Our director of web and publications, Ron, can apparently do it all.
Well, at least he can cook – according to Slice magazine.
The publication turned to Ron to take part in a feature and share a family recipe for their August issue. Ron broke out what sounds like an ol’ reliable of his, bell-pepper steak with rice.
Check out the article here if you need something new to cook up this weekend …
- Karina Henderson
I’ve noted before how easily our office can get caught up in the spirit of competition. We do, after all, work for a professional sports team. As this hot summer progresses, I think we’re particularly vulnerable to a healthy dose of fun and games – which inevitably turns into a chance to keep score.
The Thunder Girls had noted during their trip to China that, in one park, they saw several people playing hacky sack. Mary Jo, who accompanied our Thunder Girls on the trip, clarified today that they weren’t playing with a traditional hacky sack – they had their own version, and it’s a bit more difficult.
Of course, she had to bring in an example – and, equally predictably, as soon as she got out the toy, the tide in the office turned quickly from everyone having to try it to everyone having to keep score of who could keep the toy in the air the longest.
After a few hours (and several heads poking into the events and entertainment department, wondering what that clacking noise was), the leader is our game presentation manager, Jason, with nine consecutive kicks. I’m sure the leader board will change in the next few days, but hopefully the novelty will wear off before someone loses an eye …
- Karina Henderson
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On most kids’ field trips, the bus is part of the journey, not the destination. But 27 children from the Great Plains Family YMCA in Weatherford visited a bus as part of their summer-camp field trip on Monday.
Of course, the bus they visited was the Rolling Thunder Book Bus, so there was more to see than green-vinyl bench seats and rubber-tread floors.
Lynnette Terry with the YMCA in western Oklahoma had called our office a few months ago to see whether they could arrange a visit from the Book Bus to their summer camp. However, the bus only travels so far, and Weatherford is a little out of its range.
Not wanting to miss an opportunity for the kids, Lynnette decided that if the bus couldn’t come to the kids, the kids could instead come to the bus.
And from the kids’ reactions today, it was worth every minute of the trip.
Along with more than 80 children attending the YMCA summer camp in downtown OKC, the Weatherford campers jammed into line for the Book Bus, anxiously awaiting their opportunity to make their selection. Since they had traveled such a great distance, they were allowed to select not one, but two books to take home – an announcement that almost threw one youngster into a fit of joy.
While the campers visiting today ranged mainly from about second to fifth grades, a set of younger kids will be making the same trek from Weatherford next week to visit the Book Bus.
It was great today to see so much excitement for reading – and for the Thunder.
- Karina Henderson
“Tell Rumble I’m sorry,” I heard one of our staffers say to Jon, who is Rumble’s coordinator.
I’ve never heard anyone have to say that phrase before.
It turns out that Rumble is a bit upset with a few members of our office staff. Though we celebrate office birthdays every month, we failed to celebrate a very important holiday to Rumble:
National Bison Month.
The, er, “other” NBA – the National Bison Association – posted on their website that July is National Bison Month, and one of Rumble’s fans passed along that information to him.
Apparently, the poor bison’s feelings were hurt that we weren’t all as excited about the celebration as he was.
Jennifer, our office manager, just reassured Jon that July isn’t over yet – so we will see if Rumble gets his holiday party.
I’m guessing, though, that he might not want us to celebrate in the way that the NB(ison)A suggests:
National Bison Month, celebrated each July, is a time in which American bison producers and marketers promote the delicious taste of bison burgers, steaks and roasts as a summer grilling alternative.
Maybe we’ll have to rethink this …
- Karina Henderson
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Almost all of our Rumble dolls have left the nest – though not necessarily flown the coop.
… Meaning, almost all the dolls are in the hands of the ten winners of our Thunder Vacation photo contest – but they’re not all on vacation yet.
However, it looks like the Rumble who’s covering the most distance is already on his way. OKC resident Debbi and a group of folks from her church are taking her mini-Rumble to rural Zambia in order to build a training center for community leaders to come together and solve their most pressing problems.
From a post I spotted on Twitter today, Rumble is on his way to carrying out this mission. So far, we have only tracked him from the Thunder offices to the plane (see pictures above), but we’re expecting more photos of this exciting adventure soon …
- Karina Henderson
A couple of weeks ago, our former intern, Lexi, dropped a line to let us know how widespread the impact of the Thunder really is.
In April, the Rolling Thunder Book Bus visited The Tapestry Project, an urban revitalization program that seeks to bring together and lift up a community in south Oklahoma City. The program relies on community volunteers and donations (their main partner is SandRidge Energy, also one of the Thunder’s Founding Parners), so they asked the Thunder to stop by one of their events. Kids from around the neighborhood gathered to choose a book, and volunteers – including some alumnae of the Pi Beta Phi sorority – helped coordinate the event, which also included a visit from Rumble.
It was one of the many visits that our Book Bus coordinator, Debbie, goes on, and she’d hardly given it a second thought – until Lexi emailed.
Lexi, who goes to school in Washington state, wrote from the Pi Beta Phi convention in Orlando, saying:
During the (banquet), the Oklahoma City, OK Alumnae Club was announced as the premier alumnae club in all of the United States and Canada. During the presentation of their award, members of Grand Council of Pi Beta Phi commended the OKC alum club for their literacy efforts, including those with the Thunder and the Book Bus. Over 1,000 people were present to witness and hear this great news involving OKC and the Thunder.
After seeing that email, I stopped by Debbie’s part of the office to ask for the back story; it took her about a minute, but she knew every detail of the event and shared how excited the kids were to come through the bus, as well as how helpful the Pi Beta Phi volunteers were in helping manage the crowds of children.
Seems you never know how far the Thunder’s community efforts might reach …
- Karina Henderson
One thing I’m realizing about the off-season is that it’s much easier to forget exactly how great our fans are.
Don’t get me wrong – we always have our fans on our minds, and we are always looking for new ways to make every encounter you have with the Thunder just that much better.
But without the constant game schedule bringing 18,203 of you in front of us every week, with the sea of Thunder blue sending waves of cheers throughout the arena, it’s not as often that we’re struck by the passion and the wonderful spirit our fans bring to the Thunder.
This week has been a little different, thanks to two contests that just ended.
The “Red, White and Thunder Blue” promotion asked fans to send in photos of their Fourth of July celebrations. We had a wonderful response from fans who wove the Thunder spirit into their family and community celebrations. As excited as many were about the contest, though, I have a feeling a lot of the folks who sent in entries would have been in Thunder blue over the July Fourth weekend no matter what. So many fans really understand that they’re part of the Thunder family, and invite the Thunder into their families on a daily basis. Read more about the winners here, and look below to see some pictures from all our fans.
We also ran a contest asking our fans to take their Thunder pride with them on vacation this summer. We awarded a Rumble doll to ten winners, who will be taking pictures of their Rumbles around the globe.
Several of the stories we received asking for something as simple as a vacation plan gave me goosebumps.
Many of you are going to incredible lengths to create special experiences for your families, to serve your country, to help your neighbor (and everyone’s your neighbor) or to reaffirm lifelong friendships. Your stories serve as a great reminder that the Thunder and our fans share the common thread of caring about our community, and I’m excited to see – and to share – where you take Rumble this summer.
When we say the Thunder cares, we mean about all of you – and we mean all of you. You reaffirm and reinforce the idea of the “Thunder Family” every day, and we strive to do the same.
- Karina Henderson
Here are just a few of the great pictures we got from fans entering the Red, White & Thunder Blue contest. Thanks again to everyone who entered, and congrats to our winners, Oak Tree Park in Edmond!
The Thunder Girls are back in the U.S.! Mary Jo, our events and entertainment manager who traveled with the ladies, was up, at ‘em and back at the office yesterday, saying that the trip was great – but she has no idea what day it is.
We’re putting together a video on the ladies’ trip to China for the 2011 NBA Lenovo Pavilion Tour, but in the meantime, if you haven’t already read through the Thunder Girls Blog, check out the posts, pictures and videos they have on that site from their trip.
(By the way, if this sounds like fun, Thunder Girls auditions are coming up …)
UPDATE 7/14: NewsOK.com interviewed Riane and Marisa about the trip. Watch it here
- Karina Henderson
He doesn’t need an extra ticket on the plane, and he won’t need a rest-stop break on the road. But that probably wasn’t why ten Thunder fans were so excited to hear that they won Rumble dolls to take along on vacation this summer.
Earlier this month, we invited our fans to submit their summer vacation plans for a chance to win a Rumble doll to take along. After their vacations, the winning fans will submit photos of Rumble in these exotic (or not-so-exotic) locations. We’ll post these to Facebook and put it to a vote to decide who will win a visit from the real Rumble!
Our ten winners have great vacations planned and great stories behind their trips. They’ll be taking their Rumble dolls to Utah and Zambia, to Jamaica and Colorado, to the North Canadian River and the Atlantic Ocean. Some are traveling for work, some for pleasure and others for service – including one fan who’s stationed in Afghanistan.
They have plans for Rumble, too. This summer Rumble will be climbing mountains, snorkeling with stingrays, helping build a community center and rubbing elbows with Hollywood stars. He’ll be cheering on a girls’ softball team and hanging out with more than two dozen family members on a beach. He might even help one fan in a bacon-eating contest.
(And I thought Rumble was already a busy bison!)
Many thanks to everyone who entered, but especially to our winners Kelly, Robert, Debbi, Eric, Mary, Nancy, Becky, Terry, James and Patrick.
Keep watching our site as Rumble hits the road for the pictures and stories from all his travels!
- Karina Henderson
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