Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

(51) WATCH: Rep. Jeffries jokes about subpoenaing Baseball Hall of Fame over Jeter – YouTube

What an American tragedy which didn’t have to evolve in this manner to this degree. If only a competent adult had been occupying the most important political office in the world this threshold would not be something the country would be dealing with today.

If only a capable litigator like Hakeem Jeffries would have been given the power of voir dire and been able to select an impartial jury and present all of the evidence.

What if?

If you’ll recall the major theme from the fifty-three GOP senators was a presidential election was coming so why not allow the country to be the jury and we’ll accept their decision. That to a GOP senator was their defense of Donald Trump. Not that was he innocent. Not that he was competent or of sound mind. But that the country would be the jury.

Here’s the results of the jury…Joe Biden won the popular vote by over seven million votes and had the fifth highest Electoral College margin of victory since 1976 in a U.S Presidential Election.

It was an overwhelming verdict by the jury. Yet here we sit today still listening to this Mickey Mouse bullshit from Donald Trump and his seventy-four million enablers.

Let’s put this in historical perspective:

In the Civil War the Union suffered 364,511 deaths.

In World War I the U.S. suffered 116,516 deaths.

In World War II the U.S. suffered 405,399 deaths.

In the Vietnam War the U.S. suffered 58,000 deaths.

By the time we reach the end of February… I would estimate the U.S will have crossed the 410,000 COVID death threshold.

This isn’t funny. This isn’t like you 74 million people are watching an episode of Southern Charm on some goofy reality television show.

Allow me this analogy in closing…if your nine year old ask you for the the car keys and you gave them to him and he then proceeded to be involved in a fatal car accident…would you consider yourself liable for what happened?

Would you hold yourself responsible?

Surely there is some sense of justice and a thread of decency in your seventy-four million hearts at some point in all of this. Surely the grace of God will tell you what should be in your hearts and in your judgment.

Your Honor…I have nothing else to say at this time. Thank you for allowing me to speak to the Court in this manner.

I didn’t get to do Smerconish Saturday last week because I was in Denver hanging out with my grandson Little Robert. So…without any additional delay let’s get to Michael’s national poll question of the week.

Q: Will the Supreme Court’s decision to refuse to hear Trump’s cases in both Pennsylvania and Texas convince Trump’s base he lost the election?

Easy…you don’t have to be the Amazing Carnac to know how this vote went. With close to 30,000 people responding 94% said that regardless of the mostly conservative judges who comprise this Supreme Court the rulings will have virtually no effect on the Trump Base.

Like Trump himself, most Trump followers don’t read and almost exlusively get their news from Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Tucker Carlson.

It won’t matter. If Trump tells these people gravity is a hoax…then gravity is a hoax.

Any first week, first day law student knows that none of these Trump lawsuits have any merit or legal standing whatsoever. Have you noticed how Laura Ingram has pulled awy from this nonsense somewhat. She has a a law degree and was a New York attorney earlier in her professional life. Even she knows better.

It’s just sad we have 74 million in this country who have little if any inclination to research the truth.

And this is precisely why at some point the Blue States who generate 70% of GDP will at some point have to consider some unpleasant options moving forward.

You can’t have a championship hockey team when almost 50% of your roster is comprised of dimwits who can’t skate or think. Just saying. Same thing.

I’m going to go have a hot coffee and get ready to watch Cade Cunningham do his thing….and see if Mullet King can get a win over 2-7 Baylor.A

Have a nice Saturday.

(51) The Cranberries – Linger Live From Vicar Street – YouTube G

I had to come back and remove the Mary Fallin video. That was too much of a cheap shot. I actually knew then Mary Copeland back at college when we met taking a night course in Real Estate Law. I was finishing my double major in History and Business Administration while she was working on her MBA. I think if I remember correctly she got her undergrad in Retail Fashion Merchandising at O State and her father was a rancher in eastern Oklahoma. Both really big on Reagan as I recall.

I never dreamed she’d become a two term governor, but give her credit I guess. It’s not like I see anyone on the horizon who could become governor in this state and reel in the uber red state legislature.

What an impossible job.

Any way I remembered I owed my friend TC a song for being so nice to send me her homemade Steven Adams farewell video.

So have a nice week-end and Go Cade Cunningham!

Okay….the college drop outs and Captain Bone Spurs are now hinting they’d be happier being the Confederacy again. I’ve read the list now and there’s seventeen states of which fourteen are cash flow losers. Deadbeats who like the weaker countries in NATO who can’t or don’t pay their share of the economic burden.

Florida, Texas, and maybe South Carolina because of coastal national defense considerations are on my keeper list. And, of course Texas because we’re at some point going to monetize their oil and natural gas.

I’m not sure what I would do with Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. More contemplation is needed what to do with these people and their state sovernity….case by case. Maybe some sort of joint venture with the Canadians would be the way to go with these four ‘states’.

The other ten states squarely fall in the shithole dumpster fire Tiger King category because of their educational systems and the lack of economic diversity to ever become at the least cash flow break even propositions.

This list of ten includes Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, and Kentucky.

In reality I’m not sure why these ‘territories’ warrant statehood status where they create legislative gridlock in the House and the Senate. If a state cannot pull its own economic weight then why should it have Congressional representation? I’ve always been bothered by this. Why would any busniesss allow it’s weakest dimwits to have any say in running the company. What CEO in his or her right mind would do this?

Again…this is a simple economic Darwinian question…if you as a territory or state cannot pull your economic link on the chain then why should you have a vote in the United States Senate? Do Puerto Rico, Guam, or the Virgin Islands have repersentation in the U.S. Senate?

I can’t think of one reason this should be so.

On my next template of getting rid these perrennial cash flow losers –the first thing we should probably do is specify United States ownership in the seventeen states per military installations and bases. Much like we make decisisons regarding ISIS and other terrorists groups around the world where we have military bases to protect U.S. interests.

This will be the tricky part. What do we do with the trouble makers who refuse to move into the 21st century?

What do we do with these angry regressive white people who behave as if Calvin Coolidge or Herbert Hoover are still presiding over the Gilded Age?

I may work on this some more before the next edition of Smerconish Saturday.

This inability to govern cannot continue. It’s that simple. This is where the winners should buy out the losers and remove them from the decision making process on our more serious national issues.

Have a nice week-end.

God bless the United States of America…even if we need to shed a few.

Long story short Klay Thompson is my favorite player in the NBA. He personifies what I admire in a contemporary basketball player.

He was never a glorified sure bet star when he played college ball at Washington State. He was one of those players you knew would get drafted, but you weren’t really expecting him to become a Splash Brother and become the best two way shooting guard in the NBA up until he blew out an ACL in the Finals against the Toronto Raptors two seasons ago.

His game was not only being Steph’s backcourt splash mate, but it entailed a toughness on defense which branded him as one of the best defenders at his position in the league. Klay would guard the other team’s best offensive guard and the Warriors would try and help Steph as much as possible on the defensive end with the weaker opposing guard.

Jerry West thought so much of Klay he told Golden State ownership he would quit if they traded Klay. He meant it.

Klay ‘was’ a shutdown defender with a clutch deft touch from beyond the arc. Plus, he ‘was’ a fierce no nonsense old school competitor which is a rarity in the diva laden NBA superstar stratosphere of today.

Klay was my inspiration to create my own hoops metric of TSN in measuring NBA players. Toughness, Smarts, and Nasty. But with Klay a C needed to be added… as in Clutch.

But with Klay it became even more personal with me in Game 6 in Oklahoma City.

My father had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in November of 2015. A doctor told us he had two months to live and he would need to get his affairs in order. The doctor made it very clear it would be my father’s last Christmas. Tears were streaming down the doctor’s face as his told us, and in a matter of seconds we were all crying as well.

You can react in two ways at news like this. You can either feel sorry for yourself or decide to live what you’ve got left to the fullest.

My father clearly chose the latter option.

We made sure to watch every notable sporting event together up until the end.

OU football. The Super Bowl. The Final Four. The Masters and his love of golf…Rory. Later on we even saw Dustin Johnson win the U.S. Open—his first major. And of course–the Thunder.

I’ll never forget the Christmas Day game against the Spurs in San Antonio.

We’re sitting there and Russell went full mode Wild Thing as Bob went berserk. Literally berserk. He wanted to trade Russell right there and then on Christmas Day. Wanted me to get Presti on the phone and execute a trade. Ask me if I could get Steph Curry for Russell. I said not likely unless Golden State ownership had lost their collective minds. He then went into a tirade on what Eddie Sutton would do with Westbrook if he were the coach of the Thunder.

Eddie Sutton would have been laughing his ass off if he were with us that day… and I know what Coach Sutton would have said because I asked him what he would do with Westbrook that Pistons’ game as I sat next to him and his wife Patsy on the floor. The notion of Bob and Coach Sutton deciding how to handle Russell Westbrook is one which always makes me smile.

But Russell settled down and actually was the MVP of the game as the Thunder beat the Spurs on the road in a pretty good game.

So our last Thunder season together moves along. Lo and behold my dad was still going strong as the playoffs got going. Not strong enough to attend games in person, but strong enough to have watch parties at my parents house for every game with cheese burgers from Earl’s or pizza from Hideaway being the game time meal.

The Thunder easily made it thru the first round and then played perhaps their best ball ever since the 2012 Western Conference Finals against the very same Spurs pretty much.

We all know the story. The Thunder stayed hot and went up 3-1 on Golden State. The Warriors won Game 5 in Oakland and the series then returned to Oklahoma City for a potential closeout in Game 6.

Game 6 ran concurrent with Father’s Day. My son Chris got us two midcourt seats down low as a Father’s Day present for both of us.

At first my Dad said he didn’t want to go because he didn’t think he could handle it physically. But afther thinking it over he changed his mind and made a go of it.

My wife dropped us off at the arena an hour before tip just outside one of the entrances. Dad sat in a wheelchair while I pushed as we got to our seats before most of the crowd started entering the arena.

So we sit there and witness this epic classic for the ages as Golden State can’t do anything right and fall behind the Thunder. But Klay Thompson starts making threes with Andre Roberson draped all over him in every imagineable manner.

Yet as the ball releases from Klay ….it goes splash, splash… splash. Eleven times all told in one of the clutchest performances we’d ever witnessed from an NBA player minus maybe Larry Bird or Michael in their primes.

There was this deafening almost sickening silence in that arena as the outcome became evident in the last minute of the game. It was surreal like watching the The Natural with Robert Redford. There were these twinkling little starlike particles in the air. I would almost describe it as Biblical. No one in that building thought OKC would go to Oakland and win Game 7.

And of course…the Warriors closed out the Thunder in Game 7.

So as I wonder if this Achilles injury will mark the end of Klay’s career… I have to note there will always be a very warm spot in my heart for Klay Thompson.

Sure—we would have preferred OKC had won that night and advanced to the NBA Finals. But in retrospect as father and son we got to see Klay Thompson at his very best have a game which will be ecthed in NBA history…and which as it turns out changed the entire landscape of the NBA a few weeks later on July 4th.

Klay Thompson will forever have a very deep emotional connection to my heart for what happened in Game 6 that fateful night.

My sister in Seattle emailed me this wonderful article written by Howard Beck in the NY Times which kind of set me off this morning and made me remember my close emotional attachment to Klay Thompson.

Saying Goodbye to the Trips of a Lifetime – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Although I love watching OU come out of the tunnel in true road games wearing the white jerseys…I’m glad the game was cancelled. If Ohio State doesn’t have to play games then none of the other teams should be endangering themselves heading into Championship Saturday next week.

I think OU would have beaten West Virginia by 17-19 points primarily because West Virginia has nothing at the quarterback position which would have been a test for a vastly improved OU defense. Maybe like 31-14…something like that.

OU very much needs to have a week of excellent preparation for the Big 12 Championship Game in Arlington because Iowa State is a pretty damn good football team with an excellent young coach in Matt Campbell.

Plus, they peaked at just the right time and are playing as well as any team in the country minus Alabama or Clemson.

Iowa State has everything to win in this game and nothing to lose. They have what I call the Three H’s all working for them heading into Jerry’s World…they’re Hungry, they’re Humble, and they have the Heart to pull this off if OU isn’t ready to play at a high level.

But most of all they’re talented at just the right psoitions and a very high IQ football team. They generally don’t do stupid things. They don’t beat thesmselves. Both Texas and O State beat themselves this season with bad penalties and horrible turnovers…not true of this Iowa State football team. They’re what I would call a very heady team. Which of course is a reflection of their coach.

Iowa State under Matt Campbell has beaten OU twice since 2016. This won’t be like OU playing against a Mike Gundy coached team with him walking the other sideline with the 1-15 deer in a headlight tag hanging around his neck.

I would guess Iowa State to a man is very confident about their chances in this game. Inner self-confidence is everything in sports.

I haven’t seen the Vegas spread just yet, but I would have the game at pick ’em or maybe OU at -1.5. I would want to see how Austin Stogner and Mikey Henderson are healthwise before I did an official Vegas spread of sorts.

I can’t wait for Championship Saturday. It’s my favorite week-end of the college football season. It’s not as good as a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals, but it’s pretty special for those of us who love college football.

Can’t wait to write about the game on my blog.

Boomer!

Oklahoma Sooner Locker Room (various clips of Barry Switzer & Bob Stoops) – YouTube

I honestly never thought Oklahoma would remain this permanent rogue red dumpster fire historical footnote to racism in Richard Nixon’s Solid South.

I never would have imagined governors like Mary Fallin and Kevin Stitt would actually make George Wallace seem progressive in comparison.

Don’t laugh. After George Wallace was shot and paralyzed he became a much better man who viewed the world through a fairer, softer prism. You are allowed to laugh though when you consider how overtly stupid the state of Oklahoma was to re-elect Mary Fallin to a second term.

That was the precise moment I knew Oklahoma was headed for Hall of Famer unread imbred white trailer trash status. I knew..I knew…I knew, but I didn’t want to admit it.

Oklahoma is such a sports driven state… I figured the black athletes at both OU and with the Thunder would pave the way at some point in the state for gradual societal change.

Same thing with Coach Sutton at O State who I fell in love with on Day 1. I hoped Coach Sutton would be a part of the whole societal dynamic which would help Oklahoma emerge from the oil and gas robber baron days of the Gilded Age and actually at some point participate in the 21st century.

I hoped at some point the state would improve their educational system and get serious about not being a perennial joke to the rest of the country.

Oklahoma is never going to be anything of any consequence unless they can keep their brightest and smartest college graduates in state to contribute to the tax base with the higher paying jobs.

Anyway, I’m posting this locker room video to illustrate the beauty of team sports. There’s no black or white in a locker room in any team sport. It’s ‘Us’, it’s ‘We’… it’s about winning as a team. Doing what it takes to win as a team.

And that’s the part the white peckerheads in the Southern part of our country and throughout many segments of rural America have never come to terms with. They refuse to recognize the South lost the Civil War.

In fact, the South became even crueler with the Jim Crow laws during the Reconstruction period of our country’s sordid history in relation to race. Which is precisely why at that point the Great Migration of blacks took place with many blacks ending up in cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Philadelphia….just to name four who went for Barack Obama and Joe Biden in overwhelming numbers.

Anyway…here’s some vintage Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops locker room scenes with their football teams.

I’m playing this to get in a frame of mind for the West Virginia game this Saturday.

So I get up this morning and read the ignorant fathead Rush Limbaugh says he believes we’re headed for secession.

No effing shit, Sherlock.

When two college dropouts who didn’t serve their country like you and Sean Hannity get in front of white America every day and get rich pandering to the most uneducated trailer trash element of our country…secession could be a possibility.

But of course once all these angry white people stop getting their monthly prop up revenue from the Blue States which carry their asses they might think again. Once the Feds close their military bases a rethink could occur. Once they stop getting their Social Security checks, their military pension checks, their Medicare benefits, their Medicaid benefits, and their agriculture subsidy checks…they might have a nuanced change of heart. I wonder if Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and the quintessential bitch Anne Coulter have ever thought all of this through.

If you look at the current Electoral College…the states which went Blue for Biden produce approximately 68% of U.S. GDP. The number is similar for tax revenue contribution.

Quite frankly…if I have to move from Oklahoma at this late stage of my life I would be okay with it. Maybe some sleepy little trout fishing town in Colorado would be cool. We’d be closer to my sister in Seattle and the kids in Denver.

I’d still be an OU fan. I have to admit I’m a sick OU football fan and that part of me would never change. I still get goosebumps when they come out of that tunnel in those interlocking OU’s. That part of me will never change.

At this point I think Clay Bennett and his ownership group should consider selling the Thunder to an ownership group in some city which deserves an NBA franchise in a league where 75% of the athletes are black. Oklahoma isn’t changing no matter how hard you guys try.

In retrospect…I’ve always wondered what would have happened if Norrick and the MAPS guys had landed the NHL franchise which became the Columbus Bluejackets. Maybe a predominantly white sports league would have been a better fit in Oklahoma.

Would the unread imbred whites in Oklahoma have embraced a league which featured the most skilled athletes in the world where fights are infrequent and the beer is expensive. My guess is it would have flopped because Oklahoma City Blazer fans were never the type of hockey fans who came to games to appreciate the beauty of the game.

When the Edmonton Oilers put their AHL team here it was a miserable failure. No one came to the games even though the caliber of athlete was night and day superior to what the Blazers offered. Former OKC mayor Mick Cornett knows exactly what I’m writing about in this paragraph.

Truth hurts.

As I’ve writen on my blog…I’ve never considered myself a white person even though that’s what it says I am on my birth certificate. I was always the darkest kid in school until I got to the 10th grade and found people my color at inner city John Marshall.

I was playing football, baseball, and basketball…a three sport kid. My Dad asked me,” We could probably swing it if you don’t want to go to school there.”

I said, ” No…I’d like to go there. There will be more people like me. Are you insane?”

I went there and of course I never carried a football again in my football career, but it made me a better person who got to see every walk of like walking those halls. It made me look at people through a different prism.

We really are are all humans if you can put your bigotry and inherited prejudice to the side.

Evidently…that isn’t what a significant portion of white America believes circa 2020.

So Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and all you dittoheads… go ahead and reboot the Confederacy. See what the markets do to your country the day you announce you’re leaving. I can’t imagine your 401ks would inflate in value without Amazon, Google, Facebook, and the other tech stocks.

Go ahead…please leave and take all the trailer trash with you.

Trump to Cruz: ‘You are the single biggest liar’ – YouTube

Yikes.

In my lifetime this may have been the single most depressing day as an American.

More Americans died today from the COVID virus than died in the 9/11 attacks on New York City.

Let’s let that sink in before I proceed.

And yet… the piece of dog shit human junk bond grifter who somehow gained access to the White House like the cinema family in ‘Parasite’ was more concerned about possibly having Ted Cruz represent him in some delusional/mythical horseshit lawsuit which will never be heard by John Roberts’ Supreme Court.

You would think on this day these two miserably equal pathetic human beings could put the freak show to the side and show some empathy to every American in this country.

Not to be.

I never in my lowest thoughts imagined America would sink to this white inbred unread cultural level of trailer trash.

I was clearly wrong…and I will admit when I’m wrong.

Rome is burning while Putin is laughing his ass off.

Cade Cunningham Highlights 29 Points vs Oral Roberts – YouTube

While I was in Denver the O State Cowboys beat Oakland (Michigan) to improve to 4-0. I confess I didn’t watch the game, but that will probably be the only game I’ll miss the remainder of the season which involves Cade Cunningham.

On Tuesday night inside of Gallagher-Iba Arena… Cade led Mike Boynton’s Cowboys past Oral Roberts University to improve to 5-0 on the season. Next up for Cade is a Saturday 2:00pm game against Wichita State which will close out the bulk of O State’s non-conference slate heading into an uber rugged Big 12 slate.

I’ve made a point of watching and scouting the Big 12 this season and currently I would rank the Big 12 as the No. 1 basketball conference in America this season by a thin margin over the Big 10. The reason I ultimately went with the Big 12 is Kansas, Baylor, and the Cade Factor. The conference very much as it did last season has two programs in Kansas and Baylor who could garner No. 1 seeds in the regional draws. Plus…Cade is the odds on favorite to win National Player of the Year.

If Cade wins the awrd he’ll become the fifth player since 2007 from the Big 12 to win the NPOTY if I have this stored correctly in my basketball mind. Kevin Durant (Texas), Blake Griffin (OU), Buddy Hield (OU), Trey Young (OU), and then potentially Cade (O State). I may be missing a Kansas player in there somewhere. How could it be OU has three winners and Kansas doesn’t have a NPOTY winner. I need to recheck this on Google.

Plus…the conference with West Virginia, Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma has four other teams which should make the NCAA field. As of now O State is prohibited fom playing in this year’s NCAA Tournament due to the LaMont Evans situation Brad Underwood left behind in Stillwater after his one season. But even with that obstacle we should all have a very clear picture of what Cade Cunningham is after eighteen Big 12 regular season games plus the Big 12 tourney in Kansas City.

I mean… what we’re going to see night in and night out is how Cade’s game translates in a conference in which a targeted player like Cade will be defended by some of the best college basketball players in America this season.

As a passionate hoops fan in Oklahoma this is another primary reason I’m not all that bummed by Sam Presti tanking this season with the Thunder. What I’m going to enjoy witnessing is how Presti takes all of this loot he has accumulated and turns it into Cade Cunningham becoming the franchise face of the Oklahoma City Thunder in this summer’s NBA draft… or at least how he tries to do it.

This will be fascinating for me to chronicle in a hoops journal of sorts.