Month: February 2022

We’re getting ready to hit the All-Star break and this is something I want to tackle on my modest blog.

Let me start by quoting legendary folk singer Barry Tramel of the now extinct Daily Oklahoman.

” Just because you worked at a Taco Bell, doesn’t necessarily mean you should own a Taco Bell. ” I hope you see what I did there.

Now a quote from Mike Jackson and I don’t mean it to be insensitive or callous, but I have to write this to make my point.

“Just because you were the victim of a horrible act of domestic terrorism in 1995…doesn’t necessarily mean your city should have an NBA franchise.”

I’m not trying to be flippant, but someone has to be an adult in the room at this point.

Oklahoma City is not a cultural fit in the NBA. The NBA is a league where 75% of the players are black. Minus Oklahoma City, Utah, and Sacramento, the teams are located in cities with a more to offer than the three I have on my Adam Silver relocation list.

If black players don’t want to stay in these cities beyond their initial rookie scale contract that’s a problem. Because they sure as heck for the most part aren’t staying here in most trade deals and aren’t coming to Oklahoma City as a free agent.

There might be a Nick Collison or Kenrich Williams outlier here and there…. but let’s be honest with ourselves.

Consider this… if the Thunder tank again next season it will in total mean the Thunder have tanked in four of their seasons so far while in Oklahoma City. Add to that, the organization tanked an additional two years in Seattle when they rid the roster of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis.

If my math is correct in my head, that will mean Sam Prest’s team will have tanked in six of their last fifteen NBA seasons.

That’s not having an NBA team in your city, that’s a variance of consumer fraud.

So… I’m going to look at jury and pace slowly along the rail smiling knowingly at them, of course…. maybe winking at several.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury…sometimes when we peel the onion layer by layer… we inextricably arrive at the truth.”

“It may take some time to come to grips with the truth, but the truth usually wins in the end.”

“Your Honor…at his point counsel for the NBA would like to introduce Sam Presti’s exit press conference following the 2019 Thunder basketball season as Exhibit A… before he knew Paul George was soon to force his way out of Oklahoma City just three years removed from Kevin Durant’s exit.”

“I think the relevancy of Sam Presti’s confused words in this presser more than mine will speak to the truth.”

Just when Porter Moser’s Sooners wanted to extradite themselves from the March Madness bubble, Chris Beard and his physical Longhorns put the mistake prone Sooners right back on it.

OU fought, scratched, and bled their way back fighting uphill all night only to lose in overtime 80-78 to the Longhorns.

On a night when Tanner and brother Jacob opted to be the Sooners going invisible into the night, EJ Harkless, Jalen Hill and Moj Gibson, plus Jordan Goldwire and Ethan Chargois brought the Sooners all the way back to have a very real chance of winning the game on the last possession of regulation.

Coming off a timeout in the offensive zone with 15.2 seconds left, Chris Beard basically called the last shot for the Sooners when he played off of Ethan Chargois and got the Sooner shot he desired from them with a three not even close clanking off the rim by the seldom three-point shooter Ethan Chargois.

In overtime it was back and forth, but both EJ Harkless and Moj Gibson committed unforced turnovers and that was basically the ball game as the Sooners threw up a half-court desperation shot at the buzzer.

OU came into the game with a Tournament net rating of No. 37, but the Sooners at this point need wins, not just computers.

OU drops to 14-12 overall and 4-9 in the Big 12 where we all knew coming into this Big 12 season… 8-10 conference-wise was a realistic ceiling for these Sooners.

OU has five conference games left and there is a path if the Sooners simply win at home versus O-State and West Virginia. Lose either of those games and then the Sooners simply do not deserve to be in the Tournament. No more me pleading their case because of a difficult schedule.

The road games are at Iowa State, Kansas State, and Texas Tech. Again, if the Sooners cannot win one of these road games — then I would say they don’t deserve to in the tournament with the exception of them winning at the minimum one game in the Big 12 post-season tournament.

Having written all of this…I still think if OU could make the field they could win a game or two in the NCAA Tournament. Two rounds would be their ceiling, but in their defense these guys have played one very tough schedule when you figure they not only played the Big 12 schedule, but played Auburn, Arkansas, and Florida as well.

On a bright spot, both EJ Harkless and Jordan Goldwire have stepped up in a significant way. Jalen Hill played one of his best games of the season last night. Chargois can do some things on those nights when Tanner Grove can’t adjust to physicality of the game.

Some bench scoring would be nice, but in truth since the road win at West Virginia the Sooner bench hasn’t been much.

I’m sure Porter Moser is still preaching to his team just like I am on my blog. You’re there, you’re close, but close only matters to computers, not the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.

Up next…the Iowa State Cyclones in what is one of the toughest gyms to visit in the rugged Big 12. If OU doesn’t end up making the field… what will haunt them is losing at home to the TCU Horn Frogs who just last night lost at home to Iowa State.

BOOMER!

Editor’s note: You see, this is what I would describe as a brutally honest write-up of a game the Sooners really needed to win. Not some rainbows and butterflies bullshit like we get from the end of every Thunder game from their broadcast crew.

You win with humility, and you lose with brutal honesty attached if you want to get better moving forward from the loss.

MJ

Rookie Josh Giddy is going to be a nice NBA player either in Oklahoma City, Seattle, or Las Vegas. I’m not sure about calling him a sure-fire star, but certainly a guy who in Vegas or Seattle could sell some tickets and create a buzz in a real major league NBA market.

He could be that guy who’s the original market maker in either Seattle or Vegas where there’s enough of a big-time entertainment market combined with plenty of disposable income. I would hate to see him enslaved in Oklahoma City like Durant where he never gets the kind of supporting cast he’ll need to compete for championships.

He’s very competitive and mentally tough way beyond his nineteen years. He could be a special player, but we’ll just have to see.

If he continues to smooth out his outside jumper and improve his defensive footwork, his potential upside is impressive.

His game on Monday night inside of Madison Square Garden was brilliant.

I’m happy for him. He seems like a great kid. I wish he was playing point guard for OU…they could sure an instinctive point guard…that’s for certain.

If he was playing college ball this year…it would be interesting to see if he would win National Player of the Year. From what I’ve seen this year in the college game…he would be the white Earvin Johnson of 1979 when the Michigan State Spartans with Magic and Greg Kelser won Judd Heathcoat a national championship.

Put Josh Giddy on that Gonzaga team with Drew Timme and I think they’d be the favorite this March.

I need to find Magic’s highlights from that national championship game against Larry Bird and Indiana State. OU had had to play Larry Bird in the round of either sixteen or thirty-two that year. I’m not sure if the field was sixty-four teams in 1979.

Now on this video below…listen to these New York fans just basically eat up every word in this interview as if Larry and Magic had played for the Knicks. What I’m saying is these fans respect the game and are probably some of the best basketball fans in the world. They know the game. They’re passionate about the game. I think when Carmelo comes back to the Garden they don’t boo him. Know what I mean. A real major league NBA city if ever there was one.

Adam Silver and his governors need to start weaning the cities from the league who shouldn’t have an NBA team when there are at the least three much better cities available to field NBA teams.

It was a nice decade long run.

Portland took Greg Oden.

And that has nothing to do with sustainability.

It is what it is. Hated to write the list, but in retrospect what part of it did I get wrong?

But I do need to self-cleanse after writing it. For certain.

Again…my suggestion for you people would be to feel between Liz Cheney’s legs and see what a set of balls might feel like.

BTW…how come Patton and Donald Jr. didn’t march down there to the capitol with you?

How come Mr. Wonderful didn’t set up a pro bono legal assistance fund for all you clueless dumb shits?

Excellent lawyers set up pro bono relief funds all the time for worthy humans.

How come?

Since I just cleansed myself…I won’t answer that one for you.

From the Dave Letterman Home Office in Deer Creek, Oklahoma

Top Ten Trump 2024 Campaign Notes to Self-List

10 Find list with names, addresses, and Social Security numbers of all African Americans who voted for Trump in 2020

9 If Trump takes a dip in polls remember to go on Fox and call Heidi Cruz a big, fat ugly pig

8 Never again tell Melania…. Stormy Daniels was the best piece of ass Trump ever had before taking stage at a rally in Mississippi

7 Ask Ben Carson to serve on cabinet in some obscure role where he does virtually nothing

6 Save best oral sex jokes for the speeches to the Christian evangelicals in Texas

5 Keep thought to self about having Mr. Pillow replace Justice John Roberts on the Supreme Court

4 Promote aggressive book burning policies in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana

3 Actually hang Mike Pence at a Trump rally in Alabama with Mo Brooks pulling the lever

2 Promote Marjorie Taylor-Green to be first ever GOP woman to serve as Vice-President

1 Drum roll, please….. Completely disavow anything Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, or Ronald Reagan ever said about government or the Constitution.

#3 Cranberries-‘Dreams Video’

I love this video because it reminds me of 1982 when my wife and I were married on a dock at Lake Kiowa just outside of Gainesville, Texas. It was such a beautiful small wedding. November 21st…one of those Indian summer type days at around 72 degrees with not a trace of wind or a cloud in the sky.

Leaves were just changing on the trees. It was perfect. I’m not a superficial person. Neither is my wife. The huge wedding day thing was never really a thought. We’re both Libras and we brought this child into the world who turned out pretty much wonderful except for the fact he’s struggling with this Lincoln Riley situation.

This video just kind of reminds me of that day.

#2 Love Actually ‘Proposal Scene’

#1 Four Weddings and a Funeral ‘Is It Still Raining Scene’

This is pretty much how it went forty-one years ago on that island in the Bahamas. Pretty much how I asked as well because I wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to say.

Have a great Valentine’s Day ending. Whew…I’m exhausted from all this Thunder coverage on the blog.

Here’s my thought on this….if you watch Fox this might be right up your alley.

Like I always say on here …I want to be inclusive, never exclusive. And you probably should have a sense of humor if you stumble upon the blog.

Whoa …that halftime show was literally brutal. We made it up to the point of Mary Blige dancing around with her big-ass booty all over the roof of whatever that was then turned it down and created our own halftime show.

No way. Not even at John Marshall.

As a black man…I found it offensive.

I mean, who in the world came up with that bullshit?

The same people who ran the Kamala Harris presidential campaign?

I’m fair and open-minded, but not to the point of over the top self-abuse.

If you’re going to do hip-hop and rap…then do it right and don’t insult the country.

I could just visualize Putin smiling all through that disaster of a halftime show. Third world country-like.

Pathetic.

Do it right or don’t do it.

This is what I want to tackle on the only honest Thunder blog in Oklahoma tomorrow.

It’s the manner in which I like to run my blog now that I’ve kind of established a comfort zone within myself on what is relevant higher-level content versus say what you might read on the Daily Thunder or the dying Daily Oklahoman.

BTW…I like Barry Tramel and he would always be welcome on my blog as a junior staff writer if I ever decide to expand over here. Nice kid. I loved the John Blake–Taco Bell line.

“Just because you’ve worked at a Taco Bell…doesn’t mean you should manage the Taco Bell.” I love that. It’s so me.

So what I want to do tomorrow after I’ve thought all this through is write why Sacramento and Oklahoma City should have WNBA franchises and why Las Vegas and Seattle should have vibrant NBA franchises.

I can’t believe Jenni Carlson hasn’t written this already.

Sam Presti has his little saying he shares with the passive submissive Oklahoma sissy-boy scribes who attend his annual State of the Thunder address.

It goes like this:

“Scared money, don’t make none.”

In the world of big-time pro sports…I would agree with him.

“Scared money, don’t win championships, either.”

And that’s why the Oklahoma City Thunder are never going to win a championship and the LA Rams just won a Super Bowl.

Cooper Kupp won the MVP, which I don’t have a problem with because he just had the best ever season by a wide receiver in the history of the NFL. Period. Jerry Rice was great, but what Cooper did this football season will be one of those records you can’t ignore. So, I think it’s cool he had this moment.

But long story short, it’s hard to win a Super Bowl when your quarterback is a decision-making liability trainwreck. Ask LeBron and Anthony Davis how they feel about that statement.

Ask yourself this… “Does Jared Goff make all those passes on that last drive to win a Super Bowl?”

Or ask the 49’er players if they think they can win a Super Bowl with Jimmy G?

As I wrote in my Super Bowl preview…the Rams knew their window with Aaron Donald was closing. The Rams didn’t go out and acquire Randy Foye, Dion Waiters, and Anthony Morrow to win Aaron Donald that imaginary ring he immediately pointed to on his on finger as time expired in So-Fi Stadium.

No. No… and no.

The Rams listened to Sam Presti and said to themselves…”Scared money don’t make none.”

That’s what they did, pure and simple.

They traded Jared Goff for Matthew Stafford. They acquired Soni Michell. They acquired Von Miller who recruited Odell Beckham-Junior and it all came together just right.

The Bengals will be kicking themselves for losing this game. They led almost the entire second half. It was their game, but when push came to shove… they couldn’t make the winning plays at closing time.

Zac Taylor is a young coach and I think he got exposed in the second half kind of like Sean McVay did in his first Super Bowl where he got beat by Bill Belichick.

He kind of lost himself in the second half. Didn’t stay with Joe Mixon and the run game which was gashing the Rams and thus giving Joe Burrow time enough to throw.

Stat of the game, easy…when the Bengals stayed committed to the run Joe Burrow was sacked but one time in the first half. When they strayed from the run…Aaron Donald and Company teed off on Joe Burrow sacking him six times in the second half. A Super Bowl record of seven sacks in total.

When the Bengal coaches watch the film in that second-half they’ll kick themselves for what could have been.

It was their game, but they didn’t close. Didn’t ring the bell.

Sure…they’re young, but getting back to the Super Bowl won’t be easy with Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Derek Carr with possibly a good quarterback moving to Denver.

Just because you have a young team doesn’t mean it’s an automatic you get back to a Super Bowl.

In the age of collective bargaining, NFL dynasties minus Tom Brady, aren’t an easy thing to maintain.

Ask Sam Presti…his Thunder team never got back to the NBA Finals after the 2012-13 season. Chances are they won’t ever again in my lifetime.

And you know why?

I can tell you why…just how I told you what it would feel like for the Lindsey Grahams and Ted Cruzes of the world to feel between Liz Cheney’s legs.

Sam Presti…if you’re reading…here we go.

Here’s the answer…. “Scared money don’t make none or win championships, either.”

If you’re scared… then move the team to either Seattle or Las Vegas.

The end.