Let’s just do it this way because we’re heading into Easter week-end and I in no way way want to create any innner emotional turmoil for myself. given how far I’ve come spiritually these past three years.
In fact…now that I know Trump’s ‘heavyweight’ No. 1 lawyer Pam Bondi is going to be fired before we get to the week-end news cycle…I might consider filing a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump for destroying my immune system which in turn caused my Stage 4 cancer in the first place.
Don’t laugh and call that a frivolous thought. These are the times in which we live.
As far as Donald Trump’s pathetic performance last night…until next week when I feel it’s appropriate–I’ll only today say West Texas Crude had spiked to $111.00 a barrel and the Dow is down around 500 points.
Sometime next week…when I’m sure Pam Bondi has indeed been fired…I’ll dismantle Donald Trump’s address just like Bob Jackson taught me at the dinner table to dismantle a perjourous witness on cross examination.
Instead of wasting my time on counting Donald Trump’s lies tonight…I think it would be of a better use to consider the life of Henry David Thoreau.
This was a beautiful film from Ken Burns. But of course, what else would we expect from Mr. Burns but excellence.
So much one could touch on in examining HDT’s life as a writer and a naturalist. So much we as contemporary Americans can embrace to bring ourselves back off the ledge that the sole purpose in life is to acquire and accumulate big bouses, fancy cars and net worth.
My high school English and Lit teacher Mrs. Elijah had me reading both HDT and Ralph Waldo Emerson back in my high school days as a John Marhsall Bear.
In fact, I would say in a sense they both shaped me ever so slightly as to what’s really important in life and what’s just the outside static of human materialistic chatter that everyone of us has to deal with on a daily basis on this plane of spiritual existence.
Money and security are nice for certain…..
But why did God put us here?
Did he put us here to merely acquire assets of wealth of which we’re not taking with us to the next spiritual plane?
At what point do we in America have enough?
Anyway…I loved the film. I know me writing this will further convince the people who voted for Donald Trump I’m a socialist pinko and at the least a foolish RINO who’s conspiring to overthrow the free enterprise system.
But really…when is enough money and things enough? Because you know…some of the most rich people I know or observe are the unhappiest people of all because they don’t love themselves. And if you don’t love yourself…then that’s a very serious issue.
So that’s me today being HDT on the blog this Easter week and allow me to finish with this before signing off:
Blessed are the weak in spirit.
Blessed are the mournful.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for rightousness.
Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are those kind of heart for they shall see the light of God.
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall become the children of God.
Blessed are those who were persecuted for their rightousness for their’s shall be the Kingdom of Heaven forever.
And blessed are you in Oklahoma who have the courage and wisdom to live the Golden Rule every day. Have a beautiful Easter.
I need to get back on page with March Madness. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to pick Arizona, Michigan, and Illinois. But I have to tell you I teetered back on forth on my seeding of UConn over Duke in their Elite 8 game.
I agonized over this pick. But it fell my way with some luck….and in the end luck doesn’t suck.
Faith, hope, and luck are really wonderful things in fact.
It looked like a pick ’em game and my goodness we got one for the ages right there with the iconic Christian Laettner finish vs. Kentucky back in the days when I was younger.
There’s just something about Danny Hurley. He’s just one of those guys who never stops grinding. Never stops making his players believe they can, and in reality is two wins away from his third national championship in four years.
This guy is remarkable and I’m so glad he didn’t take the Lakers job. Danny Hurley with LeBron doesn’t even seem fathomable to me.
Michigan versus Arizona and U Conn vs. Illinois. On first blush I like Arizona and U Conn to advance, but I’ll come back to my Final Four thoughts on Friday night.
As far as this Jaden Ivey nonsense goes. I’ve decided for the most part to not waste too much time on this. But I will say this…in his contract there are certain things you cannot do as a player/employee to hurt or damage your employer, in this case the Chicago Bulls.
Yes…there is First Amendment. But if you’re stupid enough to go on some incoherent Mel Gibson-like rant about Christianity and the NBA’s Gay Pride Month while a restricted free agent having a sub-par season….then what I would say the Chicago Bulls should have and did fire Jaden Ivy’s stupid ass.
Mr. Traber, please stand. You have read the case, correct Mr. Traber? Please refresh us on the overview of this case.
And as far as the nonsense Jim Traber tried to peddle on the Sports Animal to some of his more dimwitted listeners today…that was nothing more than stirring the pot to elicit callers and diffuse attention from his war boy Trump whose about to walk away from the Middle East after basically setting the entire region on fire and pissing off all of our allies.
The only winner in this bullshit manuever by Trump and Pistol Pete is Russia. Russia is the only winner. If Joe Biden is senile and incoherent what two adjectives would accurately describe Potus 47? Again…any dog in Ohio could handle Trump in his present state.
I may or may not Op-Ed on what will be perhaps the most perjourous address to date to the nation Trump has ever made tomorrow night.
173…that’s MJ’s official over/under on how many blatant lies Trump lays on the country tomorrow night. CNN better have those fact checkers checking is all I can say in summary mode.
Pray for the Middle East, and pray for the world as well.
Holy shit. I love Shai and I still have him as my leader in the MVP race over both Jokic and Wemby. But I mean…seriously, 21 of 25 free throws on the night in a game the Thunder eventually won 114-110 in overtime at PayCom.
Let’s put this in perspective…as a cocky starting shooting guard on my freshman basketball team — I don’t think I even made it to the line 12 times that entire season…and MJ was a chucker for certain.
The Pistons as a team shot 17-23 from the line last night AS A TEAM.
The Thunder as a team shot 32 free throws which means the rest of the Thunder team shot… 7 FREE THROWS THE ENTIRE GAME.
In last night’s Thunder win Shai went for 47 points in all on a night when not one other single player is even worthy of me mentioning their name in this very half-hearted and late recap.
I’m late because when I saw who all wasn’t playing for the Pistons I decided to watch the Henry David Thoreau docu movie on PBS of which I’m a proud donor. Ralph Waldo Emerson was also a key figure in this movie narrated by George Clooney and produced by Ken Burns.
When you get older…it’s pickleball instead of racquetball tournaments, snow skiing, mens league ice hockey, PBS, fishing, gardening and landscaping with the wife. Also reading, and of course serious spiritual contemplation here on the blog pertaining to the Stage 4 journey. And when I can find the time…blogging on the world of sports and geopolitics.
I don’t know else to what to write other than to wrap this up and award my Three Stars of the Game in this order…1 Shai, 2 NBA official Scott Foster, and 3 Jaden Ivey… formerly of the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls, who will be the centerpiece of my blog entry tomorrow here on the underground blog for being the NBA’s Knucklehead of the Month for his hot takes on the NBA’s Pride Month. I didn’t even know such a thing existed until Jaden Ivey went crazy ranting shit while sitting injured in Chicago last night and then somehow got his ass released from the Bulls sometime today due to the terms of his contract.
So…that’s it for MJ today.
Be kind to one another out there. Hold the rants and the hating to a minimum.
I shouldn’t do this as we’re heading into Easter, but I feel as if I have to as a gesture of solidarity with the dogs of America.
Yes, the dogs in America appear to me to be smarter than the Trump fake Christians and ‘some’ of the white Trump male rabble in our country.
I know…that’s a detour from my meditation mantra of ‘control the angry inner voice, Mike’…but you know I fervently believe God has a sense of humor and is with me on this in behalf of the dogs and cats in our country.
Who ever would have considered the Iranians would take the Strait of Hormuz hostage and hold the entire global economy hostage as a result of Donald Trump being Israel’s pimp?
Who conceivably could have thought possibility of that from any of the fellatio performing members of Donald Trump’s cabinet?
Oh, wait….Jimmy Carter, circa 1979 ring anyone’s bell?
I wonder if Secretary of War Pistol Pete from the Fox Week-End Show ever considered that as a plausible course of action by the Iranians?
And where’s our isolationist Little JD Vance right now? That same person Joe Rogan you people said would temper POTUS 47’s more destructive impulses??
But not to fret there’s always the Trump Doctrine for you Kool-Aid drinkers of Trump. Which reads something like this:
1 Lie and promise everything.
2 Deliever Nothing Except the Southern Border….which was already going to delievered by one of Oklahoma’s own James Lankford.
3 Play the race card with uneducated whites at every opportunity.
4 Devide the country further.
5 Blame someone else and walk away with Caroline Leavitt.
I honestly hate do this on my blog at this beautiful juncture in my Stage 4 journey.
But I mean…somebody in Oklahoma has to step up and speak the truth. We know Markwayne won’t.
Right?
But in the end we can all just hold firm to our inner convictions and do our best. We’re all on the same Titanic together.
We live in the age of Title IX when women clamor for equality on every level. I’m completely on board with this truth. In fact, I told a male friend recently…my view is that in America women in many ways are superior to what I’m seeing from so many lazy, stupid, uninspired white males I view in Oklahoma and elsewhere in our country.
You know…my Markwayne Mullin doctrine of abject stupidity.
That being said, I love what Jenni has done to date by rebooting the OU women’s basketball program. So the fact I love and respect women as I do makes me feel very much on solid ground by ripping Jenni B for her team’s brutal performance in their loss yesterday to South Carolina on a neutral floor in Sacramento.
That performance was beyond brutal.
I fully understand South Carolina like the Arizona mens’ team is really, really good. I totally get that. In fact, I had South Carolina as an 88-90% probability winner on what I wrote yesterday.
But, man…did Jenni and her team have any thought or preparation to the fact that when you’re playing an opponent with superior talent maybe the thing to do is slow down the pace a bit and keep the turnovers under 12 or so and get THE F–KING BALL DOWN LOW to Raegan Beers who pleasantly did not get in foul trouble in this game.
I’m not talking about OU winning this game. That was a longshot at best. I’m talking about getting the maximum out of your available roster and giving yourself a chance for some success with a puncher’s chance entering the fourth period.
This game was over four minutes in. The turnovers were appalling. The OU guards had a complete disregard for the basketball axiom of ‘valuing possession of the ball.’
I hate to be this brutal, but it appeared there was no game plan whatsoever for OU in this game. This was the second worst loss in NCAA Tournament history for the OU program.
I know how Jenni loves to say f–k in the heat of the competitive moment as I do as well. Remember..in reality what you’re saying is Forced Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. It’s not that bad. It’s old English Law. Bob taught me that one.
But Jenni…you have to be better as a coach if you’re serious about getting your Sooners beyond the Sweet 16 next season.
You’ll need to replace Raegan and Peyton in the portal. I would also suggest you find another hybrid guard like Lexi Keyes who you took from O State the previous two seasons who can add some much needed toughness and three point shooting.
Jenni…if you really want to crack the top tier of the six best womens’ programs you need to become more than just a friend to your players. Don’t get me wrong…the overall development of the human is paramount in all of this. But if you’re going to take your program to the next level…basketball smarts, toughness, and emotional maturity have to be the key ingredients.
Young women of today can handle this. I know they can. You know they can. That’s it. That my pep talk to Jenni B heading into the off season and I just said every thing Roger Denny or Joe c would want to say, but maybe can’t if you know what I mean.
On this blog… Coach Mark, Porter Moser, Brent Venables, and Jenni B have been treated as equals and will continue to be treated in that regard because I love and respect women.
The two mens’ Elite 8 games don’t excite me today. Maybe I’ll prove to be wrong in that gut feel of mine, but unless Arizona goes into some sort of coma and Illinois chokes with this great opportunity for Brad Underwood to advance to the Final Four–one would think a Big 12 and a Big 10 team are heading to our Final Four at the conclusion of Saturday’s play.
The U Conn vs. Duke game tomorrow is the one I want to cover for okcthunderground.com. That’s where SI, USA Today, and the Athletic will have their best writers. Same thing for the ‘sometimes’ iconic and amazing okcthunderground.com. MJ wants to be ‘big game basketball fresh’ for that game.
I don’t consider ESPN any longer a viable sport news outlet so that’s why I excluded them from the previous ‘graph.
BTW…I’m wondering to myself who ends up being the next coach at North Carolina to replace the recently fired Hubert Davis?
If I were the NC athletic director I’d probably go after either Tommy Lloyd or Dan Hurley. Todd Golden has too much punk in him for that job. At Florida you can have somewhite trash punk in you, but not at the pristine cathederal of college hoops in Chapel Hill. I’ve always believed the North Carolina and Duke head coaching jobs are the best two jobs in college ball with Kansas as third on that list. U Conn probably fourth.
BTW, I wonder what Bill Self is going to do? He looks worn out to me and in serious need of a break from NIL and the Portal.
So on to Sacramento where my Lady Sooners will either acheive their pre-season goal of making the Elite 8 or prove to still be just a program on the edge of becoming a Top 10 program. OU hurt itself tremendously with their horrific performance in the SEC Tournament’s semi-final game versus LSU when they imploded for the second time this season against the Bayou Bengals..
I mean, they literally imploded in every facet of the game or else they would have been a regional No. 3 seed and not have to play a team like Soth Carolina today.
I’ve loved including Jenni and her team among my beats these past two seasons, but here’s the thing…SHOW ME today later in Sacramento who you are… SHOW ME.
That means A Chavez keeping the turnovers under 12. That means Reagan Beers not getting two fouls in the first ten minutes of play. That means Peyton V knocking down threes and being relevant in the game. That means Zya Vann playing the best game of her college career to date. That means Sahara Williams being the tough Moral Compass she has to be for her mates. That means the promising Broolyn Stewart playing like a junior instead of a freshman off the bench. And that means both Cara Smith, Z Lofton, and Beatrice Culleton playing solid minutes as No. 7, No. 8, and No. 9 coming off Jenni’s very short bench and being able to play at the South Carolina standard of excellence.
And of course, A Chavez has to play like the National Freshman of the Year from start to finish.
If I were the ESPN predictor I’d say South Carolina with an 88% chance of winning and I’d set the line at South Carolina at -11.5 on a neutral floor.
In closing…this is the biggest game to date in the Jenni B era at OU. I know for a fact new AD Roger Denny like me wants to see all the things I’ve listed above so as he can bring even more money into the Lady Sooners’ NIL program and move this program into the stratosphere of the Top 8.
So…SHOW ME AND ROGER DENNY…and he’ll show you the money.
Like I wrote earlier this season after the game in Norman…I love Calipari and the manner in which he speaks at his pressers. Plus, of course…he’s Italian like me with my ten percent Italiano genes.
No bullshit, no games with his pressers. He just answers the questions like he was sitting next to you in a sports bar nursing his drink of choice.
The manner in which Arizona steam-rolled Arkansas in no way changes my thoughts on Darius Acuff, Jr. He never had a chance in this game. His bigs literally could not get a stop in the paint in this game. The Cats had sixty paint points. Arizona along with Michigan and ousted Florida were the three teams in this tournament John Calipari did not want to be paired against in a regional…and voila, there’s Arizona waiting for him in the Sweet Sixteen.
OU and Arkansas this season were somewhat constructed in the same manner. Really good starting guards, but shaky depth with the bigs against teams like I just mentioned in the previous paragraph. So in reality…I wasn’t crushed when OU didn’t make the field because this is what would have happened to my Sooners in the second round if they’d drawn Arizona, Michigan, or Florida.
Arizona is really, really good, but so is Michigan, while Duke, Illinois, and U Conn in my view are good enough to win this thing in a game against the first two teams on a one night winner take all format. Which is of course…what makes this tournament great in my view.
Not four out of seven…one game on Monday night with the world watching and the favorite a little tight.
If I were going to seed this thing with the eight teams we have remaining– I’d go something like this:
1 Arizona
2 Michigan
3 U Conn
4 Duke
5 Illinois
6 Purdue
7 Tennessee
8 Iowa
Four teams from the Big 10 advanced to the Elite 8. The Big 10 was the best football and basketball conference this season. No alternate conversation from the South.
I don’t see Tennessee advancing…so if Duke falls to U Conn then both the SEC and ACC will not have a team in the Final Four. That would be odd in this era of NIL.
Duke vs. U Conn is the game I’m most anticipating this week-end. I wouldn’t sleep on Dan Hurley. What he has done these past four seasons in the era of NIL and the transfer portal is remarkable.
But of course you have to play the games and maybe the Iowa Hawkeyes could fool us all and be like Cignetti’s Hoosiers? Or maybe Dan Hurley has already twice done what Cignetti did in the Orange Bowl and we just didn’t give him his appropriate kudos.
Storylines abound…just like with the NBA’s Western Conference coming down the stretch.
I need a little pump up music before I embark on the three mile terrain bike ride at the Wellness Center followed by twenty minutes of cardio weight work. Heavy reps with lighter weight at this point with a stress on cardio as opposed to rebuilding muscle.
Perfect…that’s the only word I can use right now to describe where I’m at in the Stage 4 journey four months after the last chemo treatment. PSA count just above 2 as opposed to 1,212. Overall blood work perfect. Pet Scan beautiful.
On my last consultation with Dr. Showalter he shut the door and as opposed to when he gave me the ‘You need to get your affairs in order…immediately’ talk…this was the polar opposite. There was this beautiful smile on his face as he shared the above information with me.
He said, “Mike, this is beautiful. Even better than we could have hoped for. I’m so happy for you.”
I mean, it took took significant effort for me not to cry like a baby right there. But instead… I hugged Dr. Show and said, “Thank you for everything. Seriously. Thank you for giving me the chance to get to know my grandchildren.”
So…there’s that.
Thank god for this massive cool front in Oklahoma today. I needed a respite from the August-like heat in both Scottsdale and Deer Creek these last eight days.
Can Wemby pass Shai for the MVP if the Spurs catch OKC in the West?
I would say yes, even though I still have Shai in first place on my ladder. But I will admit if Wemby and the Spurs catch the Thunder it will be a tough decision for how I vote my non-existent MVP vote.