Kind of a blah-blah show on Smerconish this morning. I’m opting out on Michael’s question about the University of California doing away with the ACT and SAT. Good riddance I say. You need tests which measure heart, will, tenacity, and staying power to achieve goals. One would hope school administrators could decipher most of that from high school transcripts.
Instead…I think I’ll conduct my own Dave Letterman man on the street poll on Mike Gundy’s mullet in coordination with the writing of The Mullet King.
During this Memorial Day week-end I’ll poll fifty Oklahomans on the streets and the question will be simple:
Do you like or dislike Mike Gundy’s mullet?
I’m voting yes because in reality if you can’t beat OU your fanbase needs something to be able to rally around year in and year out.
I’m voting yes for Boone from oil and gas heaven as well as he made it well known his displeasure with Gundy not being able to beat in essence a virtually defenseless OU team for say the last fifteen years.
Pauli and I started our vegan training diet tonight sharing three poblano black bean burgers. I had two Coors Lights and she had some special type of water for dogs in training.
Anything beyond I Saw A Tiger at this point is refreshing. But I do love this song. Have a great Saturday to start the unofficial summer.
I’ve always liked Nikki Haley’s story. It doesn’t mean I agree with her on everything, but if I had to choose between Joe Biden and Nikki Haley — I would easily vote for Nikki Haley.
She’s smart. She’s tough. She’s experienced. She’s the right age. And she’s a badass when she needs to be.
I find it stunning the people who own the Republican Party haven’t paid Trump off with his own cable news network beyond Fox so as he would resign and make room for Nikki Haley.
I think head to head she would trounce Joe Biden.
On a national level she would immediately connect with moderate Republicans, moderate Democrats, and Independents.
Visualize Nikki Haley debating Joe Biden.
The fact she hasn’t come clean about Donald Trump is her only negative with me. But she’s a politician. She knows eventually if she did say the truth about the human junk bond she’d permanently be tagged as a RHINO by the fringe right nutjobs who still believe Trump was sent here by God to drain the swamp. You’re never going to change these humans, but you can smile and take their vote. That’s politics. Biden is doing the exact same thing with the far left right now.
Who would be a good Vice-President for Nikki Haley?
How about Tim Scott from the state of South Carolina as well. Google Tim Scott and learn something about the junior senator from South Carolina.
South Carolina is actually an interesting state from a political science standpoint.
Michael Smerconish tomorrow. I’m stoked. I would guess Trump’s recent precipitous drop in Fox polls by registered Republicans might tie into the theme of the show this Saturday.
Nikki Haley appears to be locked, loaded, and ready to go if only the Big Fat Stupid Idiot would fade into being the next Rush Limbaugh.
Why is it in seven minutes Tim Scott did what in four years Donald Trump has never done?
In seven minutes… Tim Scott surpassed the amount of time the current POTUS has looked presidential in four years. Imagine that.
When I really want to be Al Pacino this is right there at the top along with Michael taking care of Fredo or the crazy courtroom scene in Justice For All.
There’s nothing like the tango to clear your head heading into the week-end.
I wonder if Mike Gundy can tango?
I could actually do this in the second grade when my mother made me attend a series of dance classes after she caught me calling my little brother a pussy during a street football pickup game after I cloth-lined him on the cement. Janice took me home, washed my mouth out with soap, and made me attend these dance classes for two months in an attempt to temper my behavior.
I’m going to write about Nikki Haley tomorrow, but first I want to get started on here with Mike Gundy. I’m actually starting a new project called The Mullet King. It has nothing to do with Joe Exotic, but rather it will chronicle Mike Gundy’s tumultuous relationship with the late T Boone Pickens.
One of my buddies who covered O State is going to help me out here a little bit if needed. Truth be told…I might teach him a few things about Boone business wise.
I think it’s a fascinating story in that in reality this scrawny kid from Midwest City in essence conquered the man who along with Carl Icahn was at one time the premier corporate raider in the United States.
In essence what Boone did at O State was leverage a public state funded Power Five football franchise because he wanted to beat his OU and Texas business adversaries like he did in the oil field at one time.
Don’t think this is a diss at Gundy…because there are some things I really like about Mike Gundy. He may not even know it — but I interviewed him several years ago as we sat at adjoining tables at my brother’s Panera Bread restaurant in Stillwater. Neither one of us at the time knew I was going to tell his story as The Mullet King.
Hell…he may even be seen as some sort of rock star in my story–and the thing is…I loved Boone as well. It will be a story which combines two of my passionate interests…college football and the oil/gas bidness. I feel obligated to do this for my friend in heaven…Dan Jenkins.
If ever in real life there was a real Big Ed Bookman it was T Boone Pickens, and if ever in real life there was a Coach Alvin Parker it didn’t turn out to be Mike Gundy.
So from a political standpoint…why doesn’t Joe Biden pick Condi Rice to be his vice-president?
She’s clearly more qualified than any of the women on Joe Biden’s current wish list. She has been or is Secretary of State, National Security Advisor, Provost at Stanford University, and noted author.
She’s sixty-five years of age and clearly more qualified than Kamala Harris, Stacy Abrams, Elizabeth Warren, or Amy Klobuchar.
She’s a Republican woman even more qualified than Nikki Haley and just the right age to hold the office or the one above.
With her smarts, experience, and elegance she clearly has no place in the current Jerry Springer Republican Party. The Trump people would find someone who can speak intelligently a complete bore.
She wouldn’t have to plagiarize Michelle Obama because Michelle Obama isn’t in her league….even though I like Michelle Obama.
It’s such an obvious choice.
I mean…it’s clearly obvious if you take the political partisan bullshit out of the equation and do what’s best for the country.
Do what’s best to win the election and send the buffoon to New York’s 5th District Court to deal with his multiple misdeeds too numerous to list.
Joe Biden…why don’t you think about picking Condi Rice as your vice-president?
Note: This came to me after a discussion with my friend, Sandy Price, who’s a Democrat, but a pragmatic one. Because even if you win the election you at some point have to govern with Republicans on the very tough issues.
I’ve created a monster with Pauli with the Joe Exotic video of I Saw A Tiger. She literally puts her head on my knee and looks into my eyes and and then says, “Play it, Mike. Play it again.”
I was originally going to play ”Soak Up The Sun’ by Sheryl Crow, but here we go instead. This is what happens when a strong willed diva lab takes over in your life.
The thing I most take away from this film is how tough Michael Jordan was in how he went about his business. That moment when he had to say on film, “Break,” is how the film should have ended for me.
You could say he was a son of a bitch at times with his teammates, but that was his job. He was the franchise player. He was being paid to not only be the face of the Chicago Bulls, but in reality the player who took the torch from Bird, Magic, and Isiah to make the NBA what it is today.
What the NBA today is a league almost right there with the NFL as the premier sports league in America. Major League Baseball and the NHL aren’t even in the same hemisphere as far as fan interest and revenue.
From the moment Michael made the shot to defeat the Utah Jazz in 1998 it would be fair to say the Chicago Bulls became an anecdotal pro sports franchise. The numbers are staggering as to what the Chicago Bulls haven’t been from the instant Michael never played another game for the Chicago Bulls.
There was the MVP season with Derek Rose, but otherwise not much with all those lottery picks. I find it amusing some of the young Oklahoma City Thunder fans think it’s a given the Thunder with all their late first round picks recently acquired are going to be all that relevant without a lottery pick.
We hope they will be. But again Russell Westbrook and Paul George together were 3-8 in post season games played with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
And as I wrote previously on my blog…Russell Westbrook without Kevin Durant is 4-12 in NBA post season games played.
Without Michael Jordan around…Dennis Rodman’s basketball career came to an end. Scottie Pippen was traded and never returned to another NBA Finals, Steve Kerr left, and Phil Jackson eventually became head coach of the LA Lakers.
It was a glorious era for the NBA and David Stern.
To me…the Michael-LeBron argument isn’t one. It’s not close even though LeBron with his unique blend of size and ability to pass the ball is the best in the game currently.
ESPN ran a poll right after the conclusion of the film and this very question was put out there…and the results were not close. Michael basically smoked LeBron in every category by a minimum margin of 18%.
I have LeBron as No. 4 on my current all-time Pantheon list. I do not have him above either Bill Russell or Kareem. I don’t think LeBron brings to the table what these two players did on and off the court.
If LeBron wins two more rings in LA maybe I’ll rethink this question. But for now my lists goes 1 Michael, 2 Bill Russell, and 3 Kareem.
Hopefully, Adam Silver gets his league back together this summer and we get to see a four team tournament comprised of the LA Lakers, the LA Clippers, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Toronto Raptors.
There’s going to be an asterisk attached to the champion regardless of who wins. So why waste everyone’s time with two rounds of play we don’t need to see? With all due respect to perhaps the Boston Celtics or possibly the Houston Rockets…I don’t need to see you playing in July this summer.
I do however want to see what LeBron, AD, Kawhi, Giannis, and Siakam can do with their ball clubs in an elite four team tournament.
This is a surprisingly good book which I enjoyed almost as much as Sam Anderson’s Boom Town.
If you’re a Thunder fan or not this should be a must for every citizen in the state of Oklahoma.
Mick was easily my choice in the 2018 governor’s race in Oklahoma, but to his credit he didn’t lap dance the Trump supporters in rural Oklahoma as did Kevin Stitt. He didn’t openly trash Donald Trump, but he made it clear he wasn’t enthralled with the Trump act.
Stitt of course did the opposite and easily won the election with landslide margins in rural Oklahoma.
If you have any interest in how cities are rethinking themselves moving into the future you’ll find this to be a rewarding read…not just if you live in Oklahoma City.
I think he would have been a great governor and a pragmatic bridge between the urban and rural factions in our state government. I loved his idea of taking Route 66 and featuring it even more as a state tourism initiative. You know…the concept of people from bordering states leaving their tax dollars here on their visits along historic Route 66.
On a personal side note…when my brother moved to Oklahoma City he ended up buying Mick’s previous home.
I also by sheer chance sat next to David Holt on a flight back to OKC from Denver and we talked a bit about the future projects in Oklahoma City still to come MAPS related. I had no idea David Holt was Marco Rubio’s state coordinator in 2016. Good thing I wasn’t littering our conversation with a torrent of Little Marco Rubio this and thats.
Mick and David both seem like bright guys to me…how unfortunate they’re not involved in Oklahoma state government.