Author: Mike

Jackie Chiles the Perfect Lawyer Episodes

We’re up to nine inches of snow so far in this historical snowstorm. I’m guessing wind chills out here are around -10 at the Deer Springs Weather Station. There has been no walking in search of Morris the Mountain Lion today…nor will there be. I told Pauli if she wants to see a cat today… we’ll watch the Chevy Walter the Cat commercials this evening. She sulked a little then finally came to terms with severity of this winter storm.

I went out to feed the turkeys, the deer, and the other birds and that’s about it for me today. I’ve held fast on my vegan regime during the storm while my wife is still cheating on the diet she proposed to me. Typical.

I’m starting to take shape again like one of Brent Venables four-star safety recruits. Got the bench press back up to 320 lbs. I wonder if Coach V would be interested in a sixty-four-year-old preferred walk-on? Rudy on Medicare. I’d be a great motivational tool.

I think national signing day went just fine for Coach Venables. The defense is shaping up nicely. This is why I’ve never been all that emotional about Lincoln Riley’s departure. I mean…in reality, it saved Joe C from having to fire Lincoln and Alex Grinch after perhaps the most disappointing OU football season in the past fifty years. I think it was a good divorce for all parties…. especially Dillion Gabriel.

This Seinfeld assignment has worn me out. I’ve now watched sixty episodes consisting of around 1,324 minutes of content. Tell me how sick I am and you won’t get an argument.

I’m taking a break. This much Seinfeld dysfunction even surpasses the dysfunction of this Edmond HOA we live in under house arrest. This HOA might be my next special assignment since I need filler because the Thunder aren’t a legitimate NBA team for the second straight season.

I hope you’re not driving anywhere at least until noon tomorrow would be my take on the weather situation. I think we’ll watch some Jack Nicholson chick flicks tonight after placating Pauli with the Walter the Cat commercials.

Be safe and help any homeless people if come across them in this brutal winter storm. Kindness should in abundance in Oklahoma as we deal with this winter storm.

We love Walter. Pauli wants her own cat now. Good lord.

I love hoops being played the right way. Same thing with hockey and football. A team should be pulling the proverbial chain in unison as one. It should be a tight knit family who in one hate to lose. Literally despise the notion of losing and ever being outworked or out-thought on the court. That’s exactly what men’s coach Porter Moser is still trying to get across to his team currently twenty-one games into the season.

When OU’s legendary Sheri Coale stepped down as the women’s basketball coach it was time. It was like watching a relationship which had grown stale over the last few years of her tenure.

Not horrible, but clearly the years had eroded earlier glory years as to what the expectations should be for OU women’s basketball.

Joe C went out and found his next OU women’s hoop coach in Jennie Baranczyk.

Long story short…OU’s women beat Baylor this week 78-77 for their second win over the Bears this season. These wins mark OU’s first wins over Baylor in women’s basketball since 2014. Think about that.

The nationally ranked Sooners are 18-3 overall, 8-2 in conference and tied for first place in the rugged Big 12.

This is me just thinking out loud…if I were Coach Moser I’d take a page from Coach B’s bench-side demeanor right now…and tone down all the forty-five second shifts I’m seeing being made. Basketball isn’t hockey. There is a point in basketball you can over-coach. Maybe even out-think yourself if you’re not careful.

You identify the soul of your team and that soul in essence helps you coach your team on the practice court and in the locker-room.

I really didn’t like the way Coach Moser humiliated EJ Harkless last week in those two road games. I think there’s way as a coach you do that in private if you feel a message needs to be conveyed.

It’s all about your individual coaching personality and character.

2nd Rule of Coaching…”You coach thru your own individual personality and character.”

So in Norman right now…the men are struggling while the women are soaring under their respective first year basketball coaches.

Both teams have tough road assignments in front of them this weekend. The men at Stillwater in Bedlam I… while the women are at Ames against the very good Cyclones in a battle for first place in the Big 12.

Can’t wait to watch both games.

Newman Calls Kramer to The Stand to Fight Traffic Ticket Episode

This is one of my Top Ten favorite Seinfeld episodes of all-time. I’ve always felt this episode was grossly under-rated. I love Newman and some of the episodes which featured him more than Jerry. I mean, like Marlene maintains, there’s only so much nonsensical fluff you can absorb at some point. At some point there has to be authentic content which is more than just provincial blathering.

I took a break from the Snow Fest and lo and behold the mysterious Oklahoma City Thunder for a reason I cannot decipher decided it would be in their best interest to beat the very boring Dallas Mavericks.

I’m glad they won. I find Luka to be a complete bore. His prima donna antics have already worn thin with me. I hope Aaron Wiggins is okay…I have big plans for him with ‘my’ Thunder remake plan. That injury did not look good. I love that kid. Hope he’s okay.

The guys who played for the Thunder tonight all get helmet stickers. Their efforts were excellent albeit puzzling at this point. Why they won the game I have no idea? Maybe Presti is going to trade Shai at the deadline. Who would know anything with the covert Thunder.

Lots of beautiful pristine snow out here on the ranch in Deer Creek. I may stay up all night binge watching Seinfeld seasons. I may make my special Garlic Mike’s pasta dish from Crested Butte tomorrow for brunch.

Don’t drive unless you absolutely must.

The Mail Fraud Episode

Just reeled off the first season of Seinfeld after taking Pauli out into the frozen tundra in search of Morris. Thank god that’s behind me. No snow or ice yet in Deer Creek.

I’m in the midst of my thirty-seventh day on my vegan regime. It’s going well. I’ve already lost seventeen pounds despite my wife. She’s supposed to be doing this with me but she’s gaining weight because she keeps cheating.

Now she’s sending me out into the elements to go buy her some chicken kievs at the seafood place on May Avenue.

I’ll do it for her, but none for me as I’m still Master of my Domain.

I’m getting my right knee replaced this October so I can be like Tom Brady again. My goal is to lose a total of forty pounds before the surgery in late October.

I’ll get there because I’m determined to show my two-year-old grandson a few things on the slopes next time we visit next snow season in Denver.

He made a couple of disparaging comments in regards to my movement range at the park in Bonnie Brae last time we were there.

What he will see from me on the slopes is my ass as it swooshes past him with relative ease. No mocking…just swooshing.

Back to Seinfeld.

Marlene the Cashier Episode

I love this episode from Season 2. This ending scene is symbolic to me because it reminds me of my departure from the Daily Thunder when I just couldn’t do it anymore because the content was just so incredibly soft and fluffy.

I know exactly what Marlene was trying to project in this scene. Been there. Done that. There comes as a point when as an artist you have to look yourself in the mirror and be proud of your work.

I’m almost through with Season 4. Snow is falling as I write at the Deer Creek ranch.

Well, it’s really, really cold out here at the Deer Creek fanboy ranch this morning. No precip as of yet but it’s coming.

I’d say windchill probably below zero already. I re-scheduled my appointment with my CPA this morning and then showed Pauli how I would like her to use the Pup Porta Potty I put in place for her in my wife’s plant utility room.

Pauli basically shook her head and said, “No. Mike….I’m not doing this. This is beneath me. Put your winter gear on and let’s look for the mountain lion before the ice storm gets here.”

I said, “What if we take you with us to the beach in Florida later this month instead?”

She shook her head and said ” Not a chance. The beach…yes. But let’s go… get your ass in gear and let’s find Morris.”

“Morris?”

“Yes, Mike. I named him Morris…like Morris the Cat. Connect the dots. I know you can do this, Mike.”

So… we’re heading out the door in search of Morris.

A brutal arctic front headed right for Deer Creek, Oklahoma. I’m not moving the next two days. This front could be life threatening. Pauli doesn’t know it yet but I’m setting her up with a Pup Porta Potty in my wife’s utility plant room.

This will go over big like when I caught the patio sofa on fire smoking a faux Cuban in forty mile per hour winds.

I love Frank Costanza. With each passing year I see more of Frank Costanza in me.

In this order my six favorite Seinfeld characters go… 1 Frank, 2 Elaine, 3 Kramer, 4 George , 5 Newman, and 6 Jerry.

Jerry just really never did all that much for me.

I’ve always wondered if rural Trump whites loved Seinfeld like I do or if Seinfeld is just primarily an urban thing.

I’d love to see that as a polling question on Smerconish sometime.

I’m guessing if you polled twenty thousand rural Trump whites…only 15 per cent would vote they were huge Seinfeld fans. I might send that one into Michael and see what he thinks. I’m guessing 85 per cent would be more entertained hanging a sitting vice-president or U.S Supreme Court Justice.

I’m going to binge watch Seinfeld and drink some wine tomorrow.

Be safe, be warm, and make sure you bring the dogs inside.

It’s like my good buddy Ferris Bueller once said, ” It’s how you spend a day off which ultimately defines you.”

Vince Lombardi once said, “Dancing is a contact activity, football is a collision activity with malice in mind towards anyone in possession of the football.”

This is what the mindset in Norman will have to evolve into if Brent Venables is going to successfully transform the somewhat soft culture which is OU football circa the 2021-22 football season into something SEC elite.

Not dirty football. Not targeting but tackling and contact with anyone in possession of the ball of anyone wearing an opposing jersey.

Very simple. This was going to have to occur with or without Caleb Williams.

That’s all I have to say at this juncture.

Hit the weight room and be ready to show in spring practice you want to be on the football field wearing one of those iconic interlocking OU jerseys.

I love this video. It literally gives me chills.

BOOMER!

This can’t be a shock to anyone. Caleb and his father originally came to OU to play for Lincoln Riley. If he were my son and he had this relationship of trust with a specific coach… then we would probably do what Caleb just decided to do.

I think the theatrics and leveraging the past five weeks with LSU, Georgia, Auburn, Texas A&M, and Wisconsin were a bit much. But it is what it is in the new age of NIL college football landscape.

But no angst for me with Caleb. I wish him the best because he has the opportunity to be a special talent who I hope to see play in the NFL at some point.

I think the PAC 12 is currently the weakest of the Power 5 football conferences, but for his path to the NFL it shouldn’t matter.

I would have been pissed if he’d bailed out before the Alamo Bowl game, but he didn’t do that. He stayed in Norman and helped his teammates thru the transition from Lincoln Riley to Bob Stoops to Brent Venables. The players who went with him to USC are all west coast guys so how can you blame them either? I don’t.

OU has a very capable quarterback in Dillion Gabriel for next season and Jeff Lebby has signed two really good quarterbacks for the future in Nick Evers and Jackson Arnold. I love a quarterback with a first name of Jackson…just saying. It’ll be difficult for me to get beyond that moving forward. I actually suggested to my son to name the grandson Jack Jackson, but to no avail.

The Sooners had a top ten 2022 recruiting class and already added some solid additions to the team for next season via the portal…especially on the defensive line, at linebacker, and in the secondary. Plus… on the offensive side of the ball the Sooners added a tight end and an offensive lineman. The Sooners should be fine at running back. Maybe another receiver in the portal would be nice.

I think the real challenge for OU moving forward is to keep getting better on the defensive side of the football. Look who just dethroned the Sooners from the Big 12 title. It wasn’t a high-flying high-octane offense…it was Dave Aranda’s stingy defense at Baylor with a power running game on the offensive side of the ball.

You know what Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, and even Caleb Williams never did? They never collectively won a national semi-final game in the College Football Playoff and odds are that’s not changing for OU until they can recruit physically elite players on the defensive side of ball.

To me that means on the defensive side of the ball you at the minimum need an elite interior lineman, an elite edge rusher, at a minimum one elite linebacker, an elite corner….and two very heady safeties who can tackle in space when needed.

In the pragmatic long run…I’m not thinking Caleb Williams leaving has that much effect on OU as they prepare to transition to the SEC. Georgia just won a national championship with a walk-on quarterback. In this age of SEC dominated football you have to be able to play complimentary football on both sides of the ball.

Looking forward right now without a crystal ball…I would go in the pre-season Big 12 …1 OU, 2 Baylor, 3 O State, and 4 Texas.

As far as Caleb…I wish him well. It’s a little soft what he’s doing, but not as soft as hooking up with Steph, Klay, and Draymond.

I think Caleb is an extremely articulate kid with the world in front of him. Plus, we beat Texas. Like in Casablanca…”We’ll always have Texas.”

Best wishes, Caleb. Hope to see you in the NFL at some point do what Joe Burrow just pulled off.

What a run for Joe Burrow and the Cincy Bengals. I feel better now about having compared the Bengal Triplets to Joe Montana, Roger Craig, and Jerry Rice. I was worried I might have gone over the top on that comparison, but I clearly feel good about having written such as I did.

Sometimes…I almost amaze myself on here.

Wow. I hope Sam Hinkie-Presti watched both the AFC and NFC Championship Games this weekend. Because it is clear to me Hinkie-Presti needs serious mentoring on how to make the Oklahoma City Thunder relevant minus Kevin Durant.

You draft smart. You draft studs who you know will be able to play at a certain level in two to three years. You don’t go scouring the Greek B League in search of physically emaciated Serbs.

You and your inner circle people pick men who can play at an elite level and are physically equipped to do as much.

I have no idea how I’m going to pick the Super Bowl just yet since the LA Rams for the second week in a row will be allowed to play at home, but for a few days I’m just going to savor what I just witnessed as a passionate NFL fan these past two weeks.

No hyperbole attached…since the days of Lombardi on the frozen tundra at Lambeau…I’ve never enjoyed the NFL Super Bowl Tournament as much as I’ve enjoyed this one.

These past two weeks have given us six games for the ages.

Nowhere to be see left standing are Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, or Patrick Mahomes.

I feel as if I’m witnessing art evolving in front of me as each page is being turned and the new Joe Montana is showing himself just as Tom Brady appears to be headed to retirement.

I just pray Hinkie-Presti and his sycophants beneath him are witnessing all of this so as they’ll be just a little smarter on how to rebuild a franchise beyond Portland taking Greg Oden.

I’ll write about the NFC Championship Game tomorrow since I need filler here on the blog since the Thunder might not win another game this season.

Joe Burrow…you’re going to the Super Bowl, buddy.

OU hung with No. 1 Auburn for thirty-one minutes, but Jabari Smith was just too much as the game wore on.

Jabari Smith is the smoothest player I’ve seen so far on the college level this season. When Bruce Pearl teams him with the seven-foot Walker Kessler they in my mind have the best front-line I’ve seen so far this basketball season. Their skill sets complement one another.

I think Baylor’s guards are better than what Auburn puts on the floor and Kentucky may have more overall roster talent, but Jabari Smith is my new No. 1 with Palo Banchero my new No. 2. This means Sam Presti will probably draft the gawky white kid from Gonzaga who might even take longer to develop than Poku.

Presti won’t take either one of these guys even if the Thunder hit the lottery. It’s not his style minus the drafting Kevin Durant. He wants to make a pick no one saw coming so he can be perceived as some sort of talent evaluator savant.

What I would say to that is…. Cole Aldrich, Mitch McGary, Jeremy Lamb, Alex Abrines, Terrance Ferguson, Josh Huestis, Darius Bazely, and Poku the Fabulous.

Presti will pick the gawky emaciated kid from Gonzaga…no doubt. He won’t take a player who can actually shoot a basketball. He must have signed some sort of pact with some basketball deity where he swore if the hoops gods gave him Kevin Durant he would never draft another basketball player who could actually shoot a basketball. Kind of like in the old movie…Damn Yankees. I think that movie starred William Demerest if my old mind remembers correctly.

OU never had a real chance in this game because of Auburn’s defensive presence at the rim. There were no easy OU baskets on back cuts which usually lead to somewhat easy buckets. OU usually shoots around fifty percent from the field, but in this game there were no easy looks. Every bucket was a tall order…excuse the pun.

Next up for OU…another Season on the Brink type of game for the Sooners when they host pesky TCU which beat ranked LSU today in the Big 12-SEC challenge.

The SEC was the better hoops league today. I’m thinking that might reduce the Big 12’s number of teams to either six for sure or maybe seven. We’ll see.

Keep an eye on my Cinderella sleeper in Texas Tech. I love how Mark Adams has the Red Raiders turning into what I think is a Top 8 type of team right now. I think the Red Raiders are much more dangerous than Chris Beard’s Longhorns. I thought OU should have beaten Kansas…so in my mind the two best teams in the Big 12 right now are Texas Tech and Baylor.

In closing…if anyone spots EJ Harkless roaming the streets of Norman on Sunday please call Porter Moser so he’ll know where his toughest player was the past week.