is naturally bubbling to the surface.

I just spoke with our web and publications director, and he was saying how excited he was starting to get about the game. I asked him what he thought the game atmosphere would be with a noon Sunday start time, and he had no doubts that our fans would be there and have their game faces (and their Thunder blue gear) on, ready to be as loud as ever in cheering on our team.

We’re ready. I wrote yesterday about how we just wanted to have the ball in our hands – and now that it is, we’re gearing up.

Game time is game time, no matter how many hours are on the countdown clock and no matter what else is going on around us. Game time is game time, and just like you, we’re ready to bring the Thunder.

- Karina Henderson

I’m guessing this image is pulled up on most of our staff’s computers and smartphones right now. Because not only have we had less than 48 hours’ notice that we need to put on an indoor/outdoor show for about 20,000 people, cloudy skies are telling us we also could have a big part of our show – Thunder Alley – somewhat washed out.

Anytime you plan an outdoor event in OKC in April, you run the risk of rain. (Just ask the folks over at the Festival of the Arts.) No matter what, we’re moving forward with the show – in part because we know our fans will show up, kind of like the Postal Service creed.

Let’s just cross our fingers that the only Thunderstorm tonight will be in the arena.

- Karina Henderson

The story that Broken Arrow native Kristin Chenoweth told on this morning’s “The Ellen Show” was exactly how it happened.

After a fan sent a Thunder blue foam finger in to the show to get some of Ellen’s good luck for the Playoffs, Kristin was slated to go on the show – and she decided the foam finger wasn’t enough. So she put in a phone call to our office.

A team of our staff from marketing, PR and the Thunder Shop combed through the office on Monday to get together a packet of gear and goodies to send her, from Kevin Durant shoes to Rumble himself.

It was a quick trip for Rumble, who always has a full schedule and had to be back in time for the game. There were a couple of tight moments when we were concerned he wouldn’t make it to deliver the goods.

Happily, Rumble made it, and he even sent us a picture from the road to let us know he was doing just fine.

Since “The Ellen Show” tapes in the evening (L.A. time), emails were flying back and forth last night with pictures from the show and status updates from Rumble. We didn’t want our fans to miss the show, but we didn’t want to spoil the surprise for anyone. It was entertaining to watch people guess where Rumble was after we posted a teaser picture – especially since several people figured it out, one even based on the flower on a coffee table in a TV monitor in the background.

If you missed this morning’s airing of the show, watch it here - it was, for lack of a better word, a hoot. And don’t worry – Rumble will be back in plenty of time for tonight’s game.

- Karina Henderson