Author: Mike

On Wednesday, Bob Stoops made himself available to the press for the first time since the release of the Joe Mixon videos. In essence, he said if this had happened recently the penalty would have been more severe and Mixon would probably have been kicked off the team. My response would be, “No you wouldn’t have” because you didn’t do that with DeDe Westbrook, you didn’t do that with Dorial Green-Beckham, and you didn’t do it with Frank Shannon. The only reason Rhett Bomar was dismissed in 2006 was because of the potential NCAA ramifications which could have negatively impacted the cash flow considerations of the football program.

The only reason Joe Mixon was allowed to stay was because he could help OU win football games and possibly become nationally relevant again. That is the only reason as it was with Westbrook, Green Beckham, and Frank Shannon.

The only reason Bob Stoops did the presser yesterday was because the national response to the video has been complete and total disdain for Stoops, Mixon, and the University of Oklahoma. This story has become the No. 1 story in college football. National writers aren’t contemplating an Ohio State–Alabama matchup–they’re talking about the Mixon coverup in Norman, Oklahoma.

Bob Stoops kept Joe Mixon for one reason–to help his football program win games. That’s it. If he were genuinely concerned about Mixon’s development as a young man he would have suspended Mixon for the remainder of this season after Mixon had an incident with an OU campus parking attendant. Stoops did suspend Mixon for one game against lowly Iowa State, but reinstated Mixon for important late season conference games against West Virginia and Oklahoma State. So…no, nothing is really different.

I’m pretty sure this story hasn’t played itself out just yet because it’s not just what Joe Mixon did, but rather the disturbing systemic manner in which Stoops and OU have handled a sequence of abuse cases involving football players. I’m not saying OU is on a par with what happened at Baylor, but I’m also guessing this story at OU hasn’t totally reached its conclusion just yet.

Monday’s home loss to the Hawks was a game the Thunder probably should have won. Tonight’s game in New Orleans with OKC catching the struggling Pelicans on the second night of a back to back is a game the Thunder needed to win. OKC played their fifth straight game without Victor Oladipo, but on this night it didn’t matter as OKC’s bigs, Alex Abrines, and Russell Westbrook hit on all cylinders in a 121-110 Thunder win.

I thought Billy Donovan was awful on Monday night, as basically he coached a game where he allowed Atlanta to dictate the terms, the pace, and the matchups. Not so tonight. Donovan addressed everything I picked at in my recap of in the Atlanta game.

Let’s start with the bigs. In Monday’s loss, Adams, Kanter, and Lauvernge seemed to be Billy Donovan chalkboard afterthoughts. Combined those three players attempted 11 shots. Tonight? The ball moved and at times it was moving from big to big in some beautiful interior playmaking. Try this on for size–Adams, Kanter, and Lauvergne went a combined 17-29 from the field and hauled in 28 rebounds. All told, OKC scored 56 points in the paint and to me this is tonight’s number one storyline with Alex Abrines’ breakout game coming in second.

It’s not really fair to say Abrines has been a disappointment because he hasn’t been a regular member of the rotation. On Monday night, Abrines scored 9 points and showed a pulse for the first time in a month. Tonight, it was Abrines’s 18 points and five threes which turned a Thunder 87-84 lead entering the fourth into a relatively easy 11 point win on the road. Abrines played heavy minutes and was a major reason the Thunder won on the road tonight. Hopefully, this kick starts his confidence and he can get it going.

Another thing, as of late, Donovan has been screwing with Lauvergne’s minutes. Note to Billy Donovan–“Please stop this.” Unlike the two previous games where we saw Kyle Singler get significant minutes and run around doing some track and field nuance things, Singler didn’t see the floor tonight. Lauvergne played 25 minutes scoring 10 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. Plus, his interior passing game with Kanter was beautiful. I understand Kyle Singler can run, I get that. But let’s make sure we don’t dick with Lauvergne’s role on this team. This is basketball, not track and field. Sometimes…overthinks are the worst things and they just drive me crazy.

Russell Westbrook was the best player in the NBA tonight, and depending how seriously you feel LeBron James takes November and December games—Westbrook has been the best player in the league so far this season. Westbrook scored 42 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dished 7 assists. Yawn.

OKC improves to 17-12 and plays the Celtics in Boston on Friday.

Even though it’s going to be 60 degrees in OKC on Christmas Day I need some warm weather Christmas music on here to get me going.

Two things of late have buoyed my soul amidst the rabble of our election and the disgraceful Joe Mixon situation in Oklahoma.

The first was reading a lovely book entitled Writings on the Wall by Kareem Abdul Jabbar. If you watch either MSNBC or Fox and find yourself completely depressed about the current state of America–turn off your flat screen, buy this book, and enjoy the read. It might give you some hope moving forward. It did for me.

The second thing which made me feel better was watching this ceremony honoring Tim Duncan. This is what sport is supposed to be about at the end of the day. It’s why we follow teams and admire certain players for what they are on and off the court. Not sure who the next Duncan will be, or even if there will be one, but Tim Duncan is the standard every NBA player should aspire to become.

1 Russell Westbrook By a hair over Harden. Needs Oladipo back.

2 James Harden Having a great season, but Capela out for a month.

3 LeBron James The best player in the NBA.

4 Kawhi Leonard My favorite player in the league.

5 Kevin Durant If Super Team cracks 73-9 we’ll talk.

6 Steph Curry America’s most loveable smurf.

7 Chris Paul Has the Clips in 3rd in the West. Team will probably
surge with Blake Griffin sidelined.

8 DeMar DeRozan Having a stellar year in Toronto.

9 Jimmy Butler The best thing going in Chicago this winter minus the Blackhawks.

10 Kyrie Irving Hard to be higher playing with LeBron.

Earlier today, newsok released the original police interview with Joe Mixon and his lawyers. Mixon’s lawyer, Kevin Finlay, entered an Alford plea later which in essence, is a legal mechanism which allowed Mixon to proclaim his innocence without ever having to go before a judge or jury, plus the enormous benefit of not having to go through a brutal cross examination by the DA. Additionally, some in the media termed this as a sworn deposition. This was not a deposition, but rather a police interrogation. A sworn deposition carries all relevant penalties of perjury–so it might have been a stretch for Mixon to maintain ‘It felt like a man hit me’ during a sworn deposition.

And Justice for All anyone?

If you want to view that video it’s on newsok. I will not put it on my blog for the very simple reason Mixon was never cross examined in a normal legal process and the veracity of anything Mixon and his lawyer maintained never went under the scrutiny of a cross exam by the state.

Instead, I think I’ll go with actor Mickey Rourke’s take on the Mixon situation.

I’ve always loved Mickey Rourke with Diner and The Wrestler being my two favorite films of his. Maybe Boren and OU compliance should have allowed Mickey Rourke to handle all of this and they wouldn’t be in the middle of a public relations disaster twenty-six months later which makes OU look like the Little Rogue Sisters of Art Briles.

Russell Westbrook’s 46 points were exciting to watch on Monday night inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena, but in the end, Atlanta’s ball movement and overall team play were just enough to get the Hawks an exciting 110-108 road win over a now struggling Thunder.

From a fan’s standpoint, it was an exciting game to watch as the game went back and forth all night long up until the very end when a Steven Adams put back dunk at the buzzer was just half a second late at the buzzer. But the trend is clear now for the Thunder, since the Oladipo wrist injury the Thunder are a collective 1-3 with only a win over the lowly Phoenix Suns to show for their efforts.

I thought OKC got outcoached on Monday night. Atlanta was without it’s best rim protector in Dwight Howard, yet the Thunder in no way ever made this an issue for the Hawks. Steven Adams and Enes Kanter weren’t even factors in the game as together they attempted nine shots on the night, granted they made six of the nine, but they never were significant factors in the game.

Atlanta went small with Paul Millsap as their only big and dictated the terms of the game all night long as they clogged the lane and took away the rim. On the other side of the ball, Atlanta spaced the floor, moved the ball, and continually created great looks for Millsap and Dennis Schroeder. So while Westbrook scored 46 points on 33 shots, Shroder and Millsap scored a combined 61 points on 34 shots. OKC defensively never really had an answer for either one of them.

OKC without Oladipo is an ugly basketball team. It’s not just his 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists–it’s more than that. He’s a player Russell Westbrook trusts and at times on Monday night it didn’t appear Westbrook had much faith in his teammates as the ball did not move all that much. Don’t get me wrong, from a viewing standpoint, it was exciting to see if Westbrook could beat the Hawks by himself, but against decent teams which are well coached that’s not going to work on most nights as this season moves along.

Oklahoma City had 13 assists on the night, Atlanta had 24 assists. Plus, there was little transition from OKC on the night as they only scored four fast break points.

Anthony Morrow started, yet was ineffective. Sabonis in no way fit as the game stayed small while Adams and Kanter never touched the ball much when they were on the floor.. Andre Roberson did score 14 points and hit some threes, but he was erratic and never created any consistent spacing for the Thunder. He never will because the book is out on him…let him shoot the ball and see if he can beat you. As an opposing coach would you rather have Westbrook and Adams getting to the rim or Roberson shooting threes? Duh.

Abrines scored nine points. Jerami Grant had a nice game scoring 15 points and was OKC’s second leading scorer. When Jerami Grant is your second leading scorer my guess is OKC won’t win on most nights and didn’t on Monday night. Both Lauvergne and Collison didn’t play much, while Kyle Singler played some significant minutes, yet he never once attempted a perimeter shot of any kind. I have no idea what Billy Donovan is doing in that if you’re going to go small that’s fine, but the guys you’re going small with have to be able to score some.

Bazemore, Thabo, and Kyle Korver all finished in double figures for Atlanta and supported the scoring of Schroder and Millsap very nicely.

In the four games Oladipo has missed, the Thunder are 1-3 as a team while Russell Westbrook is 1-3 versus the ghost of Oscar Robertson. In each of the three losses he came up short in the assist department. To make a long story short, the Thunder, Billy Donovan, and Russell Westbrook all need Victor Oladipo back on the floor.

Still no word from the Thunder on either Oladipo or Cam Payne’s return to the floor.

OKC drops to 16-12 and has fallen to the No. 7 seed in the West.

The Thunder in New Orleans on Wednesday to play a Pelican team which is getting healthier.

This isn’t just a sports story for this very simple reason, it’s more an indictment of some of the most powerful people in Oklahoma and of their extremely poor judgement. Joe Mixon was and still is a volatile, immature kid who came from Oakland to play football in Norman for the iconic Sooner brand. In the end, this isn’t just about Mixon, or even Molitor, but more about the people who back in 2014 sat together and watched this Mixon video and then made the following sequence of pathetic, dispicable decisions we’ve witnessed to date.

Why were these decisions made? Simple. To win football games, feed OU’s football cash flow monster, and to ensure the overall viability of the OU brand. That’s pretty much the way I see it as do others who aren’t employed by either the University of Oklahoma or over the top OU football fan crazy. To be fair though, I’m going to give the Daily Oklahoman one more week to give their closing statement on this sordid matter.

But what is supremely appalling is that three of the most respected and powerful men in Oklahoma have an imprint on why Joe Mixon was ever allowed to play one football game for the University of Oklahoma. The three would be David Boren, Bob Stoops, and Joe Castiglione.

This is a modest Thunder blog, and while I’ve probably written too much on here relating to this ‘OU story’–at some point somebody in Oklahoma has to write something. Because in reality it’s an Oklahoma story intertwining a powerful football coach, an iconic athletic director, and a university president who previously served on the United States Senate Intelligence Committee. We’ll see if Berry Tramel and Nolan Clay of the Daily Nothing ever man up and write anything of substance. Maybe they’ll man up and surprise me.

If I were the judge, and knowing what I know now through my own research, this would be my decision. Joe Mixon will not play in the Sugar Bowl and is heading to the NFL. OU will pay all of his normal living expenses up until the last day of the 2017 spring semester. Ameilia Molitor will have all her medical expenses taken care of by Pickles Restaurant and perhaps given a modest settlement from some obscure no fault liability insurance policy that most such retail businesses carry within the umbrella of their liability policies. OU additionally will pay an undisclosed cash settlement to Ms. Molitor which will remain a private settlement not to be disclosed to the press. David Boren, Bob Stoops, Joe Castgilone, and Berry Tramel will concurrently serve in the same jail cell in the Cleveland County jail the duration of OU’s Sugar Bowl week and be demanded to give a written apology to all parties concerned on the front page of the Daily Oklahoman. If Joe Mixon misses the Sugar Bowl, then so should these guys. Berry Tramel will write the piece and then announce his subsequent decision to leave the sports department and finish his career writing movie reviews in the Entertainment Section. Additionally, the Oklahoma City law firm of Crowe-Dunleavy will be required to provide a thousand hours of pro bono legal service to a charity to be determined by this Court at a later time.

That’s my ruling. This Court is adjourned. Back to the Thunder’s triple double season.

There have been incidents of this nature recently in college football. Tyreek Hill at Oklahoma State was immediately dismissed two years ago for a domestic violence incident the week after his punt return in essence beat OU in Bedlam in Norman. Not one other DI school would give him a chance despite his pro caliber talent. Hill is now a member of the Kansas City and just last week he became the first player in NFL history since Gale Sayers to score a touchdown on a kick-off return, on a punt return, a running play from scrimmage, and on a pass reception in his rookie season. It’s not like Mike Gundy couldn’t have used a an offensive weapon like Hill, but you just can’t allow this in your football program. You can’t have your grownup coach, your grownup AD, your grownup university president, and your most visible grownup regent to allow this to be the face of the football program. No way. No how.

Same deal with Florida State freshman quarterback Andre Johnson several years ago. Jimbo Fisher needed a quarterback but Andre Johnson was dismissed. Gone. Goodbye and good luck down the road.

At first I thought it might just be me. But upon reading and hearing young people react to this video it’s not just me.

Even OU students admit this is all poser bullshit from the grown men who run OU’s football money making gold mine.

All lawyered up with the best legal firm in downtown Oklahoma City (Crowe-Dunleavy) representing him, Joe Mixon avoids serving jail time and with the Alford plea can still maintain his innocence long-term without ever going before a judge or jury. Put that in your ‘if I ever decide to punch a woman half my size and break her face in public memory file’. Maybe Barry Tramel doesn’t understand any of this. Whereas, I was raised by a father who graduated No. 1 in his law class and was one the best criminal defense lawyers in Oklahoma County for fifty years. At this point, I just feel Barry Tramel and the Daily Oklahoman need ‘ a little help’ covering this story since Tramel and the paper together can’t locate one collective set of balls between them. This is the problem when you only have one newspaper in a city.

So how could Bob Stoops, Joe Castiglione, David Boren, and even Clay Bennett see the Joe Mixon video and make the decision they did?

Here’s why and please excuse me if I puke if I hear another defender of any of this say it was done to make Joe Mixon a better young man and build his character.

It that was the case, then just kick him off the football team, but still honor the academic agreement in his scholarship. But then again, what alternate universe could that possibly happen in circa 2016?

Forbes does an annual report estimating the economic value of the Top 20 college football programs in the country. The rating is based on four categories, 1 economic impact to the athletic department, 2 economic impact to the university, 3 economic impact to the conference they play in, and 4 economic impact on their local economy.

Obviously, unless you’re Boone Pickens at Oklahoma State or Phil Knight at Oregon—college football programs aren’t bought and sold on the open market like NFL or NBA franchises. But still, the amount of money is staggering and if you think money, power, and ego didn’t have anything to do with what happened at Penn State then you’re living with your head in the sand or worse.

In 2014, Texas topped the Forbes poll with its football program being valued at $131 million with a revenue base of $113 million. Notre Dame came in second at $122 million and $81 million respectively. Michigan, LSU, and Alabama rounded out the top five. OU came in 8th with its economic value listed at $91 million with $71 million in actual generated football revenue.

Keep in mind, until OU’s stunning upset of Alabama in the 2014 Sugar Bowl, OU had suffered through a sequence of several disappointing seasons and even David Boren has admitted publicly that the success of the football team still to this day is what drives donors to support the university with donations across the board.

While Bob Stoops is taking most of the heat with the release of this video, I find it almost unbelievable to assume David Boren, Clay Bennett, Joe Castiglione, and the rest of the board of regents weren’t on board with some of this. I find it unbelievable Bob Stoops just did this on his own unilaterally.

Crowe-Dunleavy isn’t the kind of firm a young black man from Oakland would just contact on his own in downtown Oklahoma City. I’m guessing the Cleveland County DA doesn’t see too many Alford pleas on felony assaults either. Also, keep in mind just last week, it was revealed Heisman finalist DeDe Westbrook was arrested several years ago on domestic violence charges. Not to mention OU openly recruited and signed Dorial Beckham-Green during this same time frame after he was kicked off the Missouri team following a domestic violence incident where he dragged his girl friend down a flight of stairs by her hair.

Wouldn’t a double date with those two be worth filming?

When in doubt, follow the money, powerful white men, and the truth is usually not far behind.