Parker McCollum Sold Out at Pay.Com Arena on December 30th

Parker McCollum is in town on Thursday night at the Pay.Com Arena. I don’t have tickets as of yet, but I’m still trying. This should be a great event in Oklahoma City since the primary tenant of Pay.Com is only allowed by Sam Presti to win .300 of their games for the second season in a row.

Other than maybe the Laker games in OKC where the Lakers have more fans in the building or those rare occasions when a rising star like Tyler Herro frequents the ‘House That Kevin Durant Built’ this is a rare opportunity for me to visit Pay.Com this winter.

You see…Parker McCollum doesn’t tank. He won’t be dogging it on 70% of his songs because he has some anal manager tell him he has to lose on 70% of his songs at his concerts to be relevant again.

I wonder how Shai feels about only be able to win .300 of his games two seasons in a row. Shai is an All-Star talent being shackled by Hinkie-Presti. I sure hope all this losing translates into Banchero or something close. A frontliner. Another star. I think Giddy is a nice piece, but I’m not sure about the star part just yet. Giddy is actually better than I thought he would be…so that’s a positive.

I hope Shai’s chances of making the All-Star Game aren’t diminished by him playing for a very bad team for the second season in a row.

NBA basketball is a night of a disposable entertainment dollar being spent by a consumer. Most consumers minus those still at the Thunder games still cheering for wins despite the obvious tank demand value for their hard earned dollars.

Support and loyalty are good things. But I want to see after this second season of tanking the restoration of genuine NBA games being played in Oklahoma City. Given the fact LeBron is almost done and there is in a sense relative parity in the NBA…it shouldn’t take more than two seasons of tanking to put a group around Shai who can play a real NBA season. Plus–it’s time for Presti to start monetizing some of those draft picks he has stored up.

I’m totally good with rebuilding. Sometimes you have to lose to learn how to win. But not for three straight seasons.

To me…this would be like shareholders demanding value for their stock at some point. It’s what made Boone Pickens and Carl Icahn famous.

Clay Bennett knows he can get away with this to a certain degree because his ticket buyers are for the most part novice level NBA followers.

Parker McCollum doesn’t need Paolo Banchero in the NBA draft this summer because he’s a bonafide star on the rise. He doesn’t need Little Nick Gallo lobbing softballs at him in a post concert presser.

You know why…because Parker is a star who takes pride in giving his fans a genuine night of entertainment. By the same token…I think Shai has given his best when allowed to have the better players on the Thunder team out there on the court with him.

How do you think Parker would sound with a guitar player next to him who missed every other chord?

I hope I’ve made my point.

Hope you have your Parker McCollum tickets for Thursday night. Clay Bennett, …it’s a hot ticket. Value is a precious commodity. I hope there is some value attached to a Thunder season starting next October.

Mike’s Christmas Travel Blog

I just got back from our Christmas trip to Denver visiting the grandkids. Robert is now two and Aubrey is 14 months old. Had a great time hanging out with them. Robert is now calling me Pops because he’s doesn’t want to call me Mike. So that’s cool.

Just like my father…he never listens to anyone, is in constant motion, is constantly talking, and seems to be able to go through mood swings in a heartbeat. But he’s adorable and a great kid. Literally…never a dull moment. It’s like sitting at the breakfast table with my father as he jams blueberries and pieces of kiwi into his mouth between verbal declarations.

It’s like that movie The Art of Racing In the Rain…in that I feel like my father has come back as my grandson.

Aubrey is the grand-daughter I never had as a father. This will be good for me. It will soften me some. She’s very beautiful and smart like her mother…so she will in my estimation be able to handle Robert’s constant motion and non-stop chatter. She’ll be his balance. I see them being somewhat inseparable.

Just had a great time in Denver. Hanging with the kids, reading, listening to music, and eating some great southern Xmas cooking.

Found out about an iconic book store in downtown Denver called the Tattered Cover. That will be a must stop on our next trip.

I did not watch one single basketball game…NBA or college. I haven’t to date watched one college football bowl game. I did watch the Cleveland Browns vs. the Green Bay Packers and I would have to say my NFL quarterback rankings held up. Baker Mayfield in a hurry needs to stop throwing interceptions. He’s killing his team. Literally killing them. If you’re hurt that bad…you shouldn’t play.

We had intended for me to sneak into the Bob Dole Museum in Russell, Kansas while my wife would give me twenty minutes in there, but what happened instead was we got side-tracked at beautiful Lake Waconda in west-central Kansas and fell in love with the lake. The migratory birds were incredible. Simply amazing. I had no idea out there in the middle of the Kansas plains this beautiful lake existed.

On the video this guy is bow fishing. I don’t bow fish, but I do fly fish and spincast fish. So I now have a lake in west Kansas to start fishing on some of these treks to Denver. It’s evidently an excellent walleye and sand bass lake. I can’t wait.

I still want to go through the Bob Dole Museum…so maybe I can work that in on another trip.

Hope you had a great Christmas. Mine was excellent and I feel like I’ve reset myself in that another thing I didn’t do the last four days was watch one single minute of cable news. Not one.

I feel a calmness has overtaken me.

Of course…I didn’t watch the Thunder either.

Peace.

This is practice for the Alamo Bowl at Howling at the Wind. I could do this one. I used to sing this with my grandmother Maureen.

Sooners Sign Missouri Tight End Daniel Parker in the Portal

Christmas a few days early for us Sooner fans as Missouri tight end just committed to the Sooners in the portal. Parker in the portal…that has a nice ring to it. With Austin Stogner now at South Carolina and Jeremiah Hall headed to the NFL this was a key signing for Coach Venables. I still feel in the end Brayden Willis will come back as well to improve his NFL stock.

Daniel Parker a Sooner and the Thunder Girls last night without Covid masks on. I had no idea how beutiful this version of the Thunder Girls actually are. It was so nice to see them without masks.

All we need now is for the Thunder to start playing real basketball games and if not make sure and land Banchero. Don’t let me down on this Sam Hinkie-Presti.

Great way to get this Christmas rolling.

That’s it for me.

I’m taking a Christmas break from the blog.

Merry Christmas!

Thunder Beat Injury Decimated Denver Nuggets, 108-94

Okay, here’s the thing…Oklahoma City easily beat the injury decimated Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night at the Pay.Com Arena by a score of 108-94. The Thunder in fact actually led by 23 points at one juncture which represents their biggest singular lead this season in any game.

Jamal Murray, Michael Porter, and Dozier were DNPs in this game. This Denver team isn’t a contender of any sort without Jamal Murray. As in none.

Denver is a team virtually absent of any defensive rim protection.

Shai was magnificent with a 27, 11, 12 triple double and a +19 rating. Best player on the floor which is saying something since the reigning NBA-MVP Nicola Jokic was on the floor for awhile in this game.

It was the Thunder’s third straight win and elevated their record to 11-19 after thirty games. To keep that in perspective the Thunder were 16-19 last season after thirty-five games before Sam Hinkie-Presti closed down the season and started his Death March tank going 2-23 in the last twenty-five games of the season.

The Western Conference minus Golden State and Phoenix isn’t what we thought it was going to be. Utah is a fake tough guy and every other of the remaining twelve teams in the West are fatally flawed one way or another.

This is what I’ve been writing on here all season…why tank if even if you hit the lottery …why tank if you weren’t going to ante up in 2013 and keep your top three players in tow. What would be different now?

The Thunder have an All-Star in Shai. They could have a unique player in Josh Giddy. They have an alpha sled dog in Lu Dort that Jack London would be proud of. They have plenty of potential depth on this team despite the fact Sam Hinkie-Presti tried to construct this team to be so bad that someone like me wouldn’t be writing this thirty games into this season.

The three vets…Kenrich, Muscala, and Favors are all functional.

So here’s what I’d honestly like to see happen.

I’d like to see Little Nick Gallo and Low Energy Royce Young announce Sam Hinkie-Presti is going to have a special press conference on January 2nd. The theme of the press conference will be for Sam Hinkie-Presti to tell Thunder Nation what he’s learned from the standpoint of team construction in Oklahoma City during his tenure here.

Little Nick Gallo will point to me and say…”Mike Jackson—okcthunderground.com first question.”

My question will be, ” Why tank if you and ownership aren’t committed to putting a championship team together and keeping it together for at least a four year window? What did you learn from trading James Harden and losing Kevin Durant which tells you in your heart Oklahoma City could win an NBA championship even if the Thunder won the lottery three years in a row?”

Get to work Little Nick Gallo. Let’s have a Jan. 2nd presser before the Death March II gets into full swing in the quest to win the NBA ownership rights to Paulo Banchero.

Sam Hinkie-Presti what have you learned which might indicate you need a shooting guard who can shoot to win an NBA ring and a stretch five who can do the same. If we haven’t figured that out…then why tank?

Green Bay fans own their team. I’m assuming they can ask questions like this. Let’s have some people minus Little Nick Gallo and Jenni Carlson asking the questions at your pressers.

Next up…the Thunder at Phoenix and I’m taking a four day blogging break.

My Revised Top 8 NFL Quarterback Rankings Heading Into Christmas

I’ve been giving this a serious rethink since I hastily dropped TB to No. 3 on my QB rankings after the abysmal 9-0 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Here’s what I’ve rethought…since the fabulous Tom Brady didn’t lose to either Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers why would I drop the most iconic player in NFL history two spots below them for just one bad game.

Plus…I needed some time to recalibrate my No. 7 and No. 8 on my list.

I love the fact Tom both destroyed several tablets and also collectively told the Saints bench to go fuck themselves.

This my friends is NFL quarterback leadership.

My revised list…

1 Tom Brady

2 Patrick Mahomes

3 Aaron Rodgers (those four combined games vs. the Bears and Lions still bother me) I honestly view Aaron and the Packers like a typical soft Big 12 team once they reach the NFC Championship Game. We’ll see.

4 Matthew Stafford

5 Josh Allen

6 Lamar Jackson

7 Justin Herbert

8 Mac Jones

If I were going to go deeper on my list…

I’d have Jalen Hurts at No. 17 and Baker Mayfield somewhere around No. 19. Baker hurt himself playing injured. Stefanski should not have allowed him to play with his shoulder injured. Plus, Baker needs to keep his wife off of Twitter. Sigh.

These are my Top 8. It’s a QB driven league for certain. So I want to see how many of my Top 8 make the overall quarterfinals in the NFL Playoffs.

I’m almost ready for Christmas break here on the award winning blog. Even Wolf Blitzer and Dan Patrick takes a few days off for Christmas. Just saying. I need an intern sub like Traber has now and again.

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas From Very Warm…. Deer Creek, Oklahoma

Gonna be eighty degrees in Deer Creek on Christmas. I better reset the Christmas theme music on here. Hopefully… the Trump climate change deniers won’t be offended or pissed off and insurrect any buildings or assault any police officers over the Christmas break.

We would also hope urinating and defecating inside the buildings unless you’re in a restroom isn’t another holiday reset from last January as well from these courageous freedom fighters.

We clearly live in different times.

Literally saw two truckloads of Edmond youth yesterday in Edmond, Oklahoma with ‘Fuck Joe Biden’ flags streaming out of the beds of their pickups.

Even the Needham Twins from Fort Worth wouldn’t have done this in a Dan Jenkins’ novel.

But this is where we find ourselves historically and culturally.

Sigh.

Are you kidding me? Good lord.

We have to rise above this and try and keep the conversation civil if nothing else.

Have a great Christmas!

Tyler Herro Steals The Show On TNT Showcase

It was like watching A Star Is Born on TNT last night. Literally. Tyler was Lady Gaga and in the second game Russell Westbrook was a washed up Bradley Cooper.

I must admit I’m conflicted and sad for Russell and LeBron. It’s a Greek tragedy for Russell to be exposed like this in front of the basketball world and its an equal tragedy for LeBron to be pissing away one of his last seasons in this manner.

I’m sad for Russell. What else can I really say. Even Allen Iverson wasn’t exposed to this degree. I don’t know if this changes things with the Thunder fans who still boo Kevin, but at least one would think these Kevin haters would have to admit the Thunder weren’t winning anything even if Kevin had stayed after the 2016 Western Conference Finals.

And for Berry Tramel, whether he wants to admit it or not, it’s a validation of sorts for him. For him pushing the two Sam Presti employees… the two make believe journalists in Little Nick Gallo and Low Energy Royce Young to the side in those post game pressers…and being that one professional adult journalist in the room willing to ask the tough questions. Trying to find out why it was Russell wasn’t evolving as he should have been as a veteran point guard on a max contract.

And that is why Berry Tramel year in and year out is awarded the Oklahoma Sports Writer of the Year Award.

You can’t win championships playing stupid. And if you’re a stupid team…then it should be pointed out why your team plays dumber than a poorly coached YMCA U-10 youth team.

On the other hand…it was a glorious night for Tyler showing all of us hoops lovers the form he displayed in his rookie season when he was a big part of the Heat advancing to the NBA Finals.

The Heat after losing in the Finals to the Lakers did this…they didn’t trade away one of their best three players ala James Harden. Instead they fortified their best three players by bringing Kyle Lowery, PJ Tucker, and a slew of hungry blue collar role players on board to make them a very serious threat to get back to the NBA Finals after last season’s disappointment in the first round versus the Bucks.

You see…this is what serious GMs and serious owners do when they’re serious about pursuing an NBA championship.

Tyler Herro…you are on the cusp of becoming a star. Young man… don’t let it go to your head. Bear down and help Jimmy Butler win a ring if you can.

I feel for Russell though. He brings out that Holly Hunter side of me of which I wish I could control, but sometimes can’t.

Berry Tramel…you just got a helmet sticker. And btw…who’s to say it wasn’t Clay Bennett who called Berry Tramel to ask Russell those very tough questions because ownership was getting tired of watching that shit night in and night out. You have to ask yourself why did Sam Presti and Clay Bennett allow Berry Tramel to do that repeatedly with Westbrook? And the answer is their own paid for reporters weren’t tough enough to get it done. That’s why.

Merry Christmas!

I actually like this version a little better. Lady Gaga can be a bit much. This is a little more understated…which I like.

Winning Is Fun

Even though we all know the Thunder need to lose enough to be in the Banchero Sweepstakes…it’s nice for just a day to be on the right side of a score with the Thunder.

Per Jim Traber today on the Sports Animal…with last night’s win over the No. 4 seed in the West the Memphis Grizzlies…OKC is now on a trajectory to win 29 games.

Per Mike Jackson on this blog…the chances of this Thunder team winning 29 games are two-fold… as in slim and none.

Once the Thunder get to 15 wins or so…Sam Presti-Hinkie and Coach D will turn it into tanking overdrive like they did last year when the Thunder were 16-19 in their first 35 games.

I’m fairly certain Sam Hinkie-Presti is reading my blog. Since he bought my previous blog the Daily Thunder and turned it into an unreadable homeresque piece of junk I’m fairly certain he’s following me over here.

I don’t do Twitter…so this where he has to follow me to get some provocative adult thoughts on his ball club.

I’m not on the record saying he privated messaged me that tanking info on the blog…just a feel on my part that 24 wins is still a safe over/under Thunder wins threshold. Shai goes out…the team becomes virtually unwatchable.

Coach Venables signed three more defensive recruits. Imagine USC paid Joe C to take Lincoln off his hands and we’re going to have a defense in the forseable future.

A little music before the TNT Showcase would be nice. Have a great Tuesday evening.

Actually…Blake mentored Danielle on The Voice and she won it all as a teenager. So whevever I think of Blake …I then think of Danielle…or vice versa.

This is my Thunder inspirational song moving thru the death tank. This is a good one to sing in the whirlpool or with Alexa. Alexa…play Potential by Danielle Bradbery. My little MAGA Trump neighbor loves when I sing this one with Pauli out on the backyard.

Thunder Win in Memphis, 102-99

I watched every minute of this game and other than the road win at Toronto… I thought it was perhaps the Thunder’s best wire to wire performance this season.

The game had pace and ebb and flow between what I think are two pretty even teams talent wise. Memphis is in my view is a year ahead of what the Thunder should be next season with Banchero or some other talented player acquired in the draft joining the Thunder next season.

To me…it was evident from the get go they wanted to win this game. Minutes weren’t doled out like it was a rec game at the North Edmond Little Girls’ U-10 Youth Soccer League over on Danforth Blvd.

When you get your ass beat by seventy-three points by a team… I would hope even with Hinkie-Presti and Coach Tank pimping for as many losses as possible that the competitive embers are burning and intact so to speak.

Those two can always lose another game they need to lose somewhere down the stretch in March or April.

Kudos to the eleven Thunder players who played in this game absorbing the 240 minutes of playing time.

I would have preferred to have seen more than five minutes from Aaron Wiggins, but otherwise I saw no pimping for a loss from Coach Pimp on this one. That’s pretty much the way I would have played it as well.

I thought Poku played some very solid minutes amongst the twenty-one minutes and change he played in this game. I hope people are noticing….he’s getting better.

I also liked the manner in which Bazely was utilized off the bench as a stretch forward like I’ve been suggesting he should be used. As in …the Thunder’s own baffy version of Lamar Odom back in the day. I would quit hating on Poku and Bazely and perhaps instead challenge Presti-Hinkie and his tanking coach to utilize their skill sets in a more appropriate manner.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the swarmy Little Nick Gallo actually read that on my blog previously and suggested it to his higher ups within the Thunder organization.

As I’ve written on here multiple times…Sam Hinkie-Presti…I’m here for you, dude. Trust me…you need someone from John Marshall like me in your inner basketball circle. Someone with a basketball soul beyond the feckless white boys within your comfort sphere.

And in closing… this game retiterated to me what I’ve been saying all season long, that being, if Presti-Hinkie wasn’t tanking for a top three player in the draft then I think this Thunder team with perhaps two nuanced roster moves to add more veteran saavy could easily be on the same track as Memphis this season and contending for a playoff spot.

Merry Christmas!

Banchero, Please…. Sam Hinkie-Presti

There are so many conflicting thoughts here with the Hinkie-Presti tank. My first thought is I wouldn’t be losing games by design for the emaciated white kid from Gonzaga. Holgrem I think is his name. He’ll be another project just to get enough weight on him to play NBA ball for at least three years I would think. Pretty much like Poku…who btw I would not give up on at this point. Poku’s weight and shot are both coming along…slowly, but coming along somewhat.

I like Banchero at Duke. He’s what the Thunder need. An inside-outside power-finesse big man who will grow into his frame in the next two years.

I love his name…Paolo Banchero. Once he becomes a star you just go with the last name like Nene…except he’d be Banchero. El Prez loves him some Banchero. If only the feckless little white minions who work for Presti had my brand imagination.

I could see myself paying again to actually attend Thunder games with Banchero alongside Shai, Dort, Giddy, Tre Mann, and Aaron Wiggins. Bazely, Jre, Ty, and Poku are who I have tentatively scheduled for my second until right now for next season.

I’d obviously love to have Kenrich and Muscala back, but they may be tanked out and wanting to join a contender at the trade deadline. Either way…I love both of those guys and commend them for their professionalism.

With one of the Clipper picks I’d pick another hybrid guard swingman who can play both ends..

I don’t look at the draft boards this time of the year because the Power 5 schools haven’t really gotten into conference play just yet.

BTW… unbeaten Iowa State who didn’t win a conference game last season in the rugged Big 12 just became the No. 9 team in the nation today AP-wise.

So when I curse on here at the tanking Thunder don’t for a second think I’m not already projecting what the Thunder could possibly become if Presti-Hinkie could bundle some draft picks to somehow add Banchero to the Thunder next season.

We’d have two Canadians, an Aussie, and an Italian in our starting five. Little ole sleepy redneck Oklahoma City would become the internatioal ‘It Team’. Who knows…at that Sam Anderson fron he NY Times Magazine might have to start writing a second book.

Also…prolly wouldn’t have to move the team to Las Vegas if Clay Bennett can pull the levers to get Paolo Banchero in a Thunder uni next season.

So I’m thinking Banchero moving forward everytime the Thunder lose the remainder of this season.

Viva, Banchero!