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I saw this yesterday on a Thunder Nation platform…ESPN beat writer Royce Young is leaving the network to work for Nick Collison and the Thunder.

Nick Collison was Royce Young’s favorite player and Nick was my favorite player as well. So beyond loving the Thunder we had a respect of Nick Collison in common.

This move makes sense on multiple fronts. Royce Young created the Daily Thunder which became the most read internet source on the Thunder. He has some experience in radio, television, and podcast production as well. I have no idea if this means he will be working with Little Nick Gallo or replacing Little Nick Gallo. Que sera.

Plus…he’s a young father about the same age as my son and being a beat writer with two young kids probably isn’t the ideal situation for a young family.

He always wrote a solid recap and probably had the most off the record access to the Thunder of anyone covering them.

Back in the day when I was dr el prez on his board he never once gave me any grief about violating every one of his posting policies on almost every post. He never threatened me with being banned or any other heavy handed bullshit. He let me be …me.

He was fair and he pretty much allowed people to bring their own personalities to his blog and create somewhat of a Seinfeld feel to his blog.

I loved that Daily Thunder and will cherish my memories from that Daily Thunder. The one in place currently…not so much.

Anyway…good luck to Royce Young and Nick Collsion as they begin the process of improving the media operations of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The NFL kicks off its season tonight with the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Tampa Bay Bucs.

The amazing Tom Brady will continue his quest for another Lombardi Trophy with Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, and others trying to stop him from doing the unthinkable.

Tom Brady’s journey has been totally on the surreal side of a sport like the NFL.

George Blanda was a backup quarterback and a placekicker. What Tom Brady has done transcends modern professional sport.

If not for Tom Brady…what we NFL fans today would be pondering is if Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs could complete a threepeat for Andy Reid in the coming months ahead.

I still marvel at the thought Tom Brady wasn’t selected in the draft until the 6th round as the 199th player taken.

Granted he didn’t have a Heisman-type college career at Michigan, but one would think just the one singular performance in the win over Alabama would have gotten him picked no later than the second round.

Back in the day…Bart Starr with Lombardi’s Packers was a 17th round pick.

It just goes to show things which don’t go into modern metrics at times still do matter.

Tom Brady hates to lose…that’s the Tom Brady metric.

If you get a chance..watch the video above. It was truly an amazing college football game.

I heard this song today on the way home from work. I can’t believe I left this off my Donald Trump-Lindsey Graham Love Song Collection.

I don’t know what it is that I bring out with all this angst in Trump people, but I had another incident with a Trump person in the exact same 7-11 in which I had a semi-altercation with a drunk woman almost a year ago to the day.

Of course…those nice black women bailed me out on that one.

I don’t know what specific vibe I’m projecting with these people, but it’s there. That’s for certain.

This guy was just like the woman from a year ago. Dumb, fat, white, and stupid.

I wonder if there’s any chance whatsover this guy was that woman’s husband or boyfriend?

What would be the odds of that?

I verbally admonished him for cutting to the front of the line in front of me and several others who were standing on their appropriate Covid spacing spots on the floor.

He then…without looking at me says to the clerk, “I’ve never been talked to like that in my life. I’ll never be back in this store again.”

I have to admit…I do love it. I’ve missed this from my days of being cursed at from youth hockey mothers in Edmond.

He told me to go fuck myself…then ran out of the store like some hysterical little woman and slammed his car door on his leg getting into his car.

I’m standing there laughing and this nice young black woman walks up to me and puts her arm around me and says,”Don’t blame yourself. It happens to me everyday.”

Anyway…this U.S Open tennis with the men’s quarters is lit.

Have a great Thursday.

Hope you like the song.

On my drive home from work this afternoon while listening to the Sports Animal I was pleasantly shocked when Al Eschbach and his crew were talking the NHL coming back to ESPN after their fifteen year run on NBC.

This is where the NHL belongs as far as quality game telecasts.

I sat next to Al and his girlfriend at the Denver playoff game where Durant went for fifty-one points and the game winner. He bought me beer all night long. Great guy to watch a game with.

Anyway… Al was trying to remember the name of the play by play man who worked with Bill Clement back at ESPN.

The name is Gary Thorne…the best voice in play by play hockey I’ve ever heard.

Gary Thorne was doing play by play for the Baltimore Orioles from 2007 thru 2020. What a waste of a glorious voice.

Assuming their health is okay…I’m hopeful Gary Thorne and Bill Clement are both involved with ESPN’s coverage of the NHL.

Here we go. This is from March 25th, 2020. He looks pretty good to me. If you’re a hokey fan you’ll love this video.

I wonder how many Oklahomans realize Oklahoma City came in second to Columbus for that NHL franchise. That’s when the MAPS people kicked it in gear after not getting the NHL in Oklahma City.

In retrospect…I don’t think the NHL would sustain itself in Oklahoma. But who knows…the NBA might not as well.

I’ll be very curious to see how Thunder games are attended this coming season.

I currently don’t even have the Thunder in my Top 6 Oklahoma Sports storylines sheet in 2021 unless we see something from Josh Giddy and Poku which would energize the fanbase.

I’d go 1 OU football, 2 O State football, 3 OU and O State hoops combined, 4 the NBA as a whole excluding the Thunder because the league is absolutely going to be lit this season, 5 Big 12 basketball as a conference, 6 OU womens’ softball…then maybe the tanking Thunder at No. 7.

I plan on following at least eight NBA teams on my blog this season, but not the Thunder if they start tanking again.

If they don’t tank this season…then obviously I move them up just behind OU football.

Hopefully, more people in Oklahoma will start watching hockey again back on ESPN.

Hope you had a great week-end. This song holds special meaning to me. It was the song I gave to my wife at our wedding over forty years ago.

Hard to believe in the blink of an eye…we raised a son, became grandparents and have lived a pretty good life.

We were married on a boat dock at Lake Kiowa just outside of Gainesville, Texas at my grandparants’ retirement place.

Had our wedding reception at the McGehee’s catfish restaurant on I-35. Then honeymooned in Puerta Villarta.

It’s like Jake Owen says…don’t out think yourself. Find a woman you love, a home you can come home to, a Bible, an exceptional dog, and a song you can sing on.

You gotta have a sense of humor and there are times a line has to drawn in the sand. Don’t ever get above your raising . But most of all appreciate the little things.

Very big shoes to fill for Lincoln Riley. If you think back when both Rhamondre and Ronnie Perkins had to sit a seven game suspension starting with the LSU game the Sooners lost three games.

They not only lost to LSU, but lost to Kansas State and Iowa State as well.

Rhamondre not only scored touchdowns and had a nation leading yards per carry avreage, but what he did was help keep that OU defense off the field with time consuming drives in the second halves of games when Lincoln Riley wanted to ride his run game.

From the point Rhamondre rejoined the team last season…Spencer Rattler threw only two interceptions in his final seven games of the season.

Rhamondre gave the Sooners noy only a power threat, but an edge threat with his speed on a 235 pound frame.

So if you don’t have a big back on your roster currently…what’s the next best thing?

A big quarterback who can run who when teamed with Kennedy Brooks could conceivably be an option for OU as the opponents get tougher as this season moves along.

Back in the day…Urban Myer while at Florida won one of his national titles using both Chris Leak and Tim Tebow as situational quarterbacks in a two quarterback system.

I feel pretty good about the pass rush OU will be able to manufacture this season.

But championship teams have to be able to run the football …especially in the second half of games when it’s time to wear down an opponent and shorten the game.

This is Lincoln after the meltdown home loss to Kansas State in the second half last September. The good thing for OU is that they didn’t lose this game to Tulane and the fact Georgia, Ohio State, and Clemson all look to be flawed as well.

Georgia didn’t score an offensive touchdown in their win over Clemson. Clemson allowed their QB to be sacked seven times. Ohio State’s defense was gashed by Minnesota.

What I’m saying is I didn’t see a team on Saturday that I think deserves to be ranked No. 2 in the country.

The thing which would concern me the most about OU is the fact they couldn’t run the football in the second half against a Tulane team which plays in the same AAC conference as Tulsa.

OU without Rhamondre Stevenson rushed the ball 35 times for a 116 yards. To me…that’s the glaring hole for OU right now. They don’t have a physical NFL level back who can move the chains in the second half of a close game.

Rhamondre scored six touchdowns for the Patriots this exhibition season and was so good New England traded Sony Michel.

Texas has a big time running back in Robinson. So Lincoln Riley is going to have to come up with something in the running game. I thought Kennedy Brooks was okay, but someone else will have to step up.

Lincoln might even have to consider using Caleb Williams along with Kennedy Brooks in certain situations where the Sooners need to move the chains and stay on the field milking the clock. Not like the Blake Bell package, but more like Jalen Hurts when the Sooners want to run the football with some physicality.

After the first week of the season to me the Big 12 looks pretty good with 1 OU, 2 Texas, 3 Iowa State, 4 TCU, 5 K State, 6 Mullet King. Iowa State was very sluggish in their close win over Northern Iowa and will be an underdog against the Iowa Hawkeyes this coming Saturday. I thought K State’s win over Stanford was a nice win for them. OU has to play in Manhattan later on so we need to keep track of their season as this moves along.

For O State—I think their road game in a couple of weeks in Boise will tell us if they have a team which can contend for a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game or just be a team like they’ve been in the past three seasons which ends up playing in a fourth or fifth tier level bowl game.

Kansas even won this past week with a win over South Dakota…so good for them.

OU needs to work on the run game and their tackling this week.

Because The Eyes of Texas might be relevant this college football season.

So here’s what I’m going to say to OU after their 40-35 escape against Michael Pratt and the Tulane Green Wave…you played like shit in the second half after leading 37-14 at halftime.

It was a collective thing. You all sucked including Lincoln Riley and Alex Grinch.

But here’s the thing…just like I suggested you and most of the fans in Norman left the stadium at 37-14 and went to a bar to escape the heat to drink beer, listen to music, and observe how much better Alabama is than any other team in the country at this point right now in this young season.

I’m not going to dissect the OU escape because in fact like the OU team I felt sorry for Tulane at 37-14 and was kinda inwardly hoping they would not beat these kids too bad from Hurricane Ida who are literally living in a hotel in Birmingham for at the minimum the next month.

Tulane QB Michael Pratt played the part of Rocky Balboa in this game as he was sacked 4 times, fumbled a couple of other times, and was hit another 28 times releasing the football.

Michael Pratt, dude…you get my helmet sticker for your gutty performance on Saturday for the guts you displayed in Norman. Hope you can walk by Tuesday.

Alabama just absolutely rolled Miami which in fact tells me either Alabama is unbeatable or that Miami is horrible. How about both are correct statements.

OU, Ohio State, Clemson, and Georgia all appear at this very early stage to be flawed in multiple facets of the game.

If this were a year when the college football tournament was going to have tweleve teams…you know who my sleepers would be right now?

I would go sleeper-wise….UCLA, Texas, and Iowa.

These three teams all impressed me on Saturday…especially UCLA who ran the football right up LSU’s ass in the Rose Bowl on Saturday evening in Pasadena.

UCLA did to LSU what OU couldn’t do against Tulane…namely–they ran the football.

OU in 35 rushing plays could only muster 116 yards whereas UCLA ran at will versus the very soft paper LSU Tigers who in no way resemble the Joe Burrough group from two years ago.

I think Iowa will beat Iowa State next week. I think O State will lose at Boise when they play that game. But at the moment I have no idea where OU is as a team because as a human I kinda get how it’s hard to put your foot on the throat of a team which just survived a historical hurricane.

In reality…if OU had hung sixty on Tulane people would be ripping OU for being the heartless bastards who stabbed little brother O State in the back. But I will say this about OU beating Alabama this season….good luck with that.

Texas looked good. Texas handled a pretty good Louisiana team and to me looked like the best Big 12 team I observed on Saturday. But again it’s early in the season.

O State… just wow. Kayse…if you’re still with me on here does that tell you why I think you should part ways with Mullet King. If ever a team should have come out of the gates with a chip on their shoulder and an edge to their game it was this game in Stillwater against lowly Missouri State.

It is what it is. At what point do you people in Stillwater part ways with enabling?

As far as OU…I think they’ll get better every week as they figure this out, but I can’t see them as a legit threat to win the national championship. They have some very nice young players, but in reality they don’t have a running back like Rhamondre or anyone like that back from UCLA who just shredded the LSU paper Tigers.

If we had a twelve team tournament this season…I think it would be up for grabs as to who would be the team to challenge Alabama for the national championship.

But on this Saturday that team would have been Chip Kelly’s very much improved UCLA Bruins because they can run the football and have a tight end who reminds me a little of Mark Andrews. Plus, they used the transfer portal to make themselves better this football season.

But you know…who deosn’t need the portal. That would be Alabama because they have the best players nd the best coach.

Finally…a Game Day and a cold front arriving sometime later today.

I have three games circled. Alabama vs. Miami, Georgia vs. Clemson, and LSU vs. UCLA.

This is precisely why OU had to leave the Big 12 for more than just the money. They had to leave for multiple reasons if they ever want to play for another national championship in football.

So what common thread do all three of the games I have circled have in common?

They all involve an SEC team which is playing in a national marquee game at the best starting times without an 11:00am start.

And this is something Mike Gundy evidently could never come to terms with despite what Boone and Mike Holder told him.

You reap what you sow if you don’t have the gumption to take your licks from the best.

Oklahoma State is precisely where they should be football-wise.

The end.

It’s been a tough hot week in Oklahoma. The kind of week which tests your toughness. I feel for those OU and Tulane players tomorrow. Nice little win for Va Tech tonight over North Carolina.

Alabama-Miami and Clemson-Georgia tomorrow. Hopefully this is what OU will be doing next season.

Michigan State-Northwestern isn’t doing much for me. Switching over to music.

Have a great game day whether you’re in Norman or Stillwater tomorrow.

If I were in Norman…I’d be planning a quick exit from the stadium to an air conditioned bar with some cold beer and great music.

I would think think lots of cold beer and old songs would be a fit in the second half of OU-Tulane. Get in front of a set and get ready to watch Clemson-Georgia would be the move I would think.