Front Office

Blake Murphy
Blake has been with RR for over two years and is best known for his CURSE, whereby the Raptors are 3-18 from 2010-12 when Blake has post-game coverage duty. Blake is a Masters Journalism student in Vancouver and an aspiring sports writer. He also writes for Beyond the Boxscore, a baseball analytics website, and tends to include statistical analytics in his RR work. Blake fills the boxscore for RR in a variety of ways, including pre- and post-game coverage, general editorializing, and statistical analysis…he would also be an active defender and “hustle guy” on the RR ball team, just don’t ask him to shoot…ever. Twitter: @BlakeMurphyODC

Garrett Hinchey
Born and raised in the frigid frontier town that is Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Garrett jumped at the chance to take his talents to south BC, where he’s currently studying at UBC’s journalism school in Vancouver. The newest RR writer, Garrett spends his off-days playing squash and fastball and trying (and failing) to convince Blake he doesn’t look like Aaron Gray. A proud northerner, he took his hometown’s glacial winters and turned them into a positive, hiding indoors and consuming sports by the pound – leaving him well-rounded and well-prepared for his break into the big leagues. Besides the Raps, Garrett devotes his loyalty to the Philadelphia Eagles, Toronto Blue Jays, Vancouver Canucks, and the rising premier league juggernaut that is West Bromwich Albion. Twitter: @garretthinchey

Nils “Doc Naismith” Linnenbruegger
When not online doing Raptors related things such as work with forums, “Tweeting” and networking, Doc can be found …. ummm …. errr …. working with forums, Tweeting and networking. Doc got his start via the ESPN message boards back during the ’00-’01 season but most will recall him from places like EBSports and most notably, RaptorsForum. Raised and current resident in the real Dr. James Naismith’s hometown of Almonte, ON, Doc was once part of a local group called the Naismith Foundation who petitioned to have the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame where it deserves to be in his hometown of Almonte. His closest claim to NBA fame is that he once played pick-up basketball with ex-National Team member and hometown boy “Kory Hallas” who once tried out for the Vancouver Grizzlies and Detroit Pistons, but to no avail. All time favourite player and who he tried to emulate during his high school days of playing hoops was none other than Rick Mahorn himself. “Thump & Bump” baby. Email: doc at raptorsrepublic.com. Twitter: @DocNaismith

Sam “Raps Fan” Holako
A chronic sufferer of Raptered Fan Syndrome. A day 1 Raptor fan, who incurs the wrath of the fans for his off-the-cuff ramblings about the team. His girlfriend isn’t much happier, as their ‘quality-time’ is comprised by his incessant need to watch games, yell at the TV and down large quantities of chips/fries/wings and ginger ale. During the day, he moonlights as a technical business consultant, specializing in Social Media and Web 2.0 deployments. For RaptorsRepublic.com, Sam will be responsible for game pictures, videos and stoic articles about the many faces of the Raptors. 1-2…Email: rapsfan at raptorsrepublic.com or Twitter: @rapsfan

Stephen “PhdSteve” Gennaro
For much of the last 5 years with ESPN’s True Hoop Affiliate raptorsrepublic.com (and before that with raptorstalk.ca), Phdsteve has been the passionate and sometimes angry voice of Raptors fans around the globe. He is the onsite draft guru and his love for college ball and his alma mater UCLA is well documented. Matt Devlin once referred to him simply as “the Bruin.” Known for talking smack, he also has some journalistic credibility. He predicted the Lebron/Bosh team up 2 years before Bosh left for Miami, and broke the story of the JO trade and the drafting of DeMar DeRozan long before the major media outlets even knew what was going on. Steve splits his time between covering the Raptors with his weekly “The Dr. Is In” podcasts, teaching at nearby York University, winning his Fantasy Football League, and supporting Liverpool FC (YNWA). His work has been featured on ESPN.com, TSN Radio, The Pulse Network, and in Dime Magazine. Hey BC…..Im baaack! Twitter: @therealphdsteve

Zarar Siddiqi
Long-time Raptors blogger and Arsenal supporter. Arse also happens to know a lot about how to make things work on the web which worked out well for the site. He likes loves hates despises follows the Raptors closer than he does his mutual funds. He’s a lethal 3-point shooter when he’s wide open and knows nothing about cars, Canadian politics, hockey, interest rates or how money works. He’s from Kashmir and he happens to be terrified of fish. His favorite show is The Wire and his favorite movie is Fargo. He also happens to rock the mic like El Presidente… Email: arsenalist at raptorsrepublic.com