Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

It was opening night for the much ballyhooed starts to Chet and Wemby’s opening nights. But a funny thing happened on their way to the Basketball Hall of Fame…both Derek Lively and Cason Wallace looked more NBA ‘real game’ ready than Chet and Wemby.

With the exception of being benched for a bit and having his ankles broken by Andre Drummond…Chet was okay. Likewise…Wemby was okay, but nothing special. It’s going to take some time for both of these guys with their frail bodies to be able to figure out space and time creation with their frail frames. But I would suspect both should show flashes of brillance here and there as they find their ways with their unique body shapes.

If I remember this correctly the Thunder actually drafted Lively from Duke and then swapped with the Dallas Mavs to pick Wallace. I had alot going on then, you know, fighting for my life and then emerging as a Stage 4 cancer survivor… but I think that’s the way it went down.

I may need to hit the Daily Thunder messageboard today and clarify that transaction with ‘Justin the Russian bot from Miami’. He should be here being my pupil and/or assistant like Molly is with Stephen A on First Take, but the glit and glom of being Little Nick Gallos’s second in command was too much to resist.

Just sayin’. Truth hurts.

As far as the Thunder’s lopsided romp last night…Shai was sublime and may move up on my current Top 8 NBA Players list if the Thunder can finish in the top six in the West and win a first round series.

The Chicago Bulls were brutal last night…as in BRUTAL. I would suspect or think if the Bulls play another couple of games at this level that former Florida Gator coach Billy Donovan, like Scott Brooks, will become a former NBA head coach as well.

Not a great time to be a sports fan in Chicago.

Anyway…I need to work out and then get ready to depart to southeast Oklahoma for a combo bass/crappie fishing afternoon and a foilage tour. And maybe hit the famous little Italian restaurant down there.

Life is good. Make sure and see some foilage this next week as we hit peak color.

Peace.

MJ

What a great night of sport as the Arizona Diamondbacks punched their ticket to the World Series by beating the heavily favored Philadelphia Philles on the road in Game 7. Arizona and the Texas Rangers will now meet in the World Series which begins on Friday night. If you had a ticket in Vegas before the season to have these two highly unlikely foes meeting in the Fall Classic…congrats because that would be a heckuva pick.

Now… on to the two NBA season openers.

The defending champ defending champ Denver Nuggets easily dispatched of the LA Lakers in a game in which once again the grotesquely overpaid Anthony Davis went poof into the night in the second half. I’ll even go a step further… behind LeBron’s solid play in 29 minutes it could once again be said Austin Reaves in fact might have been the Lakers’ second best player in this game.

As you well know, I love Austin Reaves from his days of being a Big 12 First Teamer at OU, but the fact of the matter is that if Anthony Davis can’t remove the passive-submissive parts of his basketball game these Lakers will not be all that much in this NBA basketball season.

Here’s some more Austin Reaves love on my blog two weeks prior to the Bedlam Game….Austin went undrafted in the same draft in which Cade Cunningham was the first pick of the draft. To date…..Austin has had the more substantial NBA career.

And to think, the Wizard of Oz who runs the process for Clay Bennett could have had Austin with one of those second round pics of his, but has Lindy Waters instead. Fate can be fickle, eh? Speaking of karma and fate…I wonder what the chances are of USC coaching phenom Lincoln Riley going either 7-5 or 8-4 with Heisman winner Caleb William’s father as his new defensive coordinator?

Insert pic of Mike J smiling while frolicking at Bonnie Brae Park in Denver with the grandchildren playing soccer with a walker stripping the ball away from Robert and Aubrey. If only Anthony Davis had that TSNS he could be something special.

Anyway….if Denver stays away from serious injury to any of its first six core of Jokic, Jamal, Aaron, Michael, KCP, or Christian–I would have to pick Denver as my solid favorite to repeat as NBA champions.

No other team in the league from my perspective has a top two combo remotely close to Jokic and Jamal. Tell me who’s second in this regard.

Maybe the two kids in Boston, but they still posess damaged basketball souls from last season’s loss to the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. But we don’t know how much Jrue Holiday can repair those two tortured souls?

As far as the bench, it is true the Nuggets lost Bruce Brown to the Pacers, and Uncle Jeff to the Houston Rockets despite Coach Malone’s intoxicated plea for them to remain with Denver for the repeat effort. But the truth be told…. Reggie Jackson should be able to replace Bruce Brown and the young Zeke Nnaji could surprise as Jeff Green’s replacement.

As far as the Warriors’ close loss to the Phoenix Suns last night, I’ll say this about both teams….I don’t want to write anything further about either team on my blog until I see all the pieces in place on the floor. I have both Golden State and Phoenix in my Top 6 in the West, but I want to see Beal play with Kevin and Booker in a real game. And likewise, I want to see what the Warriors look like with Draymond and Chris Paul togther on the floor when it matters

I think I’ll now go see the Thunder play the Bulls in Chicago in Chet Holmgren’s first REAL NBA game.

MJ

Here’s the thing I’ve taken most from from my Stage 4 cancer situation…. Life is like a book per se. You have a prologue, the book itself which contains multiple chapters, and then you have an epilogue. The truth of the matter is I don’t know how many chapters I have left in my book.

I don’t know if I have enough chapters left to wait for Sam Presti and his ever evolving process to turn into something which might resemble a special or memorable NBA basketball season in Oklahoma City.

MJ the Book is somewhere in the epilogue. How many pages that epilogue is remains to be seen. I hope it’s a mega alpha epilogue, but I’ll just have to see.

I watched about five minutes of this Sam Presti pre-season presser and became hoplessly bored and stopped watching. I did like the line where Presti said, ” Some people don’t even know what they don’t know.” I like that.

I might insert that from time to time with the Berry Tramel Taco Bell line here on the modest blog which is getting ready to focus on the Golden State Warriors, LA Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, and Miami Heat.

You have to understand…when I spent Father’s Day week in Denver in the midst of the NBA championship parade it was like an epiphany for me. It was like God saying, ” Mike enjoy this. Carpa diem, bud. I’m looking out for you. You don’t have to follow that nuanced tanking bullshit any longer. I’m not sure how many pages you have left. My sway can sometimes be calibrated.”

I’m not at all upset with the Thunder. That 2012 season will be one for the ages which no real NBA fan should ever forget because freaking godforsaken OKLAHOMA CITY made the NBA Finals with Kevin Durant showing everyone in the basketball world it’s okay to dream big.

My take on the Thunder is this…I have no take. I have no projection what soever on how many games this still brutally young team might win this season in that the Western Conference has only one team in the Portland Trail Blazers who look to be worse than a season ago.

Here’s what I would say about the Thunder. This team has some fabulous young men who will provide many exciting minutes and maybe even challenge the Minnesota Timberwolves for second place in the Northwest Division. To me that would be a great acheivement for this Thunder group beyond the fact the Thunder still posess 15 first and 22 second round draft picks in the next seven years.

You see…I can write that above paragraph because I am smart enough to understand what it is I don’t know about what lurks in the recesses of Sam Presti’s basketball anal retentive mind.

So….the NBA season starts this week and my basketball heart will be shared in equal parts between the Golden State Warriors, the Denver Nuggets, Austin Reaves, and Jrue Holiday as a Boston Celtic.

But when the Thunder do something noteworthy… I will write about it on my completely honest underground blog which isn’t owned or steered by Little Nick Gallo and that bunch.

In closing, in thinking about this GOP Speaker of the House nonsense….you know what the Dems should do….they should nominate either Liz Cheney or Adam Kensinger and dangle these phony make believe conservatives and see who votes how on that ballot.

Peace.

MJ

I’ve been off my blog for a little over a week now because I’ve been equally distressed about Ukraine, Israel, and the MAGA movement in our own country.

From my perspective as of today (10/20/2023)….the three greatest threats to American democracy go in this order….1 Trump and the MAGA rabble, 2 China 3 Putin, and 4 Middle Eastern terrorist groups. But I clearly have Trump and his group of domestic terrorists at the top of my list.

Fifth on my list would be all of us, regardless of party, as a country coming to grips with our budgetary issues which must be addressed.

Here we sit a little over two weeks with the GOP House still leaderless…and these people just failed on a third ballot to elect the massively unqualified Jim Jordan as the Speaker of the House.

IF EVER there was a time for me to evoke the epic Berry Tramel Taco Bell quote on my blog this is it….’JUST BECAUSE YOU’VE WORKED AT A TACO BELL DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD BE MANAGING A TACO BELL.’

Good Lord… Jim Jordan doesn’t have enough smarts or character to manage a Sonic, a Taco Bell, or even a Pizza Hut…let alone to be the third living person in presidential succession.

Are you people in rural Oklahoma, Alabama, and Mississippi f–king kidding me?

Jim Jordan makes Steve Scalise look Chruchhill-esque.

The video above is House member Kathrine Clark from the state of Massachusetts. This speech was actually given nine months ago when Americans webt through this very same bullshit with the GOP House when it took them FIFTEEN ballots to confirm the very sketchy Kevin Mc Carthy to the Speaker’s position.

I just got off the phone with my Congresswoman Stephanie Bice and voiced my extreme disappointment with her third vote as of today to confirm Jim Jordan to the Speaker position.

As I stated…this vote should go in this order…. 1 country, 2 the individual’s integrity, and 3 party affliation.

God bless America and our precious democracy.

Please defend it.

MJ

I haven’t watched a sporting event since late Saturday night when it first became apparent to me what was going on in Israel. What a tragedy. This is horrible and will only get worse. It’s starting to resemble a Tom Clancy novel….and that’s not good. My prayers are with ALL of the innocent people in the region being swept into this.

As far as the Thunder…after seeing their ownership’s proposal numbers on the new arena in OKC…I will be writing very little about this franchise on my blog. I don’t take these guys seriously any longer. After Covid and the three years of tanking to present such a bullshit proposal to a city like Oklahoma City is as laughable as a Michael Cage hot take on a telecast. Or as laughable as Little Nick Gallo and the manner in which Royce Young sold out followers on his blog by taking a job with the Thunder.

But I will tell you this, on my blog..I will be completely fair and objective to the current players on the Thunder roster because they had no hand in this. They were drafted by this organization and will have to stay here at least until they hit their first TRUE free agency opportunities.

I don’t really have much to say yet in regards to Chet and Wemby, but as far as the Thunder… when I see exceptional yoing talent NBA talent I will be writing about it on my blog this NBA season.

And OKC has about six or seven young players who have a chance to be special even if they end up in Seattle or Las Vegas.

MJ

Best game of the season in college football this season, bar none. I mean, I have never seen a game have that much in the first quarter…ever.

Back and forth…ebb and flow, and yet Dillon Gabriel gets it done on a 75-yard drive in one minute with no timeouts to win perhaps the most meaningful Red River Rivalry in my lifetime.

I cried after the game. That was just awesome how Dillon put the Sooners on his back and said, “Boys, we’re not walking out of here today as losers. This is our day.”

That’s what I meaning about quarter-backing and leadership.

I could care care less about the polls. OU now has control of their own destiny moving forward.

I’m so proud of OU’s phsicality in this game. They hit Texas in the mouth from the opening play and never backed down.

We’re heading for a Sunday in Seminole and I need to decompress with day of family, maybe a litle fishing, a Dog Named Hank, and a great meal.

I feel blessed to have wathced that game yesterday.

I’m very proud of Coach Venables, Dillon, and every other member of the team. Extremely proud. Good thing we have an off week this week.

Have a beautiful Sunday and enjoy the win.

MJ

I spent the day at Integris yesterday getting blood labs and then two shots at the infusion room. Then got the honor of being photographed with a caramel poodle named Rodie who’s the the cancer karma dog at the Cancer Center. Then I had a killer workout. I think Megan is going to be my primary PT when I get to the point of my knee rehab beyond cancer. Fingers crossed. I need the fire.

This was another touching moment for me like when that kid and his mom gave me their lucky penny at North Park Mall.

It’s all about karma, baby.

Then I watched O State play extremely solid football as they have finally it appears settled in with the notion Alan Bowman is their starting QB. It’s all about QB play at the end of the day whether it’s the Big 12, the SEC, or the NFL, baby. Always. This is about leadership and who will follow that lead.

So off that paragraph….that’s who I think wins today in the Cotton Bowl.

Is it Ewers or Dillon Gabriel who elvate their games enough to LEAD their team not only to a 6-0 start, but to a crossroads to the place where both teams want to be at the goal acheiving part of the season in early December.

Gook luck to both teams.

May the better team prevail with honor.

BOOMER!

MJ

I’ve waited a bit to rethink the notion of Oklahoma City building a new arena for the oft tanking Thunder. Originally….I wrote on my little Thunder blog, which isn’t owned by the Thunder, as is a Thunder blog of which I was banned for life because I’m honest… that building the new arena should be a no-brainer…yes, vote.

Now that I’ve read the numbers OKC mayor David Holt revealed recently my vote has changed to NO.

I assumed Clay Bennett & Company were going to operate in legal good faith with the taxpayers of Oklahoma County. I appear to be wrong with that assumption.

The offer put forth to the city by way of Clay Bennett’s primary fidcuciary David Holt states…’The Thunder want to build this new arena at a proposed cost of $900 million with the Thunder making a contribution of $50 million which translates to a 5.5% contribution by Clay Bennett & Company.’

What a joke.

If you study the deals for new sports arenas and ballparks in major league cities since 2017 to the present…the standard deal is the city pays around 65% while the team ownership group pays around 30-35%.

Cost overruns which were substantial in the new arena were covered by Sacramento Kings’ ownership as were the appropriate investment ratios. Not the case on this deal with the Thunder unless I missed something in small print or the nuance of David Holt’s statement.

Let’s be blunt. Oklahoma City is not in fact a major league city. It doesn’t have a major league feel even though the MAPS projects are in my mind a tremendous success and first class. The Health Wellness Center I now work out at 3-4 times a week was funded by MAPS 3 money. It’s first class all the way.

The parks and outdoor improvements throughout the city…first class.

The river projects…first class.

The Bricktown Ball Park for the Triple AAA Dodgers…first class.

The museums and downtown theatre additions…first class.

The new stadium for the Women’s College World Serles…first class.

The Scizzortail Park…bravo.

So tell me…David Holt…the economic growth, GDP, popoulation growth and quality of life began this metamorphis in around 2000 or so and with the exception of the Bush 43 worldwide economic collapse…stayed on the exact upward trajectories to the present even when the Thunder were tanking.

Why should OKC pay 95% or in essence the classic OPM deal (Other People’s Money) when the orginal investment of the franchise has multiplied almost six-fold per Forbes valuation?

So…I wondering to myslf as an honors graduate from the Bob Jackson School of Law…are you acting as a fiduciary for Clay Bennett or for the good people of Oklahoma City?

Color MJ confused.

What does this tell me? It tells me the taxpayers of Oklahoma City don’t need this bullshit deal you are proposing at a 95% to 5% ratio. It indicates to me if the good people of Oklahoma City reinvest that same billion dollars towards more infrastructure, more beautification, and a better EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM the money would be better spent.

I mean…I’m appalled by the proposal. For god’s sake…the basketball on the court product has been so sketchy since the departure of Kevin Durant….I had to shift the focus of my little blog to the Golden State Warriors and other NBA teams.

What in fact this Thunder ownership group is asking you people to do is build a state of the art NBA arena at a disgusting city to team ownership investment ratio and primarily give the people of OKC a Triple AAA level minor league product.

I mean, yeah…I love the NBA and will continue to do so, but not to the point these guys can’t come forth with a legally good faith offer. With a plan which in no way inhibits further great things being done in OKC.

The NBA branding is cool, but most economists agree that ROIR…rate of investment return and GDP growth in Oklahoma County doesn’t have all that much to do with the Thunder.

In closing…this looks like a sucker deal to me. I would have to vote NO if David Holt can’t a broker fairer deal than this one.

Get a better deal or let’s go find a Triple AAA hockey team and have some Big 12 and SEC basketball events in downtown OKC.

Heading to the gym.

MJ

Gosh…you would have to be a nuclear physicist to have seen this one coming down the tracks.

That was was sarcasm if you’re reading this with your Little Donald Trump MAGA red ball cap on. I’m not sure how the blood is streaming to your brain these days….so let’s get that out of the way in paragraphs one and two.

There is a moral to this story, even though there’s not many, if any political morals left in America. Here’s the moral…if you openly lie to defend a human junk bond like Donald Trump long enough…. there eventually is a day of reckoning.

Yesterday was that day. You can call it karma. You can call it whatever you like. Ask Michael Cohen what we should call it. But if you lie long enough and big enough to cover all of Donald Trump’s lies…eventually it will go full boomerang and bite you in the ass.

Yesterday was that day for Kevin McCarthy. Another sad and tragic day for American democracy as we now have the House shut down without a majority leader of any sort.

You don’t have to be a current member of the House to be Speaker of the House. Hmmn.

Some suggest Donald Trump become that person. I’m laughing my ass off at that one. Not a chance. Donald Trump doesn’t know how to govern. It’s not in his DNA. Grifting, scamming, lying, and defrauding are in his DNA, but no governing genes exist.

Besides…he’s too busy appearing in multiple jurisdictions defending himself in his hundred or so criminal and civil acts he’s perpetrated to date.

Double besides…that would limit Donald Trump from touring the country doing his bullshit rallies and grifting additional millions from you ‘puzzling’ white people who continue to support him.

POTUS 45 has got Trump You Can Grab My Pussy T-shirts and Free Trump coffee mugs to sell. Governing….I don’t think so. There’s not enough time left in the day to actually do something which might help another human being.

So who’s fault was it for what happened yesterday?

It wasn’t the Dem’s fault. They just finally tired of Kevin McCarthy’s lies and sat to the side and allowed McCarthy’s own party to execute him. That’s precisely what happened yesterday.

What Kevin McCarthy said afterwards is total bullshit. He was never able to control Matt Gaetz and his six fellow Freedom Caucus followers.

The mysterious one in all of this is South Carolina’s Nancy Mace. She’s actually what I would describe as a semi-credible GOP member…almost a maverick of sorts. I’m keeping an eye on her. I’ve got her circled in red. She’s up to something.

So if it’s not the Dem’s fault, and it’s not the fault of the American Freedom Caucus crazies…who’s fault is it?

It’s you people out there…you know who you are. Hillary calls you deplorable, but like Dave Chappelle….I just think some of you white people out there are kind of dazed and confused by all of this.

We reap what we sow….and you people have turned the GOP into a five star dumpster fire shit show befitting an audience who needed something to replace the Gong Show, Jerry Springer Live, and the Tiger King.

If you people are going to make a mockery of American democracy…this is what you get.

This is ON YOU.

The end.

Hakeem Jeffries, by my count, would need our GOP crossover votes to become the Speaker of the House. FOUR VOTES. Are there four current Republicans with any soul whatsoever to do the right thing and end this bullshit? FOUR VOTES.

Are there FOUR moderate GOP congress members from New York and California willing to be an American first?

Just FOUR if I have my math right.

You Trump enablers are wearing me out. How many times do I have to use this video to inspire myself that just ONE time…..you might do the right thing. FOUR VOTES…ONE TIME…to do the right thing. I’m not holding my breath.

It’s my birthday and I no way wanted to be writing about the disgraceful piece of dogshit viral variant which has overtaken the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt.

Honestly…I planned on blogiing about Jrue Holiday being traded to the Boston Celtics or maybe even about the redemption of Baker Mayfield as an NFL signal caller for the Tampa Bay Bucs.

But here I find myself utterly disgraced by a party of which I registered to join in 1976, but was at least smart enough to leave in 2000 and become an Independent.

Eighteen words of advice to Kevin McCarthy…Step up and follow the light of rightousness or go home.

Find your better angels in a hurry.

I’m going to work out and then go out to celebrate my birthday this evening with some friends…who read books.

Democracy is a beautiful thing. But it has to be fought for at times…even in your own country.

How sad I have to write this yet again on my blog.

Peace

MJ.