Month: August 2019

After not playing a single down in his freshman redshirt season when he could have played in four games and not burned any eligibility–we finally saw Sanders in live college action on Friday night in Corvallis, Oregon.

Spencer Sanders if he stays healthy will become the greatest quarterback in O State’s football history.

In the Mike Gundy era that would include Bobby Reid, Zac Robinson, Brandon Weeden, Clint Chelf, Mason Rudolph, and Corndog Taylor.

There’s a reason he was named the Gatorade High School Player of the Year in 2018. The reason is he has it all.

Size, mobility, the ability to beat you with his legs, and a good arm. Plus, he appears to have a good head on his shoulders.

Granted, Oregon State isn’t much defensively, but Sanders played with calm and smarts and took off with his legs when needed.

It should be a glorious college football season of quarterback play in Oklahoma with Jalen Hurts and Spencer Sanders. It will be hard to focus on the Thunder until football season… which in reality—might be a blessing during a season of reset with the Thunder as they try to sustain as an NBA franchise.

College football for OU starts on Sunday evening with a nationally televised game against Houston. Hopefully, it will give me some relief from Russia’s occupation of America and the tanking Oklahoma City Thunder.

I’m going to go with Jalen Hurts’ interview on what it means to be named a team captain for OU on my entry tomorrow.

But before I get to that…I want to address this question.. ‘Is Donald Trump Our Worst Ever President?’

I would say no at this point. He is our second worst behind Andrew Johnson.

Trump is the most worthless human being to ever be president without question in that he makes Nixon look like a choirboy. But he has yet to nudge ahead of Andrew Johnson. You think Nixon would have ever done the Russian hotel room with prostitutes peeing on him? Don’t think so. You think Nixon would have gone before the Boy Scouts and talked like he was in a brothel. No way.

In fact, Nixon declined asking for a recount in Chicago when he lost the 1960 election by a thin margin. He said it would be bad for the country. You think Trump would have taken that high ground? Not a chance. He would have suggested Kennedy was born in Kenya and turned his Twitter account viral.

The Trump-Johnson debate is close by my standards though. Both are/were racists and both sold their country out. Johnson sold out the Union to the South during the reconstruction era. While Trump sold out the Union to Russia during the America Lost Its Mind era.

Maybe if Trump were to sell Montana to Putin in the coming year that would put him over the top in this battle of worst ever.

Is Trump the worst ever president?

Not yet. But he still has fourteen months left to overtake Andrew Johnson.

For the time being I go 1 Andrew Johnson, 2 Trump and 3 Nixon.

Or I guess I could be like Melania and blame Billy Bush.

Billy Bush lost his job. Trump was endorsed by the Christian evangelicals.

Our country is broken.

These are the approval numbers as of today and to me give some hope the entire country hasn’t gone braindead. How unfortunate it is President Obama couldn’t just trample the constitution like goofy President Pimp and proclaim himself a third term with a rout over the founder of birtherism in America.

Obama is the one who would handle Trump in a debate. He understands the Twitter child who became president by default. Trump wouldn’t have the Lyin’ Ted Cruz or Little Marco Rubio or Low Energy Jeb Bush lines to fall back upon with his base.

Obama 97% – President Pimp 38%

But the question looms will his defacto running mate Vladimir Putin have enough again to carry Trump over the finish line in places like Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren aren’t Barack Obama. They don’t have that ‘It’ factor which can ignite a base and make people stand in line to vote. Hillary Clinton found this out the hard way. The polls lied. She was suppose to ease to victory over the Access Hollywood star of Tic Tac and pussy grabbing fame, but she and Robbie Mook didn’t have a clue.

And these two factors –running mate Putin and the lack of finishing ability by the Dems minus Obama probably make David Duke, Steve Bannon, and Vladimir feel reasonable about their chances fourteen months from now.

Biden and Warren aren’t Obama. Obama won’t be on that debate stage… one of them or Kamala Harris likely will be the candidate.

And in the end this has to give GOP national chairman Vladimir Putin hope he still has a chance for victory up to the last day of the campaign regardless of how goofy and misguided his puppet candidate behaves in the next fourteen months.

As Bill Clinton correctly said in 1992…it will be the economy, stupid– which will decide Putin’s electoral fate a second time around. Will Obama’s economy plus the trillions in liquidity from the individual and corporate tax cuts be enough with Putin to carry his puppet Trump over the finish line in 2020?

So the question looms for Nate Silver, Jon Meacham, myself and political junkies everywhere….will the American electorate give Vladimir Putin a second term?

But for now in the present quasi real world the scoreboard reads:

Obama 97% — Trump 38%.

My cousin Taylor helps me from time to time with the blog as far as technical stuff. I had Dave take a picture of the PUTIN-Trump 2020 yard sign and send it to Taylor to put on the cover of my blog.

I had Dave take the pic at a precise angle where he could actually get both the sign in their yard and the one anchored in the bed of my pickup. I put a great deal of thought into how I wanted the picture taken for the cover of my blog.

I call Taylor today and ask him if he got the pic.

“Yep, I got the picture.”

“What do think?” I asked.

He said, “We’re broken.”

I asked, “What does that mean?”

“Um…. as a country I think we’re broken.”

“You think it’s too much me driving around the reddest city in the NBA with this sign in the back of my truck?”

“I just think we’re broken as country,” he said.

I said, “I didn’t vote for Trump or Hillary. I wrote in McCain at the very last.”

He said, “I didn’t vote. It wouldn’t have mattered who I voted for. We’re broken as a country. All of us.”

So it’s caused me to reflect a little bit on this mission I now find myself on in regards to the Resistance Movement in Oklahoma.

I asked myself, ” Is this too much over the top? What would Kramer do?”

And the voice answered, ” Keep the sign in the truck and never look back.”

—————————————

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post wrote a column on this very subject. I never thought it thru like Eugene Robinson did with his column, but it makes sense.

Donald Trump secretly wishes he were the man and the president Barack Obama turned out to be.

Trump was given everything to him by his father’s inheritance. Barack Obama was raised by a single mother and is a self made man.

Trump went to Wharton. Obama went to law school at Harvard and became president of the Harvard Law Review.

Trump married a young escort. Obama married a Yale Law School graduate who went on the become one of America’s most popular First Ladies and wrote a No. 1 bestselling book. Melania was so impressed with Michelle she literally plagiarized Michelle for a Republican Convention speech. See what I mean.

Obama inherited an economy on the verge of Great Depression-like numbers and brought unemployment down from 10% to 4.7%. Trump inherited a recovered economy and gave our richest a tax cut which brought unemployment down from 4.7% to 4%…meh.

Obama got Bin Laden. Trump gave us Jeff Sessions, Omarosa and Steve Bannon.

Obama got healthcare reform passed without any effort or help from Mitch McConnell. Trump has done nothing except stand on the sidelines and disgrace our country while McConnell gave America’s richest a tax break they didn’t need.

Obama inspired hope. Trump inspires white hate and intolerance.

President Obama exudes intelligence, class, grace, and dignity. Donald Trump conducts his presidency like a low grade pimp.

Three years removed from office Obama boasts a ridiculous 97% approval rating. Almost three years into office Donald Trump’s approval rating isn’t half of Obama’s and this is with a robust economy which in fact the groundwork was laid by Obama and those who preceded President Pimp.

I’m sitting here in Deer Creek, Oklahoma thinking about what Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post wrote and I must admit he has a valid point.

Donald Trump envies Barack Obama both as the man he clearly isn’t and the president he’ll never become.

Nice piece, Eugene Robinson.

Hope you don’t mind an epilogue from Oklahoma.

In the blink of an eye this summer the Oklahoma City Thunder became the Charlotte Hornets. It took less time for the Thunder to become the Hornets this summer than it did for the Sonics to become the Thunder.

The NBA fairytale in Oklahoma City is over. Durant won his two rings in Golden State and has moved on to Brooklyn. Sam Presti’s other two MVPs, Beard and Wild Thing, now find themselves together in Houston still trying to win their first NBA rings with anybody. Paul George and Patrick Patterson are in LA with Kawhi Leonard and Jerry West. Jerami Grant is in Denver.

Serge Ibaka had to leave the United States to win his ring, but he now has one while living in glamorous Toronto. Serge was the smart one.

The Oklahoma City Thunder fanbase still has Florida Gator coach Billy Donovan, a slew of draft picks, and a Canadian guard named Shai to build a franchise around.

There won’t be any agonizing in Oklahoma City this season about playoff seeding position. The Thunder will be fortunate to win thirty games when the roster is depleted even more to garner the best possible chances in landing the top lottery spot.

I have no idea how long Chris Paul and Danilo Galanari will be around, but to be fair maybe Sam Presti doesn’t either.

But two things appear fairly certain…Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Billy Donovan will finish the season in Oklahoma City.

It was a glorious fall for a franchise which as recently as 2012 was voted the best sports franchise in all of pro sports. It has a Sam Anderson boom or bust feel to it even beyond Sam Anderson’s three original epilogues. At some point you feel almost certain Sam Presti will be replaced by Mary Fallin.

Sam Anderson took the time to write the Thunder’s eulogy this past week in a NY Times piece which probably won’t be talked about on the Sports Animal given no one at the Sports Animal would read a ‘subversive-deep state’ paper like the NY Times other than Royce Young who helped Sam Anderson write his book.

But not all is lost. Berry Tramel now has a point guard who will answer his questions and Little Nick Gallo has another NBA player to fall hopelessly in love with before our eyes.

You may or may not be able to read about the team in the Daily Oklahoman as it appears they have no one on payroll who can either deliever a paper or start up an online subscription even if you wanted to read about the team.

The Daily Thunder has evolved into a complete piece of junk which should be set on fire, but I’m glad it’s still there because some of the posters are still funny and it at least gives the illusion there’s an NBA team still in Oklahoma City.

But don’t take any of this as sour grapes. I’m not complaining. It still blows me away I got to watch all of this in sleepy little Oklahoma City in the first place.

There won’t be a parade in Oklahoma City, but there will be the best ever ESPN 30/30 film ever made about a pro sports franchise.

OKC Thunder R.I.P.— you just became the Charlotte Hornets.

It’s Sunday and it’s raining. Since I’ve already read Insane Clown President by Matt Taibbi…I don’t need to reread it. I already feel as if I have a doctorate in chasing a pathological liar down rabbit holes. So what would be the point?

I like to reflect on Sundays if possible. Have some coffee and think about how in my own way I can hopefully become a better person with each day I have left on this level of existence.

To make sure my better angels are pointed in the right direction. To make sure I get up every morning and live the Golden Rule. To be a good Samaritan. To be decent, kind, and thinking of others around me in my own personal universe.

This used to be such a basic axiom of the American way. I won’t allow Donald Trump to change me even though I now drive around Oklahoma City with a Putin-trump 2020 sign in the bed of my pickup.

My mother is having difficulty leaving her Putin yard sign in her lawn because she doesn’t want to hurt Harold’s feelings. Harold is her immediate neighbor to her east and is a Trump voter despite the fact he once told me he despises everything about the man. How that correlates into a Trump vote is beyond me other than the fact this is Oklahoma.

Harold has been a champion since my father’s death in August of 2016. He looks out for my mother. He takes her garbage cans to the curb on Tuesday mornings. Helps her with things when either me or my brother aren’t immediately there to help. Harold was at my father’s service and we made eye contact several times. I love everything about Harold except for the fact he voted for Donald Trump.

Harold clearly has better angels.

But as I told my mom, “Maybe the yard sign will help Harold come to terms with the douchebag Trump. Maybe the sign will be that flash of genius moment for Harold and others who drive down the street. Maybe.”

So it’s Sunday and instead of transfixing on everything Deplorable my post today will center on why in America this is how we should treat our neighbors even when we don’t agree with them on things of a political nature.

We should treat our neighbors with respect.

At some point on here I’ll start writing about Shai Gilgous-Alexander and what it must feel like to be a young black Canadian exiled to the now tanking Oklahoma City Thunder. I bet he was thrilled when he heard of the trade. That was sarcasm.

But for the time being I think I’ll be more focused on what it means to be an American.

It’s one thing to make the claim you couldn’t vote for Hillary, it’s another thing three years later after an overt assault on our constitution to still be hanging with this human piece of junk.

This is not complex. Five words cover it.

YOU VOTED FOR A PUNK.

This is not about Republican or Democratic ideology.

YOU VOTED FOR A PUNK.

This isn’t about Hillary Clinton anymore. This is about whether you have any human qualities of redemption which go beyond your 401K.

Do have any respect for our constitution?

Do you have any respect for the notion of the American Dream, the middle class, and what has made this country great?

Do you have any inner integrity and character whatsoever?

Do have any concerns for future generations of Americans who have no control over this freak show of a presidency?

Do you have any courage?

This isn’t about Hillary Clinton’s emails anymore.

Vote for Bill Weld. He’s a good man.

This is about you and whether you can summon your better angels.

I got this question on my private Michael Smerconish mailbox last night from Earl in Lubbock.

Q: How much did Putin have to pay to acquire the property formerly known as the United States of America?

A: ‘This clearly out does Jefferson’s acumen in expanding the United States’ boundaries with the Louisiana Purchase. Not even close.

For a Betamax of two Russian prostitutes peeing on a demented old man who owned the Miss Universe contest….Putin acquired the world’s largest economy and the most able military the world has ever seen. Stunning geo-political acumen to say the least.’

PUTIN-trump 2020: Rigging Elections Since 2016

I picked up my signs.

PUTIN-trump 2020:Rigging Elections Since 2016

I put my sign in a bucket of dirt and placed it in the back of my pickup before I crawled home in the rush hour traffic in northwest Oklahoma City.

It’s a huge sign. A veritable mini-billboard. There’s no way it couldn’t be seen.

I had no idea what to expect at the traffic stops. I had my Gran Torino black baseball bat next to me just in case.

Nothing. Not a taunt. Not a stare. Not an obscene gesture from any around me. Maybe they’re embarrassed they sold their vote to a human junk bond for a meaningless tax break.

Maybe the recent election of Kendra Horn to the U.S. Congress was a sign this part of Oklahoma isn’t Mississippi. I don’t know.

The sign in rush hour traffic will become a deal with me.

Maybe Dave Chappelle is right. They’re not really deplorable. They just need a gesture from someone since we know they won’t get that gesture from anyone in Oklahoma state government.

I have no idea. But I do know it’s time for Oklahoma to grow up.

Oklahoma.. please grow up. This is pathetic.