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It didn’t take a miracle finish by Joe Washington. In fact, after a bumpy start—the Sooners pretty much dominated this game in every facet of the game after Missouri’s intial possession.

After that first Missouri drive of the game…OU’s defense basically shut down the best running back in the SEC. It was vintage Coach BV defense.

Satenga’s 85 yard catch and run was the big play needed. John Mateer wasn’t great, but he was clutch when he needed to be. Tate Sandell made his only FG attempt. I wasn’t happy with Miller’s punting though. He struggled with several what should have been pindown punts.

Xavier Robinson is beat up, yet like Mateer, did what needed to be down when it needed to be done.

This wasn’t pretty, but then again these Sooners aren’t a pretty team. They’re a gritty team who’ve taken on the personna of their coach. I was glad broadcaster Sean McDonough took the time to tell BV’s life story during the telecast.

BV’s players love him and understand the very tough journey life he traveled to become the OU head football coach. It’s a life of perserverance. A life of sticking by his mom and siblings. It’s a life of being a standup husband and father. It’s a beautiful story given the overall cultural dumpster fire our country is currently mired in.

My helmet stickers go to the entire team who for the 11th straight quarter of play did not have R Mason Thomas available and overcame several murky flags by the zebras in the game. It just didn’t matter though because this team isn’t a piece of art or a beauty contest winner. It’s a team with a bulldog mentality.

It’s a team which reflects the soul of their coach…and that’s a good thing if you noticed all the coaches currently in college football who’ve either bailed on their teams or failed to provide role model leadership on and off the field.

I’m happy. A quiet happy, but with some music blaring and a hot cup of coffee. When you’re Stage 4, man…you savor these type of moments. You do.

I’m going to enjoy this game before I even think about LSU next Saturday in Norman.

Great job, guys.

Find a way. That’s the mantra. Nothing else. Find a way.

MJ

These early kick-offs require a little bit more of what I would call ‘mentally bearing down’ and making sure the focus is completely in the place it needs to be.

I’m sure Coach BV has stressed this all week long with the nation’s best running back coming to town to try to spoil this run of the Sooners’ these past several weeks.

You cannot allow this guy to get to his fourth or fifth stride. You cannot allow space. Tackling needs to be efficent. Tackling in space in this game is critical for the Sooners defense.

I could care less which quarterback Missouri plays today. Neither is of the caliber of the kid from Tennessee and Simpson last Saturday. Put the f–king heat of their quarterback and drive him to the ground within the limitations of a penalty.

It’s always about physicality in the SEC. Always. Win the line of scrimmage on both sides.

Missouri is a good team, not a great team. But a solid team capable of winning this game if the Sooners forget what got them to this game.

But most of…John Mateer and his offense need to pull their link on the chain today and moving forward. John Mateer and Xavier Robinson need to be solid. Satenga needs to keep making big plays.

That’s it for me. I’ve had my coffee. I’m going to go hit the bike and calm myself down a lttle bit.

BOOMER!

MJ

Holy shit. This isn’t even fair at so many multiple levels. Surely there has to be some politically correct group which looks out for slow, white Mormons even though the Jazz players aren’t necessarily slow, white Mormons.

Add to that…I never saw a shot of a chippy Mitt Romney talking shit from the stands either as this rout slowly evolved after the first twelve minutes of play. In fact…if Mitt Romney were smart he’d probably be living in Portugal or Spain far away from the MAGA crazies in his state.

Back to the game. But still… there are provisions in what used to be our constitution in regards to cruel and unusual punishment.

This was stunning. The Thunder gave up 44 points in the first period to the slow, white Jazz who were led by a Kevin Love flurry of threes in that first period. I honestly didn’t know Kevin Love was still in the league. At one point—the Thunder were down by 18. Jot that down and do the math.

Then that Nolan Richard-like 40 Minutes of Hell routine I constantly blathered about last season took hold of the Mormons in the arena.

I mean what do you even write after the defending champs bludeoned the Jazz in the game’s final 36 minutes for what ended up being a 144-112 rout and an amazing +50 turnaround which in reality shouldn’t have shocked anyone who’s been paying attention these last two NBA season.

My three helmet stickers go in this order..1 Superman, 2 JWill-Ark, and 3 Caruso who has a six year-old jersey wearing fan in Greenwood, Colorado named Robert Jackson. I don’t think he was up late enough though… to see this game, but surely his father, my son, will tell him about Caruso’s play on the drive to Saturday’s ice hockey game at the U of Denver.

The Thunder are now 16-1 and with Denver’s 112-109 win over Houston last night it seems fairly obvious the defending champs and the Denver Nuggets will at some point collide with one another multiple times this NBA basketball season.

BTW…Nikola and Jamal went for a combined 60 points last night. See what I’m talking about with the Rockets…they only scored 99 points against a Denver team which at times is somewhat soft defensively. To beat the Nuggets or the Thunder… more than Reed Shepperd and Aaron Hoilday will be needed.

I closing for tonight, if you look at the Thunder’s scedule from now to Xmas it is not crazy talk whatsoever for me to write they could possibly have a record of 28-1 after the Christmas Day game versus the young, still evolving Spurs.

I need to log off. Tomorrow’s football game in Norman will most likely be another SEC grinder.

My sleep music is imperative.

Later.

MJ

I’m a little sore from yesterday’s workout. The right knee on the first workout back after the chemo infusion is usually a little bumpy as far as time of recovery. So there will only be a light workout at the mini-ranch before heading to Norman for tonight’s game.

OU after four games is a little disappointing in that in their two losses on the road versus Gonzaga and Nebraska did they possess the ability to play SEC level defense in both two halves. The first half versus Gonzaga, and the second half versus Nebraska were abysmal defensively.

Porter Moser is in dire need of Jadon Jones being healthy and getting on the court to help alleviate some of these defensive woes with the OU defense. Jadon two seasons ago was the Western Coast Athletic Defensive Player of the Year at Long Beach State and would add tremendous balance to a defense in serious need of a versatile wing defender.

To be clear… there are some very good players from that conference now playing in the NBA. Three quickly of mind would be JDub, Ajay Mitchell, and and Brandon P with the Warriors. Jadon’s about 6’5″ of so and what I would describe as an Army Swiss knife type of player. What I mean by that is he could defend every position on the floor depending whether the other team is playing a big or small lineup.

So tonight…I’m geninely hoping to see Jadon make his OU debut in a real game. This will be my second time to see the OU men this season and my take is they will be a pretty good team offensively with Nijel Pack, Xavier Brown, and Tae Davis giving them a pretty nice three pronged scoring nucleus. My other take is if center Mo Wague gets in foul as he did in both losses—the Sooners will struggle to make the Tournament.

This team has some real work in front of them as far team defense and team rebounding.

After yesterday’s semi debaucle with the O State fan at the workout…I need to re-think the use of too much Rocky music before the workouts.

Russell Westbrook last time I remember used Taylor Swift music to calm himself down before a game. I’m not a huge Taylor fan. The whole thing with Travis Kelce has become somewhat nauseating for me. I wish them well, but I’m thinking Megan Moroney would be a better direction for me in this regard.

It will be a busy night for me after the game seeing if I can get inside of Othello’s for the Joe Castiglione retirement celebration. I love Joe C…a fellow Italian in this cultural wasteland called Oklahoma. As I’ve stated before on the blog… Oklahoma County and Norman are the only two counties left in Oklahoma in which MJ could live in given the over the top Trumpness of the other seventy-five counties.

God bless you, Joe C.

Ciao.

MJ

In reality, the only game I really watched with real interest from wire to wire was the Houston Rockets 114-104 road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Pretty good NBA regular season game all things considered involving two teams who should both be in the hunt come May and June.

I think it’s good Doris Burke has found her comfort zone again on a different broadcast team. I like Doris. I always have. She just didn’t for some reason mesh with Michael Breen and the blathering Richard Jefferson. But of course, in the end, neither did Jeff van Gundy as it turned out. And I’m not sure at this early juncture that Tim Legler does as well. It’s tough to compete with Richard Jefferson for minutes. He never shuts the f–k up.

The Houston Rockets even without Fred VV are still really good. A very dangerous team with an excellent roster other than the point guard slot. But on this night in mid November, the Rockets got excellent point guard play from both Reed Shepperd andAaron Holiday, younger brother of Jrue, of whom I’ve always loved as an NBA guard.

Both guys were very good in this game…and on the road I might add. That’s a very positive sign for the Rockets. Aaron Holiday is in his 7th NBA season and is a career 6.5 ppg game guy. So I would say with caution…there will be nights when he doesn’t score like he did last night. But on the positive side—he and Shepperd were rock solid.

Otherwise…Houston in my mind has everything else needed to give both OKC and and Denver a serious run for their money in the West.

This team has four guys anybody in this league would covet in Sengun, Amen Thompson, an aged Kevin Durant, and Jabari Smith. Plus, their depth and size with their bigs is in my mind the best in the league. In my basketball mind as well…they’re the best rebounding team in the league when they get that look in their eyes and they go BIG.

These three teams, plus San Antonio, Minnesota, and perhaps even the Warriors on nights when Steph plays like a kid fresh out of Davidson… should make the West a compelling conference once again.

I still don’t really think the Lakers are legit. Maybe entertaining at times, but not legit as presently constructed with LeBron at this stage in his NBA career.

As far as the Thunder, the defending champs are the team to beat at 15-1 even though they’ve to date really only one game against a team which I consider as a viable contender. That being, the season opener in that great double overtime win over the Rockets.

It should be great. I’m heading to Norman tonight to watch the OU men play Oral Roberts and then over to Othello’s for a Joe C celebration of sorts for the best athletic director in the country.

Ciao.

MJ

I’m ready for a night of NBA hoops. Almost created an incident in the weight room when one of those O State fans Gundy was talking about in that public presser which got him in trouble in relation to mobile home owners in the O State fanbase… came in wearing earrings, tats all over his body, and the gaudiest orange piece of shit white trash bright orange shirt I’ve ever witnessed.

The little f–ker made a comment about my Play Like a Champion crimson shirt and then he did something akin to a strut and a visual taunt.

I then looked him over and replied, “Don’t worry, hoss…wrestling season has started. It’ll be okay. I hear you’ve got a couple of transfers coming in who will make you more competitive versus Tulsa next season at their place.”

Two of the trainers looked at me and started smiling.

It was a nice day. MJ is ready for NBA hoops.

Peace.

MJ

I need to be winding this OU football thing down on Wednesday as Sooner Nation prepares for nationally ranked Missouri on Saturday in Norman at 11:30am on ABC.

This is a good interview from OU QB John Mateer. He knows he and the OU offense have to start being better if the Sooners are to continue to advance to the College Football Playoffs.

With OU’s defense and excellent kicking game they’ve already proven they can beat pretty much anybody in the country on any given Saturday on the road if they create turnovers and don’t kill themselves with turnovers. That’s already been proven as OU is 4-0 on the road this season and 3-0 on the road in SEC games.

The Texas loss ( neutral field) is an outlier in that Mateer should not have played. If you were paying close attention you would have noticed that when running the ball in that game he put the ball in his left hand and not his right hand. That is the only game this season he did such. Watch this week-end and the ball will be back in his right hand when running. John Mateer threw four of his seven inteceptions in that game alone.

Putting that aside…John Mateer and the offense need to be more productive offensively if they wish to continue advancing in what in my mind are already playoff games for any of the two loss teams. Texas Tech in my mind as a one loss team in the passive-submissive Big 12 probably cannot afford another loss.

On the season…John Mateer has 8 TD passes and 7 interceptions….that ratio needs to improve moving forward.

Do I think OU can beat Notre Dame at home? Yes I do.

Do I think OU could beat Ohio State on a neutral field with the OU offense under 375 total yard in a game? I don’t think so. But I do think OU would create quite a bit of havoc for the Buckeye freshman quarterback who has seen nothing remotely close to the OU pass rush pressure.

I would think for OU to win that game they would need 31 points or so to take down the Buckeyes who have to date played a very soft schedule given the obvious fact Texas isn’t that good.

I love Mateer. He’s a tough-minded young man and from Day 1 has never shirked his leadership role. He knows and understands what comes with the territory when you’re the starting QB at OU.

John Mateer knows he needs to be better. Period.

I think tonight I’ll cover two NBA games I want write about tomorrow. OKC hosting the 3-11 ‘Russell Westbrook led’ Sacramento Kings and the Houston Rockets on the road versus the Cleveland Cavaliers.

I’m outta here and off to the first workout since last week’s 14th chemo this calendar year. Three miles in thirty minutes is the standard. Get it done. Ride like a champion. Followed by eights sets of twelve in five various weight room exercises. No excuses.

Yo, Adrian.

MJ

I did not waste my valuable time watching this ‘game’. I have a policy on the award winning okcthundergound.com that I do not cover sporting events which have no inherent value to the sports landscape or society as a whole. The fact human beings particpated in this event and other human beings paid to witness it is a depressing microcosm on how far the American culture and ethos has fallen.

If my writing is beginning to somewhat mirror that of the late great historian-writer Authur Schlesinger, Jr. that is because two weeks ago I finished his nine-hundred page memoirs and then last night finished his classic ‘Cycles in American History’.

I realize this blog originates in Oklahoma, thus I will go no further trying to explain Dr. Schlesinger’s theories on the cylces of American history. But I will write this though, if you are one of he few fertile minds which stroll on here from time to time…you might read Cycles in American History because Dr. S pretty much as far back as the 1990’s predicted some grifter-rogue like Trump would emerge as an American president.

As far as hoops–MJ will write this…my heart goes out to former OU guard Jeremiah Fears for being drafted by this piece of shit franchise which needs to be bought and moved to either Las Vegas or Seattle. The Pels fired their coach Willie Green last week and will challenge Indiana and perhaps Russell Westbrook’s newest adventure in Sacramento for being the worst team in the NBA this season.

Indiana…wow. One game away from winning the NBA championship in June. One game away from a parade and then Haliburton goes down, they lose the game, and then they lose center Myles Turner in free agency. It can turn in the blink of an eye.

The Breaks of the Game, baby. David Halberstam wrote that book about the Portland Trailblazers after their championship season when Bill Walton’s body went south. If you aspire to be a real NBA fan you should read this book.

That’s it for MJ this early Tuesday morning. I need to get some things done today outside on the mini-ranch before the much needed rains arrive in Deer Creek, Oklahoma.

Obviously, the Ricky Vaughn pic above is in honor of Taylor Wein Week here on the blog. Just thinking out loud to myself on here…in the event OU does advance to the CFP and hosts Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans in a first round game in Norman. What I would do as coach at the coin toss to inspire my team? I’d send my four captains to mid-field, those being Taylor, Owen Heneke, John Mateer, and R Mason Thomas. Probably Kip as well.

I would send Taylor out there carrying a chain saw. He would be the lead captain. Regardless of how the flip goes…I’d then have him crank up the chainsaw and then start walking towards Lincoln Riley before R Mason pulls him back.

Maybe a little over the top. But maybe not. Setting the emotional urgency tone is what the captain needs to do as will be the case this Saturday versus Missouri.

Grace, mercy, and love.

MJ

This could be a special week for OU football. This is what OU football is supposed to be about. No excuses. By beating both ranked Tennessee and Alabama on the road–back to back, the players have earned this opportunity. Two more games, both critical. Both playoff games in essence at home. Elimination games to the core.

After the home loss to Ole Miss the Sooners put themselves in this situation. No excuses. But at some point as Coach V said after the loss to Ole Miss, “You have to learn to stop beating yourself with stupid, self-inflicted mistakes. You have to learn how to play the right way to win in the SEC.”

Missouri is a good football team with perhaps the best running back in the country. This will not be a gimme. OU literally gave away last season’s game in Columbia with a Jackson Arnold meltdown in the last two minutes.

I love Taylor wearing the Ricky Vaughn designer eye-wear look. This young man has become the inspiration for the OU fanbase. Not John Mateer. Not R Mason Thomas. Not either of the two big moneyed NIL players.

This comes down to how badly do you want it. How badly do you detest losing and beating yourself with self-inflicted losses.

I’m hoping the Rickey Vaughn eye-wear look helps OU get over the top and make it to the CFP. How cool would it be to host either OU or SoCal in a first round playoff game in Norman.

OU controls their own destiny in these two games.

No excuses. No self-inflicted mistakes.

Just find a way….and kick the door down.

MJ

I’m happy for Coach Venables. There have been many naysayers in Oklahoma despite the fact Coach V inherited a football program which in reality hadn’t played defense for over a decade before his arrival.

In fact, I even went on the Jim Traber call-in show the Monday after the Ole Miss loss and defended Coach V. This hasn’t been an easy turnaround at OU since Lincoln Riley’s departure. But here’s the truth of the matter…this OU defense would never have come about if Lincoln Riley had stayed.

If you ever took the time to know Coach Venables life story you would be impressed. He and his four four siblings never had it easy. They basically stuck by their Mom in tough times and just found a way to grow up the right way.

When I think of Brent Venables …I think of his individual toughness as a man… a Christian man, in fact. His wife was diagnosed with cancer once they got here and there’s been that on the table as well as dealing with the dumber portion of the OU fanbase.

But he’s held in there, man. Never blinked. Never waivered. Never surrendered. As as you might know if you’ve read this blog before… as a Stage 4 cancer survivor— I have the ultimate respect for humans who stick to their faith, hold firm to their core beliefs, and find a way.

The season isn’t over. Every week since the Ole Miss game has in fact been an elimination game for these Sooners. There is no margin for error. Next up…Missouri in Norman at 11:00am on the first ABC SEC game of the day.

OU basically won this game in Tuscaloosa by out-toughing the Crimson Tide. By creating what should have been four turnovers if Kensize had just fallen on the damn ball near the sideline. By dominating all facets of the kicking game. By being the more physical team and punching Alabama in the mouth on their field. And by hanging tough together as a group on a day when their best player, R Mason Brown, couldn’t go.

If OU wants to continue winning these elimination games… John Mateer and the offense will need to be better. They clearly know that fact.

I’m happy. I’m at peace, and of course…I cried last night at the end.

But most of all…I’m proud of these guys for not surrendering.

Game balls to Kip Lewis, Taylor Wein, and Tate Sandell.

MJ

*Evidently this song was blaring from the OU locker room after the game. As well it should after OU’s first two seasons in the big, bad SEC as the Sooners swept Auburn and Alabama for the 2nd straight season. All-time…OU is now 4-0 vs. Auburn and 5-1 vs. Alabama this century. The one loss came when Lincoln Riley’s defense gave up 45 points to the Tide in a national semi-final loss 45-35. Just sayin’.

I should give Eli Bowen a game ball as well for the pick six. Eli….game ball, dude.