Oppressively Hot in Oklahoma on 5th Congressional Seat Primary Day

Too damn hot in Deer Creek today to write anything about the primary today. Clicked out to a 107 degree heat index. Hottest day of the year so far at the Deer Creek Weather Station.

Like Secretariat…Pauli doesn’t train on days like this. She’s already shown she has the champion DNA gene.

Good day to play a little Dire Straits and drink plenty of cold liquids.

I would guess Terry Neese and Stephanie Bice will be the two Republicans who advance to the final GOP runoff later in the summer.

Be especially safe with this weather the next two days.

Kasey Dunn at Oklahoma State

Hard to tell what is going to happen at O State with Mike Gundy and the $17 million he is owed on his contract. I’m sure if O State could prove contractual cause they would love to move beyond the Mike Gundy era at this point.

So who would be the next head coach in Stillwater? I think it would be offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn. He checks all the boxes for Oklahoma State moving into the future.

Lincoln Riley was a coordinator at OU when he got the call. Same with Mike Gundy back in the day. Bob Stoops was the defensive coordintor at Florida when Joe C made him the man. Barry Switzer was Chuck Fairbanks’ offensive coordinator in 1972 when he was elevated to the head job.

All were players’ coaches. Not so sure I have Mike Gundy in that category.

My point being, I think AD Mike Holder has his man if he can legally get rid of Mike Gundy’s contract.

Dunn’s ascension to this point is pretty much like Gundy’s…position coach, offensive coordinator. Dunn is sharp and a player’s coach pretty much like Lincoln Riley, Bob Stoops, and of course Barry Switer.

If we have a college football season…this O State team should be pretty good as well. I was going to have them at No. 2 in the Big 12 before Mike Gundy created this mess in Stillwater.

There is no need in Stillwater for Todd Monken or Larry Fedora or even an aged Les Miles at this point. Mike Holder in my view has his man if he can rid of the other man he’s had to babysit since 2012.

I just wanted to profile Kasey Dunn because I think he’s going to be someone’s head coach in the not too distant future.

If Holder does this then he would have Mike Boynton and Kasey Dunn as his two head coaches in basketball and football moving forward. Two coaches who one would think would on the surface make O State a more attractive destination for elite black college athletes in the two most important sports Holder looks over as AD.

Kasey Dunn -2017 O State receivers coach.

Black Lives Matter Speech – 2016

This was beyond eloquent, but it was in 2016. Four years ago.

Nothing has changed except the problem has gotten worse. Why do we in America treat our dogs better than we treat black people?

Now…we don’t do that if the black person is vital to our favorite sports team. But if a black person isn’t in sports or entertainment…do they really have an equal chance to participate in the American Dream?

Do we view black lawyers, doctors, and engineers as we do whites in the same professions?

No…we do not on a whole.

Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade, and LeBron back in 2016 gave their views on racism in America.

Great takes.

Nothing changed.

Russell Westbrook on Racism in the NBA

This was last spring in Salt Lake City as Russell Westbrook said no more to some racist comments from a white couple in the stands.

No more. I don’t blame him or any of the athletes.

You wanna talk that trash sign a waiver release and come down to the bench and handle it in person.

At what point in society do you stand up for yourself if you’re black?

Russell did and though it was an ugly scene…I think in the end he probably in privte had a talk with his young son and said we don’t have to take this from anybody.

It’s been close to a year now since Russell was traded and it turned out well for both Russell and Chris Paul. I’ll be pulling for the Rockets to go as far as they can in the NBA post season.

It will be interesting to see how both Russell and James Harden do with all this unaccustomed rest their bodies have gotten during the shutdon of the NBA season.

For me, the Rockets are one of the compelling stories as we ‘maybe’ get back to NBA basketball.

I still think Adam Silver’s plan is far too complex. Sixteen teams. Best three out of five in the first two rounds and reduce the human numbers as much as possible and get this done by mid-September or don’t do it at all.

Russell and I are in complete agreement on Donald Trump. It’s pathetic. We all know fourth graders who speak more intelligently than Donald Trump. Russell pretty much says this in public and seems at ease within himself as a man. Not just a black man. A young man.

Russell spoke at the Juneteenth ceremony in Tulsa with Kamala Harris and other black leaders.

It’s good to see Russell take a leadership role in this. He has a young son. Russell knows this is not the world he wants for his son as my son knows this is not the world we want for my grandson.

Does Trump’s Base Have Enough Left In the Tank to Beat Joe Biden?

This will be my national question for Smerconish this Saturday.

Simply put…does the Trump base have enough left in their collective gas tank to re-elect the most inept, most corrupt POTUS in the history of the Republic?

Think about this current version of the GOP. Not one former Republican president or nominee of the party from Dwight Eisenhower thru Bush 43 would be endorsing Donald Trump or attending the convention with the possible exception of Bob Dole. Dole was the only one who attended the convention in 2016.

I don’t think even Nixon would be on board with this nonsense.

This list would include Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Bush 41, Bob Dole, Bush 43, John McCain, and Mitt Romney.

That is close to seventy years of history.

What does this say about the party and what does it say about Donald Trump’s base as we head into July?

Lu Dort Double Dip

I hadn’t really thought all that much about the Thunder till his signing this week. With Dort in the starting lineup the Thunder were 16-5 this regular season. He was the perfect chemistry fill for OKC’s starting lineup.

Dort now officailly becomes my favorite current Thunder player. He is the epitome of my TSN metric by which I measure winning basketball players. Tougness, Smarts, Nasty.

Putting aside Dort is Canadian he will be our Mark Messier type moving froward, while our other Canadian hydrid guard… SGA, will of course be Gretzky.

I wonder if both of these guys skate?

Maybe the almost always useless Little Nick Gallo could do a story about our Candians’ hockey experiences while growing up.

I would guess most people in Oklahoma have no clue as to who Mark Messier or Paul Coffey were in their glory Edmonton Oiler days.

I may have to do a Mark Messier mixtape to glorify Lu Dort even more.

For the first time since Rudy Gobert tested positive…I’m kinda exited about the Thunder possibly resuming their season if possible.

Colin Kaepernick: An About-face From the NFL

From a starting quarterback in a Super Bowl with San Francisco to being blackballed by NFL owners it has become apparent Colin Kaepernick had a worthy message to share with his country.

His former team is now flying the Black LIves Matter flag next to the American flag. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has done an about face on Colin Kaepernick in light of the recent police misconduct of late whch was caught on cell phones.

We’ll see if Colin Kapernick lands a roster spot on an NFL team or perhaps continues to be a national spokesperson for Black Lives Matter. I don’t see why both aren’t possible at the same time.

It was never just about taking a knee.

Lu Dort Signs Four Year Deal With Thunder

This is nice for both Lu Dort and the Oklahoma City Thunder. He gets a four year deal worth $5.4 million and Sam Presti gets a very affordable defensive role player who will provide some toughness to go along with SGA and Darius Bazely moving down the road.

I don’t think of Dort as a Pat Beverly type, but more I envision at some point hopefully Dort can evolve into what Marcus Smart has beome in Boston. Same body. Same on court attitude. Offense needs some polish.

Presti loved Marcus Smart when he was at O State, and lo and behold he now has undrafted Lu Dort from Arizona State as his version of a very affordable version of Smart.

Another Canadian. We now have Chuba Hubbard from the Mullet King saga, Lu Dort, and the future face of the Thunder fanchise Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in central Oklahoma.

This is nice for me because I like Dort and enjoy watching his hustle all over the floor. He’s gotta work really hard on improving his shot, but I think it’ s good deal for the Thunder given they paid very little. Classic Sam Presti move.

Marcus is easily my favorite O State player to not come from the Eddie Sutton era in Stillwater. Marcus overcame quite a bit as a one parent kid from Texas to get to where he is today in Boston. It’s an inspiring story of sticking with it.

If you put Marcus Smart alongside SGA you’d have something very special. So..I think this is what Sam Presti is hoping can happen someday in Oklahoma City if Dort’s offensive game has some growth to it with hard work and diligence paying off down the road.

I love Marcus Smart.

After Dark

I got home just in time for the sunset. The owls are very active along our forest line right now with the milder temps holding all week so far.. Just as darkness ebbs in you can here them along our forestline. Very relaxing with a gin and tonic and a song like this timeless classic from Roberta Flack. Time to kick back.