Do you miss our mascot and the whole Thunder era?



We had the best mascot! The BEST LOGO! We were the only team to feature its mascot on the uniform -- on the shorts:



Thunder was part of this franchise for more than 12 years. His likeness was featured on the team’s beautiful primary logo... And all of a sudden -- Thunder vanished... Did he disappear back into the “sudden cloud burst” from which he first appeared, as his official team bio, that was in the mascot section of the Warriors website used to say (www.nba.com/warriors/mascot/meet_thunder.html)?

I hate Oklahoma City!! Because the city's NBA franchise stole the name Thunder and forced the Dubs to remove the moniker from our beloved mascot. I gritted my teeth in frustration. Ask any (ex)-Sonics fan in Seattle, and they’ll tell you that owner Clay Bennett hijacked the team with the sole purpose of moving it to OKC. But on top of that, he named his new Oklahoma City franchise after Golden State’s mascot? Was Bennett trying to alienate the entire western seaboard? I'm still baffled, to say the least...




(Photo: Joe Ciolli)

The only place Thunder still has is on the wall above the practice court (top left). I miss him like hell...

P.S.
A good read on whatever happened to our mascot:
http://peninsulapress.com/2011/01/03/Thunder-Enlightening-whatever-happened-to-the-Golden-State-Warriors-mascot/

I don't have anything against the old logo, when it comes to design, nor the mascot, I just hated the colors used. It was so poorly put together, that it looked horrible. Especially the jerseys. Navy blue, orange, yellow (gold), a bit of light blue...awful. If they used our colors, and that logo, with some small tweaks it would look great.

And we could get the mascot back, it would just need to change the name...Lightning, for instance, or something like that.

Guybrush wrote:I don't have anything against the old logo, when it comes to design, nor the mascot, I just hated the colors used. It was so poorly put together, that it looked horrible. Especially the jerseys. Navy blue, orange, yellow (gold), a bit of light blue...awful. If they used our colors, and that logo, with some small tweaks it would look great.

And we could get the mascot back, it would just need to change the name...Lightning, for instance, or something like that.

I doubt the new ownership is that enthusiastic about it...

Probably not, cause they are preparing for a new start...we already are a new team, with this ne logo and stuff, but I think they will change a lot during our new Arena opening season. And this logo was created by Cohen's team, if I'm not mistaken, so I wouldn't be surprised if they changed it again. I said it many times, I don't like big logo on the chest, it looks cartooney.

Hated the mascot, logo and the uniforms... They were tacky and a all-time low for a franchise that has had the absolute best uniforms ever. Not trying to be negative, but I'm just generally not a fan of mascots at the professional level, but I'm particularly not found of Thunder.

I'm not all that proud of the fact that "We were the only team to feature its mascot on the uniform." The Warriors have a rich history, packed with many firsts (named after the state nickname, The City jerseys, players choking out coaches, etc...), the blue superhero mascot that made no sense, is not a unique attribute that many will remember. Those jersey's and mascot represent low points - on many levels - good riddance.

Do I miss Thunder?

Totally - best mascot ever.

Do I miss his era?

HELLLLL NO.

I could never understand the relevance of the Thunder mascot with the Warriors team. Is there a simply explanation? I don't see the connection between the super hero and warriors.

Ringo wrote:I could never understand the relevance of the Thunder mascot with the Warriors team. Is there a simply explanation? I don't see the connection between the super hero and warriors.

I guess Thunder was a Warrior... I've always had that impression looking at the logo. Which is why I was fine with the dark navy blue road unis. I really miss that dude and I miss him on the logo... Maybe they can bring him back ut change colors - make him alighter shade of blue (the current 'Warriors Royal Blue', for example).

He'll No.

That whole timeframe or at the very least, most of it, was garbage! There wasn't any real correlation between Thunder and our team and when you add in the uniforms, drama, and losing records, that is a time which I would like to delete. Much like 1980's fashion.

I don't get it.. The Thunder era is NOT by far the worst span of time a franchise has ever seen! You had 'WE BELIEVE', we eliminated the #1 seed Mavs... J-Rich won back-to-back Slam Dunk titles.... I don't get why so many people complain THAT much about it....

Talk about low standards. We had 2 winning seasons, and I'm not even going to count the back-to-back dunk titles because that don't mean ****, in the span of 13 years. C'mon, man.

shalik wrote:I don't get it.. The Thunder era is NOT by far the worst span of time a franchise has ever seen! You had 'WE BELIEVE', we eliminated the #1 seed Mavs... J-Rich won back-to-back Slam Dunk titles.... I don't get why so many people complain THAT much about it....

I think many of us separate We Believe from the Thunder Era.

I'll give you the dunk titles, but as 8th said that doesn't really amount to a hill of beans. My most vivid memories of Thunder's era involve Jason Caffey being paraded around like the franchise, Mugsey's last hurrah, an offense built around Clarence Weatherspoon and Jim Jackson, the drafting of Mike Dunleavy, the push for Eric Dampier to be an all-star (seriously), Fitz trying to convince us that all would be well once Bimbo Coles came off the DL, Nick Van Exel faking injury and squealing for a trade, and a musical-chair carousel of garbage head coaches including Cowens, Winters, Monty, and Muss... It was just total, utter disarray.

To me, and I suspect a lot of others, the "Thunder" era ended when Don Nelson came back.

Outstanding post 32, I agree wholeheartedly. The teams and coaches during that timeframe were a disgrace, the uniforms were horrid and the mascot should very well be forgotten. We were a laughingstock for the most part and I cringe each time I remember paying for seats to those games. When you compare the organization from then to now you realize the professionalism which we now exude. We're not over the hump yet but we're taken seriously now and opposing players know they're in a battle when they come to Oakland.