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Obviously, my heart has been heavy this past week so this Xmas wasn’t my normal onslaught of NBA Xmas hoops binge watching.

But I did watch the fourth period of the NY Knicks scintillating win over Wemby’s Spurs as Mical Bridges put on his Superman cape and showed the hoops world what’s he capable of here and there.

For me that set the tone for the only Xmas Day game I watched for all four quarters…that being the Lakers’ stunning win at Golden State as AR slayed Steph. Granted, Austin did get some help from LeBron, but at the end when it mattered most it was AR who one-upped Steph on his home court and basically showed the Steph era is coming to an end.

I love Austin Reaves. What he stands for in this era of pampered, spoiled NBA superstars gives me hope. I knew what this kid has because I watched him closely during his two years in Norman playing for Lon Kruger.

As Mike Breen and Doris Burke accurately gushed, ‘He’s this generation’s Manu Ginobli.” Bingo.

When LeBron starts calling some white kid from Arkansas who went undrafted out of OU…’AR’, you know, some serious white boy ballin’ is going on.

Again, I love Austin Reaves. I love what he stands for. He made Big 12 First Team his senior season at OU when that conference still had basketball fangs. He outplayed Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs in the second round of the NCAA Tournament that spring. And, yet, he went undrafted in both rounds of that summer’s NBA draft.

Austin didn’t flinch. His belief in himself never wavered. He said, “F–k it…I’m an NBA player.”

Then he went out and proved it by making the Lakers’ squad as an undrafted free agent.

And what makes this story even sweeter for me is that Russell Westbrook and LeBron took this kid under their protective superstar wings and encouraged Austin to become the Manu Ginobli of this NBA generation.

It was a tough week for our family. Brutally tough.

But it just goes to show you…if you do things the right way—things always turn your way in the end.

Austin Reaves, thank you for the wonderful Christmas present. Don’t ever lose sight of who you are and how you got to this juncture in your journey. Trust me…it’s all about the journey, young man.

Mike J

My mother-in-law didn’t quite make it to Christmas. She came up around five hours short yesterday evening. It is a blessing from God her struggle is over.

Some might find it strange that I write her passing is a glorious, wonderful thing. But if you witnessed her life as I did for forty-four years through the lense of a son-in-law you would understand why I’m smiling through the tears as I write these thoughts down on Christmas Day.

She lived a wonderful, blessed life and through it had to overcome some significant challenges.

Jo exited with courage, dignity, and a sense of the big picture which makes me proud to have known her.

There is no sadness in this for me. Only gratitude for the memories and the visual images of where’s she’s going.

I see it clearly. There she is.

A young woman in a field just outside the outskirts of Greencastle, Indiana as Richard stands in a snowy field waiting to hold her hand again.

That’s how I see it.

What a lovely Christmas gift.

Mike J

I’m heading out to the creek trails for a terrain hike in the forest along the winding trails of Deer Creek itself. My wife advised me to take my cell phone…so of course I will ignore that and not lose my new IPhone in the creek. I’m pretty confident of my hiking strength right now. But I wish I had Pauli with me. That would be so cool.

I sorely need a dog. My next dog will of course be another female lab and I think I would like to name her after my son’s thirteen year-old brown lab… Perk.

Perk II would for me be a seamless fit of sorts….if of course my son doesn’t mind.

I need a dog.

Best wishes for a wonderful XMas.

Be safe.

Mike J

It’s Christmas Eve day and all things considered….I’m in a pretty nice little place emotionally and physically considering I’m in chemo quarantine while my wife’s family is going through a very tough Christmas.

This chemo drug I’m on isn’t really knocking me down. I feared that. I was apprehensive going into this phase of my Stage 4 journey. But so far… ‘we’ve got this.’ I feel God right there with me hand in hand every step of the way.

There are always silver linings. You have to open your eyes, open your heart…. and feel all of the good things which have blessed your life and are still just around the corner.

I watched about five minutes of the Thunder’s win over the tanking Washinton Wizards and you know…it was their eighth straight regular season win sandwiched around the blowout loss to Milwaukee in the NBA Cup Finals.

Jaylin Williams is back and healthy again as the Thunder are very much on pace to possibly win 60 games this NBA regular season. I love Jaylin’s smile. Is there an NBA metric for smile quality? It would seem the Thunder are very much in control of their destiny as far as gaining the Western Conference No. 1 seed for a second consectutive regular season.

We are not going to know anything really about the Thunder until we see what they are in the Western Conference semis. That’s when we’ll begin to discover what this team is or isn’t when it’s money time.

My Packers are trending in a very encouraging manner while we all know the Detroit Lions are banged up and the Minnesota Vikings have a propensity for late season choking. Minus the very talented Philadelphia Eagles…I would think Jordan Love and his Packers have more than a puncher’s chance of making some noise in the NFC Playoffs.

Green Bay did it just right in the manner in which they moved Aaron Rodgers to the NY Jets. It couldn’t have been orchestrated any better. Bravo…Green Bay front office! I hurt watching Aaron right now. It literally hurts me.

Anyway…it’s Christmas Eve. Embrace the season. Try and bring joy to all of those who you come in contact with.

‘Blessed are those kind of heart

For they shall see the light of God.’

Whenever I’m down…I close my eyes and pray the Beatitudes to myself. Other than Psalms 23…it’s my favorite part of the Bible. So positive…so full of hope.

Maybe tomorrow morning I’ll do the whole thing. It’s beautiful.

Mike J

Jo Anne, my mother-in-law of forty-four years would not have wanted me to do this. But I’m going to anyway. For me.

About six weeks ago we didn’t know if she would make it to Christmas. Now it would appear she won’t. But where she’s going is a place pretty glorious. She’s going home… to Indiana and beyond.

Wife of a career U.S. Air Force bird Colonel. Mother of three. Grandmother of three. Great grandmother of four. Friend of many. An incurable dog lover. A world class cook. Traveler of the world. Antique guru. A young woman from Indiana. But most importantly… someone who always looked for the best in others.

A mother who would do anything for her three children or her three grandchildren or four great grandchildren.

A woman who will leave behind a legacy of life long friends from the Air Force as she and her late husband Richard were integral members of the U.S Air Force during the glory years of SAC (Strategic Air Command) during the era of the Soviet Union being America’s No. 1 adversary.

Obviously…this makes me sad. But at the same time she won’t be struggling any more. She’s going to a better place for certain.

It took me a awhile to assimilate being married into an Air Force family. But as I look back now I wouldn’t trade any of the memories.

The fact of the matter is I never would have even met my wife if her father hadn’t been stationed at Tinker Air Force Base her senior year of high school. Life can be funny that way. It can.

Anyway…this song is for Jo.

Love, Mike

Not too much in the Indiana-Notre Dame or SMU-Penn State games which have been very interesting or surprising for me. I would think Texas will easily dispense of Clemson as well later this evening. Big is big, fast is fast. More NIL cash is more NIL cash.

Hopefully…the wisdom of the Big Ten Selection Committee will give us one watchable first round game in the Ohio State-Tennessee game later tonight.

I haven’t even needed to have the sound on either game as I’ve been reading and watching Aaron Rodger’s Netflix series entitled ‘Enigma’. I liked it. Of course being a lifetime Packer fan….one would think I’d like the series. I believe my 10-4 Packers host the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football. With all the injuries the Detroit Lions have sustained of late I’m becoming much more bullish on the Packers’ chances in the NFC Playoffs.

I’m reading two books right now…1 An American Idea by Peggy Noonan, and 2 Paddling the Pacific by Paul Therox. Plus, with all this sudden Arctic air which has suddenly engulfed godforsaken Oklahoma….I’m drinking copious amounts of my beloved pecan praline coffee.

Life is good…even in the chemo quarantine bubble.

I’m going to post this non-Christmas Straight No Chaser song because its my favorite song by SNC. No racial or societal message intended. Like I’ve wriiten on here before…I’m probably the least lit-woke, non-ideological person I know.

If some of you Trump crazies want to construe me playing this song as a sign of my obvious Communist Marxist Sandinista beliefs…then I would have to say..Bless your heart. Seriously….bless your heart.

Merry Christmas, Mike J

Just hanging out chilling at the Deer Creek ranch on a cold Friday-December 20th. Definitely a hot coffee and soup type of day. Five days to Christmas.

This video is for my two grandchildren…Robert (5) and Aubrey (4) who I both love very much. I consider myself one of the luckiest grandfathers in America. I do.

I won’t be able to hang out with them in person this Christmas because of my current chemo quarantine status.. so I wanted to put a Christmas song on here today specifically for them.

You guys have a great Christmas and I look forward to doing a zoom with you on Christmas day.

Like is good.

Love, Mike

What an amazing 24 hours for Sooner Nation!

First Johnny Mateer with an assist from Baker Mayfield picks the Sooners over Bill Belichik and Tom Brady, then just a few hours later National Freshman of the Year Jeremiah Fears slays ranked Michigan with one of the most incredible four point plays I’ve ever witnessed in basketball.

I’m not even sure I can remember Steph pulling off one like Jeremiah did last night. In all candor…other than the Thunder’s brutal performance in the NBA Cup Final…it’s been an amazing week.

Add to the fact… it appears to me my emotional nemisis Donald Trump won’t in fact be inaugurated as POTUS 47 because it woud appear new president-elect Elon Musk is going to rightfully push Donald Trump into a gutter where he belongs and assume the White House as our first real billonaire POTUS.

I wonder if this means Markwayne Mullin will soon be witnessed rubbing himself against President Musk?

Anyway…I’m in a great state of mind and I’m thinking to myself…if Jimmy Fallon and Michael Buble can have their own XMas special…then why can’t MJ?

So….here it is–MJ’s First Christmas Special. Let’s go.

Six days to Christmas, baby!!!

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What a lovely Friday — December 20th it is from the Christmas studio of okcthunderground.com.

Life is serene and peaceful. Life is good. I am one within the universe. Much more so than President Elect Musk is five days before Christmas. His first day in office… one he somehow acheived without receiving a single vote in the November election didn’t go so well. But que sera. What else can I say? I’m drifting in the clouds like JL Seagull on my back as I blog. To be blunt…at this point I could care less about President Musk and his sidekick Captain Chaos.

That’s not where I am….nor where I want to be.

My Christmas song today comes from Bloomington, Indiana. From the group my wife and I have seen in concert four times during out marriage.

Straight No Chaser singing their classic rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Have a wonderful Friday.

Mike J

-Staff Reports-

Porter Moser’s OU Sooners once again stunned the college basketball world with a stunning one-point improbable comeback victory over the Michigan Wolverines in the Jumpman Classic in Charlotte.

The 11-0 start marks the Sooners’ best non-conference opening since the Buddy Hield Final Four season under Coach Lon Kruger.

The good thing for OU this season is they don’t have to deal with the Kansas Jayhawks’ ‘owned” zebras out of Kansas City in SEC league play. We don’t have to beat Bill Self and Little Dougie Sermon in Big 12 play any longer.

F–k that shit. Michael Jordan couldn’t have beat those dudes.

What a start for Coach Moser’s Sooners!

MJ

My ‘source’ tells me the paper work and details are being smoothed over. Don’t be shocked if an WSU wide receiver or two comes with the package. This is a big deal for OU. You cannot be average in the SEC at the quarterback position.

Here’s what I’m talking about from 2016 to the present…Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, Caleb Williams, and Dillion Gabriel preceding Jackson Arnold. Even Spencer Rattler won a Big 12 Championship.

That’s three Heisman winners and two other Heisman finalists. Baker, Kyler, and Jalen all have their three respective NFL teams currently positioned to make the NFL Playoffs.

I love the grit of Jackson Arnold. I want him to massively succeed as the Auburn QB next season. My wife went to Auburn before she ‘hopelessly’ (sigh) fell in love with me and came back to Oklahoma.

I hope Auburn wins every game minus one next season, that being when they visit Norman.

But here’s the thing, Brent Venables is not a seasoned head coach. He’s a wonderful defensive mind. An awesome communicator and recruiter. But most importantly… a good man who represents the OU football program the right way.

But 6-6 won’t cut it for Brent Venables next season. That’s not the football standard in Norman…SEC, Big 12, or Big 8.

This needs to happen for OU in the next two days to start filling the roster where a few holes need to be plugged.

No. 10 Sooner womens’ team beat Michigan last night in the Jumpman Classic to improve to 10-1. If you haven’t seen Coach Jennie’s team yet…you need to take the time. They’re better than last year’s Big 12 Championship team.

No. 15 Sooner mens’ team play Michigan tonight in the Jumpman as well.

Plus…we’ve got the first ever 12 Team CFP starting Friday. My Packers are 10-4 and the Denver Broncos for the first time since my son’s family moved to Denver seem headed for a wild card berth. MJ’s sport cup runneth over.

Life is good.

MJ

*** Wait…my source is back on the line. It just happened? Johhny Mateer is the next Sooner QB legend. There’s Only One Oklahoma, Baby!!!!