Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

I’m going to come back later today or this evening to write this wonderful story up on my sometimes NBA blog. Yesterday was awesome not only for Tommy Fleetwood, but for the entire fandom of golf as Tommy finally got the PGA first win gorilla off his back.

I was crying at the end…I admit it. I’m so happy for this young man.

This was such a human story of never giving up on so many different emotional levels.

Tommy Fleetwod, bravo!!!!

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• Additional thoughts: I just love what Tommy Fleetwood did this past week-end in Atlanta. This was a microcosm of life. I mean, this was more than the trophy, more than the money, this was about Tommy extricating the golf demons from his soul which had plagued him in his previous 163 PGA starts.
• Just several weeks previous at the St. Jude Classic, Tommy choked on a two stroke lead with three holes to play. That was his tournament to win, instead he didn’t even make the two-man playoff which consisted of Justin Rose and JJ Spaun. Ironically, his best friend on the tour, fellow Brit Justin Rose, won the tournament in sudden death.
• So here Tommy was again this past Sunday on the final round with a two shot lead with three holes to play with sharks like Scottie Sheffler, Patrick Cantolay, and the immensely over-rated (in my view) Keegan Bradley on the leaderboard. But Tommy set his mind and put his golf soul in place and found a way to get to the finish-line.
• This is life. This is pulling yourself up off the ground when you’ve been knocked down and been told you’re done. This is why we compete as human beings. This is why we don’t give up. Why we don’t surrender. To find that spot in our souls which helps us find spaces of faith, integrity, humility, empathy, and courage. Not to be overly dramatic…this is ‘somewhat’ like beating Stage 4 cancer with the grace of God and others after you’ve been told you might have a month to live.
• I would think moving forward at the age of 34, Tommy Fleetwood is going to be a very, very successful golfer in search of several major titles.
• Go get it, Tommy.
• Best regards, MJ

A little bit more from me on Nick Collison before I move to something else on Monday. Again, I love what Nick Collison stands for in today’s greed/me first culture in the NBA.

Nick was the Big 12 Player of the Year his last season at Kansas. He was a lottery pick by Seattle in the NBA draft. On a different team, with different needs, he could have carved out a role with better individual stats. But that’s not what Nick Collison was or is about.

What Nick is about is giving his team and organization the best chance of realizing its potential and winning. The real Thunder fan remembers the Nick/Harden two man game and how he helped James Harden settle into a more productive role in that special 2012 season.

The real fan knows how much Nick helped both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook become better, more mature NBA players. The real fans knows how he helped all of these young players conduct themselves as professional NBA athletes.

And, btw, to you Thunder fans who still hold a grudge against Kevin Durant…get over it. Both Kevin and Russell deserve to have their jerseys hung right there next Nick’s in the rafters. And if you’re that shallow and that stupid in regard to Kevin Durant—then I would suggest you’re not a real Thunder fan of any sort. You’re more what I would describe as a John Steinbeck/Grapes of Wrath Okie with an inferiority complex.

• And, yeah, btw, Mrs. Juanita Elijah had me read the Grapes of Wrath my junior year in her American Lit class. So MJ knows John Steinbeck and the Grapes of Wrath, plus Mice and Men, and East of Eden. Just saying. Don’t embarrass yourself with me on this with some pathetic post on my my private message board. Don’t go there with me.

Nick wrote a beautiful letter to the OKC fanbase following this summer’s NBA championship season expressing his feelings to the Thunder fanbase. It’s beautiful. I’m not going to post it on my blog because Nick works for the Thunder and in all honesty he probably doesn’t like some of the things I posted during all of the draconian tanking and premediated losing by his boss.

So I think it would possibly be disrespectable of me to post Nick’s heartfelt letter on my blog. I’m sure you can find it on the net following the amazing and always hard-hitting Little Nick Gallo.

Have a beautiful life, Nick Collison. You deserve it, buddy.

MJ

I want to get this on my blog before I get out of town. I’ve been meaning to do it several times and got distracted with all the things which have been going on with my life and cancer journey.

I didn’t put this in my Top 5 Championship Parade List, but if it’s not No. 5 for me, then it’s a very close No. 6 at the least.

I love Nick Collison.

I love the way he played the game, talked the game, and ultimately came back to OKC to help them win the champuonship he never quite won while as a player in Oklahoma City.

If I had a son who wanted to become a basketball player and an even better human being…I’d sit him down and say, ” Watch this guy. Observe how he respects the game, his teammates, his coaches, and the fanbase.”

If young Archie Davenport were my son…I’d say,”This is the dude to pattern yourself after as a man and a basketball player.”

That’s it pretty much. I’m glad Aaron Wiggins did this.

Thank you, Nick Collison.

MJ

As far as my favorite Billy Joel concert song goes….this one was hard to beat..especially if you’re sitting anywhere near the stage front, side, or back. I got to sit first row from the stage one time…and when Billy J ripped Big Shot….MJ was never the same.

As far as one of my favorite Billy Joel J songs to listen to in the wee dark hours…I would say Vienna has to be right there near the top.

When we get back from the Rockies…it will be a week of rain and seventy degree temperatures to set the tone for the OU football season.

As far as the Billy J- Elton John comparison—there is none. I’ve seen them in concert together… and Billy is the hoss. Period. Elton John is a fine piano player, but he just doesn’t compare to that Long Island hubris Billy brings to the stage.

Eternal peace. Enjoy the October-like weather next week.

MJ

No sports this week for me…except maybe a furtive glance at the Fed-Ex Championship leaderboard here and there. We’re going to be in Greenwood Village just south of Denver hanging out with the grandkids and the fam. If Shai can use use ‘fam’ then MJ needs to be using it more as well.

I love Billy J. He’s a tough Long Island kid who never tried to be something he isn’t, and I think his music reflects that point. I actually coached hockey with Mike McEwen who played for the Islanders, and McEwen swears on a stack of bibles he and Billy were tight. So tight in fact…. Billy played at Mike’s wedding to Miss Rhode Island (Diane) during the Islander’s glory years in the early ’80s. Small world.

I liked the fact each one of his new albums showed some nuanced change in the flow of his songs. He doesn’t really write music in the conventional method…it’s all done in bis head.

I’m not sure which Billy J song is a\my clearcut favorite…but there’s a possibility Only the Good Die Young could be it.

Or given the fact I’m a little bit Italian it could be this one below.. There’s so many great Bill J songs… its tough to even settle in on a Top 10, let alone– a definitive No. 1.

In fact, when Billy J and MJ were both young with plenty of hair…you could say we looked like brothers. I got that all the time in my younger days.

Anyway…I’m loving the music this week as I get refreshed for the start of the college football season.

Peace.

MJ

A brutally hot day at the Deer Creek mini-ranch today. It was the third time this summer we reached the 100 degree mark. Tough, tough heat today in Oklahoma. Our weathermen say after we’ll hit 100 degrees again tomorrow– however, the heat might at the least be over for two weeks as an unusually early artic front of sorts hits Oklahoma.

Scottie Sheffler won the BMW Fed-Ex Tournament yesterday…which was cool as he contiunes his two year heater atop the world of golf while none of those eggheads who joined the LIV Tour have yet to win a major this year, or in fact make any kind of ripple so far this golf season.

I guess, the money was more important to them than winning meaningful golf tournaments. I mean, from my perspective… JJ Spaun and Harris English are bigger golf stories this season than Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mac, Cameron Smith and the others over on that tour. Greed won. They made their money wearing shorts and playing in 54 hole events. Yea for them…right? The Trump-American Way circa 2025.

Basketball at any level is nowhere close to being on my mind at this time. Maybe when this cool front hits Oklahoma… I’ll start feeling the arrival of the impending college football season.

It’s primarily about music for me right now. A time to not think about sports, Donald Trump, and/or the decline in the American Empire as we once knew it. With Trump we seem to have a thing about being attached at the hip with murderous thugs and war criminals in both Russia and Israel. So much for sanctity of life for all those MAGA fakers. They have no regard whatover for fiscal dicipline, nor the value of a human life. None. Fakes…all of them.

I loved the Billy Joel HBO five hour docu film. As someone who’s seen Billy Joel live four different times, I found the film enthralling.

The Stranger was the first time Billy Joel made the hit list. Then, Piano Man became his first big-time breakthrough hit. Then Just the Way You Are pushed Billy J towards stardom instead of just being a backup act.

I think I’ll play all three on the blog tonight and drift off into another world for the time being.

Have a nice evening.

Peace always.

MJ

Since I adhere to the ‘reasonable adult content’ doctrine on this blog…there will be no highlights of Putin’s first round knockout of the guy who got clocked by Kamala Harris in their one debate.

In fact, I’ve deleted some of my intial reaction thoughts on the sight of seeing Donald Trump applaud a war criminal in the United States.

I have to constantly remind myself…”Don’t lower yourself to that level. It’s not worth anything in the end.”

So–I’m posting one of my favorite Saturday music videos of all-time instead. We played this on my grandparents dock at Lake Kiowa back when we married 44 years ago in Cook County, Texas.

I’m off to ride the bike. Plus, lots of music, pray, and meditation.

Peace.

MJ

I can’t stop singing songs from the Sound of Music. It’s amazing the entire soundtrack has kept replaying over and over in my mind since I saw the movie again twelve days ago on the Turner Classic Movies.

I can’t stop singing these wonderful, timeless songs.

I was fishing yesterday morning in Seminole County and this was what was rolling around in my head as I was catching black bass and hybrid bluegill.

That being…Will Ferrell singing Robert Goulet singing the iconic classic which was sung by Julie Andrews in the movie.

It was surreal and completely beautiful. So beautiful in fact it kept my mind off the fact Donald Trump is five years late calling in the National Guard to protect Washington D.C..

I mean this shit with Trump and his MAGA human rabble, societal misfit dysfuctionites, seem to have forgotten the fact Trump did absolutely nothing to protect D.C. from his band of rioting criminals who would have clearly hung Mike Pence and Mitt Romney had thet gotten their hands on either of them. Nancy Pelosi as well..for certain.

And, of course, all the law enforements officers as well who were physically assaulted by these dimf–kingwits.

Whew…3.1 recent inflation numbers. Damn…the Dow and Bitcoin bubbles better keep rising for you people. Just saying. If I were Jerome Poweell at the Fed…I’d start looking for an escape house somewhere in South America. MJ…just saying.

But not to fret though….MJ is fishing and singing.

Peace and love.

MJ

This past Tuesday was my first maintenance treatment as the Stage 4 cancer journey moves forward. I would describe it as a baby chemo treatment compared to what I went through the previous eight months.

It went extremely well as as I stayed inside on both Fridday and Saturday through the 105 degree heat indexes and basically I’m already pretty much recovered as far as the cellular dashboard goes and headed for the terrain bike early this Monday morning. No comparison to the previous regime of chemo…which was a tough eight month grind.

It was a great week-end minus the oppressive Oklahoma August heat. Alex Caruso got married. I finished watching the Billy Joel documentary on HBO—which I thought was very good. I watched Margaret Hoover interview Sir Niegel Ferguson on Firng Line. I watched Justin Rose win the St Jude Classic over JJ Spaun in sudden death as Tommy Fleetwood once again choked coming down the stretch of a PGA event. Bless Tommy Fleetwood’s golf soul this Monday morning. Seriously.

I also watched two great classics on the Turner Movie network…Taming of the Shrew with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, then Teacher’s Pet starring Clark Gable, Doris Day, and Gig Young. I forgot what a solid supporting actor Gig Young was back in the day. I’d compare him to Greg Kinear generationally in that regard. I’m a big Greg Kenear fan as well. I loved him in Litle Miss Sunshine, Flash of Genius, and As Good as It Gets.

As far as Coach Popovich goes…I view him as the best NBA head coach so far this century. Then I would go Phil Jackson, then probably Pat Riley.

To me…Pop’s greatest moment of many great moments came in 2014 as the Spurs’ easily dispatched of LeBron’s Dream Team in five quick games.

Pop will now move to the President of Basketball Operations for the Spurs. He’s calling himself El Fefe …which means the boss. Kind of like when El Prez decided he would take over the passive submissive Daily Thunder without an invitation. Just saying.

Have a great run as El Fefe in San Antonio, Coach Pop.

Wordly, omnipresent, and eternal love.

MJ

What a glorious day for me at the Integris Cancer Center! A beautiful day. One I will never forget. The exact polar opposite of the day around two and a half years ago when I was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostatic bone cancer and given maybe a month to live.

It has truly been a journey. One which required God, my family, my inner circle, and my faith.

Thank every one of you who gave me love and encouragement along the way.

Today was evaluation day after eight tough months of infusion chemo, blood labs every three weeks to check on my PSA marker, a shot in the stomach every 45 days with one drug for bone rebuilding, and another shot in the stomach every 90 days with another special cancer drug related to my bone specific disease, and then of course, the actual chemo infusion every three weeks on a Tuesday starting on the first Tuesday following last Thanksgiving.

And then of course…the Pet Scans. Monday was my sixth Pet Scan to date for me since this journey began. The results of the first one made my wife and son cry. It was horrible and it corresponded with my then 1,212 PSA count. Off the charts horrible.

Dr. Showalter closed the door. My wife started crying. He gave me maybe a month. He said he wasn’t even sure we could treat this disease at this stage. But he also pointed out the cancer cells were contained within my skeleton and had not gotten into my general bloodstream.. But then he said, “There is a Hail Mary of sorts. We can try, if you want.”

I said, ” Absolutely. Let’s give it a try.”

And here I sit tonight…pretty much cancer clean. There is no such thing as total and complete remission with this bone cancer disease, but you can treat it, you can contain it, and in a sense…you can beat it and ring the Stage 4 cancer survival bell.

They actually have a place at Integris where you can do this, but I don’t think that’s for me. Nor the cancer survivor T-shirts. But I might do the Cancer Survivor Walk at the special night OU holds for the two basketball teams in February. I’ve always kind of wanted to do that. It’s an incredibly emotional experience being there with other cancer survivors and patients.

I actually sat fairly close to Toby Keith’s wife and children last February. That was a moment…for certain.

But I didn’t just beat cancer. I rediscovered the better version of myself in the process. My wife says…’I’m kinder, more patient, more supportive, more thoughtful, and more loving, and the guy she fell in love with back in 1980 or so.’

And I very much remember why I got in my truck in 1980 with two airline tickets to the Bahamas and a ring in my pocket and drove to Auburn to ask her to come back to Oklahoma.

So I would have to say in closing tonight… this was a day for the ages for Mike J.

I can never remember being this much at peace within myself and in a complete state of joy.

Life is good.

Don’t ever give up.

Love, Mike