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I like Mike Boynton.

He seems like a genuinely good human being. In reality… he never had a chance at Oklahoma State because he got the job after Mike Holder chased off Brad Underwood to the University of Illinois because of money.

Mike Boynton didn’t win enough at a school which hasn’t won much at basketball since the glory days of Coach Eddie Sutton.

Sean Sutton didn’t win enough. Travis Ford didn’t win enough. Mike Boynton didn’t win enough.

Brad Underwood won enough in his one season in Stillwater, but opted to head to Illinois because AD Mike Holder went the cheap route.

It is what it is.

In the era of NIL and the transfer portal you better have a couple a mini-Boones or Stan Clarks or donors who are passionate about Oklahoma State basketball.

The same could be said for Porter Moser and his NIL program at OU. These are different times in football and mens basketball. A coach needs the tools to be competitive.

So what now needs to take place in Stillwater in regards to mens’ basketball is a serious committment to the sport. Period.

I have no idea who that coach should be unless Bill Self has the ultimate mid-life awakening and decides there’s more to life than trying to feed the Monster in Lawrence.

I mean, yeah, Bill Self would be excellent coming back to his alma mater, but other than that scenario…I haven’t a clue on the next head coach at O State.

Mike Boynton will be fine.

Not a doubt in my mind.

MJ

I love Chris. He almost became a neighbor of ours back when the New Orleans team played here two years after Katrina. OMG… that would have been cool.

Instead… we got a sychotic young married couple across the street. Whenever they had a fight…the wife would crank up the John Deere tractor and in her nightgown start mowing the lawn at two in the morning. Swear to God.

I probably made a mistake in telling her I was a graduate of the Bob Jackson School of Law in that she actually followed some of my advice. Que sera.

I love the fact Chris t’ed up the zebra. I could see myelf doing this in a heartbeat if I were NBA Hall of Famer.

I’m sure Chris is frustrated in the way this season has gone for the Warriors. With Steph sitting due to the ankle and Draymond getting a night off for no reason I can asertain….the Dubs finally wore out at Dallas and lost.

The Warriors now stand 34-31 and appeared destined to be either the 9th or 10th seed in the West. I read some bullshit about some recent comments from Draymond on his podcast in regard to comparing Steve Kerr’s handling of Steph in relation to Mark Jackson when he coached the Dubs.

Really…. Draymond…you stupid motherfucker! You’ve sabotaged the last two Warrior seasons and that’s your hot take on your piece of shit podcast.

I watched four NBA games simultaneously last night on NBA Centre Court and am very pround to announce that ‘my’ hometown Denver Nuggets, the hottest team in the NBA since the All-Star break…won at Miami to pass the still developing Oklahoma City Thunder as the No. 1 seed in the West.

Note to Sam Presti and his little leashed puppy dog coach….please keep playing Josh Giddy and Gordon Hayward togther as much as possible down the stretch.

Have a beautiful Thursday.

MJ

We had a great week-end with the grandchildren. It was exhausting, yet awesome. It’s taken me two days to recoup, but I think I’m okay now. Now…I’m ready to get in my March Madness Hoops state of mind. But for this week as the basketball landscape is littered with conference tournaments which don’t interest me…..I’m watching NBA games only in an effort to get in a groove heading into the goal acheiving portion of the NBA season.

What I mean by goal acheiving….that time of the year when winning matters.

So… I’ve watched two games this week already. Last night, I watched the Thunder get handled at home by the Indiana Pacers. Indiana is a nice little team which thrives playing up tempo, but the Thunder in reality aren’t good enough to beat this team without the uber-athletic JDubb Williamswho was missing due to an ankle injury.

That’s it. Plus…it appeared Shai pressed with the absence of JDubb and had one of his worst games of the Thunder games I’ve actually taken the time to watch since they’re my sixth favorite team in the NBA as of this writing.

I’ve listened a bit to the Thunder fanbase lament this loss on the Sports Animal this morning…..and here’s what I would say, “Yes…Gordon Hayward and Josh Giddy are both white guys who are laterally slow defending players and probably should never be on the floor together, but I wouldn’t let this loss keep me awake at night.”

Fact of the matter is…JDubb is a freak and in reality might be the Thunder’s best player.

As far as the second game I’ve watched this week…it was my Golden State Warriors beating the Spurs on the road by a 112-102 count without Steph. Great game to watch with Johnny Kuminga, Klay, Chris Paul, and Brandin P leading the way.

Steph should be back for ABC’s Saturday Game of the Week vs. the Lakers. The Warriors are actually a nice little team to watch right now. Nothing great for certain, but a fun team to watch with all the kids on the roster beginning to carve out their roles.

What a poster of Wemby by Trace in this game! Maybe the play of the year for the Warriors considering all of which has transpired.

Tonight…I think I’ll watch the Warriors without Steph versus the Dallas Mavs.

Have a nice day of spring warmth in Oklahoma.

MJ

This normally might have been a good time for me to cover the underbranded OKC Thunder versus the always tough Miami Heat here on the award winning blog, but we have our grandchildren here at the Deer Creek mini-ranch for a four day week-end.

Truth is…my heart is more with the Heat than the Thunder. I agree with CBS Sports….the OKC Thunder are in a huge way in need of a rebrand and a rethink as to how to rebrand this splendid collection of young players. You can only go so far as being the team representing domestic terrorism and fake Trump Christianity. Clearly….CBS Sports and myself are on the same page on this this one.

Anal Sam Presti needs to loosen things up a bit and at the least hire a media relations person more in tune with the reality of the age in which we live.

First thing he should do is break his affilliation with the extremely subservient Daily Thunder and point his team’s followers towards the NY Timesish okcthunderground.com. At the least….the reading level of his fanbase might climb a few notches. Just a first step thought.

It is what it is though.

What a four day week-end so far…Robert (4) and Aubrey (3) went on trail hike with me this morning along Deer Creek in the mist looking for mountain lion tracks. My wife told us not to go, but we blew that thought off and pretended we couldn’t hear her. She reluctantly joined us from behind.

For all you you young guys outh there who want to stay married 42 years like El Prez has done….hear this… there are times you must fake not hearing your wife and do exactly what you had in a mind from the beginning.

‘Couldn’t hear you, honey. My hearing isn’t what it used to be. Sorry, hun.”

Anyway… we saw a track which ‘could’ have been that of a mountain lion. We’re going back out at dusk for another hike and then doing a bond fire along the creek on one of my various creek fire pits.

Being a grandfather is so cool. I can’t believe I’ve made it this far. It all went so fast.

Sam Presti…start thinking about the rebrand, dude. You’ve got three dudes you need to keep this time around.

MJ

I’ve been extremely busy the last week attending the Seminole Caucus and watching three OU basketball games which all went down to the wire. Plus, doing lots of hard labor out here at the ranch in Deer Creek as spring has thrust upon us.

OU’s home basketball seasons are over…so I’m ready to direct my energy towards other matters.

Those being fishing, some hiking, working on my golf swing, March Madness, the Golden State Warriors, the Denver Nuggets, and this pathetic replay of another Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden presidential race.

The OKC Thunder will remain a secondary beat for me even though they’ve clearly had a remarkable season so far.

Why?

Because Sam Presti has shown me he’s so anal in his approach to team building I don’t think he addressed any of his team’s weaknesses at the trade deadline.

He made three moves which to me were at best all lateral and he doesn’t appear to have come to the realization Josh Giddy ins’t one of his eight best basketball players. I know Presti is a smart guy, but I just think when it matters he won’t be able to adjust Giddy’s role when the games actually mean something. We’ll see.

As far as the Seminole Caucus…I was pleasantly surprised. There were 17 partcipants. The voting went this way…. Nikki Haley 7 votes, Donald Trump 6 votes, Joe Biden 2 votes, Bernie Sanders 1 vote, and Vlad Putin 1 vote.

We debated on the Vlad Putin vote, but decided since Donald Trump is remarkably once again the GOP’s candidate then in no way should a ruthless dictator such as Putin not be allowed on the Seminole Caucus vote sheet.

I voted for Nikki Haley.

What will I do now?

No way in hell would I ever vote for for the posterchild of pathological sociopaths….so I’ll have to blaze my own trail.

I’ll probably write in Liz Cheney and Adam Kensinger… would be my guess. What a quaint notion…two politicians who actually voted their conscience and did the right thing.

Experienced. Bright. Articulate. The right age. Nikki Haley never had a chance. As in… she never had a chance. It is what it is.

I’m going to seriously get started on my NBA blogging ‘maybe’ tomorrow morning. There’s so much to blog about.

Have a wonderful Thursday.

MJ

I have a very busy Saturday on slate today. I will be attending a fish-fry cookout, Birthday party….presidential caucus today in Seminole, Oklahoma. Then…later I will be driving to Norman from Seminole to sit behind Coach Porter Moser’s bench to cheer on the Sooners as they upset the No. 1 ranked Houston Cougars.

I’m calling it despite the Sooners’ abysmal play in Ames on Wednesday.

My disgust for the GOP and Donald Trump is obvious, but my disgust for the Dems is growing by the day as I witness their ineptitude. This ineptitude is why in the year 2000 when I left the GOP I became an Independent and not a member of the weak sister Democratic party.

So later today in rural Oklahoma….I will courageously be casting my vote for Ambassador Haley. Call it a profile in courage… if you will.

That’s it for me today. I need to get going and hit the road.

Have a wonderful Saturday as Oklahoma will heat up to a beautiful 79 degrees later today.

I need an energy song. This one never fails me.

Peace.

MJ

Thank you… Basketball Gods.

This has taken me 24 hours to come down from one of my highest moments ever as a fan of basketball at any level. I will admit as a Stage 4 cancer survivor who was told last March he wouldn’t make it to the 2023 NBA Finals… this was special. These young women have been special to me for what they just accomplished.

This was the perfect game for me to be a part of in person at courtside at this juncture in my life. I will admit I have fallen in love with this OU team as each week has passed, and what they stand for in regards to how they play the game and compete to the very end.

I’m almost speechless, as if that were possible.

The love and respect I have for this team is immense. They don’t need to do anything else for me.

On December 22nd… this team lost at home to Southern 79-70 to fall to 6-5 heading into the Christmas break before the start of the Big 12 season. The thought of ‘that’ team becoming ‘this’ team which since ‘that’ game is 15-2 and repeat Big 12 champions is the thing sports dream seasons are all about.

This team had no business winning this Big 12 Championship, and yet here I sit blogging with an incredible feeling of warmth in my heart for what I had the privilege to witness this Big 12 basketball season.

This absurd 71-70 win over No. 3 Texas was a micro of what this season has been about for these Sooners. They trailed basically the entire game and repeatedly fought back from several double digit deficits. They played uphill for forty minutes.

If one looked at the stat sheet or watched the first 39:30 of this game they’d say no way.

But with these young women, they basically said as a team, “Way.”

With 4.5 seconds left and after a wild scramble… my favorite female basketball player in the world, Lexy Keys, splashed a left corner three pointer to catapault the Sooners from 70-68 down to an improbable 71-70 stunner.

OU’s best player, Skylar Vann had a tough night. But here’s the thing about this team, sophmore Payton Verhulst, the player with Jennie and Lexy at the presser, just basically stepped up and carried the team up until midway third period to keep OU somewhat in this game.

It was that type of game. This type of season.

I may or may not go to Kansas City and watch the Sooners. I’m not sure yet.

We’ll see.

Either way, thank you for the beautiful basketball season.

MJ

I got back from Denver yesterday and it took all of 24 hours to get my legs back. We had a blast with the grandchildren and it was pretty much nonstop grandparenting Bedlam for eight days. Robert (4) and and Aubrey (3) were awesome.

Denver has pretty much become my favorite city…Deer Creek, Oklahoma ….not as much. I mean…culturally it’s like going from Hee Haw to the Boston Pops. There’s just so much to do. Never a dull moment. I hate to sound selfish…but I hope the kids stay in Denver so we can start visiting every month or so since I’m now cancer free and retired at the same time.

Other than the Bedlam win by OU at Stillwater… I did not watch or follow ANY sporting event for eight days. This is like a record for me since I was probably five years of age.

I didn’t watch any political news as well. Which was healing for me. A refresh if you will. It’s so nice nice being in Denver where people actually read books and don’t think Donald Trump is the second coming of Teddy Roosevelt or even Bush 41. So nice to be in a city where people actually frown upon the hanging of the vice-president… or the wanton killing of law enforcement officers. So nice to not have a former cage fighter serving as one of your U.S. senators.

I think you get the picture. At least Jon Stewart is back on Monday nights.

So basketball-wise it’s time for me to get with it a little bit today. The Warriors are at Washington today and the red-hot Thunder are at Houston tonight in a nationally televised game on TNT versus the Houston Rockets. These Thunder games on national televison are like a drug for me. It’s so nice to get an escape from the homery drivel expounded by Michael Cage, Little Nick Gallo and Boring Royce Young. These ecceptional young Thunder players desreve so much better than this bullshit.

From this point on with the Thunder…if I do in fact watch another Thunder game on that network…I will have to drink two Bloody Marys before tip just to get through the ordeal of the audio portion of the telecast.

Anyway…I’m glad Javian was clutch in overtime because OU seriously needed that road win to help its overall NCAA Net Ranking for the selection committee. On the video it appears that a very obese Cowboy dressed in bright orange was a tad upset when the Sooners celebrated in front of him. I guess the Orange Kip’s Big Boy expected another Drake Stoops tackle non interference call or something of the like. Que sera, Whopper Boy.

Hang in there O State fans….there’s always wrasslin’ and Viktor Hovland golf tournaments.

Enjoy the rest of this gorgeous Tuesday before the northerner hits sometime later this evening.

Cherish every day.

MJ

Man, oh, man, oh, man. I’ve sat back here at the okcthunderground.com studio and tried to restrain myself on this one, but given the spectacle/ debacle I witnessed this week in Fulton County… I cannot remain silent any longer.

Let me start with this…Ms. Willis, you must be kidding me. You cannot be serious. Perhaps in the world of the far left cupcakes who live in the make believe world of Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow this shitshow you and your boyfriend Nathan Wade have given us this week is called political courage and drama.

I don’t think so, Ms. Willis…. what Judge Jackson sees here are two lawyers who for reasons of greed, bad sex, and wanton bad judgment have ruined a gut cinch conviction in this Donald Trump obstruction case.

Are you serious? You called your elderly father to the stand carrying a ten dollar bill with him playing the racist card….cry me a river.

This WAS a strong case. Three different WHITE, MALE, REPUBLICANs, put their balls on the chopping block for you in this case and in return you and your boyfriend have turned this case into a shitshow case which seems more in tune with something Donald Trump would be involved with.

You and your boyfriend should not only be removed from this case, but you should also be given a public warning from the Georgoa State Bar Association for your completely unprofessional handling of this case.

If it were up to me…both of you would be remanded to municipal court duties for a year.

Save your faux anger for the hopeless zombies on MSNBC who sadly mistake anything on that network as responsible news coverage.

MSNBC as a news outlet should be taken as seriously as FOX ‘news’ Network. That being, if you put Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O’Donnell in an elevator what you would have is an elevator devoid of one single serious political journalist.

Ms. Willis, please view the video above from my associate Judge Dan and please observe this Court isn’t a freak show like the one at MSNBC.

The Honorable Judge Jackson

This made me cry, but in a very good way. This season has been a brutal struggle for Klay and the Warriors. Draymond losing his mind. Andrew Wiggins’ up and down play. The death of an assistant coach who was loved by his players. Plus, a multitude of injuries.

As we hit the All-Star break the Warriors are one game above five hundred and in the tenth position heading towards the goal acheiving portion of the season.

These Warriors have pissed away so many games with mentally loose play its too much for me to deal with at this point.

But here’s the thing moving forward…it appears the Christmas elves did indeed find a way to repair Draymond. Johnny Kuminga has evoled into this beautiful butterfly of a player and become a star. The rookie Brandin P has been good enough to replace Klay as a starter.

Young guys like Moses Moody, Lester Q, and Trace Jackson-Davis embrace their place as roles players. Gary Payton Jr. is finally healthy. Dario and Kevon the Moral Compass can fill alternative needs at the center position in situational situations when Draymond needs a blow at the starting center slot.

Of course there’s the best shooting guard in the history of the sport of basketball named Steph Curry as well.

And now maybe…Klay becoming the Sixth Man at this juncture of his basketball journey.

I think the goal for the Warriors has to be like last season and to strive to work their way back up to the sixth seed if possible. The Warriors have the third easiest remaining schedule in the NBA. They open the back half of the season with sixth very winnable home games. These guys have to be locked in and make a move right there and then. Even with the blown game against the Clippers the other night…these Warriors have won eight of their last ten.

As far as the Thunder podcast…I’ve decided to pass. They’re my fifth favorite team in the West. There’s no reason for me to have a podcast for my fifth favorite team. I don’t live and die Thunder games any longer. Heck…I probably only watch one out of three Thunder games even though they have the most exciting young team in the league.

They lost me even though their future the next three years appears to be incredible. Maybe its more than just the team. Maybe its partly the whole Trump phony fake Christian aura the whole city seems to embrace.

I mean, in 1995, the bombing of the Murrah Building was the most heinous act of domestic terrorism in the history of the United States. So how could it be these very same people embrace a dubious domestic terrorist like Donald Trump by an almost 80% plurality. I just cannot connect those dots. Maybe I should call Sam Anderson and have him explain it to me.

If your heart is not there…it’s just not there. My basketball ball heart is elsewhere.

We’re heading off to the Rockies to be with our grandchildren and I’m going to take a break from basketball for several days. Even from both of the Sooner teams.

Have a great All-Star break.

MJ