Thunder Making Connections at VA Hospital

Her hands flung into the air as she bellowed "WOWWWW!!!" with the familiar intonation of 18,203 screaming fans at a Thunder game. Like most days, Army veteran and Thunder fan Ardell Dandridge did not expect to see anybody other than the in-and-out dutiful check-ins of the VA medical staff members. So when Enes Kanter and Cameron Payne ducked under the doorway into her room, the mere sight of the Thunder teammates resulted in Dandridge to waken the kind of excitement of seeing long-lost loved ones.

Shortly after a couple of hearty fist bumps later, before Kanter and Payne could initiate the conversation, it was Dandridge who delivered the pep talk to the players reeling off words of…