Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

The wife tells me she wants to hike the Appalachian Trail. I say why don’t we go do the little Mount Scott hike first to see what that’s like before we go hike two thousand miles or so.

I hadn’t been here since I was young man. I’m no longer a young man with young knees. So…I say why don’t we do the descent and pass on the ascent.

What a beautiful descent which overlooks the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. If you haven’t done Mount Scott it’s a must if you want to get the feel of Oklahoma.

Then we headed over to nearby Lake Lawtonka which holds the state record for the largest smallmouth bass ever caught in Oklahoma.

I’d never been to this lake before. My mistake. It’s breathtakingly beautiful. It’s stocked with smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, walleye, sandbass, and channel catfish. I only fished for an hour and caught two small bass. But this was more of me talking with locals on where to fish when I come back in November to fish the nearby trout stream in Medicine Park.

Medicine Park…wow. I loved it. Such a rustic charming place with a trout stream which meanders through the middle of the town. We had intended to eat at Meers when we planned the trip, but we stumbled upon the Riverside Cafe which hangs over the trout stream and has a Colorado-like view to kill for.

What a great place! I had the catfish Po’ Boy sandwich with fried okra and two ice cold Shinerbocks. Tell me I’m not a southern boy. The Appalachian girl hiker I was with had the chicken dinner which looked pretty good as well. I was so overcome by the experience I smoked my first cigar since the Trump pandemic crippled our country.

Medicine Creek is awesome. The cafe reminded me of Garlic Mike’s which overlooks the Gunnison River in Crested Butte. Which BTW is my favorite Italian restaurant which is run by New York mafia types in the foothills of the Rockies. If you love Italian food… go there before you move on to the next stop of the human spiritual journey. Trust me.

So…since we no longer have Power 5 football in Oklahoma…this will be a different autumn for me and the Appalacian girl hiker. Next up maybe the White River in Arkansas and a trip to the best Italian restaurant in Arkansas over in Eureka Springs.

Kid you not…my White River trout fishing guide used to be Bill Clinton’s barber back in the day when Bill was governor of Arkansas. I tell you there’s nothing like flaoting the White River, catching trout, drinking cold beer, smoking cigars, and hearing Bill Clinton sex stories. The guy never quits talking. It’s like trout fishing with Howard Stern. The Trump evangelicals would love this guy.

Since the Arkansas Razorbacks beat Mike Leach’s Mississippi State Bulldogs last week in SEC West play…maybe it’s time for me to move on to the SEC West as a college football purist. Or seriously follow the Appalachian Girl’s Auburn Tigers who got ass-whipped by the Georgia Bulldogs last week in SEC crossover play. War Eagle!

I’m thinking Gus Malzahn is not in a good place right now. Auburn isn’t O State. Auburn alums won’t do the Mike Gundy Mullet King thing and wait twenty years to win another SEC championship. Beating TCU and Iowa State doesn’t mean anything to them. They want to beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Lincoln Riley loses to Texas… he and Gus M. might become soulmates this college football season. Just sayin’.

You can’t allow Trump’s pandemic to define your life. You have to move on with ‘Life Its Ownself’. Couldn’t help throwing in a little Dan Jenkins right there. Just be smarter than the clueless dumbfuck living in the White House with the upper tier Slovenian escort with the fake tits who polices bullying on the internet. Who could make this up?

Not even Dan Jenkins in literary dead solid perfect Hall of Fame Heaven could make this shit up. Not a chance.

Live hard, live kind, and live smart.

This is more of what I was expecting from AD in Game 3 as per the Shining Moment comments. But like I wrote…the Lakers have lost one game in every round of these NBA Playoffs. I think its hard for both LeBron and Anthony to completely be focused every game when they know they’re the best combo in the game as of this writing.

This play with Rondo pretty much for me is symbolic of this Laker team. LeBron deferred and Rajon perfectly set up Anthony in his comfort zone for the dagger. This is what a championship point guard does and why unfortunately Russell Westbrook will never win a ring unless he changes. I like Russell, but the Wild Thing ain’t winning shit unless he changes.

This is why LeBron would take a guy like Rondo over Russell any day of the week.

Miami played hard and gave what they’re capable of giving right now. Nothing for Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra to be ashamed of.

Obviously…missing Dragic hurts, but the Lakers were still going to win this series.

The Heat might very well win another game and at the least be the only team to win two games in a series against these Lakers.

But most of all this is about Anthony Davis for me as a fan of the game. I’m happy for him. He had to force his way out of New Orleans for this to happen in his NBA career. This never would have happened for him in New Orleans.

I can’t help but think of Kevin Durant right now. Hopefully… his exit from Oklahoma after he fulfilled his contract to the letter in a state which adores the racist Birther Donald Trump doesn’t follow him much longer.

Here’s what Kevin’s mistake was..his mistake was in not saying, “I want to win a championship. I’ll never win a championship with Russell. Sam Presti won’t reel him in. I want to win a championship. I’d like to play in a different city.”

My son did this when he quit at Devon and took his dream job in Denver. Should I boo him? I don’t think so. I actually admire him for having the balls to do it.

This will be LeBron’s fourth ring. For Rajon Rondo he will become the first player in the collective bargaining era to win a ring with both the Celtics and the Lakers.

Danny Green will win his third ring with three different franchises… Spurs, Raptors, and Lakers. It shows the value of a GM placing key vet role players who fit seamlessly on his roster.

Markieff Morris… God bless his heart, will win his first ring and has played beautifully in these Finals for LeBron. Billy Donovan got nothing out of Markieff last year in OKC’s first round exit to Portland.

I still to date haven’t read a public comment from either Sam Presti or Clay Bennett on the racist Birther Donald Trump.

I would guess Trump will win the state with a plurality of around sixty-eight per cent. But again…you’re on all those lists where you don’t want to be last place bottom dwellers.

How sad. Why bring in an NBA franchise if you don’t have the balls to say something truthful and meaningful once in a while? Same thing in Utah with the Jazz. I guess Mitt Romney used up all his political courage at the impeachment trial.

A serious learning moment missed for a city and a state which both desperately need one.

Game 5 on Friday inside the Bubble.

It clearly wasn’t a Shining Moment for Anthony Davis in Game 3, but it was for Jimmy Butler. Butler was fabulous in every regard as he put his Heat team on his back and carried them to a must win in Game 3 to put some interest back into these NBA Finals.

Butler tripled doubled and got just enough help from Tyler Herro, Kelly Olynck, Duncan Robinson, Jae Crowder, and others to help the Heat ‘maybe’ get back into this series.

I thought both Lebron and AD were horrible. They didn’t come out engaged and we’ll see if they have some fire in Game 4. In each round of these playoffs the Lakers have had one bad game. Maybe Game 3 was that game in this final round.

God…I love Tyler Herro. If Klay Thompson isn’t careful Tyler is going to become my new favorite NBA player and poster child for my NBA metric system of TSN. His Toughness, his Snarl, his Nasty…are you kidding me?

If Tyler Herro could skate he’d be a fifty goal a season guy in the NHL. I hope Klay has his knee healed because if he isn’t careful Tyler is going to become my new NBA hero. He has Russell Westbrook’s snarl only with a basketball brain to go along with it.

The thought Pat Riley was going to trade this kid to Oklahoma City is laughable in hindsight. What Pat Riley should do is go get Lou Dort and bring him to Miami to go along with Tyler. Just a thought.

Anyway…Game 4 tonight. We’ll see if we have a series on our hands.

My Amy Adams buddy over at Daily Thunder sent me a CCR song for my birthday. Nice song, but I like this one you sent some time earlier. It’s become one of my favorite songs.

We no longer have Power 5 level football in Oklahoma or Texas. On the evening of my 63rd birthday…Iowa State beat OU in Ames for the first time since 1960. This marks the first time since John Blake’s last season in Norman in which the Sooners have started the conference season going 0-2. It marks the first time since since 1931 in which the Sooners lost to Kansas State and Iowa State in the same season.

OU and Texas have some serious thinking to do about their college football futures. They need to smarten up and get out of the Big 12 and join the SEC so they can start recruiting nationally elite defensive players again.

OU is a perfect fit for the SEC West both culturally and politically. David Boren got it all completely wrong.

Anyway…this is the greatest Southern rock song of all-time in my view. This is for me on the day after my 63rd birthday. This video was in 1977. I was nineteen years of age.

Don’t wanna sound like Forrest Gump or Ferris Bueller, but life goes by fast. You better ride it hard while you can.

What a great song!

My buddy…Michael Smerconish was brilliant this past Saturday. I would not be overconfidant with the thought this election is over with a month to go.

As Michael pointed out…on October 7th, 2016 three things happened which shaped the world we now live in. On that day the Hollywood Access video went public, the FBI released a statement the Russians were meddling in the U.S. election, and the Wikileaks email dump took place.

I think what most pollsters still fail to realize is the complete and utter level of dysfuntion which resides in what was once referred to on geopolitical maps as the United States of America.

One month to the finish line.

I still think it’s pick ’em.

Morphine…God—I need morphine.

Sigh.

What we don’t see in this video is Trump bonging some aerosol and other random cleaning products to flush the coronavirus from his system.

I mean….you watch this video and I think it pretty much explains how it is Oklahoma, Alabama, and other outliers of the New Confederacy rank near the bottom of every list you don’t want to be on at the bottom.

This is where I should play the Trump Nation anthem and come back tomorrow to write my NBA Finals Game 3 recap. Keep shooting the ball…Tyler Herro–you have nothing to lose, buddy unless you get traded to Oklahoma City.

Every day of Trump has me feeling more and more like Tommy Lee Jones in that final scene from No Country For Old Men.

The song is for LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Rajon Rondo because they’re collectively two games away from winning the world championship with relative ease while Steve Ballmer is .grinding his teeth with the LA Clippers.

This is what to date doesn’t happen in small NBA markets like Oklahoma City, New Orleans, and Indiana.

I’m actually happy for these three guys. They’re showing the world what happens when you put three guys together whose games interchange with basketball nuance, grace, and symmetry. That was for Jeff van Gundy.

It’s beautiful to watch. It’s a simple game. Hockey is a simple game. Both games are about space and time and then finishers finishing when space is created. This is not complex.

With Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo this was going to be an uphill dream for the Miami Heat. Without them the Heat will be fortunate to win a game in these 2020 NBA Finals.

LeBron went for 33 points. AD went for 32 points and his space is there anytime he wants that little mid-range jumper. Just like with Kevin Durant…Anthony Davis because of his unique size and skill set has space anytime the ball is in hands on an iso.

Rajon Rondo..thanks, buddy. I featured you on my little obscure blog and you almost triple doubled with a 16, 4, and 10 night. You three guys should stay together for the repeat next season.

But most of all I’m happy for Anthony Davis because for the first time since his national championship season at Kentucky the basketball universe is getting to see what he’s about with some some guys who know how to play at an elite level.

The Bon Jovi is primarily for Anthony Davis because like with Kevin Durant in prison in Oklahoma City this would never have happened for AD if he’s hadn’t forced his way out of New Orleans.

Soak it in… AD. The basketball world is in the palm of your hand. This is your shining moment.

Those of us who have minds…all have friends and relatives who not only voted for this clown, but who still support him. I’m not going to be wagging my finger or putting my PUTIN-Trump 2020 yard sign up. None of that does any good with these people.

It serves no purpose. We can only pray that the former president of Trump University and primary holder of exclusive preferred Deutsche Bank leveraged debt bonds pulls through this and doesn’t die.

This is one of those Michelle Obama moments when we should go high and hopefully some of these people smarten up just a little bit. Gloating doesn’t do anyone any good. As Americans we’re all on Donald Trump’s Titanic together.

Maybe some of these people will grow up some and have a Boris Johnson learning moment.

Maybe.

I’m not holding my breath. But maybe there’s a chance something good can come from this. Even in Oklahoma.

Rajon Rondo won a championship in Boston in 2008 with recently fired Doc Rivers. If I heard Mike Breen correctly on last night’s telecast of Game 1…if the Lakers win the title Rajon Rondo will become the first player in the collective bargaining era to win a championship with both the Celtics and the Lakers.

I think Rondo is the third most important player on this Laker team. As he goes….the Laker offense goes in transition. He gets them into a different gear and in a hurry. He gives LeBron some time to not have to do everything for periods of time.

I’ve always liked Rondo. His swagger. His confidence. His belief in himself.

Hope he gets his second ring.

No hockey or basketball tonight. I’m not watching any baseball this fall. The Houston Astros disgraced the game too much for me to come back and watch this soon.

I’m just kind of trying to avoid thinking about everyone in the Trump White House testing positive for the Covid virus and dying before November 3rd. Wouldn’t that be ultimate karma. What an irony it would be if this obese seventy something grifter POTUS has the virus. I don’t want him to die necessarily…I just want him to go away for the rest of my life.

Donald Trump… go home. Stop being president. You suck at it in a big way. Focus on reworking your $420 million or so of leveraged debt with Deutsche Bank. I don’t want you to die…just go back to New York and stay there and start wearing a mask you stupid dumb f–k.

Take a month off from working so hard to help Americans be great again. Play some golf and grab some pussy…oh, wait.

It was a nice start for Miami as they opened with a quick double digit lead to start the series. But from the point Miami’s key bench players entered the game it all went downhill for the Heat.

This game was over at halftime. Period.

Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo both suffered injuries. Tyler Herro had a tough night while Duncan Robinson didn’t score a point. That won’t work because nobody is going to shut down LeBron and Anthony Davis in this series.

For the Heat to have any chance in this series Herro, Robinson, Butler, Dragic and Adebayo have to play out of their minds. That simply didn’t happen in Game 1.

LeBron and AD combined for 59 points and 22 rebounds and just basically dominated the game as their role players hit their open threes.

I still maintain Rajon Rondo is the third most important player on this Laker team. He had a nice little game, but in reality with Danny Green, KCP, Kyle Kuzma, and for God’s sake even Markieff Morris all hitting threes this game was a nightmare for Pat Riley’s Heat.

This is how good Lebron is playing right now. Good enough to get Markieff Morris a ring. Chew on that and digest. Markieff Morris is about to get a ring while brother Marcus couldn’t get past the Denver Nuggets.

For me this is very simple…for Miami to have a chance in this series Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson have to be special every game in this series if the Heat don’t want to get drubbed in five games. Those two guys have to get it together immediately or this will be a very short series.

Good to see Perk on First Take pretty much getting it right. My son named his chocolate lab Perk and for that reason Perk has always stayed special with me. Unlike the B-ball Perk…the lab runs like the wind and never drops a tennis ball on the fly. The dog is amazing.

Pat Riley knows. Erik Spoelstra knows. Kendrick Perkins knows. Mike Jackson knows. Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson have to be Mikey Miller special if the Heat want to hang around in this series. Let her rip, boys. You have nothing to lose.