Trump’s Legal Strategy Moving Forward

Very simple. He’ll simply do whatever he has to do to survive financially and politically. Lie, cheat, steal, break the law, bully, intimidate…whatever it takes to preserve his own position. He could care less about the country.

It was never about making America great again (America was already great), it was always about just Donald Trump’s insatiable ego.

What is mens rea as per Caligula firing Comey?

Granted, 99% of Caligula’s supporters probably think mens rea has something to do with mounting Nancy O’Dell in a furniture store (sigh), but with Comey’s testimony this week–I thought it might be an appropriate time to introduce the doctrine mens rea before this goes any further. I know this sort of thing doesn’t appeal to Trump supporters, but in the event you want to learn something…here it is as related to Caligula’s obvious obstruction of justice. In short, what was the degree of premeditated intent to perpetrate the crime in question.

This is me working the Russiagate story for okcthunderground.com. And, yes, if you voted for this piece of shit you are a dumbass.

I love Bobby Costas. He’ll be the Carl Bernstein of this entire sordid yarn when all the story is finally unraveled to the public.

Why It’s Easy to Hate the Warriors

The Cavs finally won a game and averted a sweep. One would think it will be over back in Oakland in Game 5 though. All this in Game 4 made me somewhat sad for Durant. He’s played brilliantly in these Finals and just when I was about to come around and say, ” Maybe Durant and Draymond Green aren’t the biggest pussies in the league’…….all of this drama for no reason whatsoever.

Note to Steve Kerr—I’ve agreed with the things you’ve said about Donald Trump, but as a coach your two players need a little wisdom from you. Just saying.

Bob Stoops Steps Down

I’m not really shocked. Being the head football coach at OU is a meat grinder. Bob Stoops came to OU when the program was absolutely horrible after the 1998 season. OU under Gary Gibbs, Howard, and John Blake suffered the worst ten year streak of OU football in my lifetime. When Stoops took the job, OU had gone through five straight losing seasons and ten straight seasons without playing in a major bowl.

My dad and I went to that first Independence Bowl in Stoops’ first season on a New Years’ Eve night. OU lost to Ole Miss on a late field goal. In season two OU won the national championship by beating heavily favored Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Year Three — a Cotton Bowl win over Arkansas. Year 4 — a Rose Bowl win over Washington State. We were there. Pretty much a Bucket List trip. We made the coastal drive from San Diego to Pasadena in a convertible. It’s a day I’ll never forget. Then a national championship game in New Orleans against LSU. Then another trip to the Orange Bowl to play USC in another national championship game. Great memories. Other than the Rose Bowl win, the bowl trip which forever stays with me though was the incredible ending against Boise in the Fiesta Bowl. We were there for what many call the zaniest ending of a major bowl game in college football history. My father and I hugged on two separate times thinking we’d won, but not to be.

All told, Bob Stoops won 190 football games and exits as the winningest coach in OU football history. He won one national championship, had his team in four national championships game, won ten Big 12 titles, qualified for a Final Four berth, won a Rose Bowl, won two Sugar Bowls, won a Fiesta Bowl, won a Cotton Bowl, and won an Orange Bowl.

But most of all, he restored OU football to its place as one of the premier programs in the country, and he did it with class. Under Stoops, the Sooners never had a losing season, went to a bowl game every season, and never were sanctioned by the NCAA during Stoops eighteen years at the helm. Add to the fact, the College Football Coaches Association voted Bob Stoops as the coach they’d most want their sons to play for.

This last season with the Joe Mixon issues was the only time in eighteen years I seriously questioned a decision by Bob Stoops. I still disagree with what he did. But he took the heat. Hopefully, Joe Mixon grows from all of this and makes all of us realize redemption is a very big deal in the journey of life.

I like what Stoops did today. The program is in good shape and he’s leaving with two straight Big 12 titles and a Sugar Bowl win over Auburn. He’s leaving on a high note with the stadium newly renovated.

In closing, the thing which impresses me the most about Stoops is how he won ten conference titles with a multitude of quarterbacks. It makes for a great trivia question. The answer is …Josh Huepel, Nate Hbyl, Jason White, Paul Thompson, Sam Bradford, Landry Jones, and Baker Mayfield.

White and Bradford won Heismans. Huepel and Mayfield were Heisman finalists. And Paul Thompson’s season of redemption was one of my favorite OU football seasons. Paul Thompson’s season just made you feel good as a fan of the game.

It was a glorious run. Some of my best memories with my father were at OU games during the Stoops Era.

Thanks for the very special memories, Bob Stoops.

The most fun ever in a loss. You just kind of sat there in the stadium awed by what happened.

Trump Karaoke–Dealing With Our Village Idiot Prez

Just another Monday of our dumbass Prez. In less than a day, he basically undermined his own travel ban case before it got to the United States Supreme Court and then deftly threw Jeff Sessions and his own Justice Department under the bus three days before Comey’s public hearing. Unless you’re just a complete dumbass this is pretty much a day to day replay of Caligula’s presidency. It’s who he is.

Anyway, sometimes it’s good to do the Trump karaoke to release the stress and get thru the day. I’m so thrilled sixty million of you made the decision to put this person in the White House. Feel free to sing along, it might help.

What a complete fucking idiot.

And…if you’re one of the religious right who voted for Calig, this is an extra one for you. Make sure and read Corinthians before you watch it though.

The Championship Won in the Hamptons

Another easy double digit win for the Warriors in Game 2 inside Oracle. I was even able to watch most of Anthony Bourdain’s new episode from Anarctica. Beautiful episode by the way.

Cleveland may or may not win a game, we’ll see. But the math is overwhelmingly against the Cavs and this is why. When you add Durant to the Warriors nucleus mix–Curry, Durant, Thompson, and Green pretty much will give their team somewhere around a combined 84 points a game. This means if the rest of the Warriors roster can score say a combined 38 points then the West Coast Nike All Stars are going to be sitting around 122 points.

Tough to beat 122 points because the Warriors are actually a pretty decent defensive team.

This championship was decided in the Hamptons back in July of 2016. Whoever it was that made the closing sale to Kevin Durant is basically the Finals MVP. So, if it ultimately was Jerry West then Jerry West should get the Finals MVP award.

I feel a sadness for Sam Presti, Billy Donovan, Russell Westbrook, and Nick Collison. This should have been their moment. Just pause and reflect where we as Thunder fans might be tonight if not for those horrific last six minutes of Game 6 in last year’s Western Conference Finals. Durant and Westbrook would be lauded for being one of the game’s greatest twosomes, but instead the historical references will now go to Curry and Durant.

It’s so ironic how those six minutes not only forever changed the Thunder, but more importantly changed the entire NBA and perhaps NBA history.

Durant will get his ring and probably the Finals MVP trophy while Westbrook will get his regular season MVP on June 26th. But for the time being, Westbrook is on a team with no competitive chance of winning a title while Durant could win multiple titles if he stays in Oakland with Curry if they make the dollars work.

I will say this for Durant though, he’s turned himself into a wonderful all around player. His defense is worlds apart from what we saw in those first Durant years in Oklahoma City. He’s a complete, well rounded player worthy of a ring.

Maybe it’s karma for the fans of Seattle. Maybe it was never meant to be for Oklahoma City to win a championship. But from someone who watched all of it from Day 1 it was a glorious ride just with an ending none of us in Oklahoma were hoping for in the end.

Will Westbrook stay? I have no idea. I hope he does, but again the NBA is an agent driven league for the superstar elites in the game. If Durant stays in Oakland you could literally pick the next best ten players from the other twenty-nine teams and they’d still be a solid Vegas underdog to lose to these Warriors.

Why I Love PK Subban

One of my favorite players in the NHL even though he terrorized my Boston Bruins when he was a Montreal Canadian. Very offensively skilled defenseman. Nashville has an excellent assortment of defensemen and has a marked advantage over Pittsburgh in this regard. If you don’t know who PK Subban is then you need to know for more informed viewing for the rest of this series.

Great comments after Game 2 loss in Pittsburgh.

Preds Thump Penguins in Game 3

When a goaltender makes saves the team in front of him plays with confidence and swag. Such was the case on Saturday night as the Nashville Preds climbed back into the Stanley Cup Finals with an impressive 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Pecca Rinne looked nothing like the sieve we saw in the first two games in this series. On the night, he stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced and made every stop after allowing an early goal to of course rookie Jake Guentzel. In these playoffs, Rinne is 8-1 at home and has a .949 save percentage at home.

The Nashville crowd was incredible. Maybe the best hockey crowd I’ve ever seen as they were part of the game. It kind of reminded me of the Oklahoma City crowds in 2012 when the Thunder made their run to the NBA Finals. The city of Nashville has gone ga ga over their hockey team and it’s clear this team feeds off the energy of the crowd.

Pens goalie Matt Murray had a tough game only stopping 28 of 33 shots, but in all candor he was left out to dry on numerous occasions.

I think we’ve got us a hockey series, but this shouldn’t come as a surprise because as the 8th seed in the West the Preds beat Chicago, St. Louis, and Anaheim to get here. A very impressive run and of course they have their crowd.

Game 4 on Monday night in Nashville. Can’t wait.

Both coaches in this series are excellent. Both Pete Laviolette and Mike Sullivan have won a Stanley Cup championship as a coach. Here’s Pete Laviolette in his Game 3 post game presser. He doesn’t mince words. Hockey coaches generally don’t mince words.