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I tell you what, despite the obvious missed interference call, this goes beyond that for this OU football team. For some reason…they misplaced their team soul so to speak after the win over Texas in the RRR.

I mean…they can still salvage their season with three wins over West Virginia, BYU, and TCU. They can still finish 10-2 where I thought they would be when I first saw their schedule. But this bullshit with playing like a mentally lazy team without an edge cannot continue because OU isn’t good enough to play at half speed.

This video is life. This is what life is about. Getting knocked down and summoning your inner faith and pulling yourself back up. You can’t feel sorry for yourself. You just gotta find that inner zone within yourself to figure it out.

This is not rocket science.

If I were Brent Venables i would call these five guys into my office before practice today. I’d bare my soul to them. I’d confess I’m not a polished head football coach and I’m still a work in progress. I’d confess I need them to help me lead this team out of the abyss they’ve put themselves into these past two weeks on the road.

The five guys would be Dillion Gabriel, Drake Stoops, Danny Stutsman, Key Lawrence, and the youngster Kip Lewis.

Most good teams are coached from within from players who take a personal ownership stake.

I know where I was at seven months ago when Dr. Showalter told me to get my affairs in order and told me he had no idea how much time I had left. I was weighing at 158 pounds and couldn’t do a pushup.

Almost eight months later….I’m now cancer free, I weigh 192 lbs. and can go forty minutes hard on the terrain bike and would destroy the average soft thirty year-old in the weight room as far as my speed reps workout routine goes.

You can’t feel sorry for yourself. You can’t blame others. You just have to believe in your faith, your work ethic, and the love and support from those around you.

You have to understand…I’m very emotional about this OU football season… because I was told I probably would not be here for Week 10. This is somewhat personal for me. So please indulge me.

I’m done with speeches about this OU football team.

It’s time to go workout and embrace the day.

MJ

What a great game even though the game was botched when Drake Stoops was tackled in the end zone late in the fourth quarter and no flag came out as the Sooners’ were preparing to take the lead.

Brutal no call. Just an utterly disgraceful no call.

But you know, when you turn the ball over three times and Nic Anderson drops a pass heading towards the end zone earlier in the game….you leave yourselves subject to this type of thing.

Beautiful game by sixth year senior QB Alan Bowman. I mean, he played it to script with no oskies and no sacks while distributing the ball seamlessly to his playmakers. Plus, he did just enough with his feet to keep the Sooners at bay in the pocket and allow his receivers more time to find space. Triple plus…he even scored a touchdown with his feet.+++

Basically, other than O State’s first drive….I thought OU did a great job of tackling Ollie Gordon and holding him to 137 yards. Plus, I thought OU did a decent job of limiting ‘chunk’ plays from Brendan Pressley.

As a guy who clearly Bleeds Crimson….I wish we’d won, but YOU CAN’T TURN THE BALL OVER THREE TIMES and beat a good team.

And you know what…O State is now a pretty decent team. Not anything like the team which had Gunnar Gundy as a part-time starter or having Ollie Gordon not getting 25 touches a game or limiting Colin Oliver from creating havoc.

This is a different bunch.

I don’t pout about refs beyond four hours….because in this case OU brought this upon themselves.

I was extremely proud of Kip Lewis, Kendall Dolby, and the defense. They pulled their link on the chain. The Sooner offense did not.

What the hell happened to Dillon Gabriel not have at least eight rushing attempts in this game? That is just as egregrious as the no-call tackle of Drake Stoops in the end-zone.

* Another example of OU beating itself. ” Drake…quit falling down in O State’s end-zone and catch the ball, stud.” That was sarcasm because it’s kind of hard catching ball with your arms wrapped behind your back by another human.

Hopefully, with three regular season games remaining these Sooners will now understand you can’t win games against decent teams with your head up your ass.

Congrats to Alan Bowman because he is my No. 1 Star of the final Bedlam football game.

For me…I’m just hoping we as a Sooner Nation can pull it together enough to win these last three final Big 12 games and play either maybe Ole Miss, LSU, or Missouri in the Cotton Bowl with SEC refs.

And then basically shut the door on our own ass as we prepare to play in the SEC next season.

In closing, OU hoops coach Porter Moser had a great line at the Big 12 pre-season media presser. Even a better quote than the fabled Berry Tramel Taco Bell quote.

Coach Moser finished his segment the other day and was then sitting alone. A group of other Big 12 coaches said, ” C’mon over here with us, Porter.”

Porter replied, ” Do you think I’ll be allowed to walk over there and not foul out?”

Goodbye, Bedlam….91-20-7.

It was fun.

MJ

It’s been a hectic week for me, but a good one. The foiliage trip to Arkansas was nice, but I feel like we were just a smidge in front of peak color. I didn’t get to fish, but I did line up a crappie and striper guide for a future trip. Since, I already have my White River guide, that being the former barber of Bill Clinton as my trout and walleye analyst…I would say I’m in a pretty good way.

It’s supposed to hit 80 degrees on Tuesday…so I’m thinking I’ll hit the family lake down south of Alex, Oklahoma and close out my largemouth season in that regard. We caught about twenty nice largemouths three weeks ago…so I’m hoping this trip is as good after the recent rains.

Great Warriors’ win last night for those of us in Warrior Nation in a half empty Pay.Com Center. Explain to me why the Thunder need a one billion dollar arena if the very weak Thunder fanbase does not support the team in the aftermatch of the Kevin Durant era.

All the whining from the Thunder fans after Steph and Draymond’s amzing game winner is so typical. The way I saw that last play was Draymond got hit from behind…thus projecting his body into the rim as Steph’s ball was going in regardless.

I wonder if Michael Cage and Little Nick Gallo will ever be the same after this loss.

Steve Kerr looks totally burned out as a coach right now. He shouldn’t have coached the U.S. FIBA team this summer. He should take a montb off and perhaps allow Chris Paul to be the player coach in his absence. CP3 and Draymond give this team a ton of leadership intangibles. Only one loss so far this season. Life without Jordan Poole is a nice basketball thing.

I’ll submit my first official 2023 Dub Nation Oklahoma entry on Monday morning.

Okay…so the last Bedlam Game… perhaps.

OU hasn’t brought their game since the Red River Rivalry. They were fortunate to beat UCF given the way they slept through that one albeit the Kansas loss which should have been another Sooner win after the Ethan Downs late interception.

But still I’m picking OU today because OU has the better team even though Ollie Gordon is possibly the back in the country.

I think OU’s keys are 1 Dillon being able to have a monster day both thru the air and on the ground, 2 ‘containing and tackling Ollie G as much as possible, 3 TACKLING THE F__KING ball carrier in time and space.

If Danny Stutsman can’t go full tilt today then my four guys to watch today are Kip Lewis, Kendall Dolby, and DeSean McCullough… and Jackson Arnold.

Why Jackson Arnold you might ask? I’m thinking perhaps if the Sooners can’t run today then maybe they should use a quasi-Wildcat as a changeup with Faruque as the offset back and turn Jackson loose a bit as a different look.

I haven’t played the OU Football Greatest Hits video for awhile. This would seem to be that time.

I’m going OU 37 – O State 31.

I’m so amped I’m heading off to the Health Center to do an additional forty minutes on the terrain bike.

BOOMER!

As an OU fan, Ollie Gordon reminds me a bit of a former Texas high school running back who finished second for the Heisman during his stay in Norman. That player would be Adrian Peterson.

Since the disgraceful 33-7 home loss to South Alabama…things have changed with this O State football team. The three QB nonsense came to an end with fifth year senior Alan Bowman taking over and becoming a functional, steady influence of this football team.

Nothing sensational, but just steady. Not a great running threat, but a guy who can make the right throws. My first key of the game would can OU get its pass rush back in gear and do to Bowman what they did in the Texas win.

But here’s the thing with my No. 1 on how to handle O State. You have to first be able to ‘contain’ Ollie Gordon enough to put Alan Bowman in enough third and long spots to allow the OU pass rush to manifest itself during the course of this last Bedlam football game.

A month ago… I would have had OU as a 9.5 road favorite in this game. Right now I have the game as either at pick ’em or OU at -1.5.

Ollie Gordon has been that good. The offensive line has gotten healthier, and Colin Oliver and Kendall Daniels have stepped up to provide leadership on the defensive side of the ball.

O State has a massive edge at the place kicker position and will have a super amped home field advantage.

Depending on this game and how it unfolds the state of Oklahoma could very well have a Heisman finalist in New York come December.

Can Dillon Gabriel and the Sooners get enough points on the board to hold off the Ollie Gordon Train?

Should be a great game. The Sooners’ haven’t tackled well since the Texas game. I would hope the Sooners have their best tackling game of the season.

My off the charts prediction for OU is that both Kip Lewis (10) and Kendall Dolby (15) make a big play in this game.

That’s it for me today. It’s time to go see some foiliage in NW Arkansas.

Later.

Nature Boy.

Oh, boy.

Depending on your usage of the word ‘survive’…. rookie Chet Holmgren to the best of my knowledge survived this contact with Nikola and is still alive and breathing today.

I can’t remember how much time was left in the game when this happened, but Thunder super homer analyst Michael Cage originally wanted a flagrant foul. This is when I promptly changed off of Bally Sports which is soon to be in bankruptcy court…and justifiably so.

If you’re still on board with Oklahoma City paying a billion dollars at a rate of 95 to 5 investment ratio to build a new arena…then bless your heart. Seriously….bless your heart.

That’s all I can really say about this game other than the fact I think Denver’s bench will be fine without Bruce Brown this season as we view the emergence of Peyton Watson and Zeke Nnaji.

I think when all is said and done Christian Braun will emerge as a Sixth Man of the Year finalist and former Thunder guard Reggie Jackson will have a serious shot at winning his second NBA ‘ship ring as a Denver Nugget. Who seriously saw that one coming?

Kevin, Serge, Reggie, and Jeff Green all now have rings. Just a thought, but wouldn’t Jeff Green be the perfect fit as a reserve big to actually help Chet understand the pro game and the Thunder as a whole understand where they currently stand in the NBA food chain?

Next up on my blog this week…Draymond’s return and Chris Paul’s first ever NBA game coming off the bench.

Enjoy the crisp Oklahoma fall weather today. Feels like Omaha out here today at the Deer Creek ranch. I love Omaha BTW, as one of America’s truly great underrated cities.

MJ

So much going in our world right now it can be intimidating. But this is where you have to keep your faith and strengthen your inner core beliefs.

Bitterly cold and wet out here at the Deer Creek ranch this morning. The weather is so adverse in fact we rescheduled the fishing/foliage trip to this week. Hopefully…we’ll hit peak color just right. I’ve even fed the deer and turkeys twice already today. The windchill is brutal.

It’s on days like this I think about Pauli. I have Hank as a surrogate dog in Seminole. I have Perk and Tucker as dual surrogate dogs in Denver, But I feel now I’m about a month away from deciding if I should or shouln’t have a dog. Plus, you know, I have the relationship with Roadie the cancer dog at Integris.

Getting ready to settle in after the Sunday news shows and drink more coffee and watch an NBA doubleheader of Denver vs. OKC and Houston vs. Golden State. How odd…OKC is only my third favorite team of this quadrant. But I will admit the Seattle Thunder is perhaps one of the most intriguing teams in the NBA this season. David Stern knows…even the NBA gods adhere to hoops karma.

Seattle Thunder….makes more sense with storms than the Sonics when you really think about it.

Do something kind today for another person.

BTW…congrats today to the Kansas Jayhawks for their best win in perhaps the history of their program. I’ll have to blog about that game sometime early this next week.

MJ

A very nice road win for the Thunder as they roared back from ten points down late in the game on the road to earn a hard earned W. Granted, Cleveland was without two of its top eight rotational players in Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, but you’ll take any road win you can in the NBA.

Shai is always good..so let me write both Lu Dort and Chet were my No. 1 and No. 2 stars in this game.

Lu never gets the credit he should from the Thunder fanbase, but I tell you this…I as a Warriors fan would LOVE to package a deal sending Lu to Golden State for Gary Payton Jr. and a second round draft pick. For all the Lu critics in Oklahoma…work on that one for me with Sam Presti.

As far as Chet….I gave him an 8.5 on my TSNS metric scale for his very nice bounceback game after his ‘struggle game’ in Chicago.

There will be moments of brillance from both Chet and Wemby this season…especially when they play against other light centers in the league such as the Cav’s Evan Mobley.

Great road trip for the Thunder. The Thunder home opener tomorrow against the Denver Nuggets should be a game which tells us much more about this team and what their season boundaries should be.

Have a serene autumn day watching college football.

MJ

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