Month: March 2016

Hard to believe this happened thirty-six years ago. Even harder to imagine how much America has divided in the time since. It makes a person cynical to watch this and realize how much has gone the wrong way in the time since the Miracle on Ice. Even in the aftermath of Richard Nixon and the Iranian hostage crisis–America back in 1980 still had the ability to pull itself together and be one.

Even in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 the country pulled together. But in watching what’s going on now it’s tough to imagine the country ever becoming one again because there’s so many different factions pulling in various directions with only their own selfish interests at play. I need this to inspire me and to remind me what America is capable of when steered properly. We need to be praying for our country right now. Hoping our country can remember why it became the greatest nation in the history of mankind.

 

 

Lots of Thunder and NCAA Tournament ball coming up here in the next few days. I knew the GOP dimwits couldn’t go through a 24 hour news cycle without shaming us all again. These two clowns are close to making Sarah Palin look like Margaret Thatcher. But anyway—at this point can we be even remotely surprised by the antics of the Knucklehead Twins. I love this video… Trump is in the background with the ‘face on fire’ look. How can SNL parody these guys when their real life campaigns make the parodies seem tame in comparison?

 

 

Congrats to Lon Kruger and his Sooners for advancing to the Elite 8 on Thursday night with a surprisingly easy 77-63 win over Texas A&M in the West Region semi-finals in Anaheim. OU will play Oregon for the right to play in the Final Four.

Kruger becomes the fifth coach in NCAA history to take five different teams to an Elite 8 appearance by taking Kansas State, Florida, and OU to the Elite 8. Kruger’s Florida team made the Final Four.

OU was led by Jordan Woodard, NPOTY Buddy Hield, and Ryan Spangler  on Thursday night as OU coasted to a 19 point halftime lead and were never seriously challenged in the game.

This marks a streak for OU basketball as well as now the last four OU basketball coaches have led their teams to an Elite 8 appearance. Billy Tubbs with three, Kelvin Sampson with two, Jeff Capel with one, and now Lon Kruger with one.

Not bad for a school which is regarded more for its iconic football program than its hoops.

Oregon will be tough, but there’s no reason OU can’t win this game if they play their game.

 

 

Oklahoma City Thunder 113 — Utah Jazz 91

While the world stood still riveted to a twitter/instagram war between half wits Donald Trump and Ted Cruz over their wives, OKC’s Thunder quietly went about their business on Thursday night with an easy 113-91 win over the Jazz inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The Thunder caught the Jazz on the second night of a road back to back and it was fairly easy for the Thunder as they coasted to their sixth straight win while improving to 50-22 for the season. With the Clippers swooning of late, OKC’s lead for the third seed has increased to 5.5 games with ten games left to play. It would appear the top three seeds in the West will hold firm heading into post season.

Six different OKC players scored in double figures and it was a game in which both Durant and Westbrook played light minutes–so light in fact even Sam Presti’s special project Josh Huestis saw the floor for five minutes of action and made a basket.

OKC’s bench scored 52 points on the night with Enes Kanter and Dion Waiters going for 16 and 17 points respectively. For the second straight game, Dion Waiters was good and he’s my No. 1 Star of the Game.

OKC now embarks on a final ten game stretch of ten games with seven being played on the road. The Spurs are in Oklahoma City on Saturday night for the national NBA Game of the Week where we’ll see if there’s something to this six game streak or just a case of OKC beating six mediocre teams in a row.

Some potentially great games in this stretch with the Spurs twice, at Toronto, at Detroit, at what will be a desperate Houston team, at a Denver team which has been playing well of late, and at the dumpster fire Sacramento Kings as the George Karl experiment winds down. They should have kept Michael Malone as their coach, but that’s in essence why they’re the Kings.

Can’t wait to see what happens on Saturday night. Have the Thunder turned a mini-corner or has it just been the ease of the recent schedule? Either way–the Thunder are playing better and there’s a more upbeat feel in Oklahoma City about the season heading into the playoffs.

Mike Jackson

Clearly, Kasich has no chance. But he clearly was the most presidential candidate on either side in the aftermath of the terrorism attack Brussels yesterday. Such a foreign concept in America—actually electing a person qualified to be president.

 

It’s gotten to the point with the Twin GOP Knuckleheads Trump and Cruz — that’s it’s shocking when one of the two doesn’t say something incredibly stupid every day even if it is blatant pandering to their demographic followers. It’s like following two fourth graders running for the presidency. This latest statement from Cruz about police patrolling Muslim neighborhoods is another item I’m putting on my Trump-Cruz Blatant Pandering List For Whites Who Don’t Care Anymore.

I wonder if Donald Trump and Ted Cruz realize there are 900 Muslims in the NYC Police Department or that nearly 6,000 Muslims serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. Doubtful, because neither one of these make believe hawks have done either in their lifetimes. Just when you think it can’t get any dumber–it gets dumber.

Oklahoma City Thunder 111 — Houston Rockets 107

With so much going on in the world yesterday it was hard to write a recap last night about a basketball game, but better late than never.

OKC’s Thunder won their fifth straight game by make making the plays it had to in the fourth period and doing just enough to beat the Rockets in what was an entertaining game from start to finish. I wouldn’t call it a great win or a great performance, but it was encouraging from the standpoint Russell Westbrook scored 14 of his 21 points in the fourth period and got to the rim when the Thunder needed him to for some big baskets when it mattered.

For Westbrook it was another triple double with him going for 21 points, 13 rebounds, and 15 assists. It marks his 15th triple double of the season with eleven games remaining. Russell Westbrook is my No. 1 Star of the Game.

But it wasn’t just Westbrook. Kevin Durant had 23 points along with 7 rebounds. Serge Ibaka had a line of 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots. Enes Kanter double doubled with 10 points and 10 boards. In essence, OKC got 69 points and 38 rebounds from its top four producers. Not bad.

Dion Waiters was excellent. He had 17 points and did some things defensively. It was by far his best game since the death of his brother. It was one of those Dion games where you wish he could he could bottle it and bring it to the team three out of every four nights instead of one out of every three. If OKC got that consistently from Dion Waiters they’d be more of a threat to win a championship.

Randy Foye played 24 minutes and didn’t score a point, but I’m not going to gripe about it because he’s given the team some good things of late.

I like what Donovan is doing of late in making sure both Morrow and Payne get some minutes. Even if they both only get around ten minutes, it’s good to see them contributing and staying involved within the flow of the team. I’m hoping this continues.

OKC improves to 49-22 and with the fifth straight win there’s some optimism the team can find itself and hit post season with a stride. But in the end it will all be about defense and finishing fourth quarters. Can OKC be good enough in these two specific areas to win four games against the Spurs in the second round?

But I’m not going to dwell on it today. The skies are much brighter in Thunder Nation today than they were on March 11th when they lost at home to the Timberwolves. The gloom and tragedies have somewhat abated for the time being.

Eleven games remain in a regular season which could possibly be Kevin Durant’s last season in Oklahoma City. But it’s more of a time to embrace the season with some renewed hope and see if the Thunder can grow as a team as they hit the goal achieving portion of the season.

Mike Jackson

Unfortunate—Lindsey Graham, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell don’t have the balls to do this. Instead these knuckleheads are proposing either Tom Coburn or Rick Perry as an alternative candidate at the GOP convention. Unbelievable. Coburn has no interest whatsoever and would garner no interest from voters whatsoever. While Rick Perry already ran for the office this cycle and was one of the very first ones Trump chased home to his mommy. I have to tell you—these GOP establishment types are too much. Is it any wonder the GOP has lost five of the last six presidential elections?

One of the few times in this campaign Donald Trump has actually had to speak like an adult for extended minutes. Caucuses and primaries in Arizona, Utah, and Idaho tomorrow. Back on the trail — hope I can squeeze the Thunder-Rocket game in there somewhere tomorrow night.

 

Amidst all this GOP presidential dysfunction, it’s nice to be able to lose yourself in March as your favorite college basketball team makes a run in the tournament. The Sooners find themselves in the same region with defending champion Duke on the other side of the bracket. What a storyline this would provide if OU plays Duke in the regional final with ex OU head coach Jeff Capel sitting next to Coach K as his assistant head coach.

Don’t get me wrong, Lon Kruger has done a fantastic job, but I liked Capel and wished it would have turned out differently in Norman for him. People forget OU made two consecutive NCAA Tournaments with Capel and NPOTY Blake Griffin. OU even made an Elite 8 appearance before losing to eventual national champion North Carolina.

Duke is my second favorite college team after OU, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed the winner of the West Region will be either OU or Duke.

How can you not love Coach K? He’s the one those GOP operative knuckleheads should write in for president at the convention in Cleveland. Or maybe even a Kasich/Coach K ticket.