The 2013-14 Oklahoma City Thunder season is nearly upon us, and WTLC is primed for another great year of coverage, analysis, and conversation. If you have been with us for any length of time, you've probably noticed that our writing team has grown from what was essentially a 2-man show between Zorgon and myself to an expansive squad of dynamic, excited and capable writers who are helping bring you a top notch Thunder experience.
With all of the new faces, we want to give you a post that familiarizes you a bit with each writer, their background, and what we are expecting that they will bring to the table this season.
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KevinHFY
Kevin joined WTLC in the offseason, and although he is a Grizzlies fan at heart going way back to when they were in Vancouver, he is becoming our resident video analysis expert at WTLC. He has examined extensively the Thunder's offense, defense, and bench strategy and will play a critical role in helping the Thunder fanbase understand what is going on and why.
"I just started here at WTLC a few months ago, and as you might have noticed, I'm huge on analysis/video breakdown. As the season comes and we get fresh action to watch, I'll hope to keep that up!"
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Bill Champion
AKA W. Bennett Berry, is a bona fide professional artist in the OKC area. He joined WTLC on a lark two seasons ago when we stole borrowed one of this Photoshop works from his personal blog. After we established rapport, he then asked if he could play a bigger role on the site, and ever since then WBB has been providing customized Photoshops for each game as well as longer storyboard ideas that have populated the studio space. He really likes the Thunder and also dogs.
"I'm originally from Oklahoma City, moved to Ohio for undergrad, and then came back for grad school and haven't left. I've been a season ticket holder from the start and have a preternatural disdain for the Los Angeles Lakers. I'll continue to be putting together Photoshops for WTLC this season and they will be weird, in a Kurt Rambis eye-wear kind of way."
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Ramona H
Ramona joined WTLC looking to add the voice of the passionate fan. She has since done just that, primarily focusing on writing end-of-week recaps to keep the myriad of games in their proper perspective. Ramona also manages WTLC's Facebook page, which you should check out immediately and 'Like' it so that you get up to the moment Thunder news in your FB news feed.
"This is my second season with WTLC. I am a true Big Blue fan. This season, I plan to write weekly recaps and continue to help manage the Facebook page."
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JuanToribio
Juan is a newcomer to WTLC and we're excited to see him tackling the daily loud links, where he will be grabbing Thunder news from around the web while offering commentary. He will also be offering opinion pieces and helping out with our recapping of games.
"I currently live in Miami and yes, I do have to deal with Heat fans every single day of my life. I also write for the Miami Hurricanes' SB Nation website stateoftheu.com, but I had a desire to get back into NBA blogging and I was lucky enough to get the opportunity here. I hope that you guys will enjoy my stuff just as much as I will enjoy providing it. You can find me on Twitter @InsideTheArc and hopefully in June I can make fun of Heat fans after Kevin Durant hoists his first Larry O'Brien trophy."
@InsideTheArc
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TreyHunter
Trey Hunter is a blogger whose work has been featured on many platforms including Yahoo! Sports and HoopsAddict. Trey also contributes high school sports stories for The Oklahoman and is a die-hard New York Yankees and New York Jets fan. This coming year, Trey will be one of our credentialed reporters who will be attending home games. Look for his unique combination of player post-game quotes tied with plays that exemplify the players' perspectives.
@TreyHunter87
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Sarah Rogers
Sarah is a reporter with a background in multiple sports media formats. In only a few short months Sarah has reported on a number of breaking stories as well as conduct an in-depth interview with one of the key politicians in helping bring the Thunder to OKC. Sarah will be credentialed both for Thunder games as well as Tulsa 66ers games, where she will be following the beginning career arc of rookie Steven Adams.
"I eat, breathe and sleep sports. I've been covering the Thunder since July and I look forward to covering Westbrook's comeback from surgery and see how well he does/doesn't on his recovery."
@Mz_ESPN
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Alex Strouf
Alex joined WTLC last season and has brought an enthusiastic and opinionated voice to the site. Since joining, Alex has focused on providing week-end summaries, not just of the team, but how the media covers the team. On top of his writing, Alex also conducts a podcast called Two Perspectives, as well as the occasional video chat on Spreecast.
"This is my first full season on the team. I'll be ending every week with a wrap-up called Full-Court Report. I'm a fifteen year old kid in Green Bay, Wisconsin who has a love for both the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Milwaukee Bucks. Thunder first, of course. Cheers to the upcoming season! #ThunderUp"
@LetsGoAlex
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Craig A. Brenner
Craig is the pop cultural expert around these parts. He is a sometimes confused Rockets fan, but mostly we keep him around because of his fantastic weekly awards, player profiles, and op-ed posts.
"I was born in Kansas City, Missouri and live here my entire life and will probably die here as well. This will be my second season covering the Oklahoma City Thunder. Last season my main focus was writing a weekly team awards post with a very humorous slant. This season I am looking to continue that and to write more commentary type posts along with tracking the Thunder's continued quest to find James Harden's replacement."
@craig_a_brenner
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The Pack OU
The Pack is Oklahoma University's in-house, student created and managed TV program. Representing The Pack at WTLC is one of their anchors, Jack. He will continue to offer Thunder insights as well as provide the fan perspective from OU campus.
"This is my first full year with WTLC. I am a college student at OU that writes weekly long form pieces using statistics and analytics. I am apart of a radio/TV show in Norman called The Pack."
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Dara Mirzaie
Dara has been with WTLC for the past 2 seasons and has been an integral contributor in our comprehensive game analysis. If you needed a quick analysis of the game just played, you were probably reading his fine work.
"Born and raised in Oklahoma City, recently relocated to St. Louis. I did game recaps last year and a few other pieces here or there, this year I'll be stepping back into a smaller role at WTLC, occasionally contributing an op-ed column. Looking forward to seeing who emerges to fill the role left by James Harden/Kevin Martin this season."
@DaraMirzaie
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Zorgon
"I'm the manager and longest tenured writer of WTLC. I've balled in Oklahoma City my whole life and call it home, but I also love to travel. I've been a basketball fan since I was a kid, and cheer passionately at games. This season I plan on getting as creative as possible with my coverage, getting away from the traditional shackles of previews and recaps. Instead, I want to write articles that examine individual players, trends over a period of time, the culture surrounding our team, and things like that. I also want to work on video and audio analysis, because typing gets boring sometimes. Also, I plan on trying a new pizza every day."
@WTLC
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J.A. Sherman
Yours truly joined the WTLC team in the middle of the 2010-11 season. While I have had my hand in just about everything during that time and continue to do game coverage and the occasional op-ed or video analysis, I have found that my talents are best applied by promoting the rest of our writing team and making sure that what we all bring to you is thorough, interesting, and most of all, enjoyable to read and experience.
@WTLC
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We can't wait to get this season underway with our new and improved writing team, and we hope you all feel the same.