I’m over OU’s road loss to Baylor and ready to get amped for Iowa State coming to town on Saturday. Sometimes you have to lose to be a winner. But first I’ve got Tyler Herro in town tonight to play Sam Hinkie-Presti’s OKC Thunder tonight. I’m hyphenating the King of Tanking’s name for however long we in Oklahoma City have to endure this Death March of his.
I’m hedged though with Golden State and Miami for howeverlong the Death March takes.
Hopefully…Mike Muscala sees the floor tonight so we can see threes raining from both sides tonight at the Peake.
I will never get on Mike Muscala and Kenrich because I have eternal respect for their work ethic and professionalism. I may snark at others, but not those two.
I mean for this season for me this will be a Game 7 for a Thunder game. Plus, all the Laker games with Russell where you can see Laker Coach Frank Vogel literally questioning the existence of God after a Westbrook miscue in the last two minutes.
It will be my first game at the arena this season as I try to shake down the ticket resalers five minutes before tip for a nice lower section seat for maybe 40 % face value. I don’t know…this is my first game this season to test the the strength of ticket prices. Tyler>LeBron, right?
True story…I’m driving in Deer Creek today…and this kid maybe thirteen or so is wearing a Tyler Herro jersey while riding his bike. I stop the truck, but do not get out and said to this kid, “You’re wearing a Tyler Herro jersey!”
He said, “Yes, sir…he’s my favorite player in the league. I want to be a hybrid guard like Tyler someday. Inside-outside game. Two zone player.”
I said, “Me, too. I love Tyler. I tried to get Sam Hinkie-Presti to move up and draft Tyler two years ago. Instead we got Darius Bazely. Nice kid, nice smile…but not Tyler Herro.”
The kid said,”You serious?”
“Absolutely…at one time I was the most trusted voice in the NBA on the Daily Thunder. I’m sure Sam Hinkie-Presti was reading me every day. Not a doubt.”
I then said, “For a young player like you in Oklahoma to recognize Tyler’s greatness tells me you’re a smart kid. I’m guessing Honor Roll student.”
He said, ‘Straight A’s. Never made a B in my life.”
I waved and said,” Good luck being Tyler Herro, kid. You can do it.”
The end.
They should play this for Tyler during warmups tonight. Give the Thunder fans a chance to see what they missed.
Kevin was superb Sunday evening at his old haunt inside the Peake as his Nets toyed with this Sam Hinkie version of the Oklahoma City Thunder by a score 120-96.
It was vintage efficent Durant as he scored 33 points on a 9-17 shooting night. Patty Mills was superb as well chipping in 28 points on a night when he went 9-12 from beyond the arc.
When Patty Mills shoots he ball like that the absence of Kyrie Irving isn’t really noticeable. But I would guess Kyrie will be back sometime after Christmas and be an active contributor to the Nets.
Good to see former OU National Player of the Year Blake Griffin has found a basketball home where he can play on a relevant team to close out his NBA career.
James Harden as well seems to have found a place with Kevin even though he needs to lose weight and recalibrate his game to the new NBA rules which were designed to put a halt to him living on the free throwline.
But Kevin Durant’s game is still gold regardless of what the Oklahoma City fanbase wants to think of his departure from Oklahoma City in 2016. In retrospect Kevin was right for leaving the Thunder. He never would have won a championship in Oklahoma City.
I put it on Sam Presti. He never reeled in Russell Westbrook’s game. He never really added a true starting shooting guard to the Thunder while the Durant window was still in place from 2012 thru 2016.
Presti never hired a head coach who could control Russell Westbrook’s worst inner basketball impulses in the last six minutes of meaniful games and it is what it is.
You will never ever hear Little Nick Gallo or Royce Young say this on a Thunder telecast. Because quiet frankly both are Sam Presti puppets versus being journalists with any hubris whatsoever. They’re puppets on a payroll. It would be like asking the Trump kids to evalulate their father’s presidency.
I have no agenda. I’m not on Presti’s payroll. I want the Thunder to be good. I’ve forgotten more basketball than either of the puppets will ever know. I’m not writing this to be mean, but on a blog you’re supposed to write honestly. It bothers they never are just truthful in making evaluations on the team they ostensibly cover. A journalist is supposed to be a conduit of truth and knowledge versus just being a paid for pimp.
As far as the Thunder… I hope Sam Presti really knows what he’s doing with this Sam Hinkie rebuild of his.
Here’s my Vegas Thunder take on the Thunder from an actuarial point of view. I just turned 64 in October. Let’s say realisticly I live to be 75. I’m not trying to be morbid, I’m just trying to be somewhat pragmatic about the Thunder and why I’m adopting the Warriors and the Heat this season. If I were Vegas I would calibrate the Oklahoma City will not win another first round playoff series during the remainder of Mike Jackson’s time on this earth.
I don’t mean that in a snarky way. I’m not trying to be hateful. I hope the team holds enough interest for the people in Oklahoma City to keep buying tickets and sustaining the team, but I don’t at this point have any faith that even if some of these draft picks actually hit that Presti can in this sleepy little Donald Trump redneck market keep players here who really don’t want to be playing here.
I’ve written this on my blog before. Even though my birth certificate says I’m white. I don’t consider myself white. I’ve consider myself mixed ever since my liberation at John Marshall during my high school years.
If I were an elite black NBA player… Oklahoma City would be the absolute last city in the league I would want to be playing in. And I write this in spite of all the wonderful things which have been done via MAPS thru the years.
It’s not the city’s infrastructure per se which would drive me away, but it’s more to the point it would be hard for me to ignore the fact the people I was playing in front of in my own arena see America thru the same prism as Donald Trump.
That would bother me. That hypocrisy would eat at me day by day. The fact I still have relatives who defend Trump bothers me. It has altered the way I evaluate people. Maybe that’s a sad commentary of me, but it’s a truthful one…and I’m truthful on my blog.
So when I think about Kevin Durant’s career post Oklahoma City and contemplate these fans who still hate him… I smile to myself for Kevin Durant. He won his two rings. He won two Finals MVP trophies. Maybe he’ll win another at some point…. if Kyrie would pull his shit together and Harden would lose some weight.
Kevin needs to damn well stay off Twitter would my primary suggestion to him, but otherwise Kevin Durant is evolving as a player and a human.
Moving forward, always forward.
I’m happy for him. Not happy enough to adopt him over Tyler Herro and the Miami Heat this season, but happy for him from an avuncular lense of sorts. Kevin’s journey is still a work in progress.
Tyler Herro in town tonight as the Heat need to take care of Sam Hinkie’s tanking Thunder squad.
Light ’em up, Tyler.
Note to Sam Presti…play Mike Muscala tonight and quit cheating your own paying customers and see if that gives the game the appearance of something beyond a fixed outcome. Your working defintion of sustainablity and mine are virtual worlds apart. Maybe galaxies apart.
Note to self…I love the fact I just used ‘avuncular’ in my Kevin Durant column today. It’s a great adjective Americans should use more often.
With all due respect to Lincoln, I not only would have kicked the field goal…I would have run a fake field goal and scored six for the tiebreaker system. Coach Aranda was fine kicking the field goal.
This is what you need to address with your team is my estimation of the situation with your underacheivers:
If you take the time to read my blog what you will observe is that I’m not a homer fanboy sychophant like the Toby Rowlands, Dave Hunzickers, Little Nick Gallos and Low Energy Royce Youngs of the local Oklahoma sports media.
I take pride in being passionate, yet cold steele objective in my takes at the end of the day.
I may bleed crimson, but I’ll drop Crimson in my poll when they lay an egg and be big enough to put Oklahoma State where I think they deserve to be in this week’s poll.
I still can’t believe though that Texas actually lost at home to Kansas.
Vanderbilt > Texas….right? James Franklin actually went 24-15 during his time as Vandy’s coach. Maybe in retropect he should have been the hire in Austin.
Right now Mike Gundy is my leader in the clubhouse for National Coach of the Year. He still needs to loosen the reins a little more with Spencer Sanders, but he may be waiting to do that on Nov. 27th in Stillwater. I would think O State’s style of play would translate well in cold, wet weather. Just a thought looking forward.
I don’t know if Buckeye Homer Kirk has his poll out yet, but here’s my 12 Team Poll which should be the template for this year’s bracket.
1 Georgia
2 Alabama
3 Oregon
4 Ohio State
5 Oklahoma State
6 Michigan (If they beat Ohio State they invert with Kirk’s Buckeyes…pretty simple and the Buckeyes drop beyond Cincy)
7 Cincy
8 Michigan State
9 Notre Dame
10 Baylor
11 Oklahoma
12 Ole Miss
On my bubble
13 Wake Forest
14 Houston
15 UTSA
16 Team Leach in Starksville
I’m going to recap the Thunder’s game tonight at Brooklyn to see what the Thunder can do with Kevin Durant on the road. I told you both the Thunder and Sacramento Kings are pretty much mirrors of themselves currently. That was a robust 4th period on Friday night at the Peake. Lots of fun energy on the floor.
Note…I’ll always call it the ‘Peake’ because I don’t think OKC would have ever landed an NBA team without Aubrey’s chip on a shoulder vision of what Oklahoma could be if they would just move beyond the Dwight D. Eisenhower window of American history/culture.
Not to take anything away Baylor but to write OU’s offensive play calling was weak is an understatement.
I’ll have to sleep on it, but I thought it was by far Lincoln’s worst game as a play caller since he’s been head coach at OU.
He didn’t utilize Caleb Williams’s running ability. No naked bootlegs, maybe one semi QB draw, not enough of putting Caleb on the corners and utilizing the very skill set which makes him an effective QB…that being his ability to run the football.
Think back to the run packages Lincoln created for Jalen Hurts that one season. I’m not saying go that far, but utilize Caleb’s legs. Do with Caleb what Dave Aranda is doing with Gerry Bohanon. Quite frankly… I thought it was a complete coaching mismatch in this game. Not even close.
Aranda came out gambling from the onset going for a 4th and two inside OU’s five yard-line on the first possession of the game. Baylor was clearly the aggressor in this game and it manifested itself by the fact the Bears controllled both line of scrimmages.
Very vanilla. No Mario Williams, not much Jadon Hazlewood, not enough of Jerimah Hall with the pass game on a spin route or two, no real creative usage of Eric Gray as a perimeter threat. Marvin Mims wasn’t a factor. Marcus Major never saw the field. Tights end weren’t a factor. Kennedy Brooks dropped the only pass thrown his way.
I mean at some point I think Dave Aranda just figured if he stopped Kennedy Brooks on first down and put OU behind the chains his team would find a way to win this game.
Baylor ran for 296 yards. Baylor had ten more minutes of time of possession and intercepted Caleb Williams twice. The Bears also sacked Caleb and Spencer Rattler a combined five times.
OU has the best place kicker in the nation and yet Gabe Brkic was a sum negative liability in this game in missng both of his field goal attempts and then opening the second half by kicking the ball off out of bounds.
Two incredibly stupid fifteen yard personal fouls called on Perrion Winfrey and Andrew Raym which led to two field goals for Baylor’s freshman kicker.
You cannot play stupid on the road against a good team and do all the things I just listed.
I can only legitimately hand out one helmet sticker to a Sooner in this game and that would be to linebacker Brian Asomoah.
Let’s be frank…OU hasn’t improved much if at all since the opener versus Tulane. Comng off a bye week and relatively healthy this was a tough loss.
If Caleb’s hand was compromised then throw shorter routes and allow him to run the football and be a dual threat.
I can’t rank OU in my Top Ten this coming week. Maybe in either the 12th or 13th spots. For a team which started the season ranked No. 2 this isn’t the way the Sooners wanted their season to turn out. I would describe this loss as the most disappointing loss so far in the Lincoln Riley Era.
Iowa State in Norman next week. Can the Sooners play quality football for sixty minutes? So far…the answer is no. The Committee sadly has the Sooners evaluated spot on so far. A soft team with a lack of mental toughness and smarts.
At this point you can’t really say OU is anything beyond perhaps what Ole Miss and Texas A&M are in the current hierarchy of the SEC West.
OU still has plenty to play for this season, they just won’t be playing for a spot in the four team College Football Playoff.
How ironic OU could conceivably be playing the spoiler’s role to Oklahoma State in Bedlam?
In studio. Gotta get this done before the 11:00am kickoffs.
Here we go …it’s either put up or shut up time for OU as a team beyond Caleb Williams to start showing they have an argument for the Committee to consider. I believe OU will play well today. I believe their now healthier defensive backfield coupled with Isaiah Thomas, Nik Bonitto, Brian Asamoah, and others will pull their link on the chain today in Waco. I also believe OU’s offensive line will play better this week than they did against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. I like OU to win, but I wouldn’t take this game either way at OU -6.5.
I wonder if Marcus Major will be the power back close out back today in Waco. He’s an OKC kid from Millwood. Marcus along with former John Marshall Bear Justin Broiles could both be unsung heros for the Sooners coming down the stretch.
On my mano y mano versus the spread against Chris Jackson …I’m getting abused.
Chris Jackson 16-7, MJ (same as Michael Jordan) 11-12. I need to catch some magic in a bottle in a hurry is all I can say at this point.
My picks today are:
Texas… I’m taking the emotionally fragile Texas Longhorns at home and giving the 30 points as they attempt to get bowl eligible.
Texas A&M at Ole Miss…this is an extremely interesting game to me. A&M is still in play in the SEC West if Auburn could derail Alabama in the Iron Bowl at home. This is a sneaky huge game today in the college football landscape. I’ll take the Aggies and give the 2.5 in Oxford. Rememeber the third place team in the SEC gets the automatic Sugar Bowl berth vs. a Big 12 team.
On my upset special…I’m taking Penn State + 2 versus Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines.
I have to admit…I’m jacked about OU today. This in essence is the first of four potential play in or play out games for the Sooners. My game face is very much on. Chris Jackson is probably pacing liked a caged Tiger about right now.
OU hosts Steve Henson’s UTSA ball club tonight in Norman with each team entering the game at 1-0.
The Sooners in their opening win over Northwestern State looked decent in their first game considering it was just their second outing together as a team. It was the first win of the Porter Moser Era in Norman and tonight the Sooners will be looking to improve their record to 2-0 on the young season.
My three stars were 1 Jalen Hill, 2 Jordan Goldwire, and 3 Tanner Groves.
Jalen had the best game of his college career, but the leader of the team will unquestionably be Duke transfer point guard Jordan Goldwire. Jordan’s defense, transition baskets, and playmaking will be critical as the Sooners attempt to make the NCAA Tournament in Coach Moser’s first season in Norman.
As Jordan goes…the guys around him will need to be able to make the wide open shots he’ll create for them.
EJ Harkless needs to relax, take a deep breath, and realize how many good shots he’s going to get just playing off of Jordan’s unselfish play. As in allowing Jordan’s play to meld into him getting wide open looks. Both EJ Harkless and Jacob Groves need to find their shots in this game as after tonight the schedule for OU picks up substantially.
Meanwhile in OKC’s Bricktown the 4-6 tanking Thunder host the 5-7 Sacramento Kings in a game pitting two teams who in my mind are fairly close to being the same type of ball clubs this NBA season. That being… two teams who won’t make the playoffs, but are probably too good to be tanking shamelessly.
Clearly… the OU game will be my first priority watch since they actually compete with the intent to win games, but both the Thunder and the Kings have entertaining players who if they played on legit NBA teams trying to win games instead of tanking would probably become NBA darlings from coast to coast.
I mean, from an entertainment standpoint basketball wise… Shai Gilgeous Alexander and former OU National Player of the Year Buddy Hield are fun to watch. But again when you calibrate the fact you don’t know if the Thunder are going to tank in the fourth period and lose intentionally it’s really kind of stupid paying to watch this bullshit.
When we got home from the Arkansas foilage trip the other night…I sat down and turned on the Thunder’s game versus New Orleans with the Thunder leading by nineteen points entering the final period..
That fourth period was some of the most horrific NBA basketball I’ve ever observed by two purported NBA teams in the same quarter of play.
As if each team was challenging the other to be worse and lose the game. Some of the play by Shai was laughable. He’s too good of a player to be wasting his carrer with this nonsense. It will at some point if not already diminish or thwart his potential as a player. Much like some of the nonsense Russell Westbrook was allowed to do in Oklahoma City ruined his overall game.
I don’t need that bullshit. I’m too old for that bullshit. Besides I’ve adopted Golden State, Miami, and the sneaky Memphis Grizzlies as my three adopted NBA teams this season.
Plus, I’ve got Porter Moser’s ball club to watch…in as much as it appears they’re trying to get better and acheive some team goals other than losing games by design.
What does America mean to me? I means I was fortunate enough to be born an American and had opportunitities of which billions of other humans on the globe have not been able to experience.
Our freedoms weren’t just given to us without great sacrifices made by others. Our American soul has been challened throughout our history. We live in the greatest democracy in the history of the world and it literally made me ill on January 6th when I saw our own people not only assault our democracy, but as well display utter disdain towards the greatest document for Freedom ever written…the U.S. Constitution.
Being an American to me also means the rest of the world is looking at us and hoping we continue to be the voice and shining example of what it means to live a life where you can not only be free, but you can dream to be your best and help others along the way dream of being their best.
These three paragraphs above are why I never in any way connected with Donald Trump in my realm of thought of what it means to be an American.
But to my credit… I’m certain every U.S. President from Grover Cleveland to Joe Biden would nod their head in agreement with me as to what I’ve written above on what it means to be an American.
If you served our country in the pursuit of liberty and freedom… Thank you.
So…given the forecast of storms last night my wife and I decided to hit the road northwest to Fayeteville, Arkansas with the hope of catching the fall colors at peak just before the storms rolled thru last night.
In all candor this video I’ve put on here doesn’t do justice to what we saw on our tour yesterday from Siloam Springs thru the northwest outskirts of Fayeteville to our final destination of Lake Sequoyah just east of the epic White River.
The colors were a stunning combination of peak red, orange, and yellow. We couldn’t have been luckier the way we held off all the way to November 10th to make this trek.
This was our first time to make this trip since the pandemic and the little Amish bakery where we usually buy something was closed….which was sad. But our favorite Italian restaurant in Siloam Spring…Mrs. Z’s Italian Kitchen was still open. It was great and thriving as usual. Nothing goes better with a foilage drive than a chicken parm or chicken marsala.
The college town of Fayetteville is probably where my wife and I are going to co-live at some point. Our family is building a home on a mountain overlooking Lake Sequoyah and is just getting started. It may take two years. No big hurry.
But that will time out perfectly as the Sooners at that point we would hope are playing in the same SEC West pod with the Arkansas Razorbacks, Missouri Tigers, and pathetic non-SEC worthy Texas Longhorns.
My wife asked, ” Won’t you miss having an NBA team twenty minutes away?”
I replied, ” Don’t think so…given we haven’t had NBA caliber basketball in Oklahoma City since Kevin left to go play with Klay and Steph. If what we’re seeing right now from Presti is any indication of the Thunder’s ‘sustainable’ future…I’ll be getting on the Porter Moser’s hoops train and not looking back with much regret.”
I then added, “My main concern will be if Alabama goes after Lincoln Riley when Saban retires.”
I still find it completely awesome that Oklahoma City could ever have an NBA team which made it to the NBA Finals in 2012, but you can’t live in the past. It’s always moving forward.
Let’s be blunt…Sam Presti without KD is like Belichick without Tom Brady. Player made the coach/GM. Just saying.
For an older guy like me…Fayetteville be will be perfect. Of course…I’ll still bleed Crimson, but what will happen is that Arkansas sports will become my next favorite program except when it’s an OU- Arkansas matchup.
There’s just something I find very alluring about living just outside of a college town like Fayetteville with world class fishing of every sort around you….plus the great food and inherit beauty of the rolling hills of Northwest Arkansas.
Arkansas is called the Natural State and it pretty much is. I’ll have to see if I can find my old White River trout guide who used to be Bill Clinton’s barber. We’ll have alot to talk about after the four years of the grifter pos Trump’s dictatorial abuse of our constitution.
There’s another lit Italian restaurant in Eureka Springs… I’ll review it next time we’re back.
The winter fishing at Lake Sequoyah is pretty good. So next time back in a month or so I’ll have a Mike’s Travel Bolg entry on wintertime fishing under the bridge at Lake Sequoyah with emphasis on catching black crappie… plus the eggplant parmesan review from Eureka Springs.
And…there’s a holiday X-Mas light display on campus I’ll have to put on my travel blog before Christmas Day.
Sam Presti left me no choice. I have to diversify the blog since no one apparently knows if the Thunder are trying to win, trying to lose, or thinking of moving the team at some point.
It is what is as far as the Thunder…but it’s always moving forward for me. Mike never looks back.
There’s no need for me to look at the second poll at this point. OU is an undefeated Power 5 team with perhaps the most exciting/influential player in the country playing the most important position on the field.
OU like O State controls its own destiny. Win out and it doesn’t matter what the Committee behind closed doors think about OU.
OU’s defense needs to play better for certain, but moreso for the fact of running the table and then being a viable opponent versus either Georgia or Alabama in a national semi-finals game.
I have no angst whatsover against Georgia or Alabama. I actually admire what Saban has done at Alabama and every OU fan with any honesty attached would agree with that admiration of what Alabama has done the past decade in college football.
The Big 10 is a different story. For the most part the Big 10 is a collection of tea sippers. Again takeaway the Cinderella Cardale Jones story back in 2014 when Captain Lapdance was running the Buckeyes and tell me what else the Big 10 in the College Football Playoff Era has done besides the Buckeyes getting smoked 52-24 by Alabama in last season’s national championship game.
We can take a recess if you need the time to organize your thoughts before answering the question, Big 10 posers.
How’d that NCAA Basketball Tournament go for you last spring? That’s what I thought. We know how it went. Your teams were irrelevant in March Madness. Baylor, Gonzaga, UCLA, and Houston turned out to be relevant.
Share with me the rich trail of success Michigan has had with Jim Harbaugh running the Wolverine ship. Share with me what happened this past weekend to Spartan Nation versus Purdue.
In a court of law you’d be laughed out of the courtroom defending the Big 10’s claim to be in the same discussion as Alabama and their SEC companions.
If Georgia’s first ranked defense can carry their poll position then I would ask of Your Honor and the Committee how could you exclude a 12-1 Oklahoma State team which just beat Oklahoma twice and has the nation’s third ranked total defense?
Your Honor…please remind the Committee they’re under oath and to answer the question knowing the penalty for perjury.
The penalty is the Committee would be exposed as a group of Big 10 poser wannabees with an acute case of Alabama-SEC penis envy.
Truth hurts.
The end. OU and O State both control their own destinies as long as they keep winning.
Lose a game…not so much.
Bob Bowlsby…do your job. This is what you should be saying if not for departing OU then for Big 12 staying O State. DO YOUR JOB.
Mike Gundy, dude….I don’t know how all this happened, but somehow I became Boone’s spiritual portal of sorts to communicate with you. He’s the one pushing me to write the book….Mullet King: The Boone Pickens-Mike Gundy Saga.
I told him though if you beat OU twice I’m changing the title of the book to Mike Gundy: His Own Man.
Boone wants me to point out… you haven’t rung any bells since 2011 and he thinks you owe him a couple.
So…Mike Gundy…it’s time for you and your football team to ring a couple of bells this football season.