Patreon Peek: How to Follow the Thunder – The Weekend Edition
Here’s a peek at the latest “Weekend Edition” newsletter, which we send our supporters on Patreon every week. Patrons receive weekly perks including the newsletter and editorial note that follows, early post releases, podcast bonuses, free and discounted merch, local business specials, and more, all chased with the satisfactions of materially supporting quality Thunder content that isn’t awash in clickbait and ads to generate revenue. This week, you can view the full Weekend Edition for free here.
A note from the editor:
Especially since it’s the offseason, and extra-especially because the entire NBA world is still being conducted behind an iron curtain of COVID-19 precautions with limited virtual access, being an informed Thunder fan takes some internet savvy. I thought I’d share how I stay up on the team as an editor of a Thunder blog, which is basically how I would as a fan.
For regular, original writing on the team you love, it’s Daily Thunder and The Oklahoman at the top of the mountain. There are other quality outlets (I’ll name some below) with bigger budgets and mother networks to bolster what they can do at their OKC site, but none match the output that your local online media crews do, different as we are.
Breaking news: Subscribe to our “Thunder Social Feed” on Twitter. The Bleacher Report app, with Thunder notifications turned on, is also good for this (but less tenable during the season when the feed is crowded with scores and highlights).
Rumors: HoopsRumors, hands down. They only publish the most legitimate rumblings from trustworthy reporters, with contextual explanations for both the rumor itself and any related CBA mechanics. They also have a nifty app in which you can customize feeds/notifications for the teams and sports you care about most.
– For the scuttlebutt that’s more geared toward “what are people talking about” buzz, you can follow HoopsHype’s Thunder channel. They are quicker and more voluminous with their links, but less discriminating in how realistic each might be.
– For a party in the mentions for the most dramatic news affecting the Thunder, keep it tuned to @BrandonRahbar and @DailyThunder.
Memes: Subscribe to r/Thunder. You’ll also find the best fan art here. There are also a bunch of weird/fun Twitter people you’ll just have to find and follow out in the wild. @ThunderChats, who does regular roll call follow trains, is a good start.
Straight-up aggregation: Thunderwire (USA Today). Who said what is valuable information to track. These guys do a good job scouring every article, podcast, and social media post and churning out a transcript of the Thunder-juice. This is most valuable for podcasts, since it’s bad for your health to try and listen to them all. Better to pick out the best couple NBA shows (shoutout to our old friends at Down to Dunk) than listen to the same topics repeated by 2,000 different personalities every week.
Aggregation in color: Daily Thunder. I resisted the urge to name us in every slot, but I do want to note that a culture of sharing (not stealing) Thunder thoughts has long been at the heart of DT. Even this editor’s note is an encouragement for you to check others out. The “bolts” we pass along are always what we find to be the best out there and genuinely want you to read. We also work hard to establish and keep up relationships with those we bolt to make sure they think their work is being shared fairly and helpfully. There are even RSS feeds to break up our originals and external links for the ultra-organized readers.
There are obvious don’t-miss writers like Royce Young (ESPN) and Erik Horne (The Athletic) whose work is a part of a larger “outlet” I may not have named. I could call out many others, but if you list everything, it’s about like listing nothing, you know? Of the many other Thunder content producers out there, we don’t have an enemy in the bunch.
Follow away.
– Cray Allred
