At some point in the recovery process you have to come to terms with your situation. You have to admit your frailties and face your demons. You have to be honest with yourself. So as a Thunder fan I’ve come to the inner conclusion this group of players Sam Presti has put together with head enabler Billy Donovan is a seriously flawed team. I’ve gone thru 56 games observing this collection of humans and can come to no other conclusion other than this is a dysfunctional basketball team which at times overcomes its own self inflicted shortcomings and plays really well against good teams as if it some sort of protest to show the world they can actually play brilliantly when the stars and planets align. Namely, when they play against an elite team.
I’m done fighting it. My face won’t be banged against my keyboard one more time this season. It’s not worth it.
But I’ve adjusted my other Thunder game day rituals as well. I never ever turn on the volume for a Thunder broadcast anymore. Because it’s worse than watching Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee-Sanders spin on behalf of Trump. I will say this though, both Brian Davis and Michael Cage have a future in the Trump White House media corps if they ever choose to alter their career paths. Those two dudes can look straight into a camera, not blink once, and lie their asses off. So there’s that.
I don’t buy tickets to games this season unless it’s a against a top eight overall league opponent. I don’t buy one hundred dollar tickets to see a team loaf. I just won’t do it. So basically…I only go see the Thunder play in person against Boston, Toronto, Cleveland, Golden State, Houston, San Antonio, and Minnesota. Since the Thunder don’t show up against the other twenty-two teams there’s no way I’m parting with cash to see this team play in person. Would you pay to see a Billy Joel concert where he forgets half the lyrics during his show? See my point.
When I’m watching at home with the sound turned off on the Fox telecasts I always have a good book ready for when the team goes into high frequency dysfunction mode against one of the bottom twenty-two teams. Again, you can only abuse yourself so much watching this team play and observing Billy Donovan not once going ape shit berserk on the bench and reading these humans the riot act. Right now I’m reading an excellent book entitled Dark Money by Jane Mayer. It chronicles the Koch Brothers history and how it is they came to own the United States of America much like Putin does in Russia only with more nuance. Excellent book.
Then there’s pulling out the chainsaw and cutting firewood. Since I live on a heavily wooded three acre lot what I’ve done is have the chainsaw ready when the Thunder go into total over the top berserk suck mode like they just did against the Lakers. I would guess I’ve cut enough firewood this season to heat half of Deer Creek, Oklahoma so far this season.
Another thing which helps is having the diva lab Pauli right there with me during the games in the Thunder game day watch studio in my house. She calms me. She brings me back to earth amidst the inner rage this team brings out in me. The other night when Billy Donovan was almost going down on Luke Walton after the game I had a book in my hand which I was about to throw through the flat screen and she put her head on my knee and said, “Mike, please. It’s just an NBA game. We’ll be okay. How does this really affect our lives?”
So here we sit fifty- six games into our Little Miss Sunshine NBA season and I’ve come to terms with it all. Kind of like when you realize one of your relatives are fucking crazy.
I’m good with it. I’ve come to terms with myself. I feel like I’ve grown as a person. I’m better for it.
But be certain I have my book and chainsaw ready for the Memphis Grizzles tomorrow night.
I’m okay, I hope you’re okay.
Be well.