Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

Okay…I’ll just come out and write this on my blog. The very last thing I want my blog to be is something akin to the work LNG*, Michael Cage, and the other Thunder sycophants on Sam Presti’s payroll churn out on a 24/7 basis.

This MJ doesn’t need a Sam Presti’s Thunder subsidy.. This MJ worked his tail off for fifty years or so and completely undertstands the Darwinian aspects of the American free enterprise economy…which btw has had a sense of socialism attached to it since the days of FDR thru Eisenhower thru LBJ thru thru Richard Nixon* thru Bush 41 thru President Obama thru Sleepy Joe Biden thru Trump to date.

I don’t want or need that money. I keep this blog going because I obviously have a burning passion for sport and have had that burning passion since I was probably five years of age.

The other MJ, the one who like me who doesn’t wear socks when he’s wearing dress clothes, pretty much has been very vocal on what he thinks of the pussification of the modern day NBA player. I just love the fact MJ doesn’t wear socks like me. I can’t get over how happy that makes me feel.

On my mission here with okcthunderground.com…I want to make it perfectly clear I do not include Shai, Lu, and Kenrich in that category. I love those guys because they, like Nick Collison and Russell, stuck with this Thunder organization through all the tanking shit Sam Presti made them crawl during the rebuild.

Those three crawled on their hands and knees through that tunnel from Shawshank into the daylight. Those three are royalty on my blog because for normal Americans it takes that type of drive and mental toughness to make it in America.

Sometimes…we play f–king hurt or when we don’t feel completely wonderful.

Like MJ who played in an entirely different generation, I’m getting a little weary of what I’m seeing agents in the NBA doing to the sport. When a fan buys a ticket to see Tony Bennett or Taylor Swift or whomever there is a reciprocal duty for that performer to give the fans an honest night of entertainment.

Again…if I were Sam Presti I’d sit Shai tonight as we’re near the All-Star break. The Pelicans are awful. Let’s see who wants to crawl through the Shawshank shit with Shai, Lu, and Kenrich and repeat as NBA champions.

It you lose the game…so what.

Mike J

• From this point forward how I’ll note Little Nick Gallo on the blog.
• Eisenhower and Nixon both advanced Social Security with their full presidential endorsements. Nixon even created the EPA while in office. You Trump do-do heads…fact check me if you need to.

What a downer of a Tuesday night schedule of Thunder basketball on tap. The injury excuse Thunder who now have Little Nick Gallo and Michael Cage citing the injury lost game stat of the very soft Thunder at somewhere around 300- 400 games lost to injury makes me smile.

I think what they must be doing in their paternal effort to be the best Little League mothers in Oklahoma is this…they’re obviously counting the games lost by rookie Thomas Sorber and Nicola Topic as games lost.

On my injury metric of games lost to injury…I only count games lost to injury of players in the top ten of their roster entering the regular season. Unlike LNG and Michael Cage…. I don’t count players in the G-League, players from the Durant-Westbrook years, and games lost to injury when the team was still playing in Seattle.

The Thunder have now lost back to back games at home to the tanking Indiana Pacers and the pretty good Toronto Raptors. Shai had 47 points against a tanking, injury decimated Indiana team and yet his soft teammates still found a way to lose this game. Then the Thunder lost at home to a decent Toronto team on Sunday evening.

I’m taking back my endorsement of Chet being named to the All-Star team. For a dude who has missed as many games in his young NBA career and was just given a max contract—I find his on court indifference on various nights vexing. For such a group of young guys excluding Shai, Lu, and Kenrich to be this hurt and this unable to go so often…I have to write this on my blog even though I’ve been trying my best not to be this way with the defending champs on my blog this season.

Are the other guys excluding these three just the biggest collection of FILL IN THE BLANK —-ies ever assembled on an NBA roster? Again…I’m glad these guys aren’t playing in the NFL or NHL. This is what happens when you baby players to this extent like the Thunder baby and shield their players.

I mean…this is the youngest roster in the league. Injuries generally happen to old players like LeBron, Steph, Jimmy Butler, and Kevin Durant. Westbrook and Durant never missed games like this in the early portion of their careers. Even out of shape James Harden never missed this many games.

If I were Coach Mark tonight, I’d sit Shai and then see if there’s any hubris or accountability on this roster minus Shai, Lu, and Kenrich. Sit Shai and let’s if these guys are the worldbeaters the Thunder media group makes them out to be. The Pelicans are horrible. Let’s see what we’ve got here.

I think it would be interesting. Let’s see what Chet has and these greats have working for them tonight versus the mighty Pelicans. OKC is still 5.5 games up for the No. 1 overall seed. Give Shai the night off and let’s see what happens.

On the Kate Hudson question above, her nomination for an Oscar made me think of her Oscar nominated role in Almost Famous which made her famous until she made too many bad chick flicks. Nice to see Kate Hudson back in a good role with an Oscar nomination to boot. Good for her.

Mike J

I feel as if a Scott van Pelt type of post is needed this Monday evening following those two epic games yesterday which now set up our Super Bowl matchup of New England vs. Seattle in northern California. I can’t just merge into the Super Bowl without commenting on two very stupid plays yesterday though.

One gaffe almost cost Seattle a trip to their fourth Super Bowl in franchise history. And the other…an eggregious error by Bronco coach Sean Payton, in not kicking that second period field goal from the fifteen yardline which would have staked Denver to a 10-0 lead in a game we all saw as a grind it out defensive knife fight.

10-7 in the blowing snow is a knife fight. The only Patriot touchdown came as a result of a panic lateral pass by Jarrett Stidham which wouldn’t have even been called if Denver was leading 10-0 at that point.

With Riq Woolen it was sheer stupidity which crossed the line of obsessive selfishness. I mean…this wasn’t Crazy Riq’s first brush with taunting misconduct. He was just recently fined by the NFL at the tailend of the regular season for a taunting episode against the Redskins.

This is bullshit at the highest level in team sports. If you want to act like a spoiled brat go get a tennis racket and do your John McEnroe act on the ATP Tour. But why is it at this same time I could envision Riq Woolen at some point down the road being named Donald Trump’s head of Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, or the CIA. Why doesn’t that seem ludicrous to Mike J?

Add to the fact…after taking that penalty, Woolen got burned on a flag route for a touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to Pacua which closed the score to 31-27 in favor of Seattle.

Matthew Stafford is my NFL-MVP for the season, but on this night it was Sam Darnold who was just about perfect in steering his team to a turnover free game and close to 350 passing yards with 3 TD passes.

I would hope the elephant has now been removed from Sam Darnold’s back. Minnesota didn’t go 14-3 this season. Seattle with Darnold is now 16-3 with Sam and heading to Super Bowl 60 as a three point favorite by my evaluation.

So which was the dumber play?

This is a actually a tough decision for me even though I really like Sean Payton as a coach. Yeah…I would go for it with Bo Nix maybe. But no way with Jarrett Stidham at that point. Coach Payton’s job was to nuture Stidham’s confidence and put the game in the hands of the Denver defense.

But…I mean—Crazy Riq Woolen was over on that Seattle sideline for what seemed like an eternity.

So my Scott van Pelt Most Stupid Things I Saw on Conference Championship Weekend list goes in this order:

1 Crazy Riq Woolen’s taunting penalty which almost cost Seattle a Super Bowl bid.

2 Coach Sean Payton eschewing the second period chipshot field-goal before the blizzrd arrived at Empower Stadium.

3 The Pittsburgh Steelers hiring Mike McCarthy as their next head coach.

That’s it for MJ being Scott van Pelt for an evening as the sun sets to the west at the mini-ranch in Deer Creek, Oklahoma.

Be well and safe, SVP.

Mike J

I would have to say…yes. Why not? He has a great team supporting him on both sides of the ball. His offensive line is excellent and the Hawks can run the ball. The Seattle defense is one of the most physical in the NFL.

Plus…everyone in the franchise is hungry, as is the fanbase in Seattle.

Sam Darnold’s one left obstacle of getting to the Super Bowl is Matthew Stafford of the LA Rams. Darnold became one of only a select few NFL quarterbacks to win 14 games in a regular season this year. He did the same last year with Minnesota.

This team isn’t Minnesota though. This team is built to advance to the Super Bowl in northern California opposite the winner of the AFC Championship Game in Denver. I’ll be wearing my Denver Bronco’s stocking cap and rooting for my second city today. Green Bay is obviously my team…but the Bronco’s are now my AFC team since the ‘Fam’ lives there.

If Nick Foles as a backup could lead the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl championship…then I would say to Sam Darnold…’Don’t throw picks and play a turnover free game.’ Pretty much what I said when Peyton Manning in the sendoff to his magnificent NFL career won his second Super Bowl because of that iconic/stellar Denver defense.

The Chicago Bears did not avance beyond the Rams because of three turnovers. The Buffalo Bills did not advance beyond the Denver Broncos because of five turnovers. The LA Rams advanced over the Carolina Panthers on the road because they played a clean turnover game.

‘Turnover clean’ will be the double mantra in both games today played in Seattle and Denver.

So do I feel good about Jarrett Stidham today in the Bronco’s first game verus Drake Maye and the New England Pats? At best…I feel if Coach Payton and the defense can get the lead early and never put Jarret Stidham in horrible 3rd and long situations…it could be a ‘possibility’ for Denver to advance.

Jarrett Stidham hasn’t thrown a pass in an NFL game in two years. Just saying. Riding a bike and avoiding the New England Mike Vrabel pass rush aren’t exactly the same thing…if you know what I mean.

But for Sam Darnold…this has to be his time to define his NFL quarterback legacy. This needs to be a rock solid game by Sam Darnold. Nothing historic statwise…just a solid game for sixty minutes managing the game.

Ten inches of snow here at the Deer Creek mini-ranch. I have been feeding the deer, turkeys, birds and other wildlife, but otherwise I’m not leaving the mini-ranch until Tuesday.

A perfect day to drink hot coffee and watch both NFL championship games.

Mike J

Not much to get excited about with Porter Moser’s spiraling mens’ team as they are dead last in the SEC currently at 1-5 with a game today at Missouri. We’ll see how that goes. But I know this… if Nijel Pack continues on his recent trend of poor shooting the Sooners are soon to be 1-6 in conference play.

Mike J would say Porter Moser needs to have one of those eye to eye Al Pacino moments with Nijel in the lockeroom today if there is to be a Porter Moser Year 6 in Norman in the offing.

On a brighter note, the Sooners coached by Jennie B stunned No. 2 South Carolina 94-72 in OT at Lloyd Noble on Thursday evening before an appreciative and raccous crowd.

Winning is fun. There is no mystery in that axiom. That is why the Norman crowds are sparse and meek currently with Porter’s team.

Freshman point guard Aaliyah Chavez was beyond superlative in the overtime in the extra period swishing five threes in leading the Sooners to a MUCH needed win after their poor performance on the previous Sunday versus Kim Mulkey’s LSU Tigers.

Kim Mulkey has always been a trip as far I’ve been concerned dating back to her days at Baylor where her teams racked up three national championships before she took the money and ran to LSU where she has since won an additional natty.

I kind of like Kim Mulkey though. She doesn’t take any shit from anybody anytime. I’d love to see her debate Trump. That might be an engrossing evening of American civics.

OU was worse than horrid in the LSU game. I would imagine those sensitive to F-bombs would have been shocked at the things Jennie HAD to say to her team after that pathetic effort in the second half.

I’m not like the puritan Jim Traber…I fully undertsnad there are times in sports when a coach needs to emit an F-bomb or two to grab their team’s attention when their effort is not acceptable.

Good for Jenni…she obviously knows what she can and can’t say to her players to get them back on track. THEY RESPONDED.

It was a great team win for OU as all five starters scored in double figures. Plus, Brooklyn Stewart, Caya Smith, and Keziah Lofton all contributed off the bench.

This was a crossroads win for the Sooners if they are to be serious about hosting another NCAA sub-regional and challenging for an Elite 8 berth come March.

This is the version of Aaliyah Chavez that needs to emerge. She’s a true freshman, but she’s also the best player on the team. This was the first game I witnessed where it appeared everyone on the floor for the Sooners understood what I just wrote in the previous sentence.

OU plays at Auburn tomorrow. The Sooners need to win the game. Period.

Mike J

I needed to take several days away from the blog because our family lost a beloved member on Wednesday. Perk, or Perkins, the majestic chocolate lab who joined our family as a pup in 2012, and who was named in honor of Kendrick Perkins… passed on Wednesday in Greenwood Village, Colorado at the glorious age of 14.5 in dog years and 101.5 years in the human equivalent.

At some point when I’ve stopped crying…I’ll do justice to Perk here on the blog. But right now…I would say I need some more time. On one hand it hurts because I lost a tremendous friend, someone I could lean on. On the other hand… Perk lived an aspirational life and exited with the appropriate dignity.

In these three years on my Stage 4 cancer journey…Perk was clearly a role model for me. An inspiration. Someone I respected and admired. Someone I loved to nap next to on the couch. Someone I loved. This is tough, but as a family we’ll grow from this and become stronger.

So today I want aspiration on my blog. That’s easy to do right now given what we see game in and game out from Shai in this season where the Thunder are attempting to be the first NBA team in eight years to repeat as champions.

The Thunder improved to a league best 37-8 on Wednesday night in Milwaukee despite missing five rotational players. For those of you not keeping track that puts the Thunder as the leader in the NBA clubhouse with a 132 collective games missed due to injury or illness to date.

That is staggering when you contemplate it, and yet here the Thunder sit at 37-8 five to six games ahead of Denver, San Antonio, and Detroit for the overall No. 1 seed.

If this season were over today…Shai would be the landslide winner for regular season MVP. Not even close given Nikola’s injury absence in Denver. Who would be second right now…maybe Luka. Are you kidding me? Luka isn’t close to the overall player Shai has turned himself into with all his hard work. Shai should be Luka’s role model since I was writing about role models earlier.

On Wednesday night in Milwaukee with five players missing, here is what Shai’s absurd line read… 40 points on a 16-19 night from the field, 7 rebounds, 11 assists, +19.

For those of you not keeping track…Shai’s TS% or True Shooting % is a staggering 67%. TS combines shooting percentages from the field, beyond the arc, and at the free-throw line. This is a historic number. But on this blog at this point I don’t want to be making Shai comparisons to Michael or Kobe or DWade or anybody else.

Shai is uniquely…Shai.

I just want to make sure on this blog with me covering the Thunder in my own unique manner I give Shai the respect he deserves not only as a basketball player, but as the face of the Thunder franchise and to be honest the face of one of the hottest cities in the United Staets.

Mayor David Holt should follow that thought with some sort of statement which goes beyond just people like me talking about what Shai does on the court. What he does is give this city the heartbeat of a champion which makes all of us collectively proud of what purple Oklahoma City has become.

This Milwaukee team is borderline putrid. Keep this in mind you Thunder fans…the Bucks in 2021 won the NBA championship with Coach Michael Budenholtzer on the bench. The Bucks’ top seven players went in this order on my list… 1 Giannis, 2 Jrue Holiday, 3 Khris Middleton, 4 Brook Lopez, 5 Donte DiVencenzo, 6 Bobby Portis, and 7 Pat Connaughton.

Only Giannis and Bobby Portis remain on this current Milwaukee Buck roster. So my advice to you Thunder fans is savor every moment of what’s happening in Oklahoma City with Shai and this team.

This is a remarkable story. One which shouldn’t be ignored.

The Thunder host the Indiana Pacers tonight inside of a warm Pay.Com Arena before the epic winter storm takes hold in Oklahoma. Again…as with the Bucks—one should note how rapidly the fates of an NBA franchise can drop with some luckless injuries or bad decisions from the front office.

In closing…this song is what Perk, Chris, and Elaine were listening to in Perk’s favorite spot on a sunny day in Greenwood Village in the front yard when he ascended to a very glorious place.

It’s going to be okay. I’ll make it.

Stay warm and as always be kind to others.

Mike J

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out in the coming year(s) for certain. Fernando most likely will be drafted by the putrid Las Vegas Raiders where tight end Brock Bowers awits with the potential of being the next Gronk.

NFL rebuilds don’t happen overnight so we’ll see how that goes. But we know this young man is tough and can take a shot and is razor smart. Plus, this kid has that Aaron Rogers chip on his shoulder. He was a 2 star from Miami who wasn’t even allowed to walk-on at MIAMI.

Miami at the least should have been flagged three times for personal fouls on Fernando last night. There is evidently still a bit of thuggery in these Miami Hurricanes left over from the Jimmy Johnson days for certain.

Coach Cignetti will now be the hunted with his Indiana Hoosiers and his model template in these days of NIL and the transfer portal. Coach C did what Nick Saban didn’t or couldn’t. That being, in all of this Wild West outlaw dysfunction which is our current state of college football and basketball…he figured out how to make the system work for Indiana despite their complete lack of any history or tradition of previous success in the sport of football.

BTW…from my view this is precisely the template I see O State’s new coach Eric Morris trying to emulate in Stillwater as he tries to take O State from being the worst in college football two years running to a team which at some point hopes to challenge Cody Campbell’s hydrocarbon fund in Lubbock for the Big 12 bid to the College Football Playoff.

Coach Morris is even being more audacious in bringing his North Texas State roster to Stillwater than what Coach C did with the James Madison players in Year 1 at Indiana. You would think those who run the NCAA would have limitations on this sort of thing. But alas…sigh–they’re more concerned with punishing Owen Heineke for playing three games of lacrosse at his previous school.

Was this a fluke what Coach C just did in Bloomington?

No…I don’t think so at all. Coach C and Indiana just figured out the template, that being Indiana had 47 of its top sixty rostered players somewhere between the age of 22-24 versus 18-21 years of age. Coach C used the actuary tables to his benefit. plus, most of his guys were 2 star and 3 star guys coming out of high school like Fernando… who as long as they play football will have that proverbial chip on their shoulder with something to prove. Just like Aaron Rodgers still does at the age of forty or Tom Brady had at Tampa Bay.

You see…the exacct opposite of what Chet Holmgren came from in his pampered basketball previous life. That being, a much ballyhooed player with all the AAU luggage attached which quite frankly sometimes is an impediment at the next level which requires a grind mentality every day.

So..in essence what Mike J is writing here is that I’m doing Sam Presti and Coach Mark an enormous favor by continually pushing Chet’s on my blog to place that chip on his shoulder and keep it there if he wants to be anything close to a generational player like Shai.

Not to pat myself too much on the back…but I really like the way I interwined Chet with Coach C and Fernado here on okcthunderground.com….the No. 1 OKC underground bllog in existence anywhere on the planet.

Michael Lewis needs to write a book about what Indiana just did. He’s the perfect writer given his melding of finance and sport with previous works such as Moneyball and The Blind Side. The book could then be adapted into a screenplay which Kevin Costner could then purchase and turn into the movie I want to see.

Surely…these dots can be connected since I’ve laid it out for all parties involved.

Eternal love, Mike J

Indiana 27 – Miami 21

That was one of the most classic second halves I can remember in a national championship football game. Both teams should be proud. I know Carson Beck and the ‘Canes are hurting right now, but what they’ll be remembered for is not surrendering in that second half. They never quit. They just came up one play short.

Since Gene Hackman is no longer with us…I’ve given this a little thought. Maybe Kevin Costner could play Coach Cignetti in the movie which surely will be made in honor of this Indiana football team and what they just accomplished.

In my lifetime of sports…I would rank this right up there with what the U.S. ice hockey team did in 1980 at Lake Placcid in the Olympics.

Think about what Indiana did to close out this season at 16-0. They beat Ohio State in the Big 10 Championship Game. They then routed Alabama in the Rose Bowl. They then routed Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl. And then tonight they beat Miami on the ‘Canes home field. Think about that.

Then Coach Cignetti calls that timeout. Pulls the field goal team back off the field and calls that quarterback draw.

That was beautiful. No one could have written a better script.

I do owe the 1984 Yale football team an apology. I wrote on here earlier no one had ever gone 16-0 before.

What a football game for the ages. I’m grateful I was still around to witness it.

It just shows you anything is possible in this current landscape of college sports.

So dream big would be my take and be willing to do the work with a group of guys you respect.

Mike J

Chet was outstanding in the Thunder’s 136-104 rout in Cleveland today on MLK Day. He’s been very impressive of late and I would now agree he should be selcted as an All-Star reserve when the remainder of the rosters are named on February. I loved the manner in which he ran the court from baseline to baseline and showed genuine passion in the defensive zone on a day when the Thunder were missing four rotational players in the second half.

This will be brief and to the point since we’re not long from kick-off in Miami at Hard Rock. Chet’s line was 28 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocked shots and a stellar +34.

Lu Dort was my No. 2 Star making six of seven shots and going a +34 himself. I also liked the fact Lu threw the ball back at Cleveland Cav prima donna Donovan Mitchell after the before mentioned intiated this incident. Double technical…so in no way did Lu hurt his team by his action. You cannot allow guys like Donovan Mitchell to challenge your sovereignty on the floor when you’re one of the league’s defensive aces. Nice job there, Lu. I’m marking that down on my TSNBS metric sheet for my end of year awards in this regard.

Since this is MLK Day… I thought I would feature the above video. The First Eight is a current best seller on the NY Times bestseller list. I know this is Oklahoma and most of you don’t read and have much intellectual curiosity whatsoever, but you know…learning something about American history not suggested by Ryan Walters won’t at this time get you arrested in Oklahoma. What could it hurt? Seriously.

Enjoy the national championship game and maybe the book.

Mike J

Whoa…that was a rollercoaster week-end of sports for me. I did attend the OU-Alabama game at noon and while I’m disappointed the Sooners couldn’t parlay a 44-33 halftime lead into a much needed SEC home win…there were some things which make me think at the least there’s some hope this team can figure it out and play better as a team with thirteen SEC games left.

The Russian…Kirrell, is ceratinly not a star or a game changer, but he will help quite a bit with the center minutes rotation and I think keep Mo Wague out of chronic foul trouble. He has a very nice shooting touch from behind the arc as well.

I mean…even after blowing the thirteen point lead OU had a chance to win it at the buzzer with a Nigel Pac open three which missed just a little right. Breaks of the game, man. Al Pacino in my favorite video very well described the breaks of the game in life with those inches which separate winning from losing–and living from dying. Trust me..MJ fully understands those inches.

Our NFL conference games are set. Denver hosting New England without Bo Nix. I’ll get to that later in the week. With Seattle hosting the team I’m picking to win it all at this point…the LA Rams. Seattle is on a roll, the Rams have the best quarterback left standing. The only one of the four with a Super Bowl ring on his legacy rack.

Trust me…I know Seattle is uber physical on both sides of the ball and on a tear, but at the end of the day in a clutch game like this…’Can I really trust Sam Darnold vs. Matthew Stafford who was turnover free in Chicago last night in frigid conditions?’

I can’t do that in good conscious. I just can’t. If I’m the Rams defense…I’m already in a mental frenzied trance seeing myself taking down Sam Darnold every time the ‘Hawks attempt to throw a pass.

This should be a great game though. Turnovers, you know. Last night in frigid Chicago…turnovers: Chicago Bears three- LA Rams who were practicing in 80 degree weather all week…nada. You can’t turn the ball over like that.

In the AFC we have ‘my’ Denver Broncos at home versus the sneaky good New England Patriots. Due to Bo Nix’s fractured ankle—the Pats have come out as a 5.5 road favorite. Jarrett Stidham, the Baylor transfer to Auburn, who has not played meaningful NFL football in 795 days will try to get this done for Sean Payton. Although Jarrett Stidham has been on the Bronco roster these past two seasons…. I don’t believe he’s thrown a pass this season in a regular season game.

Since three former OU players, Marvins Mims and Nic Bonito on Denver, and Rhamondre Stevenson, for New England will be playing in this game—I’ll probably be okay either way the game goes. I loved Rhamondre when he was at OU during the passive -submissive days of the Lincoln Riley regime in Norman.

In fact—Rhamondre along with Baker and Jalen Hurts were my three favorite OU players during Lincoln’s time at OU. Even on a Lincoln Riley coached team…you could see back then Rhamondre had the physicality and mental toughness to take his game to this level.

Would Caleb Williams have been one of my four favorite OU players during this time span in Norman if he had stayed for his second season? Yes…he would. Caleb, to his credit, actually stayed in Norman and attended Brent’s first and second meetings with the team before deciding to follow his ‘position’ coach to So Cal.

So …I give Caleb credit for that as in the end it all turned out okay. Coach BV has now had two ten win seaons in Norman, gotten the team to the expanded CFP, and has a good team coming back next season. My Sooners are once again physical on the defensive side of the ball while I can now keep my eyes open without cursing when the other team has the ball.

Josh Allen, oh, boy. I was emotionally conflicted in this game. Obviously, I wanted ‘my hometown’ Broncos to advance, but if you had told me before the game Bo would not be available for the next game–I would have preferred to see Josh and his hard-luck Bills advance to the AFC Championship.

Josh is one of my five favorite current NFL players and I hurt for him given how the game played out. But how can you not love the guy for going out there at his presser when he was literally dying inside and take the responsibility for the loss even thhough his team got a couple of tough calls down the stretch.

You think those guys in Buffalo love playing with Josh? I would think yes would be the resounding answer.

Tonight..of course, we have our national championship game in Miami with Carson Beck’s ‘Canes hosting the 15-0 Indiana Hoosiers who are attempting to do what Nick Sabana never did.

That being, go 16-0 and win the national championship at a basketball school where Bear Bryant never coached.

Carson Beck, dude, same thing with you as Sam Darmond—be ready for the pass rush you’ve yet to see so far this college football season. Good luck with that, buddy.

Enjoy the game.

Mike J