Revisting OKC’s Origins With Sam Anderson

I’m a voracious reader. I treasure a well told story either in fiction or non-fiction form. Back in August, I read and then posted about Sam Anderson’s book titled Boom Town. I simply love the book and not because it loosely has the Thunder associated with it. But more for the wonderful portrait of this town I live near called Oklahoma City.

I think for anyone who is either a Thunder fan or someone interested in a great story about the history of a city this is a book you shouldn’t pass on. It has everything you’d want in regards to the regional history of Oklahoma City.

The book describes not only the history of the city, but gives a genuine feel for the decency of the people in Oklahoma City. It also takes a fair-minded approach in dealingwith the shortcomings of the city as well.

I have no idea how many copies sold in the Oklahoma City area, but I would hope every Oklahoman who resides in central Oklahoma takes the time to read it at some point.

At first thought, you might consider a story about Oklahoma City to be boring. But quite the opposite is true, the book delves into every possible fabric of the city and is a model for how a story about urban renewal in relation to other cities in the United States should be told..

Anderson had me at page one and I read this history of Oklahoma City with the same page turning speed as if I were reading a bestseller by John Grisham or Michael Lewis.

The book genuinely reads like a novel.

As I continue with my personal journey on my blog–I might every now and then reference this book because I think any person who has an interest in the Oklahoma City Thunder would be well served to read this book and learn how it all came into being…. and how this city came into being as well.

Thunder Have Just Enough to Get Past Memphis, 99-95

Hopefully, for the Thunder’s sake this was their last game without the services of MVP candidate Paul George. These games without George were painful to watch and an acute reminder of how much this Thunder team is reliant upon his skills on both ends of the floor.

With 6:54 left in the game, the Thunder at home somehow found themselves trailing by 13 points against a bad Memphis team which didn’t have Mike Conley and Jaren Jackson available on the night.

The Thunder played uphill the entire night and seemed to lack any energy to that point, but finally got some spark from Ray Felton and Abdel Nader to get the crowd into the game and eventually Russell Westbrook showed some interest in the outcome of the game.

Westbrook had another tough night going 7-20 scoring 22 points, but in the fourth period he did score 12 points and gave the Thunder just enough of a nudge to end their four game losing streak before embarking on the toughest nine game stretch of the season.

It was a tough game to watch. The building was dead inside until Felton and Nader created a spark, but in the end a win is a win and I would think every Thunder fan is clinging to the hope Paul George is ready to go on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.

Unbelievably, the Thunder actually moved back up to the No. 3 seed with the win. But if you look in their rear view mirror the Trailblazers, Rockets and Jazz are all poised to make a move with 19 games left in the regular season.

The toughest week of the regular season awaits the Thunder in this next sequence of road games, but if the Thunder could just go 2-2 there is the thought ten of their last fifteen games are at home with Paul George back in the lineup.

The Thunder in Minnesota on Tuesday to play the Wolves.

SNL Mocks Wilder Moments From Trump CPAC Speech

Elvis and Ted Cruz’s father have landed on the Magical Mystery Tour runway. Sarah Palin has found her soulmate. I read Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, but I don’t remember the flag hugging part.

What do you even say when you witness this from a sitting POTUS?

And then of course there was this in Iowa in 2016 as Trump kicked off his run to the White House as the candidate of the Religious Right. For some reason…we never saw Sarah again either in New Hampshire or anywhere else after this speech.

This is one I’ll keep to myself around my Trump friends.

Thunder Without Paul George Aren’t a Playoff Team

This was a game which was very tough to watch. In fact, at every opportunity possible I found myself clicking over and watching the Warriors beat the Sixers in what was a great ABC feature game.

The Thunder lost their fourth straight game to a Spurs team which isn’t all that great and lost by a count of 116-102 in a game which really wasn’t ever close.

It was the second straight game which Paul George missed due to a sore shoulder and for the second straight game the Thunder looked lost on both ends of the court. Russell Westbrook may be the engine of this team, but clearly Paul George is the steering wheel and brakes of a team which looks markedly worse without him on the floor.

But of course the Thunder should look worse because they gave up Victor Oladipo and Domas Sabonis to acquire Paul George.

If Paul George doesn’t play tonight versus the Grizzlies…I’m not even sure the Thunder can pass this hurdle without their MVP candidate. Go beyond this Sunday game at home versus the Grizzlies and the schedule becomes murderous and stays murderous for the remaining nineteen games.

The question isn’t going to be if the Thunder fall to the No. 4 seed. The question is going to be if the Thunder fall all the way to the No. 6 seed or lower and find themselves playing on the road opening in the first round.

In this game the Thunder needed both Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroder to be really good. They weren’t really good. They sucked. Combined they went 13-32 from the field and scored a combined 37 points against a Spurs team which just went 1-7 on its annual West coast road swing. These aren’t Timmy Duncan’s Spurs. This is a Spurs team which could have issues of it’s own as in making the playoffs.

I don’t think Billy Donovan ever says all that much to his team or his stars. I’ll say it for him on my blog…”Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroder–step up.”

This is very simple for OKC tonight and beyond–if they have any intention whatsoever of being anything relevant this season…it might be the time to pull their head out of their ass and start playing some basketball. The All-Star break was over five games ago.

The Thunder host the Grizzlies tonight with both teams on the second night of a back to back.

Paul George, your team needs you.

Some guys on Facebook were talking about Pau Gasol going to Milwaukee. I kind of laughed about it because it made me remember when Gasol wouldn’t come to Oklahoma City to hook up with Durant and Westbrook because of the culture of Oklahoma City and such. And thinking of that made me think of this memorable Pau Gasol moment in the 2011 playoffs.

Westbrook Ignores Local College Media After Home Loss to Philly

This isn’t meant as an overt diss to out local college media which should be covering Big 12 games instead of the NBA, but when I see this versus how Westbrook deals with the national media it must be noted especially on a blog like mine which I hope tells it like is and leaves the ass kissing to others.

You can either assert Westbrook is rude or he has tired of fielding questions from the Big 12 scribes. I must admit, even though I think Westbrook is being rude, I’d roll my eyes at these people as well.

On this video there were eight questions asked of Russell. In reality, he only answered the three which were asked by Fox homer franchise employed Nick Gallo. The other five questions were in this order asked by…. Erik Horne, Royce Young, Maddie Lee, Berry Tramel and Erik Horne.

Westbrook did not even make an attempt to even somewhat address Tramel and the other four questions were not answered in a serious way.

Westbrook does not do this with the national media. Only with the Big 12 media playing grownup with the NBA Thunder.

Again, I think it’s rude and if were on the other side of this I’d say something and be expelled immediately and probably be without a job. But I post this today because on several fronts this to me says various things about Westbrook, the Thunder and the media in Oklahoma City.

Trust me here, I’m not defending Westbrook’s petulant behavior, but I think in a different city he wouldn’t get away with this.

Nolan Arenado Signs Record Deal With Rockies

I won’t usually put much baseball on my blog until October, but being my favorite MLB player, Nolan Arenado, just this week signed a record deal for positioned players I think this warrants an exception especially since the Thunder are getting ready to experience a massively tough stretch these next twenty-one games.

Like I wrote on here earlier, I was a decent baseball player and third baseman up until my junior year in high school when I was switched to left field in order to get another good bat in our lineup. There was no DH back then so I gladly embraced the switch to the outfield to make our team stronger offensively. I’ve always had a place in my heart for third basemen. Of course, as a kid, it was for me Brooks Robinson at third and Roberto Clemente in right field who were my two favorite ball players. They still are my two favorite players at those positions.

One of the great things about MAPS in Oklahoma City was the construction of the baseball park in Bricktown. It’s excellent and was actually modeled after Camden Yards in Baltimore. OKC’s affiliation with the LA Dodgers top AAA team has been perfect for me. The Dodgers, who have been in the last two World Series, have run quite a few of their current major league players thru Oklahoma City. I even almost caught a home run ball hit off Clayton Kershaw in the left centerfield grass area when Kershaw made a one game rehab appearance. A little kid dashed in front of me before I could get my hands on it. Unlike Westbrook—I didn’t lecture the kid. Nice moment for him.

With my son now living in Denver it was perfect for me as a baseball fan to now have a close venue to go see some games with my son at Coors Field in downtown Denver. My favorite contemporary third baseman is none other than the Rockies Nolan Arenado so does it get any better for me.

Nolan just this week signed an eight year deal to reup with the Rockies for $260 million and he has an option after the third year. So, again, perfect for me.

Nolan has finished in the top five of the MVP race in each of the last three seasons. He’s a .290, 40 home run, 110 RBI guy who just basically wins the Gold Glove every season. Even Brooks Robinson never puts up these type of numbers.

My son took me to Game 162 last season on the last day of the season with the Rockies battling the Dodgers for the division title. On this day though it was the Washington Nationals at Coors Field playing what my son and I knew would be Bryce Harper’s last game in a National’s uniform.

Just an epic day. The Rockies won the game 14-1 to force a one game playoff with the Dodgers the next day, Bryce Harper hit two massive doubles, and Nolan Arenado hit two of the most towering home runs I’ve ever witnessed. Just a perfect day with my son.

I can’t wait for this season to begin and I hope to at the minimum to make at least three trips during the season to see Nolan and the Rockies play at Coors Field.

This was nice to take a break from the Thunder. Baseball is such a different experience and to me completely a part of American culture.

Philly Sixers End Dubious Streak Over Fading Thunder, 108-104

In a distant, almost surreal sort of way…it was a Battle of the Sams. One in the flesh with Presti and one in ghost form with Hinkie. There was this absurd streak of the Thunder with Westbrook somehow coming into this game with nineteen straight wins over the same franchise which gave us one of Wilt’s championships in the 60’s– and another one with Moses and Dr. J in the 80’s. Somehow, someway, this franchise with so much history and lore attached to it arrived at the Peake with the ghost of Hinkie still clinging to it… yet ended the dubious streak with a rather easy 108-104 win over the fading Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night inside the Peake.

These Sixers were without this generation’s version of Wilt in Joe Embiid and were without their second center as well in Boban M. But it didn’t matter because the Thunder were without serious MVP candidate Paul George…and to be frank… these Thunder for the most of the night looked lost without Kevin Durant’s successor to being Russell Westbrook’s enabler.

You could look at this in two different ways. You could look at this game as a serious endorsement of Paul George’s MVP resume or you could view it as validation for Kevin Durant leaving on July 4th, 2016.

It’s your choice.

It was a prime example of why Russell Westbrook is probably never going to win a ring unless someone eventually gets inside his head and explains to him this is basketball .. not a one-hundred yard dash. It’s a game which requires nuance and a change of pace here and there. It’s not a game of always leading with your face like Rocky Balboa.

In 2012, Scott Brooks still hadn’t gotten this across to Russel Westbrook, but he slid James Harden over to the point in a somewhat masked version of co-pilot point guards. It worked enough to get the Thunder to their only Finals before losing to the Heat in five games.

We’re now in the year 2019 and Durant is in Oakland with two rings, two Finals MVP trophies and at the least the self awareness he made the right choice even if some hate him for the decision he made.

If I were Durant, I wouldn’t worry about it. I’d keep working hard and the legacy will take care of itself eight years from now. I would however try to mend my fence with Westbrook and not be a dickhead moving down the road.

As far as Westbrook…not winning anything from a team standpoint doesn’t apparently bother him. He’ll go down in history as the triple double king of all-time with one regular season MVP, two All-Star MVPs, a regular season scoring title, and one appearance in an NBA Finals back in 2012 when the basketball world thought a dynasty was on the horizon for the Boom Town Thunder.

As Sam Anderson all so well knows…this is a saga which is Oklahoma oil field to the core. Boom or bust. Yet with Presti—you can’t say even with Durant gone it’s bust in Oklahoma City… you can just cling to the comfort of the Doctrine of Sustainability and the feeling in your gut the Thunder aren’t ever winning anything until Russell Westbrook can nuance his game and seamlessly shift the pace gear shift when needed.

Scott Brooks and Kevin Durant never crossed this bridge with Westbrook . We have twenty-one regular season games left to see if Billy Donovan and Paul George can cross this bridge with Westbrook in the 2019 regular season.

I’m not holding my breath. Change is a hard thing. The Thunder in San Antonio tomorrow night.