Author: Mike

This is just so Sam Presti.

I took a week off on my blog from even writing about the Thunder thinking they’d be on the cusp of a nuanced tank two weeks before Christmas. I thought I’d enjoy college football’s Championship Week and get on here tonight with the Thunder standing somewhere around 8-15 after twenty-three games of their regular season.

Instead—these Thunder of Presti have confused me even more as they’ve now peeled off three wins in a row over the likes of Minnesota, Portland, and Utah—with the last two wins coming on the road in gyms where even Durant and Westbrook had some trouble winning basketball games.

Go figure.

Add to the fact it appears Presti was hiding a gem of a role player in a person named Lugeuentz Dort who was the Thunder’s second round pick from Arizona State this past summer.

So who is this Luguentz Dort?

He has a body like Marcus Smart. He shoots threes worse than Andre Roberson, yet looks decent at the free throwline and at the rim. Looks like the next linebacker Lincoln Riley should be recruiting and plays defense like Patrick Beverly against the other team’s best guard.

Amazingly, the Thunder now sit at 11-12 and are the No. 7 seed in the West. And here I sit for the first time in a year actually somewhat intrigued by the Thunder because of a role player named Lug Dort.

Like Operation Bongo—this could only happen in Oklahoma City which has another vote on MAPS to begin later this morning if you didn’t vote early. I’m voting for Dort.

Tank, rebuild, reset…I have no idea what the Thunder are doing. But I do know this after watching all the bullshit in Oklahoma City last season with Presti’s team of effort indifference. I know I’m going to click on Fox on Wednesday night and watch Lou Dort hound Buddy Hield in Sacramento in a game which all the sudden has the Thunder one game under .500 and apparently for the time being in the hunt for a playoff spot in the West.

I guess we in OKC should have known with Sam Presti in this season of the reset or rebuild or tank in Oklahoma City.

It was a year ago today in which Jalen Hurts replaced Tua in the SEC Championship Game with the Tide seemingly too far behind Georgia to come back to win and advance.

Yet, with the spotlight burning brightest…Jalen Hurts brought Alabama all the way back to defeat the offensively challenged Bulldogs.

Fast forward—one year later to Championship Saturday as Jalen Hurts with the aid of a miraculous rally against Baylor and a big favor by the Oregon Ducks can more than likely get back to the Final Four as a starting quarterback.

It couldn’t be written any better albeit if Alabama’s porous defense was waiting in the Final Four bracket for Jalen Hurts. But that’s not happening because Alabama is done for this season with two losses and a defense which now has Mike Stoops as a defensive consultant.

Jalen Hurts can’t be picky. This is the moment you know he and his family have been pointing for since he was replaced by Tua as the starter at Alabama.

On the other side of the field the story for the Baylor Bears is equally compelling as National Coach of the Year probable Matt Ruhle has his Baylor Bears one win away from the Final Four if his team can defeat the Sooners.

Two years ago, Ruhle started the rebuild in Waco following the slimy reign of Art Briles and Company. Almost as corrupt as the Trump administration—the successful rebuild in Waco has to rank right there with the reset at Penn State following the Jerry Sandusky scandal with Joe Paterno.

Two years ago–Baylor went 1-11 in Rhule’s first season following the decadent wake of Art Trump in evangelical laden Waco where the Baptists preach moral guardianship. What a joke. How ironic Ken Starr’s worthless ass was intertwined with the Decadence on the Brazos. Amazingly–Lindsey Graham wasn’t Briles’ defensive coordinator.

Last year Baylor made one of those Mike Gundy signature minor level bowl games which no one in America really cares about unless you’re a wrestling and golf school.

Yet–today, Baylor rests on the cusp of historic greatness if Brewer, Mims and Co. can stop the Sooners string of four straight Big 12 championships.

Boone must be kicking himself up in oil and gas heaven for not dumping Gundy and making the Matt Rhule hire in Stillwater after the Gundy affairs with Arkansas and Tennessee.

The Big 12 stands front and center of the college football world today with by far with the most compelling storyline narratives on Championship Saturday.

Obviously–I’m an avid OU fan. But Baylor is a story which tugs at the heart for the right reasons.

But by the same token–the Hurts story is just as compelling. How ironic it would be to have Nick Saban sitting at home with his porous Alabama defense watching Jalen Hurts playing in the national semi-final game wearing the iconic interlocking O-U on his helmet.

This should be on my campaign blog. This might be one of those moments we look back on if Pete B emerges from Iowa heading into New Hampshire as the leader.

David Axelrod is a smart guy. The manner in which he steered Obama was artful.

My thought is this…if you want to prove Trump is unfit for office then don’t leave the appearance your son took a position which was obvious political patronage. And beyond that…act presidential.

Don’t act like you’re debating Trump on his latest Viagra performance results.

Oregon finally played up to their preseason hype and rightfully ended this nonsense about Utah being in the Final Four.

Utah played two good teams this season…USC and Oregon–and lost to both teams by more than one possession. Utah would have finished third in this year’s Big 12 and only that because Texas was a huge disappointment at 7-5.

OU now has a path to the Final Four. They need to just beat Baylor by any score and have Georgia lose to LSU. If LSU lost to Georgia and OU or Baylor routed the other that might make for any interesting discussion, but one would think LSU’s resume would still be enough even though they basically play with a Big 12-like defense this season.

It should be a great Saturday double header for college football junkies. Does anyone think Wisconsin has a chance versus Ohio State?

I don’t, but that’s why they play the games.

This is very interesting to observe. After Michael Bloomberg entered the race the Dems are now down to five white candidates qualified for the next debate to be aired on PBS. Not that it matters much in that like me no one found the last Democratic debate watchable as ratings plummeted to only 6.5 million viewers.

Add to the fact Cory Booker and Julian Castro have not qualified for the next debate as well while thankfully neither has Tulsi Gabbert.

The party of racial diversity suddenly has older white people on their stage minus Pete B trying to ignite the Obama coalition to beat Donald Trump.

Are you kidding me?

Joe Biden can’t count to twenty in these debates without getting lost at thirteen. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are both so far to the left they have less of a chance than George McGovern or Walter Mondale.

Amy Klobuchar…really?

This would leave Pete B who is clearly a pretty smart kid. But I have to ask this question aloud—if the country wasn’t ready for Hillary Clinton in 2016 why would it be different for an openly gay man in 2020?

So does this mean Michael Bloomberg might actually have a chance with his strategy of not entering the race until after Iowa and New Hampshire?

Bloomberg is perfect for me because he’s a social liberal and a fiscal conservative, but I’m not the average voter in flyover America.

This should be noted…Hillary Clinton didn’t lose the Rust Belt just because of rural white males. She lost because black voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina in urban cities were turned off by her campaign.

Of the whites still in the running…the only one with any real black support is Barack Obama’s vice president–Joe Biden… an older white person.

So while we watch the Dems moving towards Iowa we have to somewhat ask ourselves ‘What happened to the party of racial diversity on its way to Iowa’?

Was it Michael Bloomberg or was it a mirage or was Barack Obama just an outlier who captured the imagination of the Bill Clinton black voters across America?

This is very difficult blogging on a team which is halfway hedging between tanking and playing for real. Here’s the thing I look at the most…the Thunder to date have won ONE game this season against teams with a winning record.

One in twenty games. That pretty well sums it up for me. One in twenty games and one game remaining this season against the Warriors and Pelicans.

It’s tortuous listening to all of these local Thunder media types trying to hype the 8-12 Thunder as a playoff contender.

Just tortuous.

And those millennial kids at the Daily Thunder. God bless them for their spirit to actually watch these games and try to write them up as if anyone really cares right now.

Indiana 107 – OKC 100

That’s my recap. Next up the surprising Phoenix Suns on Friday night inside the Peake.

I’m doing videos and pretty women on my recaps on nights when the Thunder lose.

Putin – trump 2020

Moore’s celebrations are part Michael Jackson and part the Temptations.. I just love the guy and right here and now I’m picking the Seahawks to make the Super Bowl probably against the Baltimore Ravens.

The one on Monday Night Football was pure Temptations and as soon as I find the right video it’ll be on this blog.

This video is in honor of David Moore and his Seahawk teammates for the best TD celebration of the season. Their creativity is to be commended.

The evolution of the touchdown celebration. David Moore is an artist.

You have to look for positives in a season like this one in Oklahoma City. Glass half full has to be the mantra. This will be easier for Oklahoma State football fans. They’ve lived this their entire lives. Rationalization fuels their existence. They hang a 1945 poser championship banner in one of their end zones. Sam Presti is counting on these people for sure.

So I guess sweeping the New Orleans Pelicans in the early stages of the season when the Pels didn’t have Zion Williamson is a positive. I know this though after watching Alvin Gentry’s clock management at the end of this game—Billy Donovan at least isn’t there just yet this season.

The Thunder improved to 8-11 with their third and final win over New Orleans on Sunday afternoon with an exciting 107-104 win over the Pels inside the Smoothie whatever Arena.

Such a strange game. Steven Adams with Chris Paul was getting the ball late in the game on the pick and roll. As well he should have considering rookie string bean Jaxson or Jackson Hayes was supposed to be guarding Adams.

Stunningly—Steven went to the free throwline late in the game making 5 of 6 and pretty much was the MVP in this one for the Thunder with a double double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Big Gallo was excellent as well stroking that velvet smooth shot of his which is as pleasing to watch as the best golf swing on the PGA tour. Phil’s maybe would be the comparison. Watching Gallo’s stroke is as pleasing as viewing an attractive naked woman on the Fox Trump Christian Network.

Chris Paul for an older man played well. Schroder scored some points again off the bench yet was -11.

None of the youth core of the Thunder’s future did all that much for me as SGA’s game of late does not inspire all that much. He’s smooth and glides somewhat like expensive bourbon, but beyond that I’m not all that sure I’d trade Chris Paul just yet and hand the car keys to an NBA team over to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to drive by himself.

Even though the Thunder have won only one game against a team with a winning record this season it’s hard to already lump Billy Donovan into the Mike Gundy/Alvin Gentry category nineteen games into an NBA season. Unlike Gundy—at least Billy Donovan doesn’t wear a ridiculous looking mid-life crisis mullet. In fact—I’ll say this… Billy D looks GQ smooth except when’s he’s smacking the gum like a roller skating car hop at a Sonic drive-in.

If you haven’t noticed yet this is my best simile driven recap of the season so far. Dan Jenkins would be proud…I hope. Maybe semi proud.

Some on the Thunder post game call in show were talking playoff run after this third win versus the Pels. I don’t think so. Six of their wins have come against the G League Warriors and the team Alvin Gentry is currently employed by. Otherwise–this Thunder team is 2-11 and the only team with a winning record they’ve beaten is Philadelphia.

Yet…you don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade. Each Thunder fan is entitled to handle this season as they see fit from an internal manner of speaking. But again…I’m fairly certain these Thunder aren’t the St. Louis Blues or the Washington Nationals lurking in the shadows of doing all that much once we get beyond December 15th and trade season opens and stays open till mid February.

Next up are the Indiana Pacers as they come to town this week to play the Thunder.

For something called Bedlam it was anything but. OU handled Mike Gundy’s team once again, but this time around with relative ease as the final score of 34-16 in no way reflected how one-sided this game was in the second half as the Sooners controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football.

This game had no drama of Iowa state, Baylor, or TCU. No late game heroics were needed from Alex Grinch’s defense because the Sooner defense was for first time since the Texas game—seemingly engaged for sixty minutes.

Jalen Hurts didn’t have to carry the load. He merely had to manage the game and watched Kennedy Brooks do pretty much whatever he wanted to on a night when Chuba Hubbard was the second best running back on the field…maybe third if you count wishbone quarterback Jalen Hurts as a running back.

Chuba Hubbard is a nice back, but c’mon—he’s no Barry Sanders. Let’s go steady on the throttle with that one. But he should be a nice NFL running back.

Mike Gundy drops to an abysmal 2-13 versus OU as the head coach of his alma mater… 2-17 if you count his four years as the O State quarterback for Pat Jones. The 9th grade mullet must be a thing to project swagger since we know it’s not his record versus the Sooners putting fans inside of Boone’s stadium.

Sigh.

That’s all I’m gong to say about this because I’m not an O State hater. I want them to do well for the sake of the state and the conference. But 2-17, yikes. And one of those two wins only happened because Bob Stoops repunted to Tyreke Hill and did something Mike Gundy never did that football game. Namely, one time giving the NFL’s most explosive player a touch on back to back plays.

OU improves to 11-1 and moves on to the Big 12 Championship Game versus 11-1 Baylor. It should be a good game inside AT&T Stadium. The Sooners will need to bring sixty minutes of inspired football if they want to hoist a fifth straight Big 12 championship trophy.

I have no idea if the Sooners will make the Final Four. They would still need LSU to beat Georgia and for Oregon to beat Utah next Saturday. I’m not sure OU has a valid claim to be there, but we’ll see how the games fall for all concerned.