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I haven’t done an After Dark in quite awhile what with all the Athletic/New York Times level content following Oklahoma’s magical national championship run and then Spain’s magificent 1-0 win over Argentina to claim its second World Cup.

This heat wave in Oklahoma SUCKS.

Mike J is too old for this heat wave nonsense. In Del Mar it was around 78 degrees every day with those beautiful coastal breezes nuggling MJ into a state of meditative nirvana.

I played this our last day as I sadly looked at the ocean from Jan’s deck.

Maybe you people in Oklahoma will get a break. Not us….we’re heading for Crested Butte to get out of here. This is insane. If I’m still living as a miraculous Stage 4 survivor next summer my plan is for us to spend only two weeks in Oklahoma out of the eight possible in July and August.

This extreme heat is complete bullshit. Internet stars don’t have to live in this manner.

Eternal love and mercy,

Mike J

If it were up to me…the answer would be a resounding… yes.

Yeah, I know Lu isn’t a max player prettyboy like Shai, JDub, and Chet, but if you followed this Thunder rebuild from the point Sam Presti traded away Jeremy Grant and commenced to inflict OKC Thunder fans with some of the most brutal basketball ever for two seasons after the tear-down following the exits of Russell Westbrook and Paul George… you should consider my thought on this matter.

Shai was/is the posterchild of the Thunder championship turnaround miracle, but undrafted Lu Dort from Arizona State was the grit and grind from the low tide ebb of the Thunder rebuild who brought not only great defense to Sam Presti’s second generation of NBA basketball in OKC, but exuded a contagious overall mental toughness to the culture of the Thunder where they became a defense first juggernaut, or as I’ve called them…Forty Minutes of Hell.

Lu Dort initated and set this culture… not Shai. Lu Dort was the perfect counterbalance to Shai in those early days of the rebuild when it was painful to watch the Thunder play NBA games.

Lu Dort was a large part of doing what Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Nick Collison, Perk, Serge, and Steven Adams never accomplished in Oklahoma City. Lu Dort became a key player who helped bring an NBA championship to Oklahoma City and he wasn’t even drafted. He literally had to prove every day he belonged in the NBA his first several seasons in the league.

Some will scoff at what I’ve just written, but compare Lu’s numbers to those of Nick Collison, who was a lottery pick out of Kansas, and then tell me I’m wrong. Unless there’s something I’m not aware of, in regards to something Lu did off the court…I would say, yeah…Lu’s jersey should at some point hang up there in rafters of the new Thunder arena….right next to Nick’s jersey.

Especially if the Thunder with this core never win another NBA championship.

Never discount what a key role player can do for a basketball club as they make a champioship run.

Mike J

Well…I’m back and actually the geographical order should go like this… San Diego Airport, Torrey Pines, Del Mar, Solona, and then San Juan Capistrano. MJ, Mindy, and Jan experienced it all in the course of eight days and it was sublime.

Both of these women at lunch at Swamy’s Cafe one early afternoon shared with me the thought that …”I wear them out at times”, but after that little sidestep with ‘someone’s’ confusion in my ordering a turkey club sandwich at the Swamy’s Cafe, the sandwiched evntually arrived and it was delicious. The scene was eeirily similar to the Jack Nicholson scene in Five Easy Pieces. But in the end…all was well. A five star trip for certain.

Evidently…Sam Presti traded Lu Dort to Atlanta while I was gone, but we all knew it was coming if the Thunder were going to be able to keep Cason Wallace and eventually Ajay Mitchell as well down the road.

Lu Dort’s departure saddens me because he was a key piece in the Thunder winning their only NBA championship to date. But if you were paying attention…Lu only played 15 minutes in Game 7 without JDub and Ajay available.

So what were his minutes going to look like this coming season if both of those guys stay healthy?

I love Lu Dort. That is a simple fact. In this modern era of NBA basketball, Lu’s work ethic and toughness are in short supply. Lu Dort could be an ice hockey player…and that’s a supreme compliment given out on this blog to a select few NBA players.

Players being traded in the NBA is part of their lives and goes with the territory.

We’ve got a few days before we head out to Cress Debutte…so I think before we depart to the Rockies–I will do a tribute to Lu on my blog in a day or two.

Lu Dort, I love you, buddy. Keep your head up and redefine yourself.

Eternal love and best wishes,

Mike J

I’m exhausted from all the extra work and many beats I covered on The Underground this past sports year, and I feel as if deserve a week in my birthplace with my older sister Janice would be nice.

Jan retired and bought a place very near the beach in Del Mar and this in no way sucks. Additionaly…she disdains Donald Trump even more than my wife and I do so there’s that positive of not having to ‘moderate’ any of my views in that regard.

She also has a magnificent cat named Zumi who sat next to ,me in Seattle when we watched Sterph Curry win his gold medal in Paris.

All of these are what MJ calls ‘spiritual mindset positives’ which very much plays into what Dr. Showalter and I crafted as my unique ‘Holistic Approach to Stage 4 Cancer’. I may need to write that book at some time… if I live long enough.

I will get to watch the World Cup Final today and I wish the very best to Spain and Team Messi. May the true champion emerge.

God bless and eternal eternity to all.

Mike J

Last year…Shai was my OKC Thunderground Atlete of the Year winner. Pretty easy choice as the Thunder won the NBA championship. This year Shai didn’ get the help he needed from Chet and JDub to advance to the NBA Finals. Thus…Shai finishes No. 2 on my list and ahead of OU linebacker Kip Lewis as my No. 3 pick for 2025-26.

My recipient of this year’s prest9gous award is obviously OU starting shortstop and cleanup hitter…Jaxon Willits.

If you want to see the template for a team leader on a championship team…it was Jaxon Willits on this amazing OU team which stunned everyone, including me, by winning this year’s national champioship.

Jaxon never waivered even when his team struggled the last month of the SEC regular season. He never blinked. His leadership kept this team in line and then Skip made the move with the three freshman starting pitchers.

This run by this team will be something which stays with me the rest of my days.

This team’s magical, mystical final month of the college baseball season was for me one for the ages…literally.

Mike J

Evidently… I’m not the only one who passed on Donald Trump’s latest pubescent stunt. No one covered his election fruad ‘event’ in print as well from last night. Maybe with the passing of Lindsey Graham and the political death of Mitch McConnell this sordid, sad chapter in American history will begin to wind down gradually.

Perhaps…some spiritual reckoning will come to the ‘Trump fake Christian’ whites who clamor the loudest in regards to their own self-designated divinity. You people should read the Book of Matthew, think long and hard, and ask for some forgiveness from God. That would be Mike J’s unsolicited advice.

Nothing from the Wall Street Journal or the Christian Science Monitor this morning on my iPhone feed. Their editor’s are embarrassed to be associated with this criminal delinquent since he can’t grant anymore tax cuts for our wealthiest Americans these next several years beyond the Big Beautiful Bill.

And without Lindsey Graham heading the Judicial Committee in the Senate… it is even questionable whether the Senate could confirm replacements for the aging Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. Two Supreme Court justices who very much need to be replaced though.

Perhaps, in regards to last night’s Donald Trump ‘event’… I should quote an unnamed Republican staffer, “The kids playing wizard in the park have a firmer grip on reality than any of their parents.”

Bravo…Anonymous. Well said and to the point.

You know…as a three and a half year Stage 4 cancer survivor, I feel as if I need to be very careful in regards to my statements about Trump and his ‘fake Christian rabble.’ I write this because I’m fully aware that if not for the presence of God…I would no longer be here, plus I wouldn’t have gotten an opportunity to know my two grandchildren and come to love them dearly.

And I know God frowns when I write ‘Trump fake Christian rabble’. I’m fully aware of that in my own spirtual journey. When I write that it breaks my own heart because that in no way allows me to further grow from the heart, from the spirit, and my own soul in relationship with God.

So in closing if I may write to the ‘Trump fake Christian rabble,’ please grow up. Your kids in the park and Mike J are weary of this bullshit.

Grace and mercy.

Mike J

I want this to be as brief as possible because the notion this person who calls himself our president is even having this address on the 2020 election in which he was routed by Joe Biden is laughable at best.

You Trump people do yourself a favor and do a couple of things instead of watching this horseshit…. like maybe start reading books, reading legitimate news magazines and newspapapers, watching legit docu films…but most of all…. GTFU possibly.

Each hurdle of this continued stupidity in fact would indicate to Mike J that Stephen Miller and Markwayne Mullin could only possibly make America Great Again if white, lower-middle class Americans who voted for this idiot would become the focus demographic for exit deportation.

ABC and NBC have already said no to this nonsense. Our country is still at war in a misguided war which any sane village idiot would have avoided in the first place. The Strait of Hormuz is a shit-show dumpster fire and Lindsey Graham isn’t any longer around to make public excuses for Trump policy in the Middle East.

You Trump MAGAs…do yourself a favor and start reading and stop making fools of yourself every news cycle.

Put some stock in Atticus Finch or anything else other than what emits from the mouth of Donald Trump.

CBS should be ashamed of itself and can no longer be viewed as a substantial legitimate news network in America. No big surprise there as we have already witnessed the tragic situation with 60 Minutes.

Here at okcthunderground.com we refuse to even recite or evaluate what this person says or does any longer.

Enough is enough.

And to Donald Trump’s little eye-candy press secretary Caroline Leavitt…always feel free to come over here to The Underground where true journalism is still an American thing.

God bless what’s left of our country, and remember 270 million still living Americans didn’t vote for for this embecile.

okcthunderground.com/CEO, Mike J

FIFA mob chief Johnny Infantion makes it difficult for me to post World Cup videos on okcthunderground.com, but please just hit the Watch on Youtube line as you must watch this film on the Goat, Lionel Messi… before Sunday’s Argentina-Spain final.

Also of note…please note the new cover pic with yours truly posing with OU’s third baseball national championship trophy at the championhip celebraton several weeks ago in Norman. Much thanks to okcthunderground.com executive technical producer Taylor Culpepper for this magnificent addition to our cover.

We figured since the OKC Thunder so massively underachieved in their Western Conference Finals showdown with San Antonio…that it just seemed logical to give Skip Johnson and his great group of young men this sort of honor on our blog cover.

Sam Presti…get it done this next NBA season and we’ll have your pic next to MJ’s on our cover. This blog is about winning championships, and we’re tired of hearing passive-submissive excuses in regards to JDub’s hamstring. Find a way. Get it done while there’s still a window, buddy.

Anyway, what a magnificent comeback by Argentina yesterday in Atlanta. My goodness…down 1-0 with six minutes left… Messi and Company showed us why you never count this group of gritty champions out of a soccer match.

This is more of what I want to see from you Sam Presti and your alleged two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. No excuses. Just get it done next season while Mike J is still on this earth running the Underground.

Just get it done.

Spain-Argentina on Sunday in Atlanta for all the World Cup marbles before MJ and wife head to San Diego.

We hope it is a magnificent soccer match..perhaps one for the ages.

Love to all. Mike J

Just a very dominant overall performance by Team Spain yesterday inside of Jerry’s World as they somewhat easily put France away by a score of 2-0.

It actually felt even more dominant as Spain had a third goal just barely rescinded on a very close off-side call. If that had been a USA goal…that one was so close Trump might have called FIFA mob boss Johnny Infantino and gotten that goal put up on the board inside of Jerry’s World. Spain has little political clout….hence—go goal.

Spain is the best team I’ve seen in this tournament. In seven games they’ve given up a grand total of ONE goal with six shutouts.

Spain literally stuffed France superstar striker Mbbappe. I have no idea if I spelled his name correctly, but this is a soccer post and as far as I’m concerned it’s close enough.

For whoever coaches Team USA in the future…this Spain team is what you want your group to look like defensively. Their defensive shape is immpeccable. They rotate and help seamlessly. Time and space are just not there for the opposition. It is beautiful to behold. Listen to me…I almost sound like a frilly European on here.

Argentina vs. England later today from Atlanta with the winner advancing to the finals in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Hopefully…this game will give us a little more drama than yesterday’s game. But if nothing else I can proudly state I didn’t waste a minute of my life watching NBA Summer League action this July.

I need something European to get me in the mood for this second semi-final.

Ciao.

MJ

I’m going to have to watch this movie again. The reason being, there has always been a part of me which has somewhat visualized Lindsey Graham as a clone of Charlie Wilson… minus the girls.

He still gets a C- from me even after I watch the movie again. And to be clear…if Gerald Ford had pursued any path which would have allowed Richard Nixon to hold any federal office ever again…I would grade Gerald Ford at an F-.

So I want to be clear on that point.

I actully somewhat liked Lindsey Graham till he sold himself completely out after the January 6th flip-flop.

My prayers are with Lindsey Graham. Life on this plane of existence moves along. None of are perfect. We try, but it’s tough being perfect.

We simply do our best and prayer for forgiveness at the end of the day.

Eternal hope.

Mike J