Some Canis OG
Thilo Latrell Widder: Leo and I will be taking over the operations of Canis Hoopus effective immediately. I guarantee everyone will know Leo, as I did before I ever wrote a single word on this glorious site, but I assume I will be a bit of a weirder name to glance at.
Leo Sun: This is a bit of a full circle moment for myself. From humble beginnings as a lurker at Canis with zero Hoopus Points in his bank account, to now the one of the iron fists Site Managers/Editors-in-Chief. That said, I can assure you that if you don’t know Thilo yet, he is surely going to be much better running things than me.
Now I know what you may be thinking. We need two leaders for Canis? *insert The Office joke about co-managers* But we both love this place so much that our goal is to make sure the lights stay on for our favorite virtual bar at all hours. By working together, we can make sure we have all the daily politics only threads we need!
Our Journies
TLW: My name is Thilo Latrell Widder. I’ve been writing at Canis since 2023, and I’ve been a commenter here since I was like 12.
Canis is a community that means the world to me. As I fell in love with basketball, I did so here, and I did it as a member of a comment section that somehow felt so close and so deeply present in my day-to-day life despite being scattered across what I thought was the country, but was actually the world.
I miss those days sometimes. We had inside jokes. Writers were never particularly separate from the regulars reading their pieces.
Maybe it’s just the nature of the internet, but it feels like things have gotten a lot more insulated since then.
I first got my start at Canis by DMing Jack Borman (shout out Jack) on Twitter and sending him my one and only writing sample to that date, hoping and praying I could be a part of the team of people I knew so well without every speaking with any of them directly.
Those days at Canis were just constantly dripping with hilarity. A shitpost was never far from the top comment, and the photoshops that would find themselves in the Canis social media caverns surely inspired at least four people to mess around with Pixlr for far longer than anyone would admit.
It was just simple and funny. It was NBA Twitter at its best. No, actually, it was like being back in my high school cafeteria arguing about how the New York Knicks trading for Andrea Bargnani was going to work out with a bunch of friends.
It was my home on the internet. I think it was that for a few of you, maybe more.
LS: As a typical comments section bottom dweller, I first found this place in 2011 while in college, as many others also did. Who wasn’t excited about a franchise changing summer, even if we dropped from the number one pick to number two in the lottery for a can’t miss, two-player draft class? I couldn’t wait to read more on Canis about the future franchise savior, The Caged Lion himself, Derrick Williams.
Then, more importantly, I found many friendships along the way. In 2013, I learned just how much of a virtual family Canis was. Without ever having met face-to-face, commenter Boss10 invited me to be his guest to sit front row at a Wolves versus Kings game in Sacramento.
“For me, it’s all about the experience and sharing it with important people. I’m just happy that, likewise, you could share it with me!”
Those words he shared with me during the first time we met resonated with me.
March 2013: Wolves @ Kings
April 2014: Wolves defeat Kings E-6
April 2018: Wolves defeat Rockets in game 3
December 2023: Wolves defeat Kings
Canis’ reputation as one of the most communal corners of the internet only grew from there. In 2015, I fatefully made my first trip to Minnesota amid a January polar vortex. The only way I survived was via the hospitality and warmth of the community who helped guide me through three straight losses at Target Center. Long-time commenters like Cynical Jason, Asleep At The Keyboard, feral, AverageJer, were all among the people who helped take care of me.
I documented the whole thing, as well as my only other trip to the Twin Cities nine years later.
Fast forward five years later, I finally found his voice. I got the call to the big leagues. Then Editor-in-Chief, Kyle Theige, took a chance on me and offered me a staff writer role to cover the Minnesota Lynx during the pandemic. This turned into an opportunity to cover the Wolves both as a writer and credentialed media member. Six more years later, I now find myself with an opportunity to truly give back to this place that’s given me so much.
A place that’s more like a family. A family that helped shape me from my early 20’s, to my now late 30’s.
Our Vision
TLW: To that point, there’s no one I’d rather be working on these goals with. No one has their finger quite on the Wolves fandom pulse like the one and only Leo Sun. I still think to this day that his open letter to Karl-Anthony Towns is one of the most heartfelt pieces I’ve ever said.
Related
An Open Letter to Karl-Anthony Towns
That piece is a perfect example of what has always made Canis so special. That piece is a wonderful dialogue that every Wolves fan could relate to. It joined us and brought us a moment to appreciate a player that we all loved.
Together. As fans of the ever-compelling Minnesota Timberwolves above all else. And I promise you that’s what we’re going back to, effective immediately.
Thilo & Leo after a thrilling/sweaty evening of pickup basketball.
With that long introduction out of the way, here’s what that means for us going forward:
First, we are seeking new members to join the Canis staff. We have a variety of different roles, notably volunteer and blogger options, and applications are open to all. We’re looking for people who feel that this site is as important to them as it is to us.
That’s what we’re looking for: passion and excitement. Commitments are variable and not too extreme, so truly, if you care about the Wolves or this site or either or both, there is a space for you here.
For what it’s worth, I started here as a volunteer in 2023 and now pay all my bills through a handful of different roles across the sports journalism world. This is a largely entry-level set of roles, but they are fun and worth far more than the trouble they bring.
If you want any extra information, please comment below (we’ll be there) or DM either of us.
Canis Hoopus Writing Staff Application: https://forms.gle/mZUVQyJcHynuVXiY7
Secondly, we will be running Canis Pulsus more often in hopes of encouraging all of you to have more of a say in the conversations going on. Do you have thoughts on the Wolves’ season? Of course you do; you wouldn’t be here otherwise. Now you can find more people like you in the comments section of the data overviews you may have participated in.
LS: Anyone remember when we used Canis Pulsus as an opportunity to do our first and only Hoopus Awards? It was during the pandemic when we had to find ways to connect to other humans. It was hilarious (if not somewhat unsavory to some). Thilo and I would both love to find a way to hear your voices more.
Related
Hoopus Awards Winners & Zoomers
TLW: Obviously, this standard applies to every piece that comes out, but those will be the home for more regular discussion posts. We will also be using The Feed more often in pursuit of this.
Too often, conversations about basketball become miserable and obnoxious. The hope is that we can be stupid, loud, boisterous, and opinionated all while still being kind, equals in the knowledge that we all love this mutt of a team.
Maybe that’s a bit too ambitious, but if you want to talk basketball, there will be more options for that.
LS: The Feed, in theory, should be a place for all of us to highlight things that we feel don’t deserve getting buried in a daily thread. New Jaylen Clark YouTube video drop? Flashback Ricky Rubio highlights? Poll about your favorite Michael Beasley shenanigan? We can all do with less doom scrolling on social media apps that are run by sociopaths and enjoy a Wolves-centric content hub.
TLW: Thirdly – and this will be the shortest one of the bunch – there will be absolutely no AI usage on this site as long as we are here. While the internet goes to hell in a handbasket outside our windows, we can promise you that this will be a safe haven from hallucinated stats, slop-filled drivel, and anything else ChatGPT or any of the other technocratic atrocities can produce.
LS: We take our “Grammar Ranking” from 2015 very seriously. God knows we don’t need artificial intelligence to preserve that. As the most punctual sports blog in the entire world, we believe in our talented staff (and comments section) to create original content with a certain standard.
2015 SB Nation Grammar Rankings USA Today
Is it really necessary to ask a soul-sucking data center to generate a picture of shark and eagle chimera? I think our community has that on lock.
TLW: Lastly, we want to take a few moments to thank the people who made this possible.
There’s no shortage of names to add to this list. Obviously, we want to thank the past EICs of Canis, especially Kyle Theige and Jack Borman. These are two people who brought us in so many years ago and we want to keep their passion burning even long after they departed.
We also want to thank Harrison Faigen for enabling this split responsibility of this role, making it possible for us to both stay on in an increased role that would’ve been nearly impossible for either of us to take on entirely.
We want to thank all of you for reading this far and, above all else, for caring as we do. All of this is only possible because of you and is also all for you. We are both so appreciative of all of you without having ever met you. Thank you.
LS: Echoing what Boss10 once said: “It’s all about the experience and sharing it with important people.”
Let’s get to work.