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Trump did it again. He put his POTUS 47 curse on Team USA as he did in that one game in Madison Square Garden in the NBA Finals…except at this point in the World Cup it’s lose one game and you’re done.

Team USA is done following Belgium’s pretty much wire to wire dominance in a Sweet 16 game played in Seattle.

No…I’m not blaming Trump. This is on the player’s of Team USA. They never came out of the gate. They never engaged in any aspect of the game. This is on them, or we could just say Belgium is a much better team than Team USA and Balogun’s presence in this game one way or the other had zero impact on the outcome.

Balogun never got one clean shot on goal in this game. The same would be said for his running mate Pulisic who did never got a clean shot on goal either. Team USA had two shots on goal maybe and never scored a live ball goal in ninety minutes of play.

Conversely…Team USA gave Belgium four goals. Literally gave Team Belgium four goals either through bad defense in the box, bad goaltending, or turning the ball over in the box area.

This was brutal and unfortunate that Team USA’s World Cup came to an end in this manner considering all the excitement and goodwill hosting the World Cup has created around the world.

The viewership on Fox has been incredible in this World Cup in America. I hope for the sake of soccer the ratings stay healthy even with Team USA’s exit from the tournament.

I’m still in because I’ve loved watching even the games not involving Team USA. I think what this game showed is that USA soccer hasn’t really improved to the point where a team can make a serious championship run any deeper than the Sweet 16. Unlike Team USA in ice hockey…the soccer program hasn’t found that magic sauce just yet.

So now I need to decide who my new favorite team is in the Elite 8. Morocco, France, Norway, England, Spain, and Belgium are in. Two more Sweet 16 games need to be played… Argentina vs. Egypt and Columbia vs. Switzerland.

I’m probably leaning towards either Norway, Belgium, or Switzerland. None of these countries do anything I can think of which annoys me and I just need to decide of the three who I’m rooting for to hoist the Cup.

I’m gonna miss the Take Me Home Country Roads thing though. I liked that vibe it gave off. It seemed like for a three to four week period or so everyone in our country had a common goal. Even I agreed with Donald Trump on something, and that’s the beautiful thing about sport in that it brings us together.

Mike J

Before I address Trump and FIFA President Infantino’s apparent quid pro quo relationship with POTUS 47…allow me to give a shoutout to former OU golfer Chris Gotterup for his epic fourth round 62 yesterday which was good enough for a two-stroke win in the John Deere Classic.

Nice job…Chris G. BOOMER!

So…did Trump finally do something of genuine substance by pressuring FIFA President Infantino to rescind a horrible call by a tainted Brazilian soccer zebra named Raphael Claus which would have sidelined Folarin Balogun in this evening’s USA-Belgium soccer matchup in the World Cup?

Yes…this is where I have to give Trump some positive credit for using the bully pulpit and whatever dirt he has on President Infantino to actually right an eggregious wrong by this sketchy South American game fixing referee who made this horrific call in the USA-Bosnia soccer match late last week.

Would FDR and/or President Obama have used their bully pulpits as well in this instance? Yes…I think so. This isn’t just a random bad call in a random sporting event…this deals with the removal of Team USA’s best striker and goal scorer on what was obviously a crooked call by a nefarius zebra with possible mob ties even deeper than those of Trump.

So, yes, on this one I agree with Donald Trump…and let me add– on this blog if Trump does something right–I won’t hesitate giving him credit. Given… this is one of the few times I can think of where I actually agree with Donald Trump on something he has done as POTUS.

USA vs. Belgium tonight in Seattle with the winner advancing to the Elite 8. I wonder if the Seattle crowd would boo Trump tonight as he was booed at Madison Square Garden if he made an appearance tonight at the soccer match?

Exclusive coverage on this monumental game to follow on okcthunderground.com. I’ve changed my mind on covering the Thunder in the NBA Summer League. Thomas Sorber isn’t even going to play. MJ and the Underground are like USA Today in that we only cover the truly substantial beats in America and around the globe.

Later.

Mike J

The fact it rained four inches in Deer Creek at dusk didn’t really matter. It was a great day and night anyways. We did fireworks with the kids on Father’s Day…so the rain didn’t matter to us.

Great food from Earl’s with the ribs, fried okra, and blueberry cobbler stealing the show. My one ice cold bottle of Coors Edge with zero alcohol was perfect. Great music blaring throughout all day and evening.

An amzing World Cup game where France finally subdued Paraguay 1-0 in a soccer game turnwed knife fight. That was a hockey game on grass is what that was in Philadelphia yesterday. Plus…FIFA pulled their head out of their ass and rescinded the red card on Team USA’s best striker and leading scorer… Mr. Balogun. That whole deal was bullshit.

Yeah…L get it. The entire European continent thinks Donald Trump is a douchebag. And, yes …he is a douchebag, but don’t take that out on a soccer player from America. It shouldn’t have even been a yellow card. It was a play-on type of play.

The New York and Boston fireworks and music were by far better than the obligatory Lee Greenwood and Donald Trump show which seems to resonant with our most zealous white racists in America. The one thing I did like about Trump’s show was the 25 or 6 to 4 kickoff music of the 850,000 explosives and firework cartridges which in Trump’s mind must make up for the size of his —-* . MJ did however love that intro by Chicago on the loud speaker even though it was presumably lip-synced. But Trump lost me when the bald, overweight white guy tried to solo ‘YMCA’. That was the end of MJ’s night.

That one sent Mike J to the the showers and then to bed. It was painful to observe as a compassionate human. I played this instead and ended the night the right way.

But to the rest of America…hang in there. Simply hang in there and look for the good in others every single day and don’t ever forget why God put you here. Stay on that path.

• Size of comment deleted only because it was the Fourth of July and we should look for the best in others…even Donald Trump.

Eternal love.

Mike J

Hope you and yours have a special Fourth of July. It’s a very special Fourth for me in that for the first time in just less than four years there’s no flashing red light looming on my cancer journey.

The wife and I are staying home at the mini-ranch and just taking it easy. We did fireworks with the kids when they were here for Father’s day… although MJ may do his own more modest display at dark.

There will be Earl’s barbeque ribs. There will be a Thunder Summer League game at 2:00. There might be a World Cup game which won’t match up to yesterday’s Argentina-Cape Verde overtime thriller.

Maybe one or two zero-zero ice cold Coors beers. A piece of blackberry cobbler, possibly with a scoop of vanilla ice cream wouldn’t suck.

And music….yes!!! There will be music. Always music.

But most of all it will just be Mindy and I taking it easy, and me most of all, realizing how lucky I am to share this life with her on this very special Fourth of July.

Have a beautiful Fourth of July.

Love, Mike J

Just be a responsible, accountable Good Samaritan. This doesn’t require an overthink. It doesn’t matter what denomination of spiritual thought you adhere to…’Just love thy neighbor….and love your country.’

Anyway….I’ll get back to the Thunder roster reconstruction next mid- week after the USA-Belgium game. Whew…Jalen Brown to the Sixers–Thunder fans, that’s what I mean by a limited championship window.

All you Rush Limbaugh Dittoheads and Donald Trump Maga Birthers…just take a deep breath and…’love thy neighbor’ this special Fourth of July week-end.

This is not complex.

Go Team USA!!!

Love, Mike J

I’m tired of listening to whining from the far left, the MAGA dimwits, and the overall Birther types. My feelings on Donald Trump have been very clear on this blog.

However, It is at this point in my life I am proudly an equal opportunity disdainer of these people ad their daft conterparts on the far left. I truly am.

You people spend so much time hating on one another it can be no surprise you’ve yet to discover the American Dream or even begin to realize how fortunate you are to be born as an American citizen.

Your passive-submissiveness and weakness makes MJ want to puke.

The group which sickens me the most are the young, under 30 years of age white males. Your weakness in relation to other American generations is appalling.

The great Warren Buffet once said: “If you’re born as a white male in America with full citizenship rights… you’ve at birth won the lottery three times.”

So…instead of whining, making excuses, and failing to even remotely consider what it still means to be an American in 2026… MJ would suggest, ” You possibly grow the f–k up and realize how God blessed you by simply being born in this country in the first place.”

I hope that wasn’t too direct, but at some point especially with the 4th on Saturday…I feel as if it needed to be stated on my blog.

God bless America, and may all of you remember…every day you breath as a free person you’re living the American Dream. So don’t piss it away. This Saturday is special.

Eternal grace, love, and mercy.

Mike J

In my Sooner Baseball National Championship gear…I’ve pivoted from the Miracle in Omaha to our World Cup Championships right here in our most liberal cities in the USA…and I’m loving it.

Seattle and San Francisco regarded as sissy locales by the Trump rabble in godforsaken rural outliers in Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama…must be literally ill as they witness this spectacle which has taken the rest of the world by storm.. But I would remind these people Seattle just cruised to the Super Bowl Championship, while the LA Rams and 49’ers were probably the second and third best teams in our own NFL tough-boy football league. Plus, the Denver Broncos were pretty darned good. All liberal cities.

I’m loving it now that the mystical glow of what my Sooners just did is settling within my spirit and soul….and Team USA is rekindling that same spirit within a week.

These last two nights have been spectaular. First…. Paraguay took down heavily favored Germany to advance to the Sweet 16 with a stunning penalty kick game winner. Suffice it to say the country of Paraguay is in a state even more exalted than what MJ was after that last out in OU’s 13-2 rout of North Carolina in the championship game.

Then…last night, gritty, grimey, die-hard Team USA played short-handed the final 35 minutes against Yugoslavia ‘basically’…and advanced with a character building 2-0 win as Take Me Home Country Roads blared in the background in the most liberal city in the country.

I’ll come back to Team USA’s win tomorrow, and in a calmer state of mind to describe what I thought about that bullshit red flag which put our boys down a man and took out our best striker out as well.

I need to go work off this energy on the bike before it gets too hot today in Oklahoma.

We’re all Americans. Quit wasting your time hating each other 24/7. We should all feel privileged to just have had this experience in our lifetimes to live in a democracy. Love they neighbor. Mj loves the Peterson girls as well. Just sayin’.

Go Team USA!!!!

Love, Mike J

An interesting day yesterday in Oklahoma City as the Thunder said yes to Lu Dort’s $17.7 million year ahed of free agency, and said no to Kenrich Williams’ $7.1 one-year extension.

Not a shock at all as I earlier wrote this is what I thought would happen. But if I’m Sam Presti…I’m in no way closing the door on the possibility of Kenrich staying in Oklahoma City at a price the Thunder can afford from a player who is a huge positive as far as his Swiss army knife skill set, plus his Nick Collison-like set of intangibles.

I ‘somewhat’ work out with a guy who looks like Kenrich…and I think of Kenrich every time I work out.

Every team needs that veteran No. 14 or No. 15 guy on their roster. That veteran who exudes maturity and professionalism. Kenrich is perfect for that role with the Thunder.

As far as Lu Dort…I’m not sure how much Shai had to do with this. I’m happy for Lu in the short-term, but just because this occurred yesterday doesn’t mean Lu will still be with the team beyond this season.

Lu played 15 minutes in Game 7 versus the Spurs, while Cason Wallace logged much heavier minutes. At the end of the day…this is a business. So…I think it would be wise to see how Coach Mark allocates minutes and roles bewteen the two the first six weeks of the upcoming season.

Kenrich, as a Thunder blogger and fan…you’ve been a delight to cover on the Underground. Hope you work something out with Sam Presti. Swear to God this was the last song they were playing on the floor finishing up my workout this morning. I thought of your situation.

Mike J

Obviously…we don’t always get what we want in life. Hence–Yaxel Lindeberg is a Golden State Warrior.

But because I’m a pragmatic survivor…life goes on for the Oklahoma City Thunder as they seek to prove this next NBA season they weren’t just a one-trick, one-time pony who won games over two teams without Aaron Gordon healthy. without Michael Porter Jr. able to raise his shooting arm, and without a red-hot Tyrese Haliburton whose ruptured Achilles did not allow him to continue after a torrid first nine minutes in Game 7.

You won’t get the warmed over homer nonsense on this blog from the likes of Little Nick Gallo, Matt Pinto, Michael Cage, and that entire entourage of Thunder delusion. This is still the one thing I give Sam Presti a C- on his report card. That being…almost twenty years in OKC as an NBA franchise either with New Orleans or with the migrated Seattle franchise…and this team is covered with less objective scrutiny than the high school football program at Carl Albert by those in the Presti payroll orbit.

Sam Presti…it’s time to show some growth in that arena if you’re really on the cusp of being a dynasty.

Now that I’ve thought this Mara thing over…maybe he can be a solid center paired with an athletic Thomas Sorber at the power forward-speed position that Ousmane Deng never turned into before being traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Obviously…I want to see quicker feet from Mara in this upcoming summer league which begins July 4th. Likewise, I would assume Sorber will be participating in the summer league as well, and I’d love to see them paired together as a center, speed-power forward combo unit and observe how that might look down the road.

Beyond how the Lu Dort thing goes…the Mara-Sorber combo is what I’m looking at most heading into Summer League play and beyond at training camp.

Never look back and never regret. Live each new day to its fullest.

Mikey J

So far into this summer… after the loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals–it would appear the Thunder wunderkind is a reader of okcthunderground.com.

Sam Presti, dude—you’re doing exactly what I said you had to do to keep the Thunder in pace with the Spurs minus taking Yaxel Lendeborg in the draft.

A new three year deal for Isaiah Harterstein so as to protect the Thunder from the Wemby-Chet dynamic was a must. Sam Presti maybe didn’t want to do this after using two first round picks on centers in these last two drafts. But very clearly…there is that championship window I allude to constantly on this blog, and with all due respect to Thomas Sorber and Aday Mara…that doesn’t cut it as far as giving Shai the best chance possible to win another ring in Oklahoma City.

There’s nothing I can bitch about with Isaiah’s new deal because it’s as if I was in the room with the principals helping to forge this pragmatic contract extension.

Hate to see two fine young men like Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe departing OKC, but it was obvious they were not returning given their limted floor time in the conference finals versus the Spurs. I have nothing to say but good things about both of these guys.

Presti did this beautifully in my view. He traded Aaron to a contending Atlanta team, and Isaiah to a contending Detroit Piston team. Both teams are in the Eastern Conference where these guys have the opportunity to define their NBA careers, and the Thunder in both deals get two 2nd round picks for the future. Win-win for all parties concerned.

I would think Topic will be the next Thunder player traded. Nice kid and a cancer survivor, but the lack of foot-speed to me is an obvious issue with the pace the Thunder want to play at with their defensive attack mentality. The Eastern Conference should be the place for Nikola as well.

Now this gets tough for me because I’ve always loved both Kenrich Williams and Lu Dort.

Kenrich first, Thunder hold a team option this upcoming season and there’s no way they should pay that money. The reason is simple…Kenrich has been an insurance policy for Sam Presti, and the Thunder GM can no longer afford those premiums. This is not complicated finance.

If I were Sam Presti… I’d suggest to Kenrich if he wants to remain a Thunder player then he would have to consider playing for considerably less money than he received this past season. He would be that vet guy in the room like Nick Collison was at the end of his career. Or…Kenrich could go play for someone like the Denver Nuggets who could very much use his Swiss army knife skill set which he brings to a contending team.

Then that brings us to Lu Dort. That guy who crawled through the tanking shit with Shai from Shawshank Prison to an NBA championship. There’s also Cason Wallace to consider…he wants to be a starter and quite frankly he deserves to be a starter.

This is a tough one. This is where maybe Shai says something and does something akin to what Timmy Duncan with the Spurs during their dynasty run and takes less money. I don’t know. I know this though…the intelligent Thunder fans know what Lu Dort has meant to this city and that championship banner that hangs in PayCom Arena.

Or maybe the right move is for Lu to become a member of the Toronto Raptors.

This is a tough one for Sam Presti. But I will write this in closing in regards to both Kenrich and Lu….Sam Presti has shown with his committment to Nick Collison that if he loves both your basketball and human soul…then he goes to try to find a way to keep you in Oklahoma City–one way or the other.

Eternal kindness and love,

Mike J