Month: August 2023

Just got back from Denver and I had a wonderful time with my family. Little Robert tried to wear me down, but proudly I write… MJ never succombed holding up nicely to the week long onslaught of physicality delievered by Bad Little Dude Jr. I swear… if this kid isn’t the second coming of Russell Westbrook…then I don’t who could be. The mercurial mood shifts combined with the off the charts energy. It’s scary.

I got to see Robert at his first golf practice which was at a public course not far from the University of Denver. Robert, the youngest of the fifteen students at age 3.11… strolled up to the head instructor named Thomas and gives this kid in his mid twenties a fist pump wearing his brand new U.S. Open Cherry Hills collared shirt.

Thomas gives me this WTF look and I then replied, ” Good luck with this one. He’s got some Westbrook in him, but his other grandfather is a helluva golfer. I think the kid could be a nice golfer if you can slow him down. If you need me to calm him down during the next hour…wave me over.”

Thomas smiled and then said, ” I’ll keep that in mind, sir.”

Anyway…the golf lesson went well as did the week as I feel much refreshed after my week long escape from rogue red Oklahoma. Going from the mini-ranch in Deer Creek to the lit/wokeness of Denver in the Bonnie Brae part of Denver is pretty like going from rural Mississippi to Amsterdam…if you follow my drift.

In one locale they now ban and burn books, while in another…they read books. Can I be any clearer?

I literally did not watch one sporting event during the course of a week for the first time in my life since I was probably two years old. Little Robert and his younger sister Aubrey had my full attention…and it was wonderful.

I did watch Brent Venables’ first Game 1 week presser of the season. Long story short for OU this season… they have the easiest schedule OU has had in a very long time. Anything less than 10-2 or 9-3 will be viewed as a failed season for Coach Venables.

The OU defense has to be much improved and they should be given the added personnel after last season’s very poor performance on that side of the ball. This is not complex…6-7 at OU is not going to cut it. Period.

On a very personal note…I heard that Coach V’s wife was recently diagnosed with cancer and that saddens me, yet at the same time I suspect with the excellent support she’s going to get from her husband and entire family… she’ll somehow how find a way to work through this.

On every count, I’m praying for Coach V and his family.

Good luck, Coach.

MJ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xi7CSnuG-U

Eight words. Gregg Popovich is the best NBA coach ever. Period.

This will be my last blog post for a bit as I spend some high quality time with my grandkids in Denver.

Gregg Popovich is the best basketball coach ever for the same reason Vince Lombardi is the namesake of the Super Bowl Trophy. That reason being…any guy off a corner can do X’s and O’s, but it is that rare coach who can motivate his players and make them not only better players, but better human beings who tends to win a lot of games in clutch situations.

The end.

I’m not dying. I’ll be back in a bit to give my take on the GOP without Trump debate on Wednesday night after I puke for a couple of days or however long it takes me to rid myself of that debacle,

Be kind to people and dogs in this heat.

MJ

‘A person consists of his faith. Whatever his faith, even so is he.’ Proverb

After I realized how stupid it was of me not to watch the final round of the BMW Classic in Chicago…… I corrected myself and got over to CBS to watch the last two hours of coverage.

Why should I penalize myself from watching the golfers I like such as Viktor, Rory, Scottie, Ricky, and others just because Phil Mickleson and his group of mercenaries sold out American ownership of the PGA?

And the answer is….I shouldn’t. Viktor, Rory, Scottie, and Ricky didn’t take the Saudi money.

So I’m glad I did watch the final round of the BMW Classic even if next year it will be called the Jared Kushner BMW Grifter Invitational Classic.

Think of some of the tournment names next year…the Vlad Putin Masters, the Hunter Biden Rocket Mortgage Classic, the Melania Trump John Deere Invitational, and Donald Trump’s Saudi Arabian World Series of Golf where players are encouraged to openly cheat on every hole. Just close your eyes and imagine the branding possibilities.

But yesterday it was just golf… and one of the most enjoyable rounds of golf I’ve watched in quite some time as Viktor overtook both Rory and Scottie down the stretch with a record setting 61 which included an un earthly 29 on the back side.

So….now we move on to Atlanta for the last leg of the Fed Ex Classic of which no one knows what it will be called next summer.

I’m proud of Viktor though. This could be that break through moment for Vik where he makes his next statement as the golfer to be at the top of the heap for the next decade or so. He’s that good. He just needs to win his first major now that he’s got his short game in order.

I’ll be in lit/woke Denver next Sunday… frolicking with my other world champion Denver Nuggets’ fan…. but for certain, I’ll be keeping an eye on the final round of the Fed-Ex Classic with Viktor, Rory, and Scottie vying for the last real American golf title.

Denver and my grandkids on my mind. I can’t wait to get out of this heat.

MJ

I need to get in gear this morning and get the mini-ranch in Deer Creek mowed before we crest at 106 degrees later today. I just watched Kasie Hunt on State of the Union on fake news CNN and she was her usual solid self. This is all the prep work I need to get centered for the GOP debate in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

It’s so damn hot….I think I’ll wait to feed the fish in our two ponds till right at dusk this evening. I had this great canteloupe growing and it appears a raccoon absconded with it last night. Que sera…at least now I don’t have to worry about keeping it watered while were in Colorado next week.

What perfect scheduling…to get out of Oklahoma this week and spend my time in lit and woke Denver strolling through Washington Park with my NBA Denver Nugget Championship ball cap and my Warriors’ t-shirt with Klay showing off his four rings.

Oh my God….the hapless Thunder. Bless their hearts. Maybe this will be their post Kevin Durant breakout season and they win 45 games and then get swept in the first round. Sigh…oh, ThunderGirl. Bless your heart.

I’m not sure if I’m going to watch the BMW Open later today. Except for the four majors…I don’t think I’m going to be watching all that much golf moving forward under this Saudi leveraged version of the PGA. The Donald Trump transactional greed which has overtaken our country truly sickens me. Phil Mickelson….what a pathetic joke you and Greg Norman truly are.

Be careful out there in the heat running those fence-lines today, Hank.

Have a solid Sunday. Make your own mini-miracle happen.

MJ

Even though it was a blistering hot 106 degrees today in Seminole, my wife (who has told me never to mention her by name on this blog) and I spent the day there at the family two-hundred acre ranch. It was too hot to even think about fishing, but that didn’t matter. It was a great day.

We had a very nice lunch of shrimp creole, egg rolls, salad, cantelope, and watermelon. Myself and Brigadier General Regis Augustus Francis Urschler split a bottle of merlot. Dr. Showalter said it was okay now and again for me to have a cold beer or the occasional glass of wine…..so today was my splurge day.

After lunch we took up our standing conversational viewpoints of why we hate Donald Trump and tried to decipher who was/is the most villanous felon in contemporary American history….it came down to a three way tie between OJ Simpson, Donald Trump, and Ted Bundy. I know some will say, “But Trump never actually killed anyone.”

But I always counter with, “Give me a break. On live national television he tried to murder Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi. Give the dude credit…that would have been the most dubious double homicide in the anals of mankind. He gets a A+++++ for mens rea criminal intent.”

Grudgingly….heads nodded around the living room.

Then drama occured as one of my sister-in-law’s stud roosters got out of hand and was given a death sentence because of Trumplike criminal activity out here at the ranch in recent days. ‘Little Donald Trump’ or LDT was sentenced to death for acts of serial bullying and pecking some of the grandchildren out here. Quite frankly, some of these grandchildren appear to be somewhat soft to me…and not anything like Little Robert….aka Bad Little Dude.

So using my best legal techniques from my days at the Bob Jackson School of Street Law…I pleaded leniency for my client… LDT, and was granted a stay of execution after a kind man on Facebook agreed to take the rooster. I have to tell you…I think it was some of my best lawyering ever.

Then…with it so hot today…four of the ranch’s five dogs spent the day inside with us. The only omission today was from the pathetic little pissant Yorky named Jackson. He knows how he I feel about him and he stays away from me when we visit… which is good for both of us.

So where was I? So… the other dogs… who I’ve pretty much all come to love. There’s two solid white Great Pyrenees named Siri and Dakota…both very cool dogs. Then there’s Callie an Australian Sheep Dog who’s probably my second favorite of the four dogs given Jackson is more what I would describe as a rodent.

My favorite dog by far has become Hank. Hank is a mix of a collie and a Great Pyrenees. I’d say Hank weighs maybe 85 lbs. He has the facial coloring of a collie with the pure white body the classic Great Pyrenees. Hank has gradually stolen my heart.

Hank was an abandoned dog who gradually became accepted to the family as he hung around the outer fencelines of the property looking for food and love. Through time, Hank has showed himself to be the alpha dog of the bunch. He has everything you look for in the soul of a dog.

He’s smart, loyal, loving, and courageous. Hank reminds me of the dog Buck in the Jack London classic Call of the Wild. As time has passed since Pauli’s death… it’s as if Hank knows of the hurt in my heart and has week by week been more accepting of me. It is truly amazing how the love of a dog can heal your heart.

So that’s it for me today as far as original OKC Thunder content on my Golden State Warriors’ blog.

Have a blessed Sunday.

MJ

I finished this book last night and very much enjoyed it. I’m going to go work out and then come back later today and review the book. I would encourage every American who can read to take the time to read the book before our next election cycle. If this eliminates half of the Trump base…then so be it. That’s on you.’

………………….

This was a nice little book told in a folksy manner about the life of Harold Hamm. It’s a story about a poor kid from rural Oklahoma from a family of thirteen children who becomes the epitome of an oil and gas wildcatter who hits it extremely big.

I especially liked the book, being my son has now been in the oil and gas commodity and hedge aspect of energy for fourteen years. My son started at Devon and then took a job with a company in Denver at Antero Resources which is one of the largest publicly traded natural gas and LNG companies in the U.S.

I’m always eager to learn more about the oil and gas business, while improving my literacy on the subject.

I pretty much agree with Harold Hamm in this book. I think it’s foolish for the far left wing of the Democratic Party to strive to eliminate the American oil and gas business.

With the advent of horizontal drilling the U.S. has become the leading natural gas producing country in the world and could be the same with oil if the U.S. governement took a more broadened, pragmatic view of how to integrate the ‘somewhat’ efficent renewables with what we already have in place.

Harold and I agree that banning the burning of dirty coal around the world should be the first step in reducing the world’s carbon footprint.

Currently, the U.S. contributes 11% of the world’s carbom emissions while China and India lead the world in carbon release because they both use dirty coal as a means of creating their electricity needs.

It wasn’t that long ago the U.S was contributing 19% of he world’s carbon release. The U.S industry needs to continue to use every technology available to accelerate carbon recapture.

I think everyone, excepting the most ‘out there’ Trump supporters…pretty much agree climate change is a real thing and it is related to carbon emissions. To me…the most logical step for America would be to bring China and India on board using natural gas as their primary source of creating electricity.

There’s an anacronym used in the current American oil and gas business called ESG…which stands for Environmental Societal Governance. This is where the American oil and gas industry has to continue to not only educate Americans, but the rest of the world as well as we all work together in a pragmatic manner to reduce the world’s carbon emission levels, while at the same time not allowing the Democracies around the world to be held captive by dubious characters like Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

This will take nuance and the far left wing in this country needs to come to terms with this fact unless they’re okay with diminishing many of the current luxuries enjoyed in America today by everyone. Possibly one, being democracy.

I don’t agree with Harold Hamm on Donald Trump. I believe that a country upwards of 330 million people…one would hope the Republican Party could come up with a more mature, pragmatic leader than Donald Trump.

Maybe Harold will change his mind. But I know I’m not changing my mind on this subject of POTUS 45.

In closing, let me use a verbatim quote by Harold as to what should be the American vision on oil and gas moving forward: pg. 244, paragraph 5.

‘Let’s quit pretending we have an energy strategy. ‘No more fossil fuels’ sure isn’t one. The energy transition and the use of oil and natural gas are not mutually exclusive.’

I would give Game Changer a thumbs up as a book I hope most Americans take the time to read.

MJ

The conference realignment dust has somewhat settled for the moment. Big 12 commish Brett Yormark has nudged the conference to sixteen teams with the recent additions of Colorado, Utah, Arizona State, and Arizona. For the time being, Gonzaga and U Conn will not be included in the Big 12 mix.

With OU and Texas headed to the SEC at the conclusion of this season, the Big 12 now stands at sixteen teams with the broadest geographical foot print of any of the Power 4 conferences left standing.

All things considered…I would think the eight original Big 12 teams have to be very pleased as to how the conference landed. I mean, from my view, this new Big 12 will be the third best football conference behind the SEC and the Big Ten with the ACC coming in fourth.

From a basketball standpoint, the Big 12 was already the toughest conference in the land and will remain as such with the additions of Houston, BYU, Cincy, and Utah. Basketball-wise…I would rank the conferences in this order…1 Big 12, 2 SEC, 3 ACC, and 4 Big Ten. The year in and year out hype as to Big 10 basketball is a joke. The Big Ten teams chronically underacheive in the tournament, yet always lead the way with the most teams invited to the Big Dance.

From a football standpoint, the additions of Utah, BYU, and UCF intrigue me….with the other five basically being inert filler. Don’t forget….the Utah Utes have been in back to back Rose Bowls and have one of the truly great coaches in college football in Kyle Whittingham.

As an OU fan, let me say this, if the thing with Brent Venables does not pan out…this new alignment of Big 12 football teams currently has six coaches I would seriously consider as replacements…. Kyle Whittingham, Chris Klieman, Sonny Dykes, Gus Malzahn, Dave Aranda, and Joey McGuire.

I can’t imagine Joe C ever having any interest whatsoever in Mike Gundy in that Mullet King is not into playing difficult schedules….pffft. There will be no room in the SEC for head coaches with the passive submissive gene. If I had been Boone…I would have fired Mike Gundy after the Florida State Kick-Off classic bullshit in 2012 and hired Todd Monken as my new coach then and there. But that’s just me.

UCF is the most intriguing member to me though beyond Utah. Don’t forget UCF has had recent success in playing in New Year’s Day Bowls and has a coach in Gus Malzahn who came within a few minutes of winning a national championship when he was at Auburn. Add to the fact, UCF has a huge enrollment and is right there in Florida amidst some of the most fertile high school football recruiting grounds in the nation.

As far as predicting how this season goes…I have not a clue. The Big 12 has 150 new players who have entered the league via the transfer portal. I do think though…it should be a great conference race with probably seven or eight teams having a chance to win the conference crown.

I in no way see Texas as a clear cut favorite despite all the usual Texas pre-season bullshit hype. When Texas actually does something in football….I’ll change that point of view.

Mike Gundy of all people at the Big 12 Media get together picked his own O State Cowboys to win the Big 12 this season. Whatever. Where was the hubris back in the Golden Ages of the Boone Pickens Renaissance when it was needed? Give me a break. Seriously.

From my view, K-State’s Chris Klieman and Utah’s Whittingham give the Big 12 two of the best unheralded coaches in the nation. They both consistently get the most out of their roster talent.

That’s it for me today.

I think I’ll do my OU football preseason outlook tomorrow.

Enjoy this mild weather day before the heat returns.

MJ

Whew, Mike’s Special Trump Mailbox is overflowing after my Trump Indictment piece. Since I seem to be pretty much healthy…I think I need to get the mailbox going again on here.

1 “Michael….darling. I love your blog. You are clearly one of the few American men I know who calls it like it is with Donalt.

Donalt…..is a pathetic, weak little man. Nothing at all like my very virile father, Vicktor. Everything you right on your courageous blog in regards to Donalt is the truth. I have no idea whatsoever how such a provocative, yet sensual man like yourself can live in godforsaken Oklahoma.

And you are spot on in that Kamala is an even bigger bitch than Hillary.

Hopefully, Donalt will be dead soon and my prenup ‘obligations’ will be fulfilled for the whole payment.

Let’s keep in touch in the event you yourself don’t die.”

Always, Melania

2 “Comrade, you are a very skilled blogger. I’m always looking for new people in America to help with our overall mission to Make Russia Great Again (MRGA). Your writings are intuitive and prescient. You know your history.

If my idiot little puppy dog Donald doesn’t win the election in 2024, I fear the Motherland will never be great again.

You are what the NY Times and weak Washington Post wish they could be.

Keep up the excellent work, Mikhail. My people will be reading for me and keeping me apprised of your writings.”

Helsinki forever.”

Sincerest regards, Vlad

3 “Mike, one of my coastal elite friends told me about this blog. I have to tell you…you knocked me to the floor with your takes on Daddy. Such strength and honesty is rarely if ever exhibited by men in the mainstream American fake news media.

Daddy has become senile and we know we need to lock him up or something. Your writing projects such strength….like I’m reading diologue from Sean Connery from a steamy Bond script. You must know… Jared is such a schlong and I’ve always had a thing for older men.

Hopefully, these people in Georgia will get a conviction of Daddy and solve all our problems.”

Keep in touch. Intrigued, Ivanka

That’s it for the mailbox this week. Sorry if I didn’t get to your letter.

MJ

Wow.

Seriously, wow. I was going to write this last night, but as I was scanning the Evil Empire….a.k.a. Fake News CNN… I noticed POTUS 45 was indeed indicted in Georgia for I believe sixteen different crimes on this most recent set or criminal acts.

If you’re in a Fantasy Presidential Criminal Activity League and you have Donald Trump over Richard Nixon…. I’d say you’re looking pretty good right now.

For those not up to date on the Trumpster Leaderboard update….this now puts Donald Trump at four different indictments in four different jurisdictions with an overall crime specific acts at +94. If you were playing the Trump Felony Over/Under bet at 75 it was an interesting day. I took the over. It was a terrible day for America, but pretty sweet for me.

Oh….to be a Christian evangelical or family values dude wearing a MAGA ball cap with an AK assault rifle under each arm. Color Mike boring.

Maybe if Donald Trump either murdered Stormy Daniels on a special Fox live telecast with Hannity or lynched Mike Pence in Iowa next week he could crest the five indictment marker and 115 unique criminal acts marker.

The GOP debate is next week while I’ll be in Colorado. Let me tell you how that will go….. pretty boring with the exception of Chris ‘ Kips Big Boy’ Christy go after POTUS 45 like an obese doberman going after a pork chop.

Trump will then take to Twitter and write something like….’Asa Hutchinson…boring. Will Heard… weaker than Little Marco Rubio. Chris Christy…too fat, even fatter than Oprah or Rosie O’Donnell.’

And Trump will continue to crest with the Richard Nixon Silent Majority crowd, the John Birchers, the KKK’ers, the Proud Boys, and the other whites in this country who’ve never read a book in their life or are making so much money they couldn’t give a shit about what Donald Trump does or doesn’t do.

So….Should Joe Biden run for a second term?

I would say no. Joe Biden is too old and his running mate is perceived as even bitchier than Hillary Clinton. Keep in mind, this comes from an ex-Republican and current Independent who would under no set of circumstances ever vote for Donald Trump for any office…let alone POTUS.

Add to the fact Hunter Biden is a greater political liability than Sarah Palin, Dan Quayle and Billy Carter combined. Hunter Biden’s story in no way makes Joe Biden appear either aspirational or inspirational.

So let’s pretend I’m Jimmy Carvelle and you called me for some advice on who would make a Dem ticket I could vote for in 2024.

Here’s my first list…. Admiral William McRaven, Hakeem Jeffries, Tim Ryan, Michael Bennett, Chris Coons, Cory Booker, Gretchen Witmer, and Tony Blinken.

That’s it for me today. I’m heading off to the OKC Healthy Living Wellness Center to attack the terrain bike, then play my solo basketball game I’ve devised to help my agility and endurance. No weight work today. I killed it yesterday.

I’ll be reporting from the Milwaukee debate next Tuesday before I head off to Colorado.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

MJ

I think what I’m going to do here on the highly acclaimed, award winning okcthunderground.com is go ahead and move my Michael Smerconish Question of the Week all the way over to Monday evening.

I have to be a realist, my Saturdays are about to be consumed with college football. My Sunday mornings are consumed with CBS’s Sunday Morning, then the first thirty minutes of Fareed (just to see what Putin, Trump, and Xi Jipeng are up to), and then Meet the Press with the usually disappointing Chuck Dodd. Man….I miss Timmy Russert.

So, like yesterday, I was going to do this week’s Question of the Week, but I got derailed watching Team U.S.A. beat Spain as my guy Austin Reaves continued his torrid, clutch play. Still hard to believe Sam Presti could have had Austin for a late second round pick and instead opted to waste his time with guards like Theo Maldon, Lindy Waters, and Ty Jerome. Sigh. Some things never change.

I went over to see the Daily Thunder message board after the game, the same board from which I have been banned for life from ever making another comment to the millenial, nilhist, minimalist, strung out rabble over there.

God bless those people…truly. My former protege…. Justin apparently is now in upper management over there. Good lord. Seriously. My PSA count is great, I don’t need the stress….so let me just take the Michelle Obama approach with these ‘people’ and say, “God bless the DT rabble….everyone of you.”

So… I’m too busy on the week-ends to do the Smerconish Question of the week….so I’m going to slot in the SQOTW on Monday evenings starting tonight.

My question this week is…. Should Joe Biden Seek a Second Term?

I’m now going to wotk out on the terrain bike, then work on the weights with Jerome and Earl.

Have a great Monday

Later

MJ