Month: January 2018

Obviously, we’ve reached a point where it is somewhat obvious General Kelly is the defacto POTUS. Whether it be because Caligula couldn’t pass his fourth grade proficiency exams or whatnot—this is where we are on January 18th circa 2018.

I don’t think this in any way should bother or hinder the Trump base from enjoying their reality television series. This in no way should exclude Caligula from laundering dirty Russian money in Cypriot banks, disparaging American POWs, dissing Gold Star families, taunting handicapped people, golden showering Russian prostitutes, frolicking with Stormy Daniels and other porn stars, giving inspirational speeches at Boy Scout Jamborees, or just enjoying a lazy day of furniture store sport fucking with Billy Bush.

This is when we as adults in the room have that come to Jesus moment and come to a pragmatic realization of where we’re at. This is where we’re at and I don’t see it changing.

So…here’s General John Kelly giving his State of the Union Address.

General background information because he wasn’t at GOP Convention in Cleveland. So…in reality this is the GOP’s Never Trump Movement figuring it out half a year late.

With the already horrid LA Lakers only down 60-54 at halftime inside Chesapeake Energy Arena, it got worse for the Lakers in the second half without not only Lonzo Ball, but without Kentavius Caldwell-Pope who left the game late in the second period with a strained Achilles. Without two of LA’s better players, OKC’s Thunder came out in the second half and steamrolled the Lakers in coasting to an easy 114-90 win.

With this Thunder team, any win over any team under any circumstance is a good win. This has been a mentally fragile Thunder team to date. Baby steps are good steps. I love you, you love me. It’s a lovely day in the neighborhood. Training wheels aren’t a bad thing. Thoughts which can’t be dismissed or denigrated just because the team LA had on the floor in the second half was a piece of trash. You take the win, improve to 25-20 and see what you can do in Cleveland on Saturday against LeBron.

Both Steven Adams and Carmelo Anthony had really good games against the Lakers. Carmelo went 10-15 with 27 points, while Steven went 10-12 for 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Combined, the duo went 20-27 on the night which was a good thing because both Russell Weestbrook and Paul George both struggle. Carmelo gets the nod for player of the game though, you know…that smile. I love his smile. If only Paul George would smile.

Bad Little Dude went 8-22 for 19 points while missing a lot of good looks. Paul George finished 5-14 for 13 points, but that was kind of misleading in that Billy Donovan reinserted Paul George late when both teams had already acknowledged the Lakers’ surrender. George hit two completely meaningless three pointers which in essence made a 3-12 night with 7 points look much better.

It must just be me with Paul George. I just don’t see a guy playing with much joy or happiness out there. He looks more like a guy serving the remainder of his jail sentence in Oklahoma City than a guy all in. Maybe I’m wrong. Hope I am, but to date he just doesn’t look like he wants to be here. I wonder if he and Jerry West are already texting? Wouldn’t this be a bitch if OKC and the Clippers somehow find themselves playing against each other in the playoffs? Trust me, the Clippers are not going to suck much longer with Jerry West in the guru advisory role. Paul George wants to live by the Pacific Ocean, not Lake Arcadia. What more does Jerry West need to sell other than the Lakers are horrible. I hope Sam Presti has a plan on February 8th….even if it’s just a draft pick and a functional two way nonstar player. My guess is Paul George will play well against the Cavs on the national ABC game. These are the type of marquee games he’s been trying in while serving his jail sentence in OKC.

Back to Steven for a moment. Remember when some in OKC wanted to acquire Brooks Lopez at a trade deadline to replace Steve Adams? In case you weren’t watching…Steven Adams completely destroyed Brooks Lopez on Wednesday night. Good decision, Sam Presti. I can be fair, I’m a Libra. That’s what we Libras are…the scales of fairness.

Andre Roberson returned and it was great to see him on the floor. Other than for the free throw shooting–you’ll never see me diss Andre on here because he busts his ass every night and does so many little things only a coach could appreciate. Welcome back, Andre.

Bench was okay, nothing special though. The storylines in this one were the combined nights of Carmelo Anthony and Steven Adams plus the return of Andre Roberson.

The Thunder are now 5-3 in the month of January with six games remaining in the month. This is where losing those three straight games to the Suns, the Trailblazers, and T Wolves really hurts. If OKC had played with some focus and passion they’d be 8-0 in the month and 28-17 heading into Cleveland.

But when you’re dealing with dysfunction you can’t think that way. It’s one day at time. When you’re a team in rehab you have to be okay with being 5-3 on the month even though you should be 8-0 or 7-1 at the worst. You can’t dwell on what ifs or whys.

Storylines are simple in this one…Carmelo, Steven, and Andre.

Thunder in Cleveland on Saturday against the struggling Cavs.

Barry Tramel wrote a big story on this topic on Monday. Tramel maintains it makes no sense changing a coach before the All-Star break and I agree. Just firing Billy Donovan by itself isn’t going to change the culture of this team 44 games into an NBA season.

Who knows, it might not change the culture 82 games in or however long it takes the Thunder to be eliminated in the Western Conference Playoffs.

So what is the Thunder culture heading into tonight’s home game versus the Lakers?

If I were a scout this is what I would write about OKC: ‘Potentially a championship contending team with interesting pieces. The team appears to be mentally lazy and unable to focus for significant stretches during a game. As a team, the team is not a good shooting team from either the field, from beyond the arc, nor at the free throw line. The team, especially Westbrook and George, usually can be expected to commit anywhere from 6 to 12 bad turnovers on a given night. Perimeter defense is predicated on Andre Roberson and what kind of mood Westbrook, Paul, and Anthony find themselves in on a given night.

Highly inconsistent team which at times appears to be halfway coaching itself rather than the other way around. On a good night—they can beat anybody. On a bad night they are literally unwatchable and you want to set them on fire.

Long term take on the season-Thunder should continue along this path and maybe finish somewhere in the 46-48 win range as the schedule gets markedly tougher entering February. First or second round exit probable.’

So…. that’s what I would write.

It makes no sense to fire Billy Donovan right now. This is as much Sam Presti and the three stars’ fault as it is Billy Donovan’s.

As I’ve stated before–there are three basic rules of coaching.
1 Players make the coach.
2 Good coaches coach through their unique character and personality.
3 From Day 1 you’re hired to at some point be fired.

There is a fourth rule and I’m invoking it right now.
4 All good teams, to varying degrees, coach themselves from within.

So, tonight, as the Thunder start to make a turn towards the All-Star break and the trade deadline…my take is firing Billy Donovan right now makes no sense. What makes more sense is for Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony to start leading this team not by their postgame words, but by their play on the floor for all 48 minutes in a game.

—————————

Between Caligula and this god forsaken basketball team, I could use some Tom Petty on this very cold morning in Deer Creek.

These comments were taken from a town in Alabama. I would say Oklahoma and Alabama are very close politically and economically speaking. Keep this in mind, in the recent Election of 2016, of the states which went blue for Hillary Clinton, those states in 2016 contributed 64% of all tax revenue collected by the U.S. Treasury. The red states which went for Donald Trump contributed 36% of overall tax revenues. States like Oklahoma, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky are negative sum tax states. That is, these states don’t pay as much in to the U.S. Treasury as they receive in various forms of federal tax dollars being spent in their various state tax jurisdictions.

So…here’s some comments from Alabama citizens on the shithole situation.

I’ll start with this, I thought the way the Oklahoma City Thunder organization handled Martin Luther King Day was lovely. I actually kept the volume on during the Fox telecast because I enjoyed the MLK tributes the organization paid to MLK. Maybe the organization should have invited James Lankford and Jim Inhoff to speak. Chances of that of course would be twofold…as in slim and none. They’ll be too busy this week praying the U.S. government doesn’t shut down under Caligula’s watch. BTW, Lindsey Graham, he surprised the shit out of me as he removed Donald Trump from his mouth long enough and actually did the right thing. Who would have thought that possible from a white southern GOP senator? Who would have thought?

The game was terrible except for the fact OKC did make some plays in the second half to avert another embarrassing loss to one of the worst teams in the NBA. For the record, OKC did beat the Sacramento Kings by a score of 95-88 to improve to 24-20 on the season.

OKC’s first half performance was horrific as the Thunder trailed 52-46 and had trouble getting the ball across half court and getting a shot off. The Thunder had something like 12 turnovers in the half. Russell Westbrook for some reason made more plays for the Kings than the Thunder and I have no reason why.

I actually thought the most important play of the game was when Kings’ rookie point guard De’Andre Fox got his fourth foul early in the second half and had to sit prematurely. The Kings lost their aggressiveness and the game shifted as Carmelo and Patrick Patterson stepped up and made a couple of threes to change the flow of the game.

Russell Westbrook got ejected in the fourth period when he was fouled twice on the same play going to the rim. Russell got two T’s and his mild mannered coach Billy D got one as well. Interestingly, Paul George who up to that point had played like a walking corpse then stepped up and made some nice plays for the Thunder as they closed the game.

A win is a win is a win for this low energy underperforming team. Maybe as a team they need to take Viagra. Do trainers ever administer Viagra to their teams as one? I mean, as I watch this team play…their overall limpness is the thing I can’t get off my mind. This team has ED. It took me forty four games to figure it out. This team has erectile dysfunction. Thunder trainer Joe Sharp could very well hold the key if that’s the case because I’m not seeing anything else to date which is giving me a ton of optimism right now. Maybe it’s the extreme cold weather in Oklahoma. Maybe that’s it. Maybe the lack of sun has me feeling jaded and snarky.

Anyway…I reflected quite a bit on our country yesterday being it was MLK Day. I truly did and despite the fact Donald Trump is a fat-headed illiterate idiot–I’m still bullish on America. I think we’ll reset and figure it out. I truly do. Don’t give up. Read. Be informed…and vote. Even you dumbass white motherfuckers from southern ‘shithole’ states who were dumb enough to vote for a candidate who never cared anything about you at any point in any of this. You people need to smarten the fuck up. Start with this…google the difference between marginal tax rates and effective tax rates. Start with that.

Thunder host the LA Lakers on Wednesday night.

I was at a Hideaway Pizza watching this game with my family with this game on the big screen. You would have thought OU had just beaten Georgia with the Stephan Diggs miracle play. My wife had to shush me twice in the aftermath. But it wasn’t just me…it was the whole place. Nobody inside the building seemed to give a shit about the whole Donald Trump-NFL thing. I’ve watched all eight games in the tournament so far and I’m not sure I’ve seen an empty seat in any of the eight stadiums. I’m guessing both conference final games will be standing room only in cold weather Philadelphia and Foxboro next week-end.

You really think the average NFL fan gives a shit about Donald Trump’s faux concern for patriotism? Even in New Confederate stadiums in Jacksonville and New Orleans I didn’t see an empty seat. Not one.

I thought there was all this Trumpism threatening the NFL games?

Yawn.

So…since my adopted team the Atlanta Falcons got beat by the Eagles in a really good defensive battle…I need to adopt another team out of New England, Jacksonville, Minnesota, and Philadelphia. Great tournament so far. Only one yawner so far–that being the New England-Tennessee game.

I’ll adopt Minnesota this week-end. Should be a great defensive battle in Philadelphia. I’ll go Pats in the AFC. But beware of the Jags…Tom Coughlin has put together a nice young ball club.

The reaction in New Orleans.

I have a confession to make, he’s not really even Caligula. That was just me trying to create some historical reference to this piece of junk douchebag who conned sixty million people into voting for him.

Our POTUS is more to the point a carbon copy of the real estate developer from the movie Caddyshack. Donald Trump is Al Czervik. The patrician GOP allowed Al Czervik to become POTUS for two reasons. The reasons were simple. Mitch McConnell wanted someone more like Neil Gorsuch than Merritt Garland to assume Atonin Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court. The second reason was the most absurd tax reform bill which just passed. That’s it. That’s why the GOP held their noses and allowed this human junk bond to become POTUS and why the GOP senators continually turn their head away from every embarrassing act he performs on his soon to be video….How to Troll America and Become POTUS.

I mean, what does it say when even Steven Bannon calls you a clueless dumbshit.

So…here we are one year into Al Czervik’s presidency and on MLK Day instead of celebrating a day of coming together as a nation we’re reading tweets explaining how Al Caligula didn’t call the continent of Africa a shithole, even though his GOP bitch Lindsey Graham said he did. It’s okay though…Tom Cotton is poised and ready to take Lindsey Graham’s place as the conservative GOP white senator to go down on Caligula when there’s the need. Be sure and swallow Senator Cotton.

We really came a long way this year white America.

But here’s the silver lining. America has around 330 million shareholders. Many of these shareholders were so turned off by Hillary Clinton that they not only didn’t vote, they didn’t even sign their proxies and give them to a friend.

The mid-terms in 2018 will be here before the blink of an eye. My guess is it will a landslide with the Dems winning the House and possibly even the Senate. This is how democracy works. Ebb and flow. Checks and balances…and while Generals Kelly, McMaster, and Mattis have been the primary checks so far one year into Al Caligula’s reign of stupidity, I think the 270 million Americans who didn’t vote for this dumbass will better understand their civic obligation to start voting again.

You’ll notice I haven’t railed all that much about Al Caligula on my blog anymore. I got tired of following a troll down his rabbit hole. Even our greatest historical ally, Great Britain, figured it out. They told Al Czervik not to bother with the perfunctory meeting. The Brits, the French, the Germans, the Mexicans, the Canadians, the Aussies, and even the Russians have all figured it out. The only ones not to figure it out is a segment of white America who have never come to terms with who won the Civil War.

So…will Bob Mueller be able to prove Al Caligula colluded with the Russians? My guess is he won’t be able to prove this because who amongst us at this point thinks Vladimir Putin would be dumb enough to collude with this illiterate stupid fuck?

Some people will go to prison though for obstruction of justice, money laundering, tax evasion, and whatever other crimes of underground commerce the Trump brand perpetrated. But collusion…that might be tough because even the Russians have standards, white southern America…not so much.

It’s very simple, America. Turn off cable news, start reading, and vote.

Al Caligula’s first year.

In a game which featured the most underachieving team from the West versus the most disappointing team from the East—it was pretty much a game of ugliness. At one point in the third period, it looked as if both teams were trying to out do the other to win the league wise designation for current futility honors.

But then a strange thing happened, Billy Donovan, by either coaching prescience or sheer blind luck–dialed up a winner when he inserted Ray Felton, Jerami Grant, Spanish folk singer Alex Abrines, Patrick Patterson, and Josh Hustis into the game. I think OKC was trailing 76-73 when this happened, but I’m not totally sure because I was flipping back and forth between this ugly basketball game and the Eagles-Falcons playoff game.

But then it even got stranger. The skies cleared in Deer Creek. The sun shone brightly thru overcast skies. I thought I saw some bats flying out my backyard window with Ted Cruz on his knees babbling some shit in tongues… Then there was stillness all around me. Then.. suddenly this flash of genius spurt of basketball took place on the floor in Charlotte in which no rational person could have seen coming.

It was beautiful. In a span of several game deciding minutes, each of these OKC bench players stepped up and made impactful plays which took the Thunder from down by three to up by nine when they exited the floor. Calling this an epiphany of sorts is in my view not hyperbole. No humans were around me, only the diva black lab Pauli sitting next to me. I screamed, “Can you fucking believe this?”

She rolled her eyes and said, “Mike, settle down there’s still eight minutes left.”

But to both of our amazements, the starters came back in and Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams took OKC all the way home in a 101-91 road win in Charlotte for our beleaguered Thunder. This mercifully ended a streak of maybe the three worst losses in succession in the Thunder Era and stopped the bleeding.

More than that, given that this Thunder team bounces around in the middle tier zone in the Western Conference–the win bounced the Thunder back up to the No. 5 seed for the time being.

But still, with this group of dysfunction you take any win, especially a road win and savor it.

I don’t allow the volume to be on during the Fox Thunder telecasts, but I’m guessing Brian Davis at one point compared this Thunder win to the Russians turning back the Germans in World War II. Sidekick Michael probably said the Thunder defense reminded him of the great Jordan-Pippen teams. Sigh. I have no idea. But it was nice to see any kind of win…period.

The box score indicates Paul George casually participated in this game. I didn’t see much though. Kevin Pritchard maybe knew more than Sam Presti…just saying. Carmelo wasn’t much either, but that deal isn’t the one bothering me.

Truth be known, Bad Little Dude wasn’t even why OKC won this game.

More to the point, OKC won this game because all five Thunder bench players came in and did something odd in this season of angst…namely they made plays and won Billy Donovan a basketball game.

West Texas Crude closed the week just under $65 a barrel. The Thunder won a road game. Maybe the March of Death turned in Charlotte. Who would know?

Thunder host Sacramento on Monday night.

My favorite week-end of the NFL season. Some advice to American Caligula. Lock yourself in your empty White House bedroom, get a dozen McDonald burgers and watch the games. Calig should watch the games and take a break from embarrassing himself and the country simultaneously. Everyone is weary.

I’m adopting the Falcons to replace my Packers in the Super Bowl Tournament. They just have ‘that’ look to me right now. They’ve peaked at the right time. Their defense is playing well. They have a good enough running game. And other than Brady and Gronk, have the best pass-catch combo in the tournament with Matt Ryan and Julio Jones. But, again, they have that look of a team which is clicking at just the right time.

The Falcons in their history have never won back to back post season road games, but by the same token… Philly’s Nick Foles is 0-1 in post season play.

I’m going Falcons. I’m going Vikings over the Saints. I’m to take the Steelers in a very close game over the Jags. And I’ll take Brady and Gronk over the Titans.

Take a holiday break, Caligula. Even your worthless ass should enjoy the NFL Divisional Round. Maybe you could set a record of sorts and go two straight days without tweeting like an attention deficit disorder fourth grader for two straight days. Doubtful.

Go Falcons!

The truth is simple at this point if you’re an adult. The OKC Thunder’s season is somewhat on the brink. I’m not talking about this team winning the Northwest Division, because I pretty much think the Thunder sealed that fate this week with this horrific stretch of basketball of basketball where they have lost five of seven since the win over Toronto.

Also, gone is the notion this Thunder team can win the Western Conference and somehow by divine intervention advance to the NBA Finals as some sort of lure to keep Paul George in Oklahoma City.

Right now, the goal is simple. Either start winning some games or else this season will be a complete disaster.

It’s time to reset the goals button. Just finishing above .500 and making the playoffs period is the new reset. It’s not an acceptable reset, but it’s the only adult reset with any reality attached.

We know now what the Thunder are. What they are is a team pretty much like Portland, Denver, New Orleans, the Clippers, and Utah when Rudy Gorbert is healthy. This Thunder team is nothing special. Nothing borderline exceptional or brilliant.

Don’t look, but heading into this game versus Charlotte the Thunder are but one game in the loss column removed from being the No. 9 seed in the West. Conversely, the Minnesota T Wolves behaved like a team with aspiring goals by now being on the cusp of overtaking the Spurs for the No. 3 seed in the West.

This is what Oklahoma City was supposed to do this week. Win at Phoenix, win at home over Portland, and then redefine the season with a road win in Minnesota.

Instead…the Thunder tanked. All three games the Thunder not only lost, but were routed. All three games had a confused Billy Donovan waving the white flag and emptying his bench early for all the wrong reasons.

So here the Thunder stand, 2-3 in the month of January. This was the month the Thunder had to make a move to make the claim the franchise hasn’t become a joke since the departure of Durant. This was the stretch of games which would not only show Paul George that OKC is a place he could win a championship, but possibly show other free agents in the future that coming to OKC to play with Westbrook and Adams could be an alternative route other than Oakland to play for big things in the West.

But as we wait for this afternoon’s game in Charlotte, none of that is still in place because after this month the schedule gets much more difficult.

The new goal is to simple. Stay afloat. Stay above .500. Stay above the Clippers for the No. 8 seed. This is the reset in Charlotte this afternoon.

Maybe it’s more than OKC’s season being on the brink starting today in Charlotte, maybe it’s more of a marker as to indicate if the franchise is to be taken seriously in the post Kevin Durant era.

As far as Paul George and the deadline, you know he actually grew up being a Clippers fan. You know of course who the special consultant to the Clippers’ board is..it would be the very same Jerry West who whispered into Kevin Durant’s ear on that fateful call to the Hamptons. That same guy. So, moving forward I wouldn’t be looking so close at the dumpster fire Lakers, but I’d keep a close eye on the Clippers not only for the 8th seed in the West, but for franchise stability moving forward.