The year is 2012. OKC had just come back from a 2-0 deficit and beaten the Spurs four games in a row to earn their first trip as an organization to the NBA Finals. The games were being shown on the side of the stadium for fans who couldn't get tickets to still be able to come together and support their team.

Back then there was no question, the Thunder had the best home court advantage in basketball. Nowadays you hear about Golden State, San Antonio, and Toronto as the other great crowds. But in those days it was undisputed. Every building in Bricktown was covered in banners, every window in blue and orange paint, and every person in Thunder Pride. After their game six victory Craig Sager, the most famous sideline reporter in sports, said of OKC and Thunder Alley, "It's the greatest video you can have at an NBA arena, and the crowd is just fantastic." He also said, "You've got the best fans here in the world." He said Oklahoma City was the best place in the world, including Super Bowls, Olympics, and World Cups, to take in a sporting event. At it's peak over 7,000 fans were coming together, and this tradition was known and seen all over the world, called by many as "the best tradition in sports."

Until later that night.

After the game as fans were heading to their cars, a shooting took place downtown (which was completely unrelated to the game or Thunder Alley itself) and the mayor of OKC thought it necessary to stop Thunder Alley for good. Now, four years later, with the Thunder once again in a pursuit of the NBA Finals, fans are pushing for Thunder Alley to be brought back. One reason why the push is so strong now is because our counterparts up north are becoming famous for doing the very thing OKC started.

If you have watched any of the NBA playoffs or the talk shows about it then you have heard about 'Jurassic Park', or how the Toronto Raptors show all of their playoff games on the side of their arena, much like the Thunder used to. They draw a crowd of thousands of fans a game to sit outside and watch and cheer on their team. And boy are they loyal, showing up in hot or cold, in rain, sleet or snow. A video showing just how cool jurassic park is is shown below.

Jurassic Park is the biggest reason why Toronto is becoming known as one of the best home courts in the NBA. Thunder fans have to look at this and think: why can't we have our Thunder Alley back?

Now a campaign has been started by loyal Thunder fans and led by super fan Andy Mahbubani. His original post about Thunder Alley has now reached almost 2000 shares in only the past four days. His post gained so much notoriety so quickly even Thunder players began to talk about it!

The popularity of the post spread so quickly that even the local news (KOCO) did a piece on the push to bring Thunder Alley back.

There is even a petition with over 1700 signatures to bring Thunder Alley back that you can sign here.

Oklahoma City, a place where college sports does nothing but divide, the Thunder is the one thing everyone loves. It brings the city together. That has never been more true than in 2012, when Thunder Alley was a national icon. A symbol that OKC was one, it was a family, and that the whole city was behind their Thunder. And now, facing the greatest regular season team in the league's history, their team needs every ounce of support possible.

So bring Thunder Alley back! The last time we had it...

We were in the Finals.