Warriors Fire Thunder

by Fantasy Junkie on Oct 2, 2008 10:17 PM PDT Comment 33 comments

Perhaps this really is the end of the We Believe era

Warriors Give Thunder His Walking Papers
Ray Ratto, SF Chronicle

The Warriors learned that, because of the staggering lack of originality displayed by the Oklahoma City franchise (formerly Seattle), they no longer can bring us the mute acrobatic stylings of Thunder. He's had to be let go, and on behalf of the entire sentient planet, let us offer our heartiest congratulations to the Warriors on this, the day of their deliverance from their least inspired moment since the Wilt Chamberlain trade.

Warriors Contemplate Mascot Switch
Janie McCauley, AP Sports Writer

Thunder has been part of this franchise for some 12 years and his likeness is featured on the team's primary logo, though the team doesn't use that image much anymore.

Warriors team president Robert Rowell is willing to make the switch for the benefit of the other Thunder, formerly the Seattle SuperSonics. When the timing's right, that is.

...

He just might have one — leave Thunder in China during the team's upcoming trip to Asia.

"He might get lost in the crowd over in China," Rowell said. "There are 1.3 billion people there."

I guess he'll have to go back to his previous job, kindergarten teacher.

So long Thunder. You never said anything to me, but you seemed like a cool mascot. Of all the mascots I've met, you're definitely the coolest.

We'll need a new mascot. Hardcore had started a fan post awhile ago on it, "Nominations for New GSW Mascot"

Can we get a real warrior now?

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damn

I actually feel a little sad right now, LOL. The same feeling I got when Foyle left. They were both part of the organization for so long. =[

by Five Ten Entertainment on Oct 2, 2008 10:41 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Thunder

was a cool guy, this is sad

Thank you, Dubs.

by misterho on Oct 2, 2008 10:55 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

ouch

worst moment of the offseason. baron and monta included.
CURSE YOU CLAY BENNETT!

heart of a champion, will of the warrior.

by cap'n hack on Oct 2, 2008 11:00 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I second that...

CONSIDERING HE STOLE MY BASKETBALL TEAM!!!

A Sonics fan without a team.. Though I'm auditioning GS Warriors this season.

by mcwalter44 on Oct 3, 2008 9:14 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

you win. ugh, it’s going to take me a while to get used to the fact that seattle actually had their team stolen. i’ve still got in my mind as oklahoma city got an expansion team and the sonics are still around. easier that way.

heart of a champion, will of the warrior.

by cap'n hack on Oct 3, 2008 10:14 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

noooooooooooo he gave me a pizza!!!

by bojangles408 on Oct 2, 2008 11:25 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I am way more sad to lose thunder than i was to lose foyle

by Agent Zero on Oct 2, 2008 11:30 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

RIP Thunder

-You Made Me Laugh
-You Made Me Cheer
-You Made Me want to rip your head off when you gave the pizza to the kid next to me just because he was a kid, and not because he was that loud.
-You Made Me look on in amazement with your freakish baseline to baseline walk on your hands
-You Made Me keel over in pain when your t-shirt bazooka fired a shirt that hit me in the face
-You Made Me go " ooooooh" when you were doing flips and accidentally went off line and clobbered a GSW cheerleader

And most importantly, you made me enjoy breaks in the action more than I ever have.

You will be missed. Goodbye to a GSW Legend

My pictures never show up here, so this is my new Signature

by sloth11 on Oct 2, 2008 11:42 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Wow

Did you really get hit in the face with a shirt from a t-shirt bazooka? haha

by GoldenStateGuerrero on Oct 3, 2008 8:25 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

WOW

I am quite stunned. Thunder was a great mascot, very funny, the kids totally loved him, and he knew how to get the crowd involved when needed. I enjoyed his backwards one handed half court tries. I saw him hit only one, out of how many tries I don’t remember. But he got a good reaction from the crowd everytime he got close.

by jpgarfunkle on Oct 3, 2008 12:30 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I personally think

Kids would love just about any mascot… accept… perhaps the Giants’ Crap!!!

A Sonics fan without a team.. Though I'm auditioning GS Warriors this season.

by mcwalter44 on Oct 3, 2008 9:15 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lets Hope...

that the person behind Thunder will be used as the replacement Thunder. Personally knowing who is under the Thunder mask it sucks and he’s a GREAT guy. He’s pretty awesome, great dancer, athletic, and a good friend. I grew up with this guy and he was a great influence and somewhat was an older brother to me. He’d be good to have around still to pump up the crowd…cause those dudes in the blue jump suits are just corny. During games i would scream out his name and he would instantly pop up and greet me with a whatsup. He wouldn’t try to be all stuck up as we would talk for a little. Dude is classy. Let’s try to keep him as our next mascot cause we need someone to knock around those spoiled floor seat fans with huge golden gloves.
KEEP THE DUDE BEHIND THUNDER!

by newbtoob on Oct 3, 2008 1:12 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

NOOOO!!!!

DARN YOU OKLAHOMA CITY AND ALL PEOPLE WHO RESIDE IN IT!!!!

(Oh, wait….)

I’ll miss you, Thunder….

(I hope that we hire him.)

Tony.psd = Da Man
http://nbaokc.blogspot.com/
Check Out My New Blog! (Don't Worry, The Warriors are Still #1)

by Zorgon on Oct 3, 2008 7:13 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Legal Action

If we had rights to Thunder. Couldn’t the Franchise have pursued Legal Action against the NBA for allowing it or against the OKC Ball Club for infringing on it?

Hasheem "The Beat" Thabeet. A Warrior in 09.

by ejdacanay on Oct 3, 2008 8:28 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

My guess the NBA met with the Warriors

behind closed doors and told them to lose Thunder, probably with a small payoff so the warriors would comply without complaint.

by The Golden One on Oct 3, 2008 10:37 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bring Back the Berzerker!!

That “thing” was a STUD!! Tom Tolbert called it the “Munkle” – half monkey, half camel!!

by JoeBarelyCares on Oct 3, 2008 8:50 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

this is an opportunity

to do something unique…we should bring in MC Hammer or something. Some local celebrity who isnt doing anything anymore and can act like an idiot without a costume on.

by warriorsvictim on Oct 3, 2008 9:06 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

KrazyCrab anyone?

Actually I think we should just keep thunder and tell Bennet to go f*** himself. We got clear copyright on using thunder in the NBA . Even if we prefer another mascot we should assert our rights to thunder cause it’s the right thing to do. I’d be happy to trade them thunder for Durant once the courts rule in our favor.

Till I get free
I live my life in the Walmart
Cholesterol chasin me

by Skeptic con Urquell on Oct 3, 2008 9:08 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Hahahah....

We should stick it to Bennett by taking Seattle’s old mascot…. Squatch.

A Sonics fan without a team.. Though I'm auditioning GS Warriors this season.

by mcwalter44 on Oct 3, 2008 9:19 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

Squatch?

That’s not a real sasquatch, they are afraid of fire.

Till I get free
I live my life in the Walmart
Cholesterol chasin me

by Skeptic con Urquell on Oct 3, 2008 9:37 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Marvel?

You know since The Uncanny X-Men moved to the Bay recently (in the comix) maybe we can cross promote and borrow Colossus or Wolvie for a season. Imagine Colossus/Wolverine as our Mascot for a season? Boss.

Warrior girls know kung fu

by ManuteDetail on Oct 3, 2008 9:32 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I'll miss the FTD man on Steroids.

One guess to the backroom deal the warriors were forced by the NBA.
The warriors had stopped using the Thunder logo awhile ago. They told the NBA they wanted to switch to just the W logo as their primary. The NBA said it would cost the warriors $50,000 to switch. The warriors said forget it, so they just stopped using it in their arena and marketing. This part is fact. That is why you see the thunder logo used when on ESPN or stuff, but never see it in any warriors marketing anymore.
My guess is the NBA dropped the fee to make the switch in change for the warriors ditching Thunder all together.

by The Golden One on Oct 3, 2008 10:45 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

the backroom deal the warriors were forced by the NBA.

I doubt the NBA can override copyright and trademark laws?This is probably like the JasonRichardson trade, they want to piss off everyone and lower our expectations, just because they can.

Till I get free
I live my life in the Walmart
Cholesterol chasin me

by Skeptic con Urquell on Oct 3, 2008 2:25 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

Bye Bye Thunder

I knew of Thunders identity too and he is a cool guy indeed. I’m sure Thunder will be missed, but this is an open door to actually get rid of our logo with him in it and adopt a new logo and uniform.

Represent the Bay with the Bay Bridge silhouette in the back. That’s been the best idea I’ve heard. Maybe we can have no mascot at all and have the Warrior Girls expand into like 40. Have 20 of them on the floor and another 20 of them running around the crowd getting guys up. I mean pumping guys up. I mean getting the crowd excited. Doh!

by gabezgsw on Oct 3, 2008 11:13 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm not trippin...

…Thunder was on HGH anyway.

Check out my Warriors t-shirts:
geocities.com/nellieballtee or geocities.com/runtmctee

by JonDoe on Oct 3, 2008 2:12 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Damn... it was fun while it lasted!

by Tony.psd on Oct 3, 2008 2:46 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

What about bring back...

THE CRAZY CRAB!!!

A Sonics fan without a team.. Though I'm auditioning GS Warriors this season.

by mcwalter44 on Oct 3, 2008 3:32 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

stupid

so because some other team jacks our mascot’s name, we have to get rid of him?

by AJC3317 on Oct 3, 2008 5:34 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

i

hope the guy who is under the mask is gonna be in the new uniform, maybe he will actually be called warrior, but what will he look like?! and due to this i think we are for sure going to have a new jersey now. thing that sucks they need 2 years in advance notice for a new jersey. well that’s what i heard a couple years ago on cold pizza on espn2 they might have changed it. but they better make a modified city jersey.

So I don't have a signature well these words would do! Who knew that upgrades can have downgrades too!

by 24k state fan since 87 on Oct 3, 2008 11:42 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Warrior?

We were originally native american warriors, remember the old dribbling brave logo?
Now days that translates to a casino dealer, which ties in pretty well with “Golden state” (Golden sheep to fleece) and also fit with our gambling defense scheme?

Till I get free
I live my life in the Walmart
Cholesterol chasin me

by Skeptic con Urquell on Oct 4, 2008 9:22 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

so

we are the cache creek/thunder valley/ river rock/ jackson rancheria warriros?! our mascot can be a dealer lol it actually might work!

So I don't have a signature well these words would do! Who knew that upgrades can have downgrades too!

by 24k state fan since 87 on Oct 4, 2008 2:24 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

our mascot can be a dealer lol it actually might work!

and I just read in the paper where the cache creek tribe made something like 200 million last year and give out 1 million per year per adult to their members so they could even buy the warriors if they want!

Till I get free
I live my life in the Walmart
Cholesterol chasin me

by Skeptic con Urquell on Oct 6, 2008 1:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs