Huge week for OU football as two Top 15 teams square off in OU’s first ever home SEC opener in Norman.
OU is a 7 point home underdog currently and rightfully so given the Sooners’ inconsistent play on the offensive side of the ball so far this season.
Until I see who’s coming back for OU this week on offense from an injury standpoint I’m going to wait a day or two to write too much on this game.
I’m not one of these OU teasippers who bails out on his team. I’m not your average OU fan. This schedule is going to be tough even with Nic Anderson, A. Anthony, and the offensive linemen back in place.
The world has not come to an end for me because OU played parts of the second halves versus Houston and Tulane at what I feel is two levels below ‘A’ game level.
‘A’ game level play will pretty much be needed in place the remainder of this season minus the Maine game if OU wants to attain a record of 8-4. Simply put….OU needs to markedly improve this Saturday evening in Norman.
So after I see who’s back for OU from the injured list I’ll be back on Friday perhaps to give a more specific take on what I think OU needs to do to have a chance to win this game in the last four minutes of the game.
Take care. I’m headed for the stationary terrain bike and then the basketball court. BTW…last week I attempted my first experience on a real moving bike with tires minus training wheels and it was at best a sketchy performance on my part. So I know what it is to know your ‘A’ game is just around the corner.
It was a beautiful Tuesday for me for certain. One I’ll never forget. Just like when the little boy and his mom saw me at Dr. Showalter’s office and then by sheer luck ran into me at the water fountain inside North Park Mall as he gave me his lucky penny with a prayer included. I don’t care who you are when you’re on a Stage 4 journey….its the human contacts which keep you going along with your own inner faith.
So I now finish the last fifteen minutes of my workouts on the basketball court. Five minutes of dribbling, five minutes of passing, and five minutes of shooting just around the arc of the free throwline. I still can’t shoot threes yet. I’ll get there.
So today I was finishing up and this woman walked up to me and said, ” I’ve been watching you in here for awhile. You’ve come a long way…a long way. What’s your story?”
So I told her my story.
She then asked, ” Would you mind if I prayed for you right here?”
I said, ” No…not at all. Please do.”
She took my hand and prayed for me to never surrender my faith and belief. To not give up.”
And then she turned and said while walking away, ” Keep up the good work, Mike. Don’t give up.”
And that was the best part of a beautiful Tuesday I’ll never forget.
“I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” Luke 22:32
It was a great week-end for me. The OU Sooners not only beat sneaky tough Tulane, but pulled the Vegas line as well. Tenneessee comes to Norman this Saturday for the feature ABC Game of the Week. I can’t wait. Hopefully, OU gets three or four guys back from injury this week.
I had another great week-end of bass fishing at picturesque Lake Stroud in eastern Oklahoma. I’ll put the video of Lake Stroud up tomorrow. Clearly…one of Oklahoma’s underrated bass and crappie lakes. It was like me fishing on a this fairly large lake as if it were my own private pond. Total peace for me. Surreal.
And then I heard the jaw dropping news…..
Donald Trump purportedly had another ‘brush’ with death. Let me just say this…if the Dems are in any way associated with either of these attempts it would be truly revealing in that it would be complete and total proof none of their more extreme left wing policies are going to work for America moving forward. They can’t kill him.
I’m sure the fake Trump Christians are claiming divine intervention on this second near death ‘brush’ from an assasin’s bullet.
And should Trump put the ear bandage back on?
I would say … yeah. A shot wasn’t fired at POTUS 46, but his base will love the fact he has the ear bandage back on and when you get your ass kicked at a debate like he did….you gotta have something to change the narrative and the news cycle.
What can Mike J at this point say…either way. It is what it is.
I don’t have a cat and never have actually had a cat. I’m a big dog owner my entire life. A German Sheperd named Greta came first during my elementary school years. Then a lab named Honey for her color was our dog during my junior high and high school years.
When I was in college I didn’t have a dog because I was too wild to be a responsible dog owner for a few years. But when Mindy came back to godforsaken Oklahoma from almost as Auburn University…. dogs became the epicenter of our lives beyond our son who was the first epicenter.
We had a Siberian Huskie named Nikki. Then MJ, after reading Jack London’s Call of the Wild and White Fang, decided we needed two sled dogs in Oklahoma not just one.
So a beautiful female Alaskan Malamute named Aspen joined our family. Probably as far as dogs in my life go I would say Aspen and Pauli are pretty much in a dead heat as my favorite dog. Both had what I would describe as the perfect soul of a dog. Smarts, dogged loyalty, sled dog toughness when needed, and of course…. tail wagging unconditional love.
Then after Nikki’d passing another Siberian named Sergei named after the Russian hockey player Federov who wore No. 91 for the Detroit Red Wings and who skated like the Oklahoma wind joined our family.
My wife stopped the chain of sled dogs when she insisted our next dog be a Golden Retriever named Lindy…who of course we named after the hockey player Eric Lindross. Lindy was and still is my wife’s favorite dog. Lindy was her Pauli.
Then I adopted a black lab puppy who was a refugee from a drug house and we named her Dakota. A great dog. She was out on May Avenue when I rescued her a second time when I just said to my wife..”This dog is not going back to those people again.” Dakota probably is right there on a tier in my heart just below Pauli and Aspen, and even with Nikita.
And then Pauli of course. My soulmate dog. Pauli was named after Adrian’s brother in the Rocky movies. Yo… Adrian. Pauli is the one I still cry about, the one who saved my soul when my dad was going through the last year of his life fighting cancer. She’s the one who told me to purposely get banned for life from the Daily Thunder message board. Smart dog, prescient in fact. Pauli seriously saved my soul. God acts in mysterious ways and there is not a doubt in my mind how Pauli came to be my savior.
So cats? My sister in Seattle has a cat named Zumi who is a very cool cat and of whom I bonded with on our receent trip to Seattle. My mother Janice has always had multiple cats and is referred to as the Cat Lady by some of her neighbors. They both disdain the sociopath Trump as much as apparently Taylor Swift and I do as well.
So if I decided to get a cat how could I in good conscious own a pet who at any moment could be eaten by a horde of Central American illegal immigrants out here on the mini-ranch in Deer Creek on a ‘eat the cats and dogs mission’?
This is how fucking stupid you Trump people are viewed by the rest of the country and most of the eight billion people in the world.
I know…I had been doing so well, with the F-bombs, but this is what you people do to me. Sigh.
Here’s what you people should do…call the office of Oklahoma’s own gutless James Lankford and tell him you want him to self-discover a set of balls and get that immigration bill of his passed immediately. You know…so as to save your cats and dogs.
You know..so as to save your cats and dogs from being eaten alive on your own property.
Save the cats and dogs…don’t eat them. Do the kind thing and buy these invaders a Subway sandwich and chips so they won’t eat your Trump dogs and cats.
Have a beautiful Saturday.
There’s Only One Oklahoma, baby! Some offense today would be nice.
I need a different kind of song today to get me in the right frame of mind. Just witnessing the human filth which is Donald Trump and his pathetic ‘fake tough guys’ so closely this week because of the debate…. I need a more peaceful feel before heading to my workout this morning.
This song pretty much hits that mark for me.
I have had a blessed life, and I worked hard for it. Most of the time I’ve been kind. But there were several times I drew a line in the sand. I did. There might be one or two more. We’ll see. I’d like to keep experiencing more beautiful things if it’s in the cards. If not…I have nothing to bitch about. The American Dream has been kind to me.
I’ve been pretty laid back about OU’s football season so far. I thought coming into this first SEC season for OU if they could go 8-4 with what I think is one of the four toughest schedules in the country that would be a fairly solid season all things considered.
So far the Sooners are a shaky 2-0 after home wins versus Temple and Houston. In reality, the Sooners were very fortunate they weren’t upset in Game 2 by the Cougars. In fact…I would say they stole a game they probably should not have won.
The offense in a word was horrible and could not run the ball, could not get out of third and long situations, and for the second week could not with any consistency convert third downs and stay on the field.
Offensive coordinator Seth Littrell’s play calling was bad, the Sooners couldn’t run the ball, and without Nic Anderson and Jahil Faruque it appeared Jackson Arnold couldn’t locate open receivers down field.
With the exception of the Maine game…the Sooners do not have an easy game remaining this season.
Tulane is the opponent this Saturday and the Green Wave are a very respectable football team.
Here’s one of the good things about being a Stage 4 cancer survivor still on the journey…your perspective becomes markedly different in regards to whether OU wins or loses on any given Saturday.
Obviously, I like winning more than losing, but I was prepared for struggles this season so for the rest of this season I just want to see weekly incremental improvement which will give he Sooners a chance to compete in every game ….. and maybe win seven,eight, or nine of those games.
And for that to happen…Seth Littrell, Jackson Arnold, the offensive line, the running backs, tight ends, and wide receivers have to play much better on every play. Figure out your own offensive identity and start to play with some cohesive confidence.
The defense has been solid. The punting game and kicking game have been pretty good.
Uncharacteristically…. the issue in Norman so far this season has been on the offensive side of the football field, not the defensive side.
Play call better and execute better. Do the things your players have the talent to do and for me that mean both Jackson Arnold and perhaps Michael Hawkins will have to run the ball quite a bit this season to help their offensive line create space and running lanes.
okcthunderground.com…I’ve always felt the need to correct myself if I’ve erred or gone astray with clearly the most edgy–honest and right on target content in this pathetic fake Christian Oklahoma City market.
This isn’t the horrific Oklahoman, the pedestrian Tulsa World, nor the total sellout Daily Thunder which in essence is run by Sam Presti and his swarmy deputy-in-chief Little Nick Gallo.
Like Howard Cosell used to do during his time..Mike J simply tries to tell it like he sees it on this blog. Nobody owns me. I don’t have advertisors, nor do I want them. I have plenty of money. I’ve always thrived within the American system of free enterprise and haven’t had to be a parasitic trust fund bitch like Donald Trump and his children.
The okcthunderground is simply my way of making sure there’s an objective honest alternative in this godforsaken abyss of intellectual nothingness called Oklahoma.
I was wrong on my intial take on last night’s debate. Kamala Harris was not like Thomas ‘Hitman’ Hearns vs. Roberto Duran. What in fact what we all witnessed last night in Philadelphia was more like Sugar Ray Robinson shuffling and mocking Roberto Duran for eight rounds before Duran simply said, “No mas.”
Does this mean Kamala Harris clinched the election last night? Of course it does not mean this. It just means Donald Trump exposed to the world what he truly is….. a sociopath, a pathological liar, and a loser who’s never won the popular vote in either of his two previous presidential election bids.
Do I think his dumpster fire performance will change the manner in which his base will vote?
Not a chance because I fully realize his base is comprised of racists, unread rednecks, and transactional greedy people who in a sense have sold themselves out to nothing more than how much net worth they can amass during their lives. And of course…there’s the poor white people who know they’ve been left behind since 2008, but can’t come to terms as to why they’ve been left behind or who sold them out.
So enough of that. I just wanted to clear up my debate-boxing analogy as we move forward in this presidential election cycle.
The Dems were at least smart enough to ease Joe Biden from this upcoming presidential election. It’s too bad for the American electorate the gutless GOP didn’t follow suit and get rid of their convicted felon-fake Christian, senile candidate as well and give all of us at the least a choice between two lucid semi-grownup adults.
From the point Kamala Harris dropped Donald Trump with a right cross fifteen minutes into this debate making fun of the convicted felon’s crowd size as opposed to the gerbil-like dimensions of his tiny hands and raccoon-like genitals…..this debate was over.
It was like Thomas ‘Hitman’ Hearns taunting Roberto Duran the rest of the evening. This debacle should have been stopped five minutes after the before-mentioned landed right cross.
Little Marco Rubio and Lyin’ Ted Cruz…if only you two pathetic lightweights who are an embarrassment to American manhood could have handled Pussy Grabber in this manner…this America-unique Trump brain disease which has paralyzed our country for nine years never would have even gotten to the 2016 GOP Convention floor in Cleveland.
Nikki Haley was prescient when she said the first party to get rid of Joe Biden or the Multiple Convicted Felon would win the White House in November of 2024. After last night’s rambling, grievance laden meltdown by the titular head of the fake evangelical Christian movement in this country it might appear Nikki Haley was spot on with her prediction.
If you’re a Trump fake Christian or some patriotic poser who applauded the Multiple Felon when he dissed John McCain I would at the least hope you people can somewhat begin the process of coming to terms with what your hero truly is or isn’t as a human being.
He’s a spoiled little trust fund bitch punk.
I’ll PUT THIS IN CAPS FOR YOU PEOPLE…YOU ARE A HISTORICAL FOOTNOTE DISGRACE IN AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORY. YOU SHOULD BE BANNED FOR A DECADE FROM VOTING IN U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.
Are you people kidding me? Seriously?
The only thing missing from Donald Trump’s historically pathetic performance last night was the Convicted Felon asserting to his braindead base that Taylor Swift’s pet cat was catnapped by illegal Central American immigrants and subsequently eaten in the parking lot at one of her concerts.
You Trump Fake Christians…. How low do we need to get your effective marginal individual and corporate rates to get you people to dump this idiot?
I feel dirty even having to write this on my underground blog in godforsaken Oklahoma which will possibly crest the 82% plurality mark for Trump in November.
How sad for our country this is how far the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Eisenhower has fallen these past ten years of so.
I saw Klay the other night on television at the U.S. Tennis Open and it made me smile. We both love the hard surface Open. I was also happy to see Andryna S win her first U.S. Open. It’s was wonderful seeing her finally mature and settle in with reaching her potential on the court. How unfortunate Nick Krygios hasn’t done the same.
As far as Klay…he will always be one of my favorite NBA players because he was impactful in winning four NBA rings and would have won a fifth ring like Steph if not for the immaturity and selfishness of Draymond Green.
Plus, I love the fact Klay has never been what I would describe as the ‘normal’ NBA pampered star. He’s a grinder, just like me. And back in the day before Klay had the ACL and the Achilles injury back to back he could defend as well as any guard in the league.
‘That’ Klay is not the Klay who will now play for the defending Western Conference champs Dallas Mavs. This Klay basically needs to be a guy who can play 20-22 minutes a game, bury the open three when it’s there, and help space the floor for Luka and Kyrie.
I like Dallas this season. I like what I saw from PJ Washington, Gabbard, and Lively in the playoffs. I have Dallas right up there with Denver and OKC in the West just a touch above the Minnesota Timberwolves. Obviously…I have OKC and Denver basically in a tie at the top to begin the season.
I’m glad Klay got away from Draymond for a last serious shot or two for what could have conceivably been his sixth ring. As you can tell….Draymond isn’t far behind Donald Trump on MJ’s Current List of Dipshits and Deplorables.
Draymond, step it up, buddy. You owe both Steve Kerr and Steph an ‘honest’ NBA season after back to debacle dumpster fire seasons.
I would guess…your antics made Klay’s decision to leave somewhat easier.
Beautiful weather in godforsaken Oklahoma. If was 55 degrees this morning out at the mini-ranch in godforsaken Oklahoma. There was actually what I would describe as a mini nip in the air. This is when MJ feels like Secretariat from sunrise to sunset with the nostrils flaring.
I will talk about OU’s abysmal offensive performance maybe on Tuesday so as not to downgrade my mental state for what should be great fishing weather. Nic Anderson, dude….your teammates need you, especially Jackson Arnold.
Be kind to everyone…if they will allow you to do so.
What a beautiful day in Oklahoma. These gorgeous temps somewhat mitigate the human godforsakeness of what I would guesstimate to be around 2.8 to 3.1 million Trump Oklahomans.
I fully intend to get back on the blog maybe sometime this evening and blog about Klay Thompson now being a member of the Dallas Mavericks.
But I saw last night Liz Cheney did intend endorse Kamala Harris sometime yesterday. No surprise there for MJ. She believes in real American demoracy like I do… though I’m not as far right as Liz Cheney. She simply did the courageous thing unlike the Trump swallowers in Oklahoma such as Kevin Stitt, James Lankford, and the cage wrestler Markwayne Mullin.
Liz Cheney has more integrity and has a bigger set of balls than those three ‘men’ combined. That is not hyperbole.
So it makes me think of this prescient quote by the iconic General Omar N Bradley in relation to Athenian democracy in comparison to our own American democracy. I know most Oklahomans probably don’t even know General Bradley served under the command of then General Dwight D Eisenhower in World War II and was integral in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Yeah… I know, the current protectors of apartheid in Oklahoma probably don’t even know the significance of Omar N Bradley, but I’m thinking to myself maybe some hopeless soul in Oklahoma might stumble upon this quote and, you know….have a flash of genius moment and take the Trump sign and the Confederate flags down for a minute or two.
Yeah, right…dream on, MJ.
So here it is.
“OF ATHENIANS”
‘In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life and they lost it all–security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society, but society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free.’
General Omar N Bradley
So there, Oklahoma. Now you can put the Trump signs and the Confederate flags back up.