Stories Inside the Man Cave
Stories Inside the Man Cave
Thunder Rising: OKC's Championship Celebration
Oklahoma City's journey from being called "the black hole of the NBA" to winning a championship in just four years culminated in a parade with an estimated 500,000 fans flooding downtown. The celebration captured the Thunder's incredible transformation and the city's resilience, with the parade route symbolically passing by the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
• Thunder players showed their youth and personality during celebrations, with J-Dub having his first-ever alcoholic drink
• Aaron Wiggins delivered a powerful speech at the Paycom Center, calling out critics who doubted the Thunder
• Mark Daigneault caught a beer from fans during the parade route, showcasing a more relaxed side of the normally buttoned-up organization
• The parade featured iconic moments including the team standing before the bombing memorial wall and a sea of Thunder blue at Scissortail Park
• Mike Steely shares personal memories of Oklahoma City's transformation from "an old cow town" to a championship city
• Despite being well-positioned for future success, the Thunder organization knows championships aren't guaranteed, as their 2012 team proved
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Honest is a strong word and we all need honesty when it comes to plumbing and HVAC needs, somebody who will take care of the repairs efficiently and with quality. Honest Plumbing and Air is who I trust and they take pride in that word. Honest Plumbing and Air where a handshake still means something, where a handshake still means something. And I said we was too young. I said Oklahoma should have had the team, but guess what? We don't fucking jam.
Speaker 2:Hey, that was unedited. The FCC is not going to shut us down, but Oklahoma City, that was 17 years in the making. Those Young Thunder finally got it done, four years after they pretty much rebuilt the franchise, and I know we had Myron Patton and Curtis Fitzpatrick, my former co-workers in Oklahoma City, heading into game six in the previous episode talking about the vibe in Oklahoma City. But how does this pertain to this part of the country here in Texas? Well, if you think about it, the San Antonio Spurs have won multiple NBA titles Houston back to back in the mid-90s, the Mavericks recently and the Thunder finally. Finally, in this short lifespan of the Thunder, after moving from Seattle, they've won one. So this region of the country you've got four, six, seven, now eight NBA championships. It's very impressive and we're about to have a guest to talk about what the vibe was like in OKC Over half a million people showing up to celebrate the Thunder's first NBA championship.
Speaker 2:And before we get going, in case you don't know who this bald guy is, I'm Sean Clinch. Follow me on Twitter personally, or it's at stories man cave on x twitter. And also be sure to follow each of our social media platforms and, of course, subscribe to youtube. It is free and that's always a great thing to have right now, because there's very few things in life which are free. Thunder winning an NBA championship in the vibe, in that beautiful city. Let's talk about it. Opc, opc, opc, opc, opc.
Speaker 1:OPC OPC OPC OPC.
Speaker 2:That kind of sets the tone. I remember I saw people criticizing the Thunder throughout the day for the parade, saying, hey, there are dozens at this parade, well, when you're at 10 o'clock in the morning, who's not working? But in the end, estimated five to six hundred thousand people congregated throughout that downtown area and we're going to talk about it with my guy, mike Steely, legend in Oklahoma City, broadcasting Oklahoma City Broadcasting. But before that got to give a shout out to all the sponsors, as you see right here, highlighted by Honest Plumbing and Air, where a handshake still means something. And have you noticed, not a lot of people shake your hand anymore? I don't know why that is and I'm not going to worry about why, but hey, me and Mike Steele we still shake hands because we're old school like that. Let's bring him in. Mike Steele, is it okay to call you an OKC or sports broadcasting legend at all, or does that make you feel a certain age?
Speaker 3:Well, I always feel a certain age at this age, almost 62. But yeah, you can go with that. Why not? Why not Go ahead? Yes, Maybe a little bit uncomfortable, but you can go ahead. Clint Sure.
Speaker 2:We go back a long time. Yes, we do. And to give a little background, I arrived in, I think, okc fox 25, I think december of 06 or january 07. Mike steely was a predecessor. He was preparing the sports area for my arrival with myron and curtis and you know liam mccue who once worked there, that's right, yes.
Speaker 3:And a guy named zach klein, who once worked there. That's right, yes. And a guy named Zach Klein who is now big-time sports director in Atlanta. I got tired of dressing up every day, sean. I didn't like putting on a coat and a tie and makeup and hairspray. I said I've had enough of this, just put me, leave me on the radio. I don't want to do TV and that's seriously. I like I told you we were talking before I came on. This is kind of like formal attire for me, right here I mean usually it's a hoodie and everything else.
Speaker 3:It's a lot more fun not having to worry about dressing up every day.
Speaker 2:I agree and you know, you never know. It leaves a mystery to the imagination if, when you're doing this, if we are wearing pants or anything, Well, most of the time, especially in the summer, we were wearing shorts.
Speaker 3:Of course you know how that works, but I did wear some form of pants on every show. I can promise you that.
Speaker 2:Well, you know what every show. I can promise you that, that well you know what it's. I'm very impressed because there are moments in that job, in that industry, where sometimes you may wear pants and everybody meet flip-flops.
Speaker 3:You never know, oh yeah well, and in the oklahoma city market. You know how it goes. Uh, hey guys, we. There's a cumulus cloud over there. That means weather's gonna need all your time. You guys have 30 seconds to recap everything and then we're going to weather. All right, I mean, that's the weather people in Oklahoma City. And look, this is National Weather Service. So many severe storms here all the time, but the weather people become the megastars we just lost a legend here Gary England.
Speaker 2:God rest his soul.
Speaker 3:The weather. People are the superstars here and I felt like I was relegated to the bench all the time, so I said I'm out of here. Plus, you're making me dress up every day.
Speaker 2:Steely, I feel your pain and hey rest in peace to the weather meteorological legend Gary England.
Speaker 3:I will never forget the saying.
Speaker 2:There were so many of them. Hey, it's Friday night in the big town. Yep, yep, love it. Hey, I've been very impressed since I left OKC that you've embraced Twitter, and here's one of your tweets.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Yesterday your last line, proud to be an Oklahoman today, kind of set the. I mean, I saw it because I was working briefly. I saw a lot on social media in between because I couldn't just sit and watch, because I have a full-time job that I have to pay attention to, and what I saw was something indescribable in my opinion was something indescribable, in my opinion.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I'm not usually prone to a lot of hyperbole, and you referenced in the tease that people were saying oh, oklahoma City's got tens of people at this parade. It's unbelievable. First of all, these are the attention-seeking clowns on social media sending out a picture of the buses which are, you know, basically going to the parade route. There was nobody really in that area unless they were walking to the parade route. But what are they going for? Clicks, likes, retweets, all that. So you, you get people in. Oklahoma city is not a very well-liked team by the rest of the league right now, so people jump on that and they absolutely think it's real and it was total BS. It was a great crowd, considering Oklahoma City has a metropolitan area of about 1.5 million people. It wasa tremendous turnout, particularly where they finished at Scissortail park. Oh, it was crazy absolutely crazy.
Speaker 2:There chills when I saw that crowd and obviously that piece of video, the okc chant. I mean thunder blue for hundreds of yards yeah this can.
Speaker 2:I've never you know, I haven't been back since they completed scissortail park. But I love this tweet because there's an epic photo showing where the bombing of if people are not familiar with it the walls the time before the bombing and the time after the bombing at the Murrah Federal Building. It's touching, it's moving and that is what OKC has been known for, unfortunately, but it will be a permanent moment in time that OKC really was affected by, and then the Thunder players. It was just. You just need to go see the photo and unfortunately I don't have it in this podcast, but if you can talk about it and briefly, when you see that, what happened yesterday to what the city, that imagery from what happened at that bombing, Well, april of 1995 was just a total disaster for the country, the largest act of domestic terrorism ever.
Speaker 3:You know, I had people that I knew at the Murrah building. I had a loan at the Murrah building. I had times where I went to the Murrah building and paid my car loan there. In fact, how about this story? 100% true, so I'm trying to remember if it was what, what day of the week it was. Anyway, I I know the date, obviously, but I remember that night I was in between jobs, so I was doing the morning sports at KTOK radio at the time, so I was getting up way early and I was also doing sales um in the afternoon to make a few extra bucks. So I called my program director and I called my sales manager, um, and I was having horrible stomach issues, horrible.
Speaker 1:And so.
Speaker 3:I. I called him and said man, this is you know. I called him at like two in the morning. I called him at like two in the morning the evening before the bombing and I told my sales manager I knew that we had an eight o'clock and I did, the sports cast were over by 8am and then or 8.30am and that's when we had our sales meeting. So I called, said man, I'm sorry and I hate, this is late notice, but I'm just not going to be there. I had to call the other sports guy and say I'm man, I'm sorry for the late notice, I can't be there. So I finally get settled out.
Speaker 3:I think I went to bed, finally get to sleep, about 4 am. I remember distinctly and I think I kind of slept through it about five minutes and I was in an apartment at the time about 10 miles northwest of the Murrah building in downtown Oklahoma City and I remember hearing this and I thought what the heck was that? And then it kind of got quiet and I woke up about 10 minutes later and I thought what the heck is going on and I turned on the TV and all the live shots. I don't know why, I had it on CNN, but I turned it on and they're doing a live shot from Oklahoma city. Oh my God. And I was going to, after the sales meeting, going to the Murrah building to pay my car payment that day. I kid you not Now, look, our sales meeting was usually 30 minutes. It was about I don't know 15 minutes from the radio station to get to the Murrah building, get parked and get into the building and go upstairs and pay the payment. But sometimes the sales meeting might go 10 minutes, sometimes it might go 15 minutes. I would say there was probably, really maybe a 15, 20% chance I would have been in the building, but I was going to the building that's where I was headed right after our sales meeting. And you never know. You know, for me it was the best upset stomach I ever had, because I don't know if I would have been there or not. Probably not, but you never know. You know.
Speaker 3:But you know talking about what you're talking about. For that parade route to go past the bombing memorial, that iconic photo of shea and the players with you, know the writing on the monument wall there is just a great photograph and then to not only go past the bombing memorial, which, if you've never been there and you come to Oklahoma City you need to see that it's very moving. Sam Presti takes every new player there when they get with the Thunder and then they go past the actual old side of where the Murrah building was. So you know this city was that was. Besides, like you know, you think of Oklahoma state of Oklahoma, you think about Sooner football. That's huge. But when you think of Oklahoma City, that is what you think about. Right, and we'll always think about that and we always should think about that. But the thunder has given this city in this area so much joy, something to root for. Oklahoma, you know what's number one sooner football has been number one in the state forever, but now they've got a rival and you got sooner and cowboy fans coming together right, so they love the oklahoma city thunder.
Speaker 3:And it was just when I was growing up, when I was going to school at OU in the mid 80s, you didn't go to Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City was an old cow town. There was nothing there. You know, a lot of times if you've got a city that's the size of Oklahoma, you might leave Norman it's a 20 minute drive up to Oklahoma City or whatever and have a place to go party or hang out or whatever. We never went there. Never went there.
Speaker 3:And then they got the MAPS project, transformed the city and that's where Oklahoma City is today. It's a result of the people in the community voting for the MAPS project, which transformed downtown. Then you get lucky not lucky for New Orleans but you get Hurricane Katrinarina and the and the hornets the new orleans hornets move to oklahoma city and play a couple seasons, right, uh? And basically you prove to the then commissioner, david stern this city can support an nba franchise now, remember, it's called the paycom center now and that's going going down and they're going to have a new arena here in a few years. But that arena, sean, you remember, which was the Ford Center, was built to try and lure an NHL team. That's right, right, a hockey team, and you end up with an NBA team. It's an amazing story. It's a story that is born at well, my chihuahua just showed up. Hey, little fella. Yeah, this is Lala, the Chihuahua that just showed up. How did you?
Speaker 2:get upstairs.
Speaker 3:How did you break through the gates? Stay right here.
Speaker 2:Lala.
Speaker 3:All of a sudden I look over hey, what's up? So anyway, you know, you get the grief of Hurricane Katrina, you get the grief of the Murrah building bombing in Oklahoma City and you get, you know, kind of some good things to come out of this. New Orleans got an NBA, you know still has the NBA franchise now, and Oklahoma City gets an NBA franchise. But it's a remarkable transformation and really a remarkable story how far the city has come.
Speaker 2:I think it's beautiful and I think a lot can be made of that MAPS project, because you know when.
Speaker 2:I arrived it was still in the midst of the renaissance, the change, and I enjoyed it. I loved Oklahoma City. I loved it my time there. It changed every year. I was there and then, obviously, with the ascension of the Thunder, there was more investment, there was more interest, there was more people giving a chance. Because, I will be honest, growing up here in Austin, I was, I was I don't know why I was grew up hating Oklahoma. I didn't know why I put the rivalry amazing, but I thought the universe, god, whatever, had a joke. We're going to put you in Oklahoma city one day, and little did I know. I stayed six years, loved it, make great friends like you and great connections and, you know, and fell in love with a basketball franchise.
Speaker 2:You know I kind of held the fandom down a little bit because I was in the media but fell in love with it and to this day that what happened Sunday was surreal and you know what happened yesterday and with that parade was absolutely insane on many levels. But I will say Aaron Wiggins, his epic speech in the morning Knocked it out of the park, let's play it.
Speaker 2:It's just part of it. Good 40 seconds, though I cannot wait to hear what you have to say, because this guy worked his way up to being a rookie to the Thunder and it was one of those rare moments, rare time frames in which the Thunder weren't good, but that they've always been very competitive.
Speaker 1:It was the point where they tried to call us the black hole of the NBA. But four years later, when they mention the Thunder organization, when they mention Clay Bennett, when they mention Sam Pressy, when they mention Rocket Fagin' Up and every single one of you in this arena, they gotta mention you, that's the NBA Mike drop.
Speaker 2:Okay, see the identity has completely changed because of this.
Speaker 3:Who knew that Aaron Wiggins not only saved basketball but was the Thunder's real hype man behind the scenes? But I saw some good tweets yesterday and one of them was the Rock holding the mic, aaron Wiggins on the mic and he was great, and it was really the whole day from the Paycom Center where they had the ceremony first before they hit the parade route. It was, it was just great. It was, you know, and not only when you see those guys out there on the parade route. You know. They start out on the buses and they're waving to everybody. It's typical parade stuff.
Speaker 3:Almost every one of those guys I think every player got off the top of the bus and went out to interact with the fans, letting them touch the Larry O'Brien trophy, high-fiving them, taking pictures with them. It was great, it was absolutely great. And one of my favorite videos was the group of Thunder fans as Mark Gagnall, the head coach, is coming by. He is still up on top of the bus at the time, but they've got a Michelob ultra like tall boy as he comes by and then they toss him a beer and he catches it, you know, and then he pops the top down, you know, takes a big swig of it and he's like hey, thanks a lot, and they're just going insane. I mean, it was just a great day. It really was a great day for Thunder fans.
Speaker 2:You know what it was, Because we hear of all of these celebrations and I was hoping and just hoping it wouldn't happen in other cities and you have gunshots, crime, looting in some places. That did not happen in OKC, to my knowledge.
Speaker 3:You had one minor shooting the night after they won the NBA championship, which was completely unrelated to the crowd and everything, and there was like a minor injury. But you know what Oklahomans are all about. They've got great core values. Every state or every city has some bad apples here and there, but they were well-behaved and it didn't surprise me one bit it did.
Speaker 2:I took a lot of pride in what I saw and I thought it was beautiful for the sport and it was beautiful for the game, and one of the sites that you mentioned, I think with the players near the bombing memorial, with that in the background was an epic photo, very iconic.
Speaker 3:That's going to win some awards, I would think.
Speaker 2:It was and it will. But I thought this one right here, this little piece of video, it just kind of signified everything. And the first major championship brought to Oklahoma City A sea of blue and that's santa clara williams, right, santa clara, j yeah, yeah, j dub, yeah.
Speaker 3:And you know and part of that video too that's meaningful is the fire department had a couple trucks where they could put that flag out like that. And when talking about the Murrah building bombing, who was so instrumental? The firefighters. Yes, you remember the cover of Time Newsweek. There was a young firefighter by the name of Chris Fields who's a big listener. I've gotten to know Chris. He was holding the baby, baby Allman, on the cover and it was another iconic photo. He's still around, spent many years with the fire department and how much the firemen here and the emergency folks who you know fire and police meant so much during that time and are so well respected by people in this community. And you know they came out and showed out community. And you know they came out and showed out and I just thought it was kind of fitting that they passed under that flag, you know, early on in the parade route a lot of uh imagery, and very powerful imagery at that.
Speaker 2:Um, so did okay, so none of them seem. I felt like the party went on from 7 am to– I don't think these guys got any sleep. What's the vibe right now in Oklahoma City for everybody? Was there a lot of people who called in sick?
Speaker 3:You know I didn't. I know that I don't know, but I know the players. Alex Caruso was on the McAfee show today. He said he'd had maybe a couple hours sleep. Isaiah Hartenstein, at the parade, said he hadn't had any sleep and that was an iconic moment.
Speaker 3:Of course, in the post game after the Thunder won the championship, sunday night with his son you know where his son's completely asleep in his arms and Chase said support the neck. You know new daddy sga still being a team leader out there. But yeah, it's been. It's been a major party. J-dub had his first ever drink ever. Uh, you saw nick gallo, the thunder sideline reporter, who's done all those iconic post-game interviews. Last year it was all about the whoop, whoop you know all the and this year was about stacking towels on his head and how he's been so open to that and he's just kind of gone with the flow. And I would say Nick Gallo of all of these sideline reporters just for a team now, you know, not Lisa Salter, some of the national people, but Nick Gallo has become a celebrity through this right, he really has.
Speaker 3:In his own way and he's a great dude, great reporter, and then he's out there taking tequila shots like Will Ferrell in old school with Isaiah Hardenstein. Yesterday it was just a fun thing to see the Thunder. They're a great organization. You've been around them. You know how buttoned up they are but how professional they are. But it was a little bit of a different side of these guys that we saw. Everybody's going to bust out and have a good time when you're celebrating an NBA championship in that setting. But to see some of these guys, you know, like man, that's crazy. Caruso's got his shirt off. They all got their shirts off. Now it was a fun scene to see yesterday.
Speaker 2:I loved how these guys got some of their T-shirts designed, the one with Nick Collison's face on it.
Speaker 3:Bloody Nick Collison. Yes, Bloody Nick.
Speaker 2:Mr Thunder, then Caruso's Mount Rushmore, with his face on each, that was beautiful. You know, I'm not going to gonna turn, I'm not even gonna think about turning to next year, but I think that how long do you think this party will last?
Speaker 3:because they, I just don't think it's ending anytime soon well, I mean, they're set up to make a, uh like a three to four year run, you know, but eventually you got to start paying people. Uh, you know, down the road, they, they've got another year on Isaiah Hartenstein. They paid him a lot of money, but the wizard, Sam Presti, still in charge. But you never know, Klinkster. You know, because here's the deal.
Speaker 3:What did we all think in 2012 when Katie Russ and James Harden, Serge Ibaka, that whole crew, I could remember they won game one still think Durant got fouled at the end of the game and game two. But they, it was two, three, two. So they went back and they're closed out in five against LeBron and the heatles. But you, I remember the cutaway shot of all those guys, you know, with their arms around each other on the bench and thinking, ah, they got at least one in them before this is done. They never got back. They never got back. So, you know, I do think this team has a better leader in Shea. I don't know that there's a better leader in the NBA than SGA. This guy's almost too good to be true as a leader in the face of your franchise. And I know people talk free throw merchant and I don't like the way he plays. Okay, I get that, but if he was in your market and you saw him play the kind of person and leader he is, you would love him. But at the same time, you never know. Look what happened to Halliburton the other night. You know, playing after a calf strain is dangerous. He got out, but you know who knows how that turns out If Hall? He got out, but who knows how that turns out if Halliburton plays?
Speaker 3:I still think Oklahoma City would have figured out a way to win a closer game. But you don't know. You don't know what injuries might crop up. Look, people are stacking their guns and their stockpile of weapons to take on Oklahoma City. We see what the Rockets are doing. The Mavericks are going to get Cooper flag. I want to say major trade or something, but these teams in the West are starting to load up. The Spurs are going to be a problem, Whoever they draft and whoever they pair. They already got De'Aaron Fox. Who knows what other trades could be made. Celebrate this one. I'd be surprised if during this run, they didn't win one more. But you just don't know. You never know what's going to happen.
Speaker 2:It's so hard. I sound like Tom Herman Winning is hard, but winning an NBA title.
Speaker 3:I do not like Tom Herman, but he's right, he's right.
Speaker 2:It is so much more difficult now to become a quote dynasty in the NBA with the new CBA and then the salary cap, because most markets I would venture to say most, maybe a third or half they're not going to want they do. They're trying to avoid the luxury tax and OKC is not going to be one of those franchises that's going to be in that luxury tax mode. That's just my opinion. I may be wrong, but there's nothing wrong with that. It just shows that anybody can win this thing in the NBA.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and what I like is we don't. I mean, are the super teams completely dead? Probably not, but they're on life support A little bit in the league right now. And you know that July 4th, when Kevin Durant left for Golden State, oklahoma City was Devastated, I mean absolutely Devastated. On my birthday. Yeah, can you believe that that's crazy, but you know, I do think as long as the Thunder has Sam Presti, they're in good shape.
Speaker 3:And Mark Dagnall we all kind of thought G League coach most people. If you're a hardcore NBA fans, you've seen the picture with him and Alex Caruso together as coaching player for the Blue, the Thunder's G League team. Then they reunite, obviously, and win an NBA championship. But you know, mark Dagnall also think about this. We were thinking through the rebuild. Well, presti's got his guy Dagnall and you know they're going to go through the rebuild and you know the tanking and then, once they get serious again, maybe Dagnall they replace him with a veteran head coach. No, they got a great coach. Dagnall is perfect for the Thunder, he really is. He and Sam Presti are aligned step-by-step. He's the perfect coach for Oklahoma city and, um, it's just going to be interesting to see how it unfolds. But you know, can we get more teams that are competitive in the East? I mean, look, the Pacers made a great run, but it's like the West is like the heavyweight division. Back in the Ali Frazier days, every fight's a tough one. There aren't any tomato cans out there hardly.
Speaker 2:I will say I will admit I underestimated Indiana because back in January they did not look like this team.
Speaker 3:They started 6-16 to the season. That's a good club they gel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they are Halliburton. I hated seeing that. I really did so to all of you. If you're watching this or listening to this in Indianapolis or anywhere in Indiana, your future is golden, I think.
Speaker 3:Great fan base. They've got a solid team. Like I said, who knows? You know I also don't buy the people. Well, the only reason the Thunder one is how they went down, period. You know the Twitter trolls and I get. If you're a Pacer fan, I'm sick about that. I'm sick because I wonder what you know? He knocked down three, threes boom, boom, boom early in that game. And I'm you as a Thunder fan. You try and be impartial, but who am I rooting for? I'm thinking, uh-oh, you know you don't know how it would have turned out, but you know, I would have liked to have seen how it would have turned out because I knew immediately. First of all, you feel horrible for the kid, absolutely horrible, because he's had a magical Harry Potter type run in these playoffs as the wizard you know, making all these incredible shots.
Speaker 2:Thunder fans know heartache losing Russell that year, in 2013 and then 2016 or 2016, up 3-1 on the warriors.
Speaker 3:Clay Thompson game six. Clay Thompson game six.
Speaker 2:Oh God so but Carson Cunningham tweeted something to all those people calling out the thunder because Halliburton went down. He made a. There's a long list of teams in which the Golden State Warriors played in the facing the playoffs during their dynastic run. Several times those key players for their opposition were hurt.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's part of the game, unfortunately, you know, for a game seven it was horrible, but we knew that he had a major calf strain and one of the things that is, you know, very much in doubt when you have a calf strain leads to what happened If you try and play through it.
Speaker 3:Right yeah To an Achilles injury. And the minute he went down and you saw him screaming and in tears pounding on the floor, you thought that's it, he's not coming back. And it was a bad deal on what was a pretty good NBA finals, I thought, particularly for these lowly small market teams.
Speaker 2:Small market teams. We're going to talk about something related to that in the second segment, which is incredibly short, but before we go to break steely, I want you to be part of something traditional and legendary. Is there any kind of man cave story that you can share that may be thunder related? That's just as comical now as it was when it happened.
Speaker 3:So the story has to take place in a man cave or just a good solid generic story.
Speaker 2:Good, solid, generic story Filter free.
Speaker 3:Let me think of one right off the bat. So when I was first getting started out in my career in radio, the legendary Al Eshbach came over. Wwls got started and I was a junior at OU and then my senior year I'd been working at what was K&R Radio, which turned into WWLS, the sports talk giant, and Al was the biggest legend in Oklahoma sports radio. So they gave me Al. You guys need to hire Steely, let him have his own show. He's pretty good and I'm like I got an endorsement from Al. I get to do an hour show after he's done, and that's how kind of everything got started. But a couple of stories. Who is the biggest buffoon as a head coach in Oklahoma sports history man? He had one season as the head coach of the football well.
Speaker 3:So ironically, my first guest on my show, which was called sports call pm after al's show, was howard schnellenberger.
Speaker 3:I don't know how we got him, but he was the head coach at Louisville at the time. He just taken the Louisville job. So I've got Howard on the air and and I like into it. I was like, well, you know, howard, you know Louisville has always been a great basketball school. And uh, I'm here to tell you that university of louisville is not a basketball school anymore. So, young man, I resent your question and we are indeed now a football school. You know that kind of thing.
Speaker 3:And I'm like, the guy dressed me down on my one of my first shows. He was my first guest and I remember thinking, man, there's something wrong with this dude and he's a jerk. And then not long, you know later what, some eight, nine years later he ends up at ou and everybody's talking about man, this guy, there's something wrong with him. And he spent one season at ou and got fired by david bourne and everybody said this guy is so full of himself and this guy is so out of touch. It was unbelievable. So that's my Howard story. That's a great story. And there was one other one I was going to tell you and I'm trying to think what the heck it was. Old man memory, you're a big Nolan Ryan guy.
Speaker 2:I love Nolan.
Speaker 3:I mean every Texan does right, bold. So Nolan Ryan was. I love Nolan. I mean every Texan does right, but bold. So Nolan Ryan was always my favorite baseball player too. And I was working at Fox 25 where you ended up working and before I left television and Nolan Ryan was at some event for a PR event for the Red Hawks I think they were the Red Hawks and it wasn't at all sports stadium, it was at the Bricktown Ballpark. I made arrangements to get a chance to talk to Nolan Ryan. I had always heard Jim Travers and other big boys here in the Oklahoma City market. It has been for a while. I love Travers.
Speaker 2:I love.
Speaker 3:Travers. He'd always say Nolan Ryan's a cheater. By the way, he was scuffing baseballs late in his career. You know, got there with honey cut, he's scuffing the ball. So I do this interview with Nolan Ryan. He was great. It was unbelievable to be in his presence. I'm fired up about it so I don't know why. I decided at the end of the interview and he was fantastic. You know, our radio colleague, jim Traber, says that you cheated late in your career. Any response to that yeah, and he kind of smiled and said no comment and then, like after the cameras were rolling, he was still joking but he goes. So Jim Traber said that right, and he goes. That son of a bitch, yeah, but he was done in a joking way but I thought it was great.
Speaker 3:Nolan Ryan. What a stud Nolan Ryan was.
Speaker 2:Still is, he still is. You know I stud Nolan Ryan was Still is, he still is. I love the Ryan family. You know Reed, his son Reed, and they're all with the Round Rock Express and they do turf, they do beef. It's a great family, great story.
Speaker 3:Nolan Ryan's a rancher who played baseball. Basically now right, alvin.
Speaker 2:Texas Mm-hmm To the right near Houston.
Speaker 3:The one moment that, you know, robin Ventura paused for a moment. Right Boom, he's like damn, should I charge? You know, this is Nolan Ryan. Should I charge or not to charge? And then he made the fatal decision to charge nolan ryan and it was like a steer wrestling event right with. I mean, that was. I think. If they would ask robin vittura, is there a moment that you'd take back a decision? Maybe that was the wrong decision and that would probably be the one.
Speaker 2:What he said Ryan was. Nolan was popping noogies on his head.
Speaker 3:I mean Nolan Ryan. You think that dude even at what is. How old is Nolan now? Like 81?
Speaker 2:He might be 80. He still gets around.
Speaker 3:I guarantee you that dude's been country strong his whole life and still is.
Speaker 2:He would still whip somebody's ass. Whip my ass.
Speaker 3:I know that I wouldn't charge the mound on him. I'd run in the other direction.
Speaker 2:Oh, that whole family and his grandson Jackson, his Reed son, all baseball, yeah, and all really smart business acumen. They're funny, they're just good people, good people, but no one. They're just good people, good people, but Nolan can still whip some ass today you talk about a Texan and just a legendary badass American.
Speaker 3:Nolan Ryan's on that list somewhere.
Speaker 2:He's a legend and a long, tall Texan for sure. Hey, we're going to take a quick break. We're going to hear about our guys at Jim Saxton State Farmer. When we come back we're going to talk about beer consumption, or lack thereof. Man the Thunder man, they're not big fans of drinking beer. Steely, I'll see you on the other side. The Saxton name resonates in Austin. Jim's late father, james Saxton, is a Longhorn legend, a Heisman finalist while playing for Darryl K Royal, and Jimmy is a UT football legacy from Westlake. He has been insuring Austin for decades. He and his staff will give you old school hospitality when servicing your insurance needs To the best To the best.
Speaker 1:On the team I have, we all have drinks, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:You love that Careful Jack A little.
Speaker 1:A little.
Speaker 2:Word to Kim, so shout out to. Michelob Ultra. Sponsor of the Thunder.
Speaker 3:Or as Chad Holmgren called it, I got these Michelob glasses here. Michelob, I think he called it.
Speaker 2:Michelob, what is listen? I love it A lot of them. They're not big drinkers, and J-Dub said that was his first time he's ever had alcohol.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and they completely what a coach he's always talking about. I can still hear Bob Stoops. You know, bob, what's going to be the key to the game? Well, of course, certainly always execution, both sides of the ball. Their execution in the postgame locker room with the champagne bottles was rookie league, because they're all so young.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and J-Dub said no, lying, first alcoholic beverage taste he ever had. And they did not. They all figured out we don't know how to open these champagne bottles. So they got a guy who'd been there and done that, and Alex Caruso, who won that Lakers championship in the bubble, who knew how to do it. Maybe they have a class at texas a&m, I don't know. But caruso had to go around and show every one of them how to open a champagne bottle, so that shows you how young they are. And, uh, man, it was crazy, it was just absolutely crazy and thinking about uh, they're all ready. And and then, if you look at the leftovers, I can guarantee you myself, you sean, if we'd had a post-game locker room celebration for a championship like that with our pals, there wouldn't have been an empty beer by empty beer cans everywhere, dead soldiers, as we used to call them right, and they left like 70 of the alcohol there the whole criticism related to what you said two small markets.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, less people watch television these days and I'm not making excuses. But game seven this had a lot to do with it because of the build-up, the drama. But check out these numbers over 19 million watch game seven at its peak, yeah, so well, I mean you had nine something, maybe ten, in game six and in it to make this leap. Maybe it was because it's a Sunday night, I don't know that we hadn't had a game seven in nine years since the.
Speaker 3:Golden State Cleveland matchup and you know that's part of it. But you're right, the viewing experience is so different these days. But I mean, we knew immediately before the series the numbers were going to be lower, probably because of the market size, right, but you know, I think they were pretty good numbers. We got a pretty good series as well. The only thing that sucks about it for game seven was Halliburton going down. Yeah, you know that was the moment for a lot of people, but I think it was a fun series and two fan bases who really love their teams. They don't have a lot of fair weather fans, but yeah, I mean, I think we pretty much knew from the outset. Yeah, india and Oklahoma city to smaller markets, the numbers are not going to look great, but you're right, there are a lot of other ways to watch.
Speaker 3:I don't know how much they factor some of that in, but you clench. You're not as old as me, but you know I'm getting ready to turn 62. And I'm doing that commercial with what, uh, uh, what's? What's Travis Kelsey's brother's name? Oh, my gosh, what's his first name? Eagles Jason. Yeah, we're the one where he's trying to figure out all the streaming devices. Damn it. Password, that's me, you know, and they keep making it more difficult for us old people.
Speaker 3:You got to punch in a number 75 million passwords, or go scan your screen and I'm like scan what. How does?
Speaker 2:that work. That doesn't sound.
Speaker 3:That doesn't sound legal to scan my screen, the old man some of the stuff I'm pretty well up to date on and I think for my age I'm okay. But when it comes to the streaming services and where's the ESPN SEC network, plus dammit you know, and then oh my God, and then it takes you 45 minutes to find out. All right, now I've got to log into this and log out of that and it's like damn, this is like a fricking MIT equation here. To get this game on. This is ridiculous. So, and the sad thing is it's only going to get worse.
Speaker 2:It's a every week we're going to see a new, or every year at least.
Speaker 3:You have to purchase the Google glasses to see this particular broadcast of the Oklahoma Texas game. That'll be an additional 79 95. You know what they're going to do is they're going to start doing all the cards. Yes, games, right, like, right, like hey. Here's your season package. Now you can also pick an a la carte now. Oklahoma texas, five years. That's going to cost you 219 dollars by the way to watch oklahoma, texas or whatever it's.
Speaker 2:I can't. You know, I'm a rangers guy and I can't see any of the games because I don't buy that app. I'm not doing it, not doing it, but that's where we are.
Speaker 3:Well, shay, my wife got what was great. She's a huge Baker Mayfield fan, so she's got Tampa Bay hoodies, T-shirts, peach, everything, and so she's a huge Tampa Bay fan, almost as big as a Thunder fan and a Sooner fan. But so I went into her, you know, I went and asked her this was three years ago when Baker first got there hey, you want to get the NFL Sunday ticket. And she goes, already got it, how about that? For a while, she just decided we're doing it. You made it up. I mean, yeah, how about that? For a while she just decided we're doing it. Boom, you made it up. I mean, yeah, so she's camping out ready for every Tampa Bay Buccaneers game too. But yeah, for us olds, us senior citizens, who've had our AARP cards for a while, the geriatrics versus technology is a very one-sided rivalry. It's kind of like battling football, yeah.
Speaker 2:I will say you say that I got an AARP something in the mail from AARP yesterday. Here you go. That's a. How many?
Speaker 3:years. How many years? I'm guessing you're 42.
Speaker 2:I'll be 52 next month. What?
Speaker 3:That's my gosh dude. I had no idea. Well, I guess you get your arp stuff at well. Then again, yeah, that was a bad guess, bad guess that made me feel great. You just you look 42 you absolutely look every bit of 42 you.
Speaker 2:You're a beautiful, fine American human. Have you eaten?
Speaker 3:at a cafeteria, yet on a regular basis Back in the day, Luby's hey man.
Speaker 1:Tell me something good.
Speaker 2:Mike Steele, the pride of OKC. Don't get Lola the.
Speaker 3:Chihuahua is here too.
Speaker 2:Lola, tell me something good.
Speaker 3:my brother and sister Well, I know you got a lot of Longhorns there and, believe it or not, sooners and Longhorns need each other because they still have the best rivalry in college football and Oklahoma's gotten their asses kicked two of the last three years. They have put two of the worst offenses in the history of Oklahoma football in the Cotton Bowl. Two of the last three years. I mean the Davis Bevel, braden Willis. That was an absolute abomination, horrible. And then last year Jackson Arnold, five-star playing like a two-star. They had all the receiver injuries. The O-line was banged up. Texas was phenomenal. They were really good on defense. They dominated Oklahoma. But I think you're going to get some excitement back in the Cotton Bowl this year. Oklahoma's offense with John Mateer and the transfer Jay Knott I think we're going to see some drama in the Cotton Bowl again.
Speaker 3:I love look if you're an Oklahoma fan, you love 65-13 and 63-14. If you're a Texas fan, you love 49-0, should have been 50-0. You love last year. You love to beat and humiliate your rival. But it's also kind of fun to see some of those games come down to the last second too right, and I think this year we might get that. But hey, sark has done a phenomenal job.
Speaker 3:Looks like Texas finally got a guy who could fight off those boosters and build a culture boosters and build a culture and uh and uh. Because I, you know, I think, if a lot of oklahoma fans are truthful we always wondered how is texas this mediocre? They've got a, a really cool. I love austin. I still think it's a great city and all the resources in the world alumni base it's probably five, six times the size of Oklahoma's A lot of money. You know tradition and we always thought, I think, oklahoma fans, how can Texas be this mediocre or above average? Well, looks like they got things figured out in austin right now. They got it figured out.
Speaker 2:They have a guy who really I mean you know shout out to charlie strong tom herman for taking that job. When they did it just was not a good fit for them. And then it wasn't. I'll say this it wasn't so much them, it was providing for Charlie. He didn't have full support, he didn't have the budget. The leadership from the system down to the university was in a disarray, Like Mack Brown said, the BBs were scattered. Again, Tom Herman interesting times. He won a little bit. But again to your mediocre comment, it's true, but all those guys drafted recently were Tom Herman's recruits. But Sarkeesian and that staff, they have got a firm grasp on this. Yeah, they do. And for him to be and I'm going to say this on a record and for him to be and I'm going to say this on a record to be a coach and manage this NIL era, you've got to be a strong leader. Oh, no, kidding.
Speaker 3:Hard to build a culture, because the culture for a lot is just the cash right. And that's what you look at A&M right in the last years of Jimbo which should be a movie, by the way, who would play Jimbo Fisher? But you know, you think, oh, they got 75, five stars or whatever. But you've got to have a culture and it's harder than ever to build a culture when it's all about the cash Right. And look, sooner fans, if they're watching this, some of them are.
Speaker 3:Don't get mad at me for saying this will probably kill me on the text line on the next show, but this is what texas should be. You have all the resources. History still think oklahoma's a little bit better, which is much better, which is kind of crazy if you think about it. And uh, but this is what texas should be. I agree, we'll see how long. This is what Oklahoma shouldn't be. Right now, brent's season's on the line. They've got to win, I think at least seven and the right seven for him to keep his job and maybe more than that. I think they've got a good chance to bounce back.
Speaker 2:I say they're a nine-win program this year.
Speaker 3:You've got to beat Michigan in game two. You need to roll into Dallas undefeated before you take on the Horns. You've got to beat Auburn at home in the SEC opener. If they do that, they'll roll into Dallas 5-0, and then Oklahoma could be on the road back.
Speaker 3:Oklahoma is college football needs Oklahoma to be successful and it's more difficult in the SEC. Right, everybody did Like I said. Same analogy as the Western Conference and the NBA. You're in the heavyweight division with Ali Frazier-Norton, larry Holmes, all those great heavyweights from back in the day. You knew that you weren't going to go through the Big 12 and dominate like you did. You knew that you were going to take a lot of punches. You just had to punch back. So far they haven't punched back. It's Oklahoma football. I think they'll get back on the right track. But look, you're never going to dominate the way you used to in the Big 12.
Speaker 2:Just not going to happen. Texas and Oklahoma should be in the top ten every year and what they're doing now is unreal here in Austin.
Speaker 3:And that transition from Texas was? You talk about a smooth ride, pretty smooth. Oh, you came down in a broken down Ford Pinto. You know it's like geez ridiculous and you can talk about injuries or whatever, but uh, you know, and Lincoln Riley's departure messed up a lot of things and I didn, and. I didn't like his culture, and you know they've been playing catch up ever since. I think they're starting to get caught up, though I agree.
Speaker 2:Steely brother, it's good seeing you. I hope to be up there before the summer is over. Yeah, you know this has been fun. Maybe one day before we retire we'll have our own regular show together.
Speaker 3:I'm going, maybe I'm trying to go, two more years, maybe something like that. Then the old man's going to go out and go fishing and try and play really bad golf. It's going to be hard, since I can hit my driver about 150 yards now. But hey, I haven't gone to the seniors' tees yet, but I'm heading in that direction.
Speaker 2:Head to the ladies' tee.
Speaker 3:Hey, if there's nobody in the course, I will go to the ladies' tee. That's how bad it is. I love it.
Speaker 2:Hey, steely, whatever you can talk about the world champion, oklahoma City Thunder, there you go, I like it, and Texas OU or OU Texas, whatever side of the Red River you're on, and you do it with Mike Steeele, you know what. It's always good to talk about it.
Speaker 3:I should have worn my Moffga hat today. Make Oklahoma football great again, right, but we'll see. Maybe they'll be back this year. We shall see. Let's do it. I'll see you in Dallas. Have a good one, my friend.
Speaker 2:Enjoy it. See one my friend, enjoy it.
Speaker 1:You're my brother.