Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

First off, congrats to the Ohio Buckeyes on their win over Notre Dame on Monday night at the Peach Bowl to claim their first national championship since 2014.

This was a very deserving Buckeye team who beat Tennessee, Oregon, Texas, and Notre Dame on their magical ride to the national championship in our first 12-Team College Football Playoff. All four of the Buckeye wins came over Top Ten teams. And you know what else they did…they pulled the Vegas spread in all four wins. Job well done, Buckeyes. But I still refuse to play your brutal fight song on my blog. Not a chance there. MJ is discerning in that regard.

I’m happy for coach Ryan Day. Maybe this will get the Ohio State fanbase off his ass for losing to Michigan. College football fans amaze me at times…even some of our teasipper crazies in Oklahoma.

Congrats to ‘Dame’ coach Marcus Freeman as well. His team after their shocking early season loss to Northern Illinois was one of the big positive stories this college football season. I’ll play your iconic fight song any day of the week. Nice fight back, guys.

I love Wake Up the Echoes ‘almost’ as much as Boomer Sooner. Boone should have bought O State a new fight song when he owned the univesity. Just sayin’. It might have helped with the brand.

This morning was brutal weather-wise in Deer Crrek. I woke up to 4 degrees on the day my third chemo infusion in this set of six was scheduled. Most of these Trump fake little wannabee tough guys in Oklahoma would have called in sick or rescheduled. Not a chance with MJ. I have too much repsect for Dr. Showalter. Too much repect for the procees of the journey. MJ is never a load management DNP. Never. MJ doesn’t tank either.

So as fate would have it…I was rewarded for my courageous actions and in what I would call an act of divine serendipity…this new little dog at Integris named Toby walked up to me…and gave me that same little dog wag each of my two black lab divas (Dakota and Pauli) gave me the first time we set eyes on each other.

I had some photos taken on my IPhone by one of my nurses which I hope to have posted on my cover page sometime later this week.

Now…I want to make certain I am in no way being disrespectful to Toby Keith because I have so much respect for his music and his devotion to ‘our’ Sooners.

So with me at the hospital moving forward this new magical dog who came into my life on a day I should have called it in will in my heart forever be Little Toby Keith or LTK.

I’m telling you faux Trump Christians in Oklahoma…for those of us who really believe–God does indeed touch the ‘sincere’ believers with his lovingkindness every day.

Eternally, MJ

Pinch me or maybe even strike me in the head with a 2 by 4. I cannot believe we as Americans are where we are this morning as Donald Trump stands on the cusp of being sworn in as the 47th POTUS in American presidential history.

To think that the same pariah who tried to overthrow a presidential election on January 6, 2021…would today become our 47th president is beyond stunning for me. It disheartens me as I close in on the final chapter or two in my life.

I want to be very careful moving forward on my blog as to not allow myself to use hyberbole or partisanship of any sort in my blogging during Trump’s second term. This should be easy for me though because I was at one time a moderate Rebublican and have been a pragmatic Independent since 2000. I repeat….I have never been a member of the Democratic party. I am not a lit-woke mofo in any shape, form, or fashion.

First thing…did Donald Trump win any kind of mandate moving forward? He did not. He did not win the popular vote by attaining a fifty percent threshold. He got torched in most of America’s urban college educated jursidictions, but slayed Kamala Harris in America’s rural counties across our country. Trump in fact, won 90% of America’s counties, but only 49.6 of the popular vote.

From my view, he did win a convoluted mandate on the Southern border because it was Trump in fact who dismantled the bi-partisan immigration bill led by Oklahoma’s own James Lankford. Trump in essence, made sure the Southern border would in no way be fortified during the last year of Joe Biden’s one-term presidency.

The biggest political asset Trump had in fact…was Joe Biden’s horrific judgement in choosing to ignore practical common sense and seek a second term. Then, the Dems compounded this by allowing Kamala Harris to become their candidate without her winning one SINGLE vote in a Democratic primary. Explain to me…when the Democratic party is assailing Trump’s takeover of American democracy, the Democratic party then unilaterally promoted a candidate who failed miserably in her previous attempt to even be viable in her only run for the party’s nomination in 2020.

How is this American democracy?

Give Joe Biden and Kamala Harris what I would call a hockey double assist. The hypocrisy of this did not go unnoticed by the average American voter. Yet, I did begrudingly vote for Kamala Harris. It was the toughest vote I’ve made for the presidency in my lifetime. But let me say this, if the GOP had acted responsibly and nominated a different candidate.. I would have voted for that candidate.

Would Kamala Harris have won her party’s nomination if she’s been challenged by Josh Shapiro, Gretchen Whitmer, Mark Kelly, Hakeem Jeffries, or some other candidate who caught some magic in a bottle during the primary season? We’ll never know…because for the average guy or gal in the street it appears Joe Biden and James Clyburn unilaterally made that decision on their own.

In essence…Donald Trump drew into a Grover Cleveland inside straight in a presidential poker game of sorts.

So…here’s what I would say to Donald Trump… I’ll be more than fair to you on my blog. I want you to succeed. I actually want you to be an effective president who governs on behalf of all Americans, not just Elon Musk, Jeff Besos, Mark Zuckerberg and Google.

I want you to fight for all the people in this country who need to believe their president is fighting for them so as they can aspire to claim a piece of the American Dream. You will not be seeking a second term. You have a rare opportunity to do things which benefit the working people in this country whose parents and grandparents made America great.

Please govern all 330 million Americans in a fair-minded way.

Mike J

Exremely cold out here at the Deer Creek mini-ranch this Sunday. Just a little over zero this morning as I ventured out into the frozen tundra to feed ‘our’ deer and turkeys.

I had the additional task of breaking ice on the two small watering ponds on our property this morning. Deer Creek itself is frozen solid as are the three fishing ponds in our community. The deer and turkeys are at this point keenly aware MJ is looking out for them during this second Oklahoma artic front in the past three weeks.

Trump gives his inaugural speech inside tomorrow because most of the lollipop fake tough guys who voted for him can’t handle Vince Lombardi ‘frozen tundra-like’ weather. If you’re one of these Trump caucasian fake tough guys feel secure in knowing….it will be your specific demographic I will be assailing as this second Trump presidency evolves. You lazy, entitled motherf—–s at this point will have no further excuses as to why you can’t thrive in a Darwinian supply-side economy.

Great Vince Lombardi weather in three of our four divisional playoff games this week-end.

Mahomes, of course led the Chiefs to an expected win over CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans. Then…Jaden Daniels and his group won over America’s collective football heart with their second straight road win in these playoffs. Detroit finally surrendered to all of the defensive injuries, but let me write this…Jaden Daniels is the second LSU otherworldly QB now in the league ranking behind only Joe Burrow and Mahomes.

It’s a shame the Chiefs tanked in their last game of the regular season to in essence keep the Bengals out of the playoffs. But that of course..signals how much Andy Reid thinks of Joe Burrow as a potential spoiler of this threepeat his Chiefs are pursuing.

So we have Baltimore vs. Buffalo and the LA Rams vs. Philadelphia in our two games today. Both games will be played in Lombardi-like conditions. I like both Philly and Buffalo.

In closing…let me share with you two of my favorite Lombardisms which I have fallen back on every day of my Stage 4 cancer journey along with my faith in God.

1 The harder you work, the harder it becomes to relent and surrender.

2 Do not succomb to fatigue and allow it to compromise your courage and integrity.

You Trump fake tough guys who have struggled grasping the American Dream in America to date…please refer to this blog for further inspiration as Trump’s second term shows itself.

Eternal love, MJ

Somewhere former college hoops coach Nolan Richardson is smiling. Because let MJ tell you this…what the Thunder did last night in that first half versus the incredibly shell-shocked Cleveland Cavs was vintage Nolan Richardson 48 Minutes of Hell ballin’.

Holy shit…..134-114 and it really wasn’t that close.

This game was over maybe six minutes into the first period when it became apparent Cleveland was going to ignore the fact the Thunder minus their best two bigs were prone to being exposed inside the paint. Instead, the Cavs decided they would try and run with these college greyhounds and toy with Forty Minutes of Hell on the road in front of a sellout blood thirsty crowd inside of Paycom Arena.

Some advice to Cav head coach Kenny Adkinson…in the event your team beats Boston to advance to the NBA Finals opposite this Thunder team if they indeed advance…I think it might be worthy of a rethink to consider slowing the pace inside of Paycom Arena next time you face these dobermans with a national audience watching.

I mean, without a single point or rebound from either Chet or Isaiah the Thunder made your team look like the Portland TrailBlazers or New Orleans Pelicans. Maybe….you can get away with running with the Thunder at home when you get friendly whistles, but I think a different type of ball should be considered next time you visit Oklahoma.

I love this. Because it’s now apparent to me the OU men aren’t ready to play big boy SEC hoops yet…so for me this kills two birds with one stone as an Oklahoma hoops addict. But let me say in behalf of the OU women…they minus South Carolina I think are going to do okay in the SEC minus games played against South Carolina. Jenni has that program headed the right direction.

Now back to the greyhound-dobermans.

So what did this game last night mean? For me it meant Shai is now clearly the front runner to unseat Jokic’s hold on the regular season MVP trophy. Shai on TNT showed the basketball world he currently is playing the best basketball in the world on a team which if he and Dub stay healthy are going to flirt with the 70 win plateaus of the ’95-’96 Bulls and the ’15-’16 Warriors…. which by the way both included Steve Kerr.

It also to me shows Boston is still the team to beat in the East as the defending champions if Porzingus is still helathy come playoff time. Boston’s core knows what it takes to navigate these waters. They’ve gone through failure and then attained the ultimate glory of holding the O’Brien Trophy with confetti falling.

To me…winning the NBA Championship is like the journey of life. It’s tough. You get knocked down and have to learn survival skills. Soft doesn’t cut it in the journey of life or winning an NBA ‘ship.

I think the Thunder are tough for certain, but there’s this part of my basketball soul which questions if they’re ready to win sixteen games in April, May, and June.

So tonight in Dallas on a back to back with no Luka….I’m very interested to see if these guys can move from last night and bring their lunchpails ready to go from the opening tip.

I can’t wait another national marquee Thunder game to prelude the NFL Divisional Playoffs and Championship Monday between Ohio State vs. Notre Dame.

With more Arctic weather headed towards Oklahoma … I seriously doubt I’ll leave the house for three days minus feeding the deer and turkeys.

This is why you own your own blog. and never deal with another messageboard in your life.

One last Thunder thing…a shout out to the kid from Utah. Those two threes in that type of setting were impressive. We’ll see what he does in Dallas tonight.

Stay warm, Oklahoma.

Mike J

-Staff Reports-

I hate to hear this. Isaiah will be out of action for awhile with a calf strain. You never know how quickly some guys bounce back from soft tissue injuries.

Let’s keep this in mind for the Thunder tonight…since Isaiah came back from his broken hand injury—the Thunder are a league best 22-2 with him playing and Chet Holmgren still nursing his most recent fracture.

22-2.

Think about that. And within that span of games Jaylin Williams, the Thunder’s third center was not available for quite a few games with his own injury issues.

But tonight JWill along with JDubb will have to play most of the critical center minutes against a very big Cleveland Cavalier lineup.

And here’s the thing about Cleveland, they’re not only big, but like the Thunder, they enjoy playing at a fast pace. The 48 Minutes of Hell thing didn’t really play into the game last week in Cleveland. It was a scoring fest, not a defensive grind type of game.

So… I would think the Thunder with a smaller lineup are going to attempt to speed up this game as much as possible given one might think rebounding will be an issue tonight for the Thunder.

This intrigues me. Can Coach Mark with no real center tonight…turn this game into a high octance turnover fest with the Thunder scoring 24-26 points off of live turnovers and scoring quickly off of transition threes?

Maybe the big rookie kid Jones can step up and play some high quality minutes or possibly Dieng could up his physicality a couple of notches.

But beyond tonight…I hope this calf strain isn’t a factor for the Thunder’s season. Jamal Murray’s injury issues have been calf strain related for over a year now.. The other night in Dallas was purely an outlier game for Jamal this season. Not a turnaround game, but an outlier of sorts.

Isaiah, get well, buddy. I want to see you guys challenge that Chicago Bulls’ 70 game barrier. Otherwise, the Western Conference regular season is pretty much not all that interesting this season.

The Thunder game versus Philly was not worth watching last night primarily because Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George were all DNPs on the same night. I don’t watch games with that dynamic in place, nor do I write about those type of games on my blog. Suffice it to say…the Thunder easily walked through the motions to extend their curent win streak to three games.

Cleveland is in town tomorrow night so I’ll save myself for that game.

However, the Denver Nuggets easy win over Dallas on the road was something I watched with interest. And what I witnessed is Jamal Murray scored 45 points and looked like the same guy who along with Jokic carried the Nuggets to the NBA championship two years ago in rather easy fashion while only losing three games in that entire playoff run.

If this Jamal Murray starts to bring his game…these Nuggets are not a dead team walking. Quite the contrary, with this Jamal the Nuggets could plausibly give the Thunder some concern once we get to post season play when the pace should start slowing down as teams lock down defensively.

If I were Michael Malone….if Michael Porter isn’t traded at the deadline…I think I would basically move Christian Braun and Michael Porter to the six and seven slots…and start Russell Westbrook and either Peyton Watson or Julian Strawther depending on the size of the opposing starting five.

Denver needs a nudge at the trade deadline. Something like a discounted version of either Bruce Brown or Kentavius-Caldwell Pope. We’ll see if GM Calvin Booth makes a move or stands pat. I would make a move so as not to piss away a season of prime Jokic.

A GM’s job is to give his superstar a chance when the championship window is open. Any team which has Jokic and A-game Jamal is in a championship window if the GM is doing his job. Sam Presti did not do this with Kevin Durant in 2016…and of course Kevin subsequently bolted to Steph Curry in Golden State. CALVIN BOOTH….this is your job, buddy. Find a way.

In closing, a shoutout to Russell Westbrook for his play so far this season in Denver. I like what I’m seeing. I hoped playing alongside Jokic and Jamal, plus playing for a strong-willed coach like Mike Malone would be the right chemistry. So far, so good. I’d give Russell a B+ at the halfway mark of the season.

A beautiful sunny January day in Oklahoma. You should take a hike or a run. I’m going to.

Etternal joy, Mike J

The Stage 4 cancer journey is going relatively well all things considered. I was telling a friend the other day, “In retrospect…me being diagnosed in the manner in which I was by Dr. Showalter was the best thing which could have happened to me at this juncture in my life.”

It grabbed my attention. It rebooted my sense of all the things I was taking for granted. I had to reset my life and remember all the things which are truly important in life beyond ego, money, and hubris.

It made me take the time to thank God for the absolute blessed life I’ve had and to never take a single day for granted. Not one.

I get up every morning and realize something great is about to happen. My grandson had his first mini-mite hockey practice this past Saturday at the University of Denver. My granddaughter amazes me every time I see her. I’m so grateful I’ve gotten to be a part of seeing them evolve.

My body has reacted better than I could have ever prayed for in this current stage of chemo. It hasn’t really knocked me down so far. I rode the terrain bike yesterday. I think I’ll do a 1.5 terrain hike today along the forest line on the Deer Creek mini-ranch this evening before the Thunder tip

Life is good. But I still need a dog. A real dog beyond my interim stuffed cancer dog named Buck from Call of the Wild. My soul needs a dog.

I feel God with me. Looking out for me. Steering me. Helping me understand my ultimate spiritual destination.

Everything has slowed down for me.

Why did I wait for this to happen to make me refocus on what is truly important in life?

Anyway…the journey is beautiful and there’s no regret. Just moving forward.

Mike J

I got a little bit off track with my coverage of this special Thunder season due to the College Football Playoffs and the NFL Wildcard Round. But that is behind me now and this Thunder team continues to amaze with three games left to the 41 game marker which signals the NBA regular season midway point.

Okay….let’s do the math. The Thunder are currently 32-6. Let’s speculate they win their next three games and improve to 35-6. Thirty-five is half of seventy unless that’s not how math still works in an uber red Trump state like Oklahoma.

So what is this poser MJ (me…real MJ pictured above) saying to you people in Oklahoma? What I’m saying is the Thunder are in the hunt for the first 70 win regular season since the 1995-96 Bulls went 72-10. I may need to recheck this though given I’m posting this in a state which is so committed to education they elevated a pimp like Ryan Walters as their educational czar of sorts.

Since I last posted a Thunder thought…the Thunder lost a close game in Cleveland, then proceeded to torture the NY Knicks and the pathetic Washington Wizards for two straight road wins. That means the 15 game winning streak is done, but heading into tonight’s game in Philly against the 15-22 Sixers the new win streak stands at two.

So how good is this Thunder team?

Of course…they’re not the Bulls of ’95-’96, but given the parity we are seeing in the NBA and the lack of what I would describe as a team capable of a dynasty…if the Thunder can stay away from anymore serious injuries I would think most have them in the top three odds category to win the NBA Championship in June.

Note: I did the Steve Kerr, MJ, and Scottie thing above just to stoke you Thunder people a little more. And let me add this…I was doing my elite championship level mountain bike ride yesterday at the OKC Wellness Center and a ‘very reliable’ Thunder source confided in me it won’t be that much longer before Chet is back on the floor.

Here’s what none of us know to date…how good can this team become if Chet melds seamlessly back into the fold with Isaiah playing at the same high level he’s playing at currently?

Think about that you Thunder zealots. Think about that one.

Philly tonight on the road. If the Big Boy plays it could be an interesting night of NBA hoops. Before I sign off here today…I’d like to give a shout out to Cleveland backup point guard Ty Jerome for his excellent performance in the Cavs win over the Thunder last week. It’s good to see that young man getting his NBA career on the track it should be.

My current NBA championship poll top four…1 Boston, 2 OKC, 3 Cleveland, and 4 Dallas. Let me close with this additional thought though…let’s see if the Denver Nuggets do anything of significant substance at the trade deadline before we count them as a dead team walking circa 2025.

Eternal love, MJ

Some more tough days ahead for LA County as the winds and fire dangers kick up again. Just horrific to witness. Even worse than the fires which engulfed Maui. In total…I think I’ve visited Lahaina five times in my life to date. Four times when I was single, and another time with my wife early in what is now year forty-four in our marriage.

In total…I’ve been on the Islands six times and all the four major islands each at least twice.

But California cuts closer to home for me. I was born in San Diego when my father was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. As a kid we made the trek back several times. As an adult I was back in 2003 for the OU-Washington State Rose Bowl game. I was back again in 2007 when my son played in an ice hockey tournament in downtown LA.

I’m still kicking myself for not making the 2017 trip to the Rose Bowl when OU played Georgia in that historic double overtime game in the national semis. In reality, that was the last OU team which had a real chance of winning the national championship.

But on the two previous trips I made the trek along the Ventura Highway from Del Mar all the way to Pasadena. You have not lived as an American if you’ve never made that drive in a convertible with the top down on a sunny day.

My cousin Jan, who in reality is my older sister, at the end of this very January will retire from the Gates Foundation and move from Seattle to Del Mar. I hope that as long as I keep navigating my cancer journey we’ll be able to visit her at least once a year..if not maybe twice. I’m hoping that’s a big part of my journey as I head down the runway of the final chapters of my experience here on earth.

So, yeah… my heart is with California right now. But let me add this in closing…the other part of my heart will always love Oklahoma despite some of the snarky things I’ve written on my blog during these Trump years.

Consider this when you judge me…during these Trump years I had to navigate my father’s death from cancer, my mother’s final grievances with my father, I had to deal with the angst of Trump even being a candidate, my ‘brother’ Mark’s completely unexpected death this July, and then of course… now, as Trump re-enters the White House as Time Magazine Person of the Year no less.

But let me tell you this…when those Crimson and Cream jerseys come bounding out of that tunnel at the Cotton Bowl… this heart is all Oklahoma. When I’m out fishing or just taking in one of Oklahoma’s seventy-seven counties this heart of mine is all OKLAHOMA.

Pure Oklahoma.

Have a nice Monday in sunny Oklahoma today.

Mike J

Editor’s Gift to Reader: Here…drive it and feel it yourself.

Two great national semi-finals in our inaugural 12-Team College Football Playoff. Two very smart, tough, and deserving football teams who will enter Championship Monday as the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds off the original bracket.

Two great programs, two excellent coaches…but most importantly the two teams playing at their best at the goal acheiving portion of the season. Anotherwords….neither left their best football behind them in October.

I told you people on my blog…Penn State and Texas had sugardaddies on the selection committee. I wrote as much. In fact Texas probably should have been beaten by Arizona State when that horrific non-targeting call saved the high dollared Horns.

Like me….the football gods took note. Penn State and Texas….Take the Walk of Shame you pampered pussies….you’re going home where you deserve to be.

Without looking at any injury report as of yet…I’m installing Ohio St as my early 5.5 favorite to win the national championship.

I hate the Ohio State fight song. It’s the weakest part of their historied football program. Otherwise, I would have posted it on here.

Congratulations to both teams and their excellent fanbases.

MJ