Oklahoma City Bison? Oklahoma City Twisters? The Oilers and Prodigal Hockey Continue The Three-Card Monte.

First a search of the U.S. Patent Office found the Oklahoma City Barons.  Over the weekend, a search revealed that Prodigal registered for a trademark on the Oklahoma City Roughnecks.  This morning's search turns up a new application - the Oklahoma City Bison and a second, more unlikely application - the Oklahoma City Twisters.

From the U.S. Patent Office search results:

The first describe the shirts that were spotted at the Oklahoma City Redhawks, their minor league baseball team, games last week:

The color(s) beige, white and red is/are claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of the words OKLAHOMA CITY in white above the word BISONS in white with shadows in beige, a skyline above the wording and red above the skyline, all within an outline of a bison.

The second description:

The color(s) light brown, red and white is/are claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of the words OKLAHOMA CITY BISONS in white on a circular shape with red background and a red stylized B in the forefront in red with light brown and red borders.

This is the one that I doubt will come to fruition though, as the Oklahoma City Thunder's mascot is Rumble, The Bison.

And of course, in what could be the best example of terrible taste, Prodigal has also applied for the Oklahoma City Twisters.  Yes, the Oklahoma City Twisters.  Very timely fellows, aren't they?

The color(s) grey, black, white, dark blue, light blue, dark brown, light brown, is/are claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of the word "Twisters" in white, outlined in grey, and shadowed in light brown, all of which is outlined in dark blue and shadowed in black, above the words "Oklahoma City" in dark blue, all of which is below a shield design outlined in dark brown and white with the design of a sky in grey, clouds in light blue and dark blue, and a field in light brown and dark brown placed in the center of the shield, with a tornado in white and dark blue superimposed on the shield.

The second description:

The color(s) grey, black, white, dark blue, light brown is/are claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of the word "Twisters" in white, outlined in grey, and shadowed in light brown, all of which is outlined in dark blue and shadowed in black, above the words "Oklahoma City" in dark blue.

If this comes to pass, I would expect backlash from the local fanbase.

Neither of these applications have an actual logo with it, so there remains the possibility that the Oilers and Prodigal are playing the writers that have been on the hunt for more publicity.  Very Machiavellian of them, don't you think?

For now, I'll leave my money on the Oklahoma City Barons.