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I’m a little sore from yesterday’s workout. The right knee on the first workout back after the chemo infusion is usually a little bumpy as far as time of recovery. So there will only be a light workout at the mini-ranch before heading to Norman for tonight’s game.

OU after four games is a little disappointing in that in their two losses on the road versus Gonzaga and Nebraska did they possess the ability to play SEC level defense in both two halves. The first half versus Gonzaga, and the second half versus Nebraska were abysmal defensively.

Porter Moser is in dire need of Jadon Jones being healthy and getting on the court to help alleviate some of these defensive woes with the OU defense. Jadon two seasons ago was the Western Coast Athletic Defensive Player of the Year at Long Beach State and would add tremendous balance to a defense in serious need of a versatile wing defender.

To be clear… there are some very good players from that conference now playing in the NBA. Three quickly of mind would be JDub, Ajay Mitchell, and and Brandon P with the Warriors. Jadon’s about 6’5″ of so and what I would describe as an Army Swiss knife type of player. What I mean by that is he could defend every position on the floor depending whether the other team is playing a big or small lineup.

So tonight…I’m geninely hoping to see Jadon make his OU debut in a real game. This will be my second time to see the OU men this season and my take is they will be a pretty good team offensively with Nijel Pack, Xavier Brown, and Tae Davis giving them a pretty nice three pronged scoring nucleus. My other take is if center Mo Wague gets in foul as he did in both losses—the Sooners will struggle to make the Tournament.

This team has some real work in front of them as far team defense and team rebounding.

After yesterday’s semi debaucle with the O State fan at the workout…I need to re-think the use of too much Rocky music before the workouts.

Russell Westbrook last time I remember used Taylor Swift music to calm himself down before a game. I’m not a huge Taylor fan. The whole thing with Travis Kelce has become somewhat nauseating for me. I wish them well, but I’m thinking Megan Moroney would be a better direction for me in this regard.

It will be a busy night for me after the game seeing if I can get inside of Othello’s for the Joe Castiglione retirement celebration. I love Joe C…a fellow Italian in this cultural wasteland called Oklahoma. As I’ve stated before on the blog… Oklahoma County and Norman are the only two counties left in Oklahoma in which MJ could live in given the over the top Trumpness of the other seventy-five counties.

God bless you, Joe C.

Ciao.

MJ

In reality, the only game I really watched with real interest from wire to wire was the Houston Rockets 114-104 road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Pretty good NBA regular season game all things considered involving two teams who should both be in the hunt come May and June.

I think it’s good Doris Burke has found her comfort zone again on a different broadcast team. I like Doris. I always have. She just didn’t for some reason mesh with Michael Breen and the blathering Richard Jefferson. But of course, in the end, neither did Jeff van Gundy as it turned out. And I’m not sure at this early juncture that Tim Legler does as well. It’s tough to compete with Richard Jefferson for minutes. He never shuts the f–k up.

The Houston Rockets even without Fred VV are still really good. A very dangerous team with an excellent roster other than the point guard slot. But on this night in mid November, the Rockets got excellent point guard play from both Reed Shepperd andAaron Holiday, younger brother of Jrue, of whom I’ve always loved as an NBA guard.

Both guys were very good in this game…and on the road I might add. That’s a very positive sign for the Rockets. Aaron Holiday is in his 7th NBA season and is a career 6.5 ppg game guy. So I would say with caution…there will be nights when he doesn’t score like he did last night. But on the positive side—he and Shepperd were rock solid.

Otherwise…Houston in my mind has everything else needed to give both OKC and and Denver a serious run for their money in the West.

This team has four guys anybody in this league would covet in Sengun, Amen Thompson, an aged Kevin Durant, and Jabari Smith. Plus, their depth and size with their bigs is in my mind the best in the league. In my basketball mind as well…they’re the best rebounding team in the league when they get that look in their eyes and they go BIG.

These three teams, plus San Antonio, Minnesota, and perhaps even the Warriors on nights when Steph plays like a kid fresh out of Davidson… should make the West a compelling conference once again.

I still don’t really think the Lakers are legit. Maybe entertaining at times, but not legit as presently constructed with LeBron at this stage in his NBA career.

As far as the Thunder, the defending champs are the team to beat at 15-1 even though they’ve to date really only one game against a team which I consider as a viable contender. That being, the season opener in that great double overtime win over the Rockets.

It should be great. I’m heading to Norman tonight to watch the OU men play Oral Roberts and then over to Othello’s for a Joe C celebration of sorts for the best athletic director in the country.

Ciao.

MJ

I’m ready for a night of NBA hoops. Almost created an incident in the weight room when one of those O State fans Gundy was talking about in that public presser which got him in trouble in relation to mobile home owners in the O State fanbase… came in wearing earrings, tats all over his body, and the gaudiest orange piece of shit white trash bright orange shirt I’ve ever witnessed.

The little f–ker made a comment about my Play Like a Champion crimson shirt and then he did something akin to a strut and a visual taunt.

I then looked him over and replied, “Don’t worry, hoss…wrestling season has started. It’ll be okay. I hear you’ve got a couple of transfers coming in who will make you more competitive versus Tulsa next season at their place.”

Two of the trainers looked at me and started smiling.

It was a nice day. MJ is ready for NBA hoops.

Peace.

MJ

I need to be winding this OU football thing down on Wednesday as Sooner Nation prepares for nationally ranked Missouri on Saturday in Norman at 11:30am on ABC.

This is a good interview from OU QB John Mateer. He knows he and the OU offense have to start being better if the Sooners are to continue to advance to the College Football Playoffs.

With OU’s defense and excellent kicking game they’ve already proven they can beat pretty much anybody in the country on any given Saturday on the road if they create turnovers and don’t kill themselves with turnovers. That’s already been proven as OU is 4-0 on the road this season and 3-0 on the road in SEC games.

The Texas loss ( neutral field) is an outlier in that Mateer should not have played. If you were paying close attention you would have noticed that when running the ball in that game he put the ball in his left hand and not his right hand. That is the only game this season he did such. Watch this week-end and the ball will be back in his right hand when running. John Mateer threw four of his seven inteceptions in that game alone.

Putting that aside…John Mateer and the offense need to be more productive offensively if they wish to continue advancing in what in my mind are already playoff games for any of the two loss teams. Texas Tech in my mind as a one loss team in the passive-submissive Big 12 probably cannot afford another loss.

On the season…John Mateer has 8 TD passes and 7 interceptions….that ratio needs to improve moving forward.

Do I think OU can beat Notre Dame at home? Yes I do.

Do I think OU could beat Ohio State on a neutral field with the OU offense under 375 total yard in a game? I don’t think so. But I do think OU would create quite a bit of havoc for the Buckeye freshman quarterback who has seen nothing remotely close to the OU pass rush pressure.

I would think for OU to win that game they would need 31 points or so to take down the Buckeyes who have to date played a very soft schedule given the obvious fact Texas isn’t that good.

I love Mateer. He’s a tough-minded young man and from Day 1 has never shirked his leadership role. He knows and understands what comes with the territory when you’re the starting QB at OU.

John Mateer knows he needs to be better. Period.

I think tonight I’ll cover two NBA games I want write about tomorrow. OKC hosting the 3-11 ‘Russell Westbrook led’ Sacramento Kings and the Houston Rockets on the road versus the Cleveland Cavaliers.

I’m outta here and off to the first workout since last week’s 14th chemo this calendar year. Three miles in thirty minutes is the standard. Get it done. Ride like a champion. Followed by eights sets of twelve in five various weight room exercises. No excuses.

Yo, Adrian.

MJ

I did not waste my valuable time watching this ‘game’. I have a policy on the award winning okcthundergound.com that I do not cover sporting events which have no inherent value to the sports landscape or society as a whole. The fact human beings particpated in this event and other human beings paid to witness it is a depressing microcosm on how far the American culture and ethos has fallen.

If my writing is beginning to somewhat mirror that of the late great historian-writer Authur Schlesinger, Jr. that is because two weeks ago I finished his nine-hundred page memoirs and then last night finished his classic ‘Cycles in American History’.

I realize this blog originates in Oklahoma, thus I will go no further trying to explain Dr. Schlesinger’s theories on the cylces of American history. But I will write this though, if you are one of he few fertile minds which stroll on here from time to time…you might read Cycles in American History because Dr. S pretty much as far back as the 1990’s predicted some grifter-rogue like Trump would emerge as an American president.

As far as hoops–MJ will write this…my heart goes out to former OU guard Jeremiah Fears for being drafted by this piece of shit franchise which needs to be bought and moved to either Las Vegas or Seattle. The Pels fired their coach Willie Green last week and will challenge Indiana and perhaps Russell Westbrook’s newest adventure in Sacramento for being the worst team in the NBA this season.

Indiana…wow. One game away from winning the NBA championship in June. One game away from a parade and then Haliburton goes down, they lose the game, and then they lose center Myles Turner in free agency. It can turn in the blink of an eye.

The Breaks of the Game, baby. David Halberstam wrote that book about the Portland Trailblazers after their championship season when Bill Walton’s body went south. If you aspire to be a real NBA fan you should read this book.

That’s it for MJ this early Tuesday morning. I need to get some things done today outside on the mini-ranch before the much needed rains arrive in Deer Creek, Oklahoma.

Obviously, the Ricky Vaughn pic above is in honor of Taylor Wein Week here on the blog. Just thinking out loud to myself on here…in the event OU does advance to the CFP and hosts Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans in a first round game in Norman. What I would do as coach at the coin toss to inspire my team? I’d send my four captains to mid-field, those being Taylor, Owen Heneke, John Mateer, and R Mason Thomas. Probably Kip as well.

I would send Taylor out there carrying a chain saw. He would be the lead captain. Regardless of how the flip goes…I’d then have him crank up the chainsaw and then start walking towards Lincoln Riley before R Mason pulls him back.

Maybe a little over the top. But maybe not. Setting the emotional urgency tone is what the captain needs to do as will be the case this Saturday versus Missouri.

Grace, mercy, and love.

MJ

This could be a special week for OU football. This is what OU football is supposed to be about. No excuses. By beating both ranked Tennessee and Alabama on the road–back to back, the players have earned this opportunity. Two more games, both critical. Both playoff games in essence at home. Elimination games to the core.

After the home loss to Ole Miss the Sooners put themselves in this situation. No excuses. But at some point as Coach V said after the loss to Ole Miss, “You have to learn to stop beating yourself with stupid, self-inflicted mistakes. You have to learn how to play the right way to win in the SEC.”

Missouri is a good football team with perhaps the best running back in the country. This will not be a gimme. OU literally gave away last season’s game in Columbia with a Jackson Arnold meltdown in the last two minutes.

I love Taylor wearing the Ricky Vaughn designer eye-wear look. This young man has become the inspiration for the OU fanbase. Not John Mateer. Not R Mason Thomas. Not either of the two big moneyed NIL players.

This comes down to how badly do you want it. How badly do you detest losing and beating yourself with self-inflicted losses.

I’m hoping the Rickey Vaughn eye-wear look helps OU get over the top and make it to the CFP. How cool would it be to host either OU or SoCal in a first round playoff game in Norman.

OU controls their own destiny in these two games.

No excuses. No self-inflicted mistakes.

Just find a way….and kick the door down.

MJ

I’m happy for Coach Venables. There have been many naysayers in Oklahoma despite the fact Coach V inherited a football program which in reality hadn’t played defense for over a decade before his arrival.

In fact, I even went on the Jim Traber call-in show the Monday after the Ole Miss loss and defended Coach V. This hasn’t been an easy turnaround at OU since Lincoln Riley’s departure. But here’s the truth of the matter…this OU defense would never have come about if Lincoln Riley had stayed.

If you ever took the time to know Coach Venables life story you would be impressed. He and his four four siblings never had it easy. They basically stuck by their Mom in tough times and just found a way to grow up the right way.

When I think of Brent Venables …I think of his individual toughness as a man… a Christian man, in fact. His wife was diagnosed with cancer once they got here and there’s been that on the table as well as dealing with the dumber portion of the OU fanbase.

But he’s held in there, man. Never blinked. Never waivered. Never surrendered. As as you might know if you’ve read this blog before… as a Stage 4 cancer survivor— I have the ultimate respect for humans who stick to their faith, hold firm to their core beliefs, and find a way.

The season isn’t over. Every week since the Ole Miss game has in fact been an elimination game for these Sooners. There is no margin for error. Next up…Missouri in Norman at 11:00am on the first ABC SEC game of the day.

OU basically won this game in Tuscaloosa by out-toughing the Crimson Tide. By creating what should have been four turnovers if Kensize had just fallen on the damn ball near the sideline. By dominating all facets of the kicking game. By being the more physical team and punching Alabama in the mouth on their field. And by hanging tough together as a group on a day when their best player, R Mason Brown, couldn’t go.

If OU wants to continue winning these elimination games… John Mateer and the offense will need to be better. They clearly know that fact.

I’m happy. I’m at peace, and of course…I cried last night at the end.

But most of all…I’m proud of these guys for not surrendering.

Game balls to Kip Lewis, Taylor Wein, and Tate Sandell.

MJ

*Evidently this song was blaring from the OU locker room after the game. As well it should after OU’s first two seasons in the big, bad SEC as the Sooners swept Auburn and Alabama for the 2nd straight season. All-time…OU is now 4-0 vs. Auburn and 5-1 vs. Alabama this century. The one loss came when Lincoln Riley’s defense gave up 45 points to the Tide in a national semi-final loss 45-35. Just sayin’.

I should give Eli Bowen a game ball as well for the pick six. Eli….game ball, dude.

My goodness. I mean…my goodness. Seriously.

Just when we were almost ready to retire the greatest shooter who has ever played the game after his lackluster game against the Thunder the other night…Steph goes for 46 and 49 points back to back versus Wemby and the Spurs to take the lead in their Group C Pool standings last night in San Antonio.

Hopefully for the sake of some interest in the Emirates NBA Cup tournament this season…we’ll see Steph advance with his Warriors to the championship game.

I think one thing which is hurting Steph versus the Thunder is the game officials are so preoccupied giving Shai every soft foul call imaginable they aren’t reciprocating with Steph. I think what this does in reality is take away from Steph being given the same type of coddled Free Throw Merchant officiating that Shai receives on a nightly basis in the Association.

No way from what I’ve been witnessing does Steph get that last set of free throws in a game against the Thunder…especially in Oklahoma City. No way, no how.

Shai knows this. Sam Presti knows it at well. If someone merly breathes on Shai there’s two free throws coming at the line in front of the Trump rabble which occupy the Pay.Com Arena. Look at those people sometimes close up when the camera is scanning the stands. Scary…right? The zebras in Oke City are terrified of the fake Christian insurrectionists.

So we’ll have to see how the next game between the Warriors and Thunder is called in San Francisco.

But anyway…Steph isn’t dead yet. Far from it.

Is there a greater joy in in an NBA game than when Steph goes off? MJ doesn’t think so.

The Thunder’s game versus the Hornets holds little interest for me this evening. I’ll either be delirious from OU upsetting Alabama on the road as a 6.5 road underdog or I’ll be an emotional trainwreck.

Eternity for forever.

MJ

It’s been a busy week for me what with the foilage trip to NW Arkansas and an excursion to SE Oklahoma to eat at the iconic Roseanna’s Italian Cafe in Krebs, Oklahoma– plus my once a month cancer blood lab and treatment week…but I’ve been watching the games at both the NBA and college level during the interim.

It’s way too early to make any real judgements at the college level, but at the NBA level it’s pretty much following the script I thought it would in the Western Conference. 1 OKC, 2 Denver, and 3 Houston–if they can locate a point guard replacement for Fred van Fleet. Then depending on the breaks of the season injury-wise and such… 4a San Antonio or 4b Minnesota with a healthy Anthony Edwards.

In no way do I think Golden State has the current roster to win the West, but as they showed last night on the second night of a back to back in San Antonio they still have No. 30 on their roster. Despite being absolutely shut down down the night before in OKC by a defense which was missing JDub, Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins, and the defensively versatile Kenrich Williams–Steph is still capable of going off against anybody in the league on those nights his worn out body allows him to do so.

Steph dropped 46 pts last night as the Warriors upset the young San Antonio Spurs by a count of 125-120 to improve to 7-6 on the season. But unless Johnny Kuminga starts showing me something on a more consistent basis I can’t put much more faith in the Warriors than a finish somewhere between 6th or 7th in the West. There will be nights when Steph looks like he did in OKC on Tuesday night versus the Thunder, but that’s not enough in the stacked West.

Nikola, from my view, came into camp heavy, slow, and out of shape. That has been taken care of and he now appears to be in form to play the kind of ball we expect from him in the NBA blogging world.

Denver’s other guys will need to incrementally get it together as the season moves along and figure out a way to be a better overall defensive team if they aspire to dethrone the Thunder.

Back to the Warriors for a second though…Johnny Kuminga…it’s time, like Peyton Watson with the Denver Nuggets, who wasn’t given an extension—it’s time for you to figure out the NBA game and move beyond neighborhood gym pickup level of play. Let’s go, buddy. Pick it up.

Back to the OKC-Denver thoughts…point blank from me is the Thunder without JDub playing a single game to date is the defending champ and by far the best defensive team in the league. The ascension of both Ajay Mitchell and Aaron Wiggins’ games has me wondering how in the world Coach Mark is going to make all these guys happy with minutes if the Thunder ever get fully healthy.

A helmet sticker to Isaiah Hartenstein for his excellent play this past week and his off the court award he won from the NBA for being a tremendous overall human being to the Oklahoma City community beyond the basketball court. MJ fell in love with Isaiah when that ten year-old Archie ran over to him in the championship parade. Hope Sam Presti figures out a way to keep Isaiah beyond this season with the 2nd apron looming.

Below…Isaiah presser after his career double, double game versus the Sacramento Kings.

As far as the Lakers without LeBron…as we witnessed last night, and even though I love Austin Reaves like a favorite uncle–the Lakers without LeBron aren’t all that much.

In closing..if you picked the Detroit Pistons to be in or near first in the East then you must be a ‘serious’ okcthunderground.com reader. I’m not picking the Pistons to win the East just yet because of their youth, but with Cade Cunningham showing the basketball world what he’s capaable of becoming–you doubters can understand why I had a Cade Cunningham Journal his lone college season at O State even though I bleed crimsom.

Which brings me to OU at Alabama on Saturday at 2:30pm on ABC…you guys better leave that slow start and penalties back in Knoxville if you want to improve to 8-2 with a serious chance to participate in the College Football Playoff.

Boomer!

Eternal peace.

MJ

It appears we have a strong freeze and northern winds heading our way by Sunday afternoon at the Deer Creek mini-ranch. No. 12 OU is off this week-end with a week of rest from taking on Division I’s toughest football schedule.

I’m a little worn as an avid Sooner football fan from having to deal with Michigan, a sneaky good Temple team which beat that Tulsa team which physically beat down O State on the road and has since not won a game themselves. Then there was Auburn which fired Hugh Freeze last Sunday. Then came the John Mateer injury. Then the game Michael Hawkins started against Kent State and did okay in a 42-0 win. Then of course, the game versus No. 10 Texas where John Mateer played hurt and probably shouldn’t have in retrospect. Then the shutdown road win at South Carolina against the No. 1 QB prospect in next spring’s NFL draft. Then the heart wrenching close loss to No. 6 Mississippi at home.

Then of course last Saturday’s big-time step up on the road win against then No. 14 Tennessee.

I know I need a break just like the players and coaches. Taking on a schedule of this magnitude is tough and the programs like Tulsa, UCO, and O State have no idea how tough it is to get up every week to take on a national power of sort.

After the break…on the road at Alabama, home versus Missouri, and home versus LSU. I’m not sure my Packers are playing a schedule this tough.

So is’s off to NW Arkansas with the wife to take in the amazing beauty of NW Arkansas as we hope to hit peak color before Sunday’s first winter front arrives.

And if by chance we get back in time Saturday night to see Porter’s 2-0 Sooners take on No. 21 Gonzaga on the road at 9:30 pm on ESPN 2 then I guess MJ will have to watch the basketball game.

Otherwise no sports for MJ on Friday or Saturday as we behold the autumnal beauty of the Ozarks at peak color ‘we hope’.

The beauty is beyond the pale.

Have a great week-end.

BOOMER!

MJ