June 26, 2025 • 56 mins
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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Honest is a strong word and we all need honesty
when it comes to plumbing andHVAC needs, somebody who will
take care of the repairsefficiently and with quality.
Honest Plumbing and Air is whoI trust and they take pride in
that word.
Honest Plumbing and Air where ahandshake still means something
, where a handshake still meanssomething.
(00:46):
And I said we was too young.
I said Oklahoma should have hadthe team, but guess what?
We don't fucking jam.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Hey, that was unedited.
The FCC is not going to shut usdown, but Oklahoma City, that
was 17 years in the making.
Those Young Thunder finally gotit done, four years after they
pretty much rebuilt thefranchise, and I know we had
Myron Patton and CurtisFitzpatrick, my former
(01:24):
co-workers in Oklahoma City,heading into game six in the
previous episode talking aboutthe vibe in Oklahoma City.
But how does this pertain tothis part of the country here in
Texas?
Well, if you think about it,the San Antonio Spurs have won
multiple NBA titles Houston backto back in the mid-90s, the
(01:45):
Mavericks recently and theThunder finally.
Finally, in this short lifespanof the Thunder, after moving
from Seattle, they've won one.
So this region of the countryyou've got four, six, seven, now
eight NBA championships.
It's very impressive and we'reabout to have a guest to talk
(02:09):
about what the vibe was like inOKC Over half a million people
showing up to celebrate theThunder's first NBA championship
.
And before we get going, in caseyou 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 eachof our social media platforms
(02:31):
and, of course, subscribe toyoutube.
It is free and that's always agreat thing to have right now,
because there's very few thingsin life which are free.
Thunder winning an NBAchampionship in the vibe, in
that beautiful city.
Let's talk about it.
Opc, opc, opc, opc, opc.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
OPC OPC OPC OPC.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
That kind of sets the tone.
I remember I saw peoplecriticizing the Thunder
throughout the day for theparade, 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 fiveto six hundred thousand people
congregated throughout thatdowntown area and we're going to
(03:36):
talk about it with my guy, mikeSteely, legend in Oklahoma City
, broadcasting Oklahoma CityBroadcasting.
But before that got to give ashout out to all the sponsors,
as you see right here,highlighted by Honest Plumbing
and Air, where a handshake stillmeans something.
And have you noticed, not a lotof people shake your hand
anymore?
I don't know why that is andI'm not going to worry about why
(03:58):
, but hey, me and Mike Steele westill shake hands because we're
old school like that.
Let's bring him in.
Mike Steele, is it okay to callyou an OKC or sports
(04:22):
broadcasting legend at all, ordoes that make you feel a
certain age?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
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 bituncomfortable, but you can go
ahead.
Clint Sure.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
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 orjanuary 07.
Mike steely was a predecessor.
He was preparing the sportsarea for my arrival with myron
and curtis and you know liammccue who once worked there,
(05:03):
that's right, yes.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
And a guy named zach klein, who once worked there.
That's right, yes.
And a guy named Zach Klein whois now big-time sports director
in Atlanta.
I got tired of dressing upevery day, sean.
I didn't like putting on a coatand 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 andthat's seriously.
(05:24):
I like I told you we weretalking before I came on.
This is kind of like formalattire for me, right here I mean
usually it's a hoodie andeverything else.
It's a lot more fun not havingto worry about dressing up every
day.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I agree and you know, you never know.
It leaves a mystery to theimagination if, when you're
doing this, if we are wearingpants or anything, Well, most of
the time, especially in thesummer, we were wearing shorts.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
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 (06:02):
Well, you know what every show.
I can promise you that, thatwell you know what it's.
I'm very impressed becausethere are moments in that job,
in that industry, wheresometimes you may wear pants and
everybody meet flip-flops.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
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 overthere.
That means weather's gonna needall your time.
You guys have 30 seconds torecap everything and then we're
going to weather.
All right, I mean, that's theweather people in Oklahoma City.
And look, this is NationalWeather Service.
(06:35):
So many severe storms here allthe time, but the weather people
become the megastars we justlost a legend here Gary England.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
God rest his soul.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
The weather.
People are the superstars hereand I felt like I was relegated
to the bench all the time, so Isaid I'm out of here.
Plus, you're making me dress upevery day.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Steely, I feel your pain and hey rest in peace to
the weather meteorologicallegend Gary England.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I will never forget the saying.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
There were so many of them.
Hey, it's Friday night in thebig town.
Yep, yep, love it.
Hey, I've been very impressedsince I left OKC that you've
embraced Twitter, and here's oneof your tweets.
Yeah, Yesterday your last line,proud to be an Oklahoman today,
kind of set the.
I mean, I saw it because I wasworking briefly.
(07:30):
I saw a lot on social media inbetween because I couldn't just
sit and watch, because I have afull-time job that I have to pay
attention to, and what I sawwas something indescribable in
my opinion was somethingindescribable, in my opinion.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, and I'm not usually prone to a lot of
hyperbole, and you referenced inthe tease that people were
saying oh, oklahoma City's gottens of people at this parade.
It's unbelievable.
First of all, these are theattention-seeking clowns on
social media sending out apicture of the buses which are,
(08:07):
you know, basically going to theparade route.
There was nobody really in thatarea unless they were walking
to the parade route.
But what are they going for?
Clicks, likes, retweets, allthat.
So you, you get people in.
Oklahoma city is not a verywell-liked team by the rest of
the league right now, so peoplejump on that and they absolutely
(08:32):
think it's real and it wastotal BS.
It was a great crowd,considering Oklahoma City has a
metropolitan area of about 1.5million people.
It wasa tremendous turnout,particularly where they finished
at Scissortail park.
Oh, it was crazy absolutelycrazy.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
There chills when I saw that crowd and obviously
that piece of video, the okcchant.
I mean thunder blue forhundreds of yards yeah this can.
I've never you know, I haven'tbeen back since they completed
scissortail park.
But I love this tweet becausethere's an epic photo showing
(09:08):
where the bombing of if peopleare not familiar with it the
walls the time before thebombing and the time after the
bombing at the Murrah FederalBuilding.
It's touching, it's moving andthat is what OKC has been known
for, unfortunately, but it willbe a permanent moment in time
(09:28):
that OKC really was affected by,and then the Thunder players.
It was just.
You just need to go see thephoto and unfortunately I don't
have it in this podcast, but ifyou can talk about it and
briefly, when you see that, whathappened yesterday to what the
(09:51):
city, that imagery from whathappened at that bombing, Well,
april of 1995 was just a totaldisaster for the country, the
largest act of domesticterrorism ever.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
You know, I had people that I knew at the Murrah
building.
I had a loan at the Murrahbuilding.
I had times where I went to theMurrah building and paid my car
loan there.
In fact, how about this story?
100% true, so I'm trying toremember if it was what, what
(10:31):
day of the week it was.
Anyway, I I know the date,obviously, but I remember that
night I was in between jobs, soI was doing the morning sports
at KTOK radio at the time, so Iwas getting up way early and I
was also doing sales um in theafternoon to make a few extra
bucks.
So I called my program directorand I called my sales manager,
(10:57):
um, and I was having horriblestomach issues, horrible.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And so.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
I.
I called him and said man, thisis you know.
I called him at like two in themorning.
I called him at like two in themorning the evening before the
bombing and I told my salesmanager I knew that we had an
eight o'clock and I did, thesports cast were over by 8am and
then or 8.30am and that's whenwe had our sales meeting.
(11:25):
So I called, said man, I'msorry and I hate, this is late
notice, but I'm just not goingto be there.
I had to call the other sportsguy and say I'm man, I'm sorry
for the late notice, I can't bethere.
So I finally get settled out.
I think I went to bed, finallyget to sleep, about 4 am.
I remember distinctly and Ithink I kind of slept through it
(11:45):
about five minutes and I was inan apartment at the time about
10 miles northwest of the Murrahbuilding in downtown Oklahoma
City and I remember hearing thisand I thought what the heck was
that?
And then it kind of got quietand I woke up about 10 minutes
(12:06):
later and I thought what theheck is going on and I turned on
the TV and all the live shots.
I don't know why, I had it onCNN, but I turned it on and
they're doing a live shot fromOklahoma city.
Oh my God.
And I was going to, after thesales meeting, going to the
(12:27):
Murrah building to pay my carpayment that day.
I kid you not Now, look, oursales meeting was usually 30
minutes.
It was about I don't know 15minutes from the radio station
to get to the Murrah building,get parked and get into the
building and go upstairs and paythe payment.
But sometimes the sales meetingmight go 10 minutes, sometimes
(12:47):
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 washeaded right after our sales
meeting.
And you never know.
You know, for me it was thebest upset stomach I ever had,
(13:08):
because I don't know if I wouldhave been there or not.
Probably not, but you neverknow.
You know.
But you know talking about whatyou're talking about.
For that parade route to gopast the bombing memorial, that
iconic photo of shea and theplayers with you, know the
writing on the monument wallthere is just a great photograph
and then to not only go pastthe bombing memorial, which, if
(13:31):
you've never been there and youcome to Oklahoma City you need
to see that it's very moving.
Sam Presti takes every newplayer there when they get with
the Thunder and then they gopast the actual old side of
where the Murrah building was.
So you know this city was thatwas.
Besides, like you know, youthink of Oklahoma state of
(13:52):
Oklahoma, you think about Soonerfootball.
That's huge.
But when you think of OklahomaCity, that is what you think
about.
Right, and we'll always thinkabout that and we always should
think about that.
But the thunder has given thiscity in this area so much joy,
something to root for.
Oklahoma, you know what'snumber one sooner football has
been number one in the stateforever, but now they've got a
(14:14):
rival and you got sooner andcowboy fans coming together
right, so they love the oklahomacity thunder.
And it was just when I wasgrowing up, when I was going to
school at OU in the mid 80s, youdidn't go to Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City was an old cowtown.
There was nothing there.
You know, a lot of times ifyou've got a city that's the
(14:36):
size of Oklahoma, you mightleave Norman it's a 20 minute
drive up to Oklahoma City orwhatever and have a place to go
party or hang out or whatever.
We never went there.
Never went there.
And then they got the MAPSproject, transformed the city
and that's where Oklahoma Cityis today.
It's a result of the people inthe community voting for the
MAPS project, which transformeddowntown.
(14:58):
Then you get lucky not luckyfor New Orleans but you get
Hurricane Katrinarina and theand the hornets the new orleans
hornets move to oklahoma cityand play a couple seasons, right
, uh?
And basically you prove to thethen commissioner, david stern
this city can support an nbafranchise now, remember, it's
(15:20):
called the paycom center now andthat's going going down and
they're going to have a newarena here in a few years.
But that arena, sean, youremember, which was the Ford
Center, was built to try andlure an NHL team.
That's right, right, a hockeyteam, and you end up with an NBA
team.
It's an amazing story.
(15:41):
It's a story that is born atwell, my chihuahua just showed
up.
Hey, little fella.
Yeah, this is Lala, theChihuahua that just showed up.
How did you?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
get upstairs.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
How did you break through the gates?
Stay right here.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Lala.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
All of a sudden I look over hey, what's up?
So anyway, you know, you getthe grief of Hurricane Katrina,
you get the grief of the Murrahbuilding bombing in Oklahoma
City and you get, you know, kindof some good things to come out
of this.
New Orleans got an NBA, youknow still has the NBA franchise
now, and Oklahoma City gets anNBA franchise.
(16:20):
But it's a remarkabletransformation and really a
remarkable story how far thecity has come.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I think it's beautiful and I think a lot can
be made of that MAPS project,because you know when.
I arrived it was still in themidst 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
(16:49):
Thunder, there was moreinvestment, there was more
interest, there was more peoplegiving a chance.
Because, I will be honest,growing up here in Austin, I was
, I was I don't know why I wasgrew up hating Oklahoma.
I didn't know why I put therivalry amazing, but I thought
(17:11):
the universe, god, whatever, hada joke.
We're going to put you inOklahoma 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.
You know I kind of held thefandom down a little bit because
I was in the media but fell inlove with it and to this day
(17:34):
that what happened Sunday wassurreal and you know what
happened yesterday and with thatparade 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.
(17:57):
It's just part of it.
Good 40 seconds, though Icannot wait to hear what you
have to say, because this guyworked his way up to being a
rookie to the Thunder and it wasone of those rare moments, rare
time frames in which theThunder weren't good, but that
they've always been verycompetitive.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
It was the point where they tried to call us the
black hole of the NBA.
But four years later, when theymention the Thunder
organization, when they mentionClay Bennett, when they mention
(18:39):
Sam Pressy, when they mentionRocket Fagin' Up and every
single one of you in this arena,they gotta mention you, that's
the NBA Mike drop.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Okay, see the identity has completely changed
because of this.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Who knew that Aaron Wiggins not only saved
basketball but was the Thunder'sreal hype man behind the scenes
?
But I saw some good tweetsyesterday and one of them was
the Rock holding the mic, aaronWiggins on the mic and he was
great, and it was really thewhole day from the Paycom Center
where they had the ceremonyfirst before they hit the parade
(19:29):
route.
It was, it was just great.
It was, you know, and not onlywhen you see those guys out
there on the parade route.
You know.
They start out on the buses andthey're waving to everybody.
It's typical parade stuff.
Almost every one of those guys Ithink every player got off the
top of the bus and went out tointeract with the fans, letting
(19:51):
them touch the Larry O'Brientrophy, high-fiving them, taking
pictures with them.
It was great, it was absolutelygreat.
And one of my favorite videoswas the group of Thunder fans as
Mark Gagnall, the head coach,is coming by.
He is still up on top of thebus at the time, but they've got
a Michelob ultra like tall boyas he comes by and then they
(20:15):
toss him a beer and he catchesit, you know, and then he pops
the top down, you know, takes abig swig of it and he's like hey
, thanks a lot, and they're justgoing insane.
I mean, it was just a great day.
It really was a great day forThunder fans.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
You know what it was, Because we hear of all of these
celebrations and I was hopingand just hoping it wouldn't
happen in other cities and youhave gunshots, crime, looting in
some places.
That did not happen in OKC, tomy knowledge.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
You had one minor shooting the night after they
won the NBA championship, whichwas completely unrelated to the
crowd and everything, and therewas like a minor injury.
But you know what Oklahomansare all about.
They've got great core values.
Every state or every city hassome bad apples here and there,
(21:08):
but they were well-behaved andit didn't surprise me one bit it
did.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
I took a lot of pride in what I saw and I thought it
was beautiful for the sport andit was beautiful for the game,
and one of the sites that youmentioned, I think with the
players near the bombingmemorial, with that in the
background was an epic photo,very iconic.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
That's going to win some awards, I would think.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
It was and it will.
But I thought this one righthere, this little piece of video
, it just kind of signifiedeverything.
And the first majorchampionship brought to Oklahoma
City A sea of blue and that'ssanta clara williams, right,
(22:17):
santa clara, j yeah, yeah, j dub, yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
And you know and part of that video too that's
meaningful is the firedepartment had a couple trucks
where they could put that flagout like that.
And when talking about theMurrah building bombing, who was
so instrumental?
The firefighters.
Yes, you remember the cover ofTime Newsweek.
There was a young firefighterby the name of Chris Fields
who's a big listener.
(22:38):
I've gotten to know Chris.
He was holding the baby, babyAllman, on the cover and it was
another iconic photo.
He's still around, spent manyyears with the fire department
and how much the firemen hereand the emergency folks who you
know fire and police meant somuch during that time and are so
well respected by people inthis community.
(23:00):
And you know they came out andshowed out community.
And you know they came out andshowed out and I just thought it
was kind of fitting that theypassed under that flag, you know
, early on in the parade route alot of uh imagery, and very
powerful imagery at that.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Um, so did okay, so none of them seem.
I felt like the party went onfrom 7 am to– I don't think
these guys got any sleep.
What's the vibe right now inOklahoma City for everybody?
Was there a lot of people whocalled in sick?
Speaker 3 (23:35):
You know I didn't.
I know that I don't know, but Iknow the players.
Alex Caruso was on the McAfeeshow today.
He said he'd had maybe a couplehours sleep.
Isaiah Hartenstein, at theparade, said he hadn't had any
sleep and that was an iconicmoment.
Of course, in the post gameafter the Thunder won the
championship, sunday night withhis son you know where his son's
(23:57):
completely asleep in his armsand Chase said support the neck.
You know new daddy sga stillbeing a team leader out there.
But yeah, it's been.
It's been a major party.
J-dub had his first ever drinkever.
Uh, you saw nick gallo, thethunder sideline reporter, who's
done all those iconic post-gameinterviews.
(24:18):
Last year it was all about thewhoop, whoop you know all the
and this year was about stackingtowels on his head and how he's
been so open to that and he'sjust kind of gone with the flow.
And I would say Nick Gallo ofall of these sideline reporters
just for a team now, you know,not Lisa Salter, some of the
national people, but Nick Gallohas become a celebrity through
(24:42):
this right, he really has.
In his own way and he's a greatdude, great reporter, and then
he's out there taking tequilashots like Will Ferrell in old
school with Isaiah Hardenstein.
Yesterday it was just a funthing to see the Thunder.
They're a great organization.
You've been around them.
You know how buttoned up theyare but how professional they
(25:03):
are.
But it was a little bit of adifferent side of these guys
that we saw.
Everybody's going to bust outand have a good time when you're
celebrating an NBA championshipin 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 seeyesterday.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
I loved how these guys got some of their T-shirts
designed, the one with NickCollison's face on it.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Bloody Nick Collison.
Yes, Bloody Nick.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Mr Thunder, then Caruso's Mount Rushmore, with
his face on each, that wasbeautiful.
You know, I'm not going togonna 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 (25:52):
because they, I just don't think it's ending anytime
soon well, I mean, they're setup to make a, uh like a three to
four year run, you know, buteventually 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,
(26:13):
still in charge.
But you never know, Klinkster.
You know, because here's thedeal.
What did we all think in 2012when Katie Russ and James Harden
, Serge Ibaka, that whole crew,I could remember they won game
one still think Durant gotfouled at the end of the game
and game two.
But they, it was two, three,two.
So they went back and they'reclosed out in five against
(26:33):
LeBron and the heatles.
But you, I remember the cutawayshot of all those guys, you
know, with their arms aroundeach other on the bench and
thinking, ah, they got at leastone in them before this is done.
They never got back.
They never got back.
So, you know, I do think thisteam has a better leader in Shea
.
I don't know that there's abetter leader in the NBA than
(26:54):
SGA.
This guy's almost too good tobe true as a leader in the face
of your franchise.
And I know people talk freethrow merchant and I don't like
the way he plays.
Okay, I get that, but if he wasin your market and you saw him
play the kind of person andleader he is, you would love him
.
But at the same time, you neverknow.
Look what happened toHalliburton the other night.
(27:17):
You know, playing after a calfstrain is dangerous.
He got out, but you know whoknows how that turns out If Hall
?
He got out, but who knows howthat turns out if Halliburton
plays?
I still think Oklahoma Citywould have figured out a way to
win a closer game.
But you don't know.
You don't know what injuriesmight crop up.
Look, people are stacking theirguns and their stockpile of
(27:37):
weapons to take on Oklahoma City.
We see what the Rockets aredoing.
The Mavericks are going to getCooper flag.
I want to say major trade orsomething, but these teams in
the West are starting to load up.
The Spurs are going to be aproblem, Whoever they draft and
whoever they pair.
They already got De'Aaron Fox.
Who knows what other tradescould be made.
(27:57):
Celebrate this one.
I'd be surprised if during thisrun, they didn't win one more.
But you just don't know.
You never know what's going tohappen.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
It's so hard.
I sound like Tom Herman Winningis hard, but winning an NBA
title.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
I do not like Tom Herman, but he's right, he's
right.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
It is so much more difficult now to become a quote
dynasty in the NBA with the newCBA and then the salary cap,
because most markets I wouldventure to say most, maybe a
third or half they're not goingto want they do.
They're trying to avoid theluxury tax and OKC is not going
to be one of those franchisesthat's going to be in that
(28:46):
luxury tax mode.
That's just my opinion.
I may be wrong, but there'snothing wrong with that.
It just shows that anybody canwin this thing in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Yeah, and what I like is we don't.
I mean, are the super teamscompletely dead?
Probably not, but they're onlife support A little bit in the
league right now.
And you know that July 4th,when Kevin Durant left for
Golden State, oklahoma City wasDevastated, I mean absolutely
Devastated.
On my birthday.
Yeah, can you believe thatthat's crazy, but you know, I do
(29:21):
think as long as the Thunderhas Sam Presti, they're in good
shape.
And Mark Dagnall we all kind ofthought G League coach most
people.
If you're a hardcore NBA fans,you've seen the picture with him
and Alex Caruso together ascoaching player for the Blue,
the Thunder's G League team.
Then they reunite, obviously,and win an NBA championship.
(29:41):
But you know, mark Dagnall alsothink about this.
We were thinking through therebuild.
Well, presti's got his guyDagnall and you know they're
going to go through the rebuildand you know the tanking and
then, once they get seriousagain, maybe Dagnall they
replace him with a veteran headcoach.
No, they got a great coach.
Dagnall is perfect for theThunder, he really is.
(30:04):
He and Sam Presti are alignedstep-by-step.
He's the perfect coach forOklahoma city and, um, it's just
going to be interesting to seehow it unfolds.
But you know, can we get moreteams that are competitive in
the East?
I mean, look, the Pacers made agreat run, but it's like the
West is like the heavyweightdivision.
Back in the Ali Frazier days,every fight's a tough one.
(30:27):
There aren't any tomato cansout there hardly.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
I will say I will admit I underestimated Indiana
because back in January they didnot look like this team.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
They started 6-16 to the season.
That's a good club they gel.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yeah, they are Halliburton.
I hated seeing that.
I really did so to all of you.
If you're watching this orlistening to this in
Indianapolis or anywhere inIndiana, your future is golden,
I think.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Great fan base.
They've got a solid team.
Like I said, who knows?
You know I also don't buy thepeople.
Well, the only reason theThunder one is how they went
down, period.
You know the Twitter trolls andI get.
If you're a Pacer fan, I'm sickabout that.
I'm sick because I wonder whatyou know?
He knocked down three, threesboom, boom, boom early in that
(31:23):
game.
And I'm you as a Thunder fan.
You try and be impartial, butwho am I rooting for?
I'm thinking, uh-oh, you knowyou don't know how it would have
turned out, but you know, Iwould have liked to have seen
how it would have turned outbecause I knew immediately.
First of all, you feel horriblefor the kid, absolutely
horrible, because he's had amagical Harry Potter type run in
(31:47):
these playoffs as the wizardyou know, making all these
incredible shots.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Thunder fans know heartache losing Russell that
year, in 2013 and then 2016 or2016, up 3-1 on the warriors.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Clay Thompson game six.
Clay Thompson game six.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Oh God so but Carson Cunningham tweeted something to
all those people calling out thethunder because Halliburton
went down.
He made a.
There's a long list of teams inwhich the Golden State Warriors
played in the facing theplayoffs during their dynastic
run.
Several times those key playersfor their opposition were hurt.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
I mean, it's part of the game, unfortunately, you
know, for a game seven it washorrible, but we knew that he
had a major calf strain and oneof the things that is, you know,
very much in doubt when youhave a calf strain leads to what
happened If you try and playthrough it.
Right yeah To an Achilles injury.
(32:54):
And the minute he went down andyou saw him screaming and in
tears pounding on the floor, youthought that's it, he's not
coming back.
And it was a bad deal on whatwas a pretty good NBA finals, I
thought, particularly for theselowly small market teams.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Small market teams.
We're going to talk aboutsomething related to that in the
second segment, which isincredibly short, but before we
go to break steely, I want youto be part of something
traditional and legendary.
Is there any kind of man cavestory that you can share that
(33:40):
may be thunder related?
That's just as comical now asit was when it happened.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
So the story has to take place in a man cave or just
a good solid generic story.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Good, solid, generic story Filter free.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Let me think of one right off the bat.
So when I was first gettingstarted out in my career in
radio, the legendary Al Eshbachcame over.
Wwls got started and I was ajunior at OU and then my senior
(34:22):
year I'd been working at whatwas 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 Igot an endorsement from Al.
(34:47):
I get to do an hour show afterhe's done, and that's how kind
of everything got started.
But a couple of stories.
Who is the biggest buffoon as ahead coach in Oklahoma sports
history man?
He had one season as the headcoach of the football well.
(35:14):
So ironically, my first guest onmy show, which was called
sports call pm after al's show,was howard schnellenberger.
I don't know how we got him, buthe was the head coach at
Louisville at the time.
He just taken the Louisvillejob.
So I've got Howard on the airand and I like into it.
(35:36):
I was like, well, you know,howard, you know Louisville has
always been a great basketballschool.
And uh, I'm here to tell youthat university of louisville is
not a basketball school anymore.
So, young man, I resent yourquestion and we are indeed now a
football school.
You know that kind of thing.
(35:56):
And I'm like, the guy dressed medown on my one of my first
shows.
He was my first guest and Iremember thinking, man, there's
something wrong with this dudeand he's a jerk.
And then not long, you knowlater what, some eight, nine
years later he ends up at ou andeverybody's talking about man,
this guy, there's somethingwrong with him.
And he spent one season at ouand got fired by david bourne
(36:21):
and everybody said this guy isso 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 Iwas going to tell you and I'm
trying to think what the heck itwas.
Old man memory, you're a bigNolan Ryan guy.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
I love Nolan.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
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 myfavorite baseball player too.
And I was working at Fox 25where you ended up working and
before I left television andNolan Ryan was at some event for
a PR event for the Red Hawks Ithink they were the Red Hawks
(37:03):
and it wasn't at all sportsstadium, it was at the Bricktown
Ballpark.
I made arrangements to get achance to talk to Nolan Ryan.
I had always heard Jim Traversand other big boys here in the
Oklahoma City market.
It has been for a while.
I love Travers.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I love.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Travers.
He'd always say Nolan Ryan's acheater.
By the way, he was scuffingbaseballs late in his career.
You know, got there with honeycut, he's scuffing the ball.
So I do this interview withNolan Ryan.
He was great.
It was unbelievable to be inhis presence.
I'm fired up about it so Idon't know why.
I decided at the end of theinterview and he was fantastic.
(37:43):
You know, our radio colleague,jim Traber, says that you
cheated late in your career.
Any response to that yeah, andhe kind of smiled and said no
comment and then, like after thecameras were rolling, he was
still joking but he goes.
So Jim Traber said that right,and he goes.
(38:04):
That son of a bitch, yeah, buthe was done in a joking way but
I thought it was great.
Nolan Ryan.
What a stud Nolan Ryan was.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Still is, he still is .
You know I stud Nolan Ryan wasStill 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, greatstory.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Nolan Ryan's a rancher who played baseball.
Basically now right, alvin.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Texas Mm-hmm To the right near Houston.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
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 tocharge?
And then he made the fataldecision to charge nolan ryan
and it was like a steerwrestling event right with.
(39:05):
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 wrongdecision and that would probably
be the one.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
What he said Ryan was .
Nolan was popping noogies onhis head.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
I mean Nolan Ryan.
You think that dude even atwhat is.
How old is Nolan now?
Like 81?
Speaker 2 (39:27):
He might be 80.
He still gets around.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
I guarantee you that dude's been country strong his
whole life and still is.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
He would still whip somebody's ass.
Whip my ass.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
I know that I wouldn't charge the mound on him
.
I'd run in the other direction.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
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 justgood people, good people, but no
one.
They're just good people, goodpeople, but Nolan can still whip
some ass today you talk about aTexan and just a legendary
badass American.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Nolan Ryan's on that list somewhere.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
He's a legend and a long, tall Texan for sure.
Hey, we're going to take aquick break.
We're going to hear about ourguys at Jim Saxton State Farmer.
When we come back we're goingto talk about beer consumption,
or lack thereof.
Man the Thunder man, they'renot big fans of drinking beer.
(40:28):
Steely, I'll see you on theother side.
The Saxton name resonates inAustin.
Jim's late father, james Saxton, is a Longhorn legend, a
Heisman finalist while playingfor Darryl K Royal, and Jimmy is
a UT football legacy fromWestlake.
He has been insuring Austin fordecades.
(40:50):
He and his staff will give youold school hospitality when
servicing your insurance needsTo the best To the best.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
On the team I have, we all have drinks, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
You love that Careful Jack A little.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
A little.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Word to Kim, so shout out to.
Michelob Ultra.
Sponsor of the Thunder.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Or as Chad Holmgren called it, I got these Michelob
glasses here.
Michelob, I think he called it.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Michelob, what is listen?
I love it A lot of them.
They're not big drinkers, andJ-Dub said that was his first
time he's ever had alcohol.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
Yeah, and they completely what a coach he's
always talking about.
I can still hear Bob Stoops.
You know, bob, what's going tobe the key to the game?
Well, of course, certainlyalways execution, both sides of
the ball.
Their execution in the postgamelocker room with the champagne
bottles was rookie league,because they're all so young.
Yeah, and J-Dub said no, lying,first alcoholic beverage taste
(42:20):
he ever had.
And they did not.
They all figured out we don'tknow how to open these champagne
bottles.
So they got a guy who'd beenthere and done that, and Alex
Caruso, who won that Lakerschampionship in the bubble, who
knew how to do it.
Maybe they have a class attexas a&m, I don't know.
But caruso had to go around andshow every one of them how to
(42:42):
open a champagne bottle, so thatshows you how young they are.
And, uh, man, it was crazy, itwas just absolutely crazy and
thinking about uh, they're allready.
And and then, if you look atthe leftovers, I can guarantee
you myself, you sean, if we'dhad a post-game locker room
(43:03):
celebration for a championshiplike that with our pals, there
wouldn't have been an empty beerby empty beer cans everywhere,
dead soldiers, as we used tocall them right, and they left
like 70 of the alcohol there thewhole criticism related to what
you said two small markets.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Well, you know, less people watch television these
days and I'm not making excuses.
But game seven this had a lotto do with it because of the
build-up, the drama.
But check out these numbersover 19 million watch game seven
at its peak, yeah, so well, Imean you had nine something,
(43:43):
maybe ten, in game six and in itto make this leap.
Maybe it was because it's aSunday night, I don't know that
we hadn't had a game seven innine years since the.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
Golden State Cleveland matchup and you know
that's part of it.
But you're right, the viewingexperience is so different these
days.
But I mean, we knew immediatelybefore the series the numbers
were going to be lower, probablybecause of the market size,
right, but you know, I thinkthey were pretty good numbers.
(44:15):
We got a pretty good series aswell.
The only thing that sucks aboutit for game seven was
Halliburton going down.
Yeah, you know that was themoment for a lot of people, but
I think it was a fun series andtwo fan bases who really love
their teams.
They don't have a lot of fairweather fans, but yeah, I mean,
I think we pretty much knew fromthe outset.
(44:35):
Yeah, india and Oklahoma cityto smaller markets, the numbers
are not going to look great, butyou're right, there are a lot
of other ways to watch.
I don't know how much theyfactor some of that in, but you
clench.
You're not as old as me, butyou know I'm getting ready to
turn 62.
And I'm doing that commercialwith what, uh, uh, what's?
(44:56):
What's Travis Kelsey'sbrother's name?
Oh, my gosh, what's his firstname?
Eagles Jason.
Yeah, we're the one where he'strying 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.
You got to punch in a number 75million passwords, or go scan
(45:18):
your screen and I'm like scanwhat.
How does?
Speaker 2 (45:20):
that work.
That doesn't sound.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
That doesn't sound legal to scan my screen, the old
man some of the stuff I'mpretty well up to date on and I
think for my age I'm okay.
But when it comes to thestreaming services and where's
the ESPN SEC network, plusdammit you know, and then oh my
God, and then it takes you 45minutes to find out.
All right, now I've got to loginto this and log out of that
(45:44):
and it's like damn, this is likea fricking MIT equation here.
To get this game on.
This is ridiculous.
So, and the sad thing is it'sonly going to get worse.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
It's a every week we're going to see a new, or
every year at least.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
You have to purchase the Google glasses to see this
particular broadcast of theOklahoma Texas game.
That'll be an additional 79 95.
You know what they're going todo 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 lacarte now.
(46:22):
Oklahoma texas, five years.
That's going to cost you 219dollars by the way to watch
oklahoma, texas or whatever it's.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
I can't.
You know, I'm a rangers guy andI 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 (46:43):
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 Thunderfan and a Sooner fan.
But so I went into her, youknow, I went and asked her this
(47:04):
was three years ago when Bakerfirst 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 decidedwe're doing it.
You made it up.
I mean, yeah, how about that?
For a while she just decidedwe're doing it.
Boom, you made it up.
I mean, yeah, so she's campingout ready for every Tampa Bay
Buccaneers game too.
But yeah, for us olds, ussenior citizens, who've had our
(47:27):
AARP cards for a while, thegeriatrics versus technology is
a very one-sided rivalry.
It's kind of like battlingfootball, yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
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 (47:49):
years.
How many years?
I'm guessing you're 42.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
I'll be 52 next month .
What?
Speaker 3 (47:58):
That's my gosh dude.
I had no idea.
Well, I guess you get your arpstuff at well.
Then again, yeah, that was abad guess, bad guess that made
me feel great.
You just you look 42 youabsolutely look every bit of 42
you.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
You're a beautiful, fine American human.
Have you eaten?
Speaker 3 (48:18):
at a cafeteria, yet on a regular basis Back in the
day, Luby's hey man.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
Tell me something good.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
Mike Steele, the pride of OKC.
Don't get Lola the.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Chihuahua is here too .
Speaker 2 (48:40):
Lola, tell me something good.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
my brother and sister Well, I know you got a lot of
Longhorns there and, believe itor not, sooners and Longhorns
need each other because theystill have the best rivalry in
college football and Oklahoma'sgotten their asses kicked two of
the last three years.
They have put two of the worstoffenses in the history of
(49:06):
Oklahoma football in the CottonBowl.
Two of the last three years.
I mean the Davis Bevel, bradenWillis.
That was an absoluteabomination, horrible.
And then last year JacksonArnold, five-star playing like a
two-star.
They had all the receiverinjuries.
The O-line was banged up.
Texas was phenomenal.
(49:27):
They were really good ondefense.
They dominated Oklahoma.
But I think you're going to getsome excitement back in the
Cotton Bowl this year.
Oklahoma's offense with JohnMateer and the transfer Jay
Knott I think we're going to seesome drama in the Cotton Bowl
again.
I love look if you're anOklahoma fan, you love 65-13 and
(49:48):
63-14.
If you're a Texas fan, you love49-0, should have been 50-0.
You love last year.
You love to beat and humiliateyour rival.
But it's also kind of fun tosee some of those games come
down to the last second tooright, and I think this year we
might get that.
But hey, sark has done aphenomenal job.
(50:08):
Looks like Texas finally got aguy who could fight off those
boosters and build a cultureboosters 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 howis texas this mediocre?
They've got a, a really cool.
(50:31):
I love austin.
I still think it's a great cityand all the resources in the
world alumni base it's probablyfive, six times the size of
Oklahoma's A lot of money.
You know tradition and wealways thought, I think,
oklahoma fans, how can Texas bethis mediocre or above average?
(50:53):
Well, looks like they gotthings figured out in austin
right now.
They got it figured out.
Speaker 2 (50:58):
They have a guy who really I mean you know shout out
to charlie strong tom hermanfor taking that job.
When they did it just was not agood fit for them.
And then it wasn't.
I'll say this it wasn't so muchthem, it was providing for
Charlie.
He didn't have full support, hedidn't have the budget.
(51:22):
The leadership from the systemdown to the university was in a
disarray, Like Mack Brown said,the BBs were scattered.
Again, Tom Herman interestingtimes.
He won a little bit.
But again to your mediocrecomment, it's true, but all
those guys drafted recently wereTom Herman's recruits.
(51:44):
But Sarkeesian and that staff,they have got a firm grasp on
this.
Yeah, they do.
And for him to be and I'm goingto say this on a record and for
him to be and I'm going to saythis on a record to be a coach
and manage this NIL era, you'vegot to be a strong leader.
Oh, no, kidding.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
Hard to build a culture, because the culture for
a lot is just the cash right.
And that's what you look at A&Mright 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 aculture and it's harder than
ever to build a culture whenit's all about the cash Right.
(52:29):
And look, sooner fans, ifthey're watching this, some of
them are.
Don't get mad at me for sayingthis 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'sa little bit better, which is
much better, which is kind ofcrazy if you think about it.
(52:52):
And uh, but this is what texasshould be.
I agree, we'll see how long.
This is what Oklahoma shouldn'tbe.
Right now, brent's season's onthe line.
They've got to win, I think atleast seven and the right seven
for him to keep his job andmaybe more than that.
I think they've got a goodchance to bounce back.
Speaker 2 (53:13):
I say they're a nine-win program this year.
Speaker 3 (53:15):
You've got to beat Michigan in game two.
You need to roll into Dallasundefeated before you take on
the Horns.
You've got to beat Auburn athome in the SEC opener.
If they do that, they'll rollinto Dallas 5-0, and then
Oklahoma could be on the roadback.
Oklahoma is college footballneeds Oklahoma to be successful
(53:35):
and it's more difficult in theSEC.
Right, everybody did Like Isaid.
Same analogy as the WesternConference and the NBA.
You're in the heavyweightdivision with Ali Frazier-Norton
, larry Holmes, all those greatheavyweights from back in the
day.
You knew that you weren't goingto go through the Big 12 and
dominate like you did.
You knew that you were going totake a lot of punches.
You just had to punch back.
(53:55):
So far they haven't punchedback.
It's Oklahoma football.
I think they'll get back on theright track.
But look, you're never going todominate the way you used to in
the Big 12.
Speaker 2 (54:05):
Just not going to happen.
Texas and Oklahoma should be inthe top ten every year and what
they're doing now is unrealhere in Austin.
Speaker 3 (54:19):
And that transition from Texas was?
You talk about a smooth ride,pretty smooth.
Oh, you came down in a brokendown Ford Pinto.
You know it's like geezridiculous and you can talk
about injuries or whatever, butuh, you know, and Lincoln
Riley's departure messed up alot of things and I didn, and.
I didn't like his culture, andyou know they've been playing
(54:39):
catch up ever since.
I think they're starting to getcaught up, though I agree.
Speaker 2 (54:44):
Steely brother, it's good seeing you.
I hope to be up there beforethe summer is over.
Yeah, you know this has beenfun.
Maybe one day before we retirewe'll have our own regular show
together.
Speaker 3 (54:56):
I'm going, maybe I'm trying to go, two more years,
maybe something like that.
Then the old man's going to goout and go fishing and try and
play really bad golf.
It's going to be hard, since Ican hit my driver about 150
yards now.
But hey, I haven't gone to theseniors' tees yet, but I'm
heading in that direction.
Speaker 2 (55:13):
Head to the ladies' tee.
Speaker 3 (55:14):
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 (55:22):
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, whateverside of the Red River you're on,
and you do it with Mike Steeele, you know what.
It's always good to talk aboutit.
Speaker 3 (55:40):
I should have worn my Moffga hat today.
Make Oklahoma football greatagain, 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 (55:59):
Enjoy it.
See one my friend, enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (56:02):
You're my brother.
Honest is a strong word and we all need honesty
when it comes to plumbing andHVAC needs, somebody who will
take care of the repairsefficiently and with quality.
Honest Plumbing and Air is whoI trust and they take pride in
that word.
Honest Plumbing and Air where ahandshake still means something
, where a handshake still meanssomething.
(00:46):
And I said we was too young.
I said Oklahoma should have hadthe team, but guess what?
We don't fucking jam.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Hey, that was unedited.
The FCC is not going to shut usdown, but Oklahoma City, that
was 17 years in the making.
Those Young Thunder finally gotit done, four years after they
pretty much rebuilt thefranchise, and I know we had
Myron Patton and CurtisFitzpatrick, my former
(01:24):
co-workers in Oklahoma City,heading into game six in the
previous episode talking aboutthe vibe in Oklahoma City.
But how does this pertain tothis part of the country here in
Texas?
Well, if you think about it,the San Antonio Spurs have won
multiple NBA titles Houston backto back in the mid-90s, the
(01:45):
Mavericks recently and theThunder finally.
Finally, in this short lifespanof the Thunder, after moving
from Seattle, they've won one.
So this region of the countryyou've got four, six, seven, now
eight NBA championships.
It's very impressive and we'reabout to have a guest to talk
(02:09):
about what the vibe was like inOKC Over half a million people
showing up to celebrate theThunder's first NBA championship
.
And before we get going, in caseyou 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 eachof our social media platforms
(02:31):
and, of course, subscribe toyoutube.
It is free and that's always agreat thing to have right now,
because there's very few thingsin life which are free.
Thunder winning an NBAchampionship in the vibe, in
that beautiful city.
Let's talk about it.
Opc, opc, opc, opc, opc.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
OPC OPC OPC OPC.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
That kind of sets the tone.
I remember I saw peoplecriticizing the Thunder
throughout the day for theparade, 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 fiveto six hundred thousand people
congregated throughout thatdowntown area and we're going to
(03:36):
talk about it with my guy, mikeSteely, legend in Oklahoma City
, broadcasting Oklahoma CityBroadcasting.
But before that got to give ashout out to all the sponsors,
as you see right here,highlighted by Honest Plumbing
and Air, where a handshake stillmeans something.
And have you noticed, not a lotof people shake your hand
anymore?
I don't know why that is andI'm not going to worry about why
(03:58):
, but hey, me and Mike Steele westill shake hands because we're
old school like that.
Let's bring him in.
Mike Steele, is it okay to callyou an OKC or sports
(04:22):
broadcasting legend at all, ordoes that make you feel a
certain age?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
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 bituncomfortable, but you can go
ahead.
Clint Sure.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
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 orjanuary 07.
Mike steely was a predecessor.
He was preparing the sportsarea for my arrival with myron
and curtis and you know liammccue who once worked there,
(05:03):
that's right, yes.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
And a guy named zach klein, who once worked there.
That's right, yes.
And a guy named Zach Klein whois now big-time sports director
in Atlanta.
I got tired of dressing upevery day, sean.
I didn't like putting on a coatand 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 andthat's seriously.
(05:24):
I like I told you we weretalking before I came on.
This is kind of like formalattire for me, right here I mean
usually it's a hoodie andeverything else.
It's a lot more fun not havingto worry about dressing up every
day.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I agree and you know, you never know.
It leaves a mystery to theimagination if, when you're
doing this, if we are wearingpants or anything, Well, most of
the time, especially in thesummer, we were wearing shorts.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
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 (06:02):
Well, you know what every show.
I can promise you that, thatwell you know what it's.
I'm very impressed becausethere are moments in that job,
in that industry, wheresometimes you may wear pants and
everybody meet flip-flops.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
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 overthere.
That means weather's gonna needall your time.
You guys have 30 seconds torecap everything and then we're
going to weather.
All right, I mean, that's theweather people in Oklahoma City.
And look, this is NationalWeather Service.
(06:35):
So many severe storms here allthe time, but the weather people
become the megastars we justlost a legend here Gary England.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
God rest his soul.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
The weather.
People are the superstars hereand I felt like I was relegated
to the bench all the time, so Isaid I'm out of here.
Plus, you're making me dress upevery day.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Steely, I feel your pain and hey rest in peace to
the weather meteorologicallegend Gary England.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I will never forget the saying.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
There were so many of them.
Hey, it's Friday night in thebig town.
Yep, yep, love it.
Hey, I've been very impressedsince I left OKC that you've
embraced Twitter, and here's oneof your tweets.
Yeah, Yesterday your last line,proud to be an Oklahoman today,
kind of set the.
I mean, I saw it because I wasworking briefly.
(07:30):
I saw a lot on social media inbetween because I couldn't just
sit and watch, because I have afull-time job that I have to pay
attention to, and what I sawwas something indescribable in
my opinion was somethingindescribable, in my opinion.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, and I'm not usually prone to a lot of
hyperbole, and you referenced inthe tease that people were
saying oh, oklahoma City's gottens of people at this parade.
It's unbelievable.
First of all, these are theattention-seeking clowns on
social media sending out apicture of the buses which are,
(08:07):
you know, basically going to theparade route.
There was nobody really in thatarea unless they were walking
to the parade route.
But what are they going for?
Clicks, likes, retweets, allthat.
So you, you get people in.
Oklahoma city is not a verywell-liked team by the rest of
the league right now, so peoplejump on that and they absolutely
(08:32):
think it's real and it wastotal BS.
It was a great crowd,considering Oklahoma City has a
metropolitan area of about 1.5million people.
It wasa tremendous turnout,particularly where they finished
at Scissortail park.
Oh, it was crazy absolutelycrazy.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
There chills when I saw that crowd and obviously
that piece of video, the okcchant.
I mean thunder blue forhundreds of yards yeah this can.
I've never you know, I haven'tbeen back since they completed
scissortail park.
But I love this tweet becausethere's an epic photo showing
(09:08):
where the bombing of if peopleare not familiar with it the
walls the time before thebombing and the time after the
bombing at the Murrah FederalBuilding.
It's touching, it's moving andthat is what OKC has been known
for, unfortunately, but it willbe a permanent moment in time
(09:28):
that OKC really was affected by,and then the Thunder players.
It was just.
You just need to go see thephoto and unfortunately I don't
have it in this podcast, but ifyou can talk about it and
briefly, when you see that, whathappened yesterday to what the
(09:51):
city, that imagery from whathappened at that bombing, Well,
april of 1995 was just a totaldisaster for the country, the
largest act of domesticterrorism ever.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
You know, I had people that I knew at the Murrah
building.
I had a loan at the Murrahbuilding.
I had times where I went to theMurrah building and paid my car
loan there.
In fact, how about this story?
100% true, so I'm trying toremember if it was what, what
(10:31):
day of the week it was.
Anyway, I I know the date,obviously, but I remember that
night I was in between jobs, soI was doing the morning sports
at KTOK radio at the time, so Iwas getting up way early and I
was also doing sales um in theafternoon to make a few extra
bucks.
So I called my program directorand I called my sales manager,
(10:57):
um, and I was having horriblestomach issues, horrible.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And so.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
I.
I called him and said man, thisis you know.
I called him at like two in themorning.
I called him at like two in themorning the evening before the
bombing and I told my salesmanager I knew that we had an
eight o'clock and I did, thesports cast were over by 8am and
then or 8.30am and that's whenwe had our sales meeting.
(11:25):
So I called, said man, I'msorry and I hate, this is late
notice, but I'm just not goingto be there.
I had to call the other sportsguy and say I'm man, I'm sorry
for the late notice, I can't bethere.
So I finally get settled out.
I think I went to bed, finallyget to sleep, about 4 am.
I remember distinctly and Ithink I kind of slept through it
(11:45):
about five minutes and I was inan apartment at the time about
10 miles northwest of the Murrahbuilding in downtown Oklahoma
City and I remember hearing thisand I thought what the heck was
that?
And then it kind of got quietand I woke up about 10 minutes
(12:06):
later and I thought what theheck is going on and I turned on
the TV and all the live shots.
I don't know why, I had it onCNN, but I turned it on and
they're doing a live shot fromOklahoma city.
Oh my God.
And I was going to, after thesales meeting, going to the
(12:27):
Murrah building to pay my carpayment that day.
I kid you not Now, look, oursales meeting was usually 30
minutes.
It was about I don't know 15minutes from the radio station
to get to the Murrah building,get parked and get into the
building and go upstairs and paythe payment.
But sometimes the sales meetingmight go 10 minutes, sometimes
(12:47):
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 washeaded right after our sales
meeting.
And you never know.
You know, for me it was thebest upset stomach I ever had,
(13:08):
because I don't know if I wouldhave been there or not.
Probably not, but you neverknow.
You know.
But you know talking about whatyou're talking about.
For that parade route to gopast the bombing memorial, that
iconic photo of shea and theplayers with you, know the
writing on the monument wallthere is just a great photograph
and then to not only go pastthe bombing memorial, which, if
(13:31):
you've never been there and youcome to Oklahoma City you need
to see that it's very moving.
Sam Presti takes every newplayer there when they get with
the Thunder and then they gopast the actual old side of
where the Murrah building was.
So you know this city was thatwas.
Besides, like you know, youthink of Oklahoma state of
(13:52):
Oklahoma, you think about Soonerfootball.
That's huge.
But when you think of OklahomaCity, that is what you think
about.
Right, and we'll always thinkabout that and we always should
think about that.
But the thunder has given thiscity in this area so much joy,
something to root for.
Oklahoma, you know what'snumber one sooner football has
been number one in the stateforever, but now they've got a
(14:14):
rival and you got sooner andcowboy fans coming together
right, so they love the oklahomacity thunder.
And it was just when I wasgrowing up, when I was going to
school at OU in the mid 80s, youdidn't go to Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City was an old cowtown.
There was nothing there.
You know, a lot of times ifyou've got a city that's the
(14:36):
size of Oklahoma, you mightleave Norman it's a 20 minute
drive up to Oklahoma City orwhatever and have a place to go
party or hang out or whatever.
We never went there.
Never went there.
And then they got the MAPSproject, transformed the city
and that's where Oklahoma Cityis today.
It's a result of the people inthe community voting for the
MAPS project, which transformeddowntown.
(14:58):
Then you get lucky not luckyfor New Orleans but you get
Hurricane Katrinarina and theand the hornets the new orleans
hornets move to oklahoma cityand play a couple seasons, right
, uh?
And basically you prove to thethen commissioner, david stern
this city can support an nbafranchise now, remember, it's
(15:20):
called the paycom center now andthat's going going down and
they're going to have a newarena here in a few years.
But that arena, sean, youremember, which was the Ford
Center, was built to try andlure an NHL team.
That's right, right, a hockeyteam, and you end up with an NBA
team.
It's an amazing story.
(15:41):
It's a story that is born atwell, my chihuahua just showed
up.
Hey, little fella.
Yeah, this is Lala, theChihuahua that just showed up.
How did you?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
get upstairs.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
How did you break through the gates?
Stay right here.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Lala.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
All of a sudden I look over hey, what's up?
So anyway, you know, you getthe grief of Hurricane Katrina,
you get the grief of the Murrahbuilding bombing in Oklahoma
City and you get, you know, kindof some good things to come out
of this.
New Orleans got an NBA, youknow still has the NBA franchise
now, and Oklahoma City gets anNBA franchise.
(16:20):
But it's a remarkabletransformation and really a
remarkable story how far thecity has come.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I think it's beautiful and I think a lot can
be made of that MAPS project,because you know when.
I arrived it was still in themidst 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
(16:49):
Thunder, there was moreinvestment, there was more
interest, there was more peoplegiving a chance.
Because, I will be honest,growing up here in Austin, I was
, I was I don't know why I wasgrew up hating Oklahoma.
I didn't know why I put therivalry amazing, but I thought
(17:11):
the universe, god, whatever, hada joke.
We're going to put you inOklahoma 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.
You know I kind of held thefandom down a little bit because
I was in the media but fell inlove with it and to this day
(17:34):
that what happened Sunday wassurreal and you know what
happened yesterday and with thatparade 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.
(17:57):
It's just part of it.
Good 40 seconds, though Icannot wait to hear what you
have to say, because this guyworked his way up to being a
rookie to the Thunder and it wasone of those rare moments, rare
time frames in which theThunder weren't good, but that
they've always been verycompetitive.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
It was the point where they tried to call us the
black hole of the NBA.
But four years later, when theymention the Thunder
organization, when they mentionClay Bennett, when they mention
(18:39):
Sam Pressy, when they mentionRocket Fagin' Up and every
single one of you in this arena,they gotta mention you, that's
the NBA Mike drop.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Okay, see the identity has completely changed
because of this.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Who knew that Aaron Wiggins not only saved
basketball but was the Thunder'sreal hype man behind the scenes
?
But I saw some good tweetsyesterday and one of them was
the Rock holding the mic, aaronWiggins on the mic and he was
great, and it was really thewhole day from the Paycom Center
where they had the ceremonyfirst before they hit the parade
(19:29):
route.
It was, it was just great.
It was, you know, and not onlywhen you see those guys out
there on the parade route.
You know.
They start out on the buses andthey're waving to everybody.
It's typical parade stuff.
Almost every one of those guys Ithink every player got off the
top of the bus and went out tointeract with the fans, letting
(19:51):
them touch the Larry O'Brientrophy, high-fiving them, taking
pictures with them.
It was great, it was absolutelygreat.
And one of my favorite videoswas the group of Thunder fans as
Mark Gagnall, the head coach,is coming by.
He is still up on top of thebus at the time, but they've got
a Michelob ultra like tall boyas he comes by and then they
(20:15):
toss him a beer and he catchesit, you know, and then he pops
the top down, you know, takes abig swig of it and he's like hey
, thanks a lot, and they're justgoing insane.
I mean, it was just a great day.
It really was a great day forThunder fans.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
You know what it was, Because we hear of all of these
celebrations and I was hopingand just hoping it wouldn't
happen in other cities and youhave gunshots, crime, looting in
some places.
That did not happen in OKC, tomy knowledge.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
You had one minor shooting the night after they
won the NBA championship, whichwas completely unrelated to the
crowd and everything, and therewas like a minor injury.
But you know what Oklahomansare all about.
They've got great core values.
Every state or every city hassome bad apples here and there,
(21:08):
but they were well-behaved andit didn't surprise me one bit it
did.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
I took a lot of pride in what I saw and I thought it
was beautiful for the sport andit was beautiful for the game,
and one of the sites that youmentioned, I think with the
players near the bombingmemorial, with that in the
background was an epic photo,very iconic.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
That's going to win some awards, I would think.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
It was and it will.
But I thought this one righthere, this little piece of video
, it just kind of signifiedeverything.
And the first majorchampionship brought to Oklahoma
City A sea of blue and that'ssanta clara williams, right,
(22:17):
santa clara, j yeah, yeah, j dub, yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
And you know and part of that video too that's
meaningful is the firedepartment had a couple trucks
where they could put that flagout like that.
And when talking about theMurrah building bombing, who was
so instrumental?
The firefighters.
Yes, you remember the cover ofTime Newsweek.
There was a young firefighterby the name of Chris Fields
who's a big listener.
(22:38):
I've gotten to know Chris.
He was holding the baby, babyAllman, on the cover and it was
another iconic photo.
He's still around, spent manyyears with the fire department
and how much the firemen hereand the emergency folks who you
know fire and police meant somuch during that time and are so
well respected by people inthis community.
(23:00):
And you know they came out andshowed out community.
And you know they came out andshowed out and I just thought it
was kind of fitting that theypassed under that flag, you know
, early on in the parade route alot of uh imagery, and very
powerful imagery at that.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Um, so did okay, so none of them seem.
I felt like the party went onfrom 7 am to– I don't think
these guys got any sleep.
What's the vibe right now inOklahoma City for everybody?
Was there a lot of people whocalled in sick?
Speaker 3 (23:35):
You know I didn't.
I know that I don't know, but Iknow the players.
Alex Caruso was on the McAfeeshow today.
He said he'd had maybe a couplehours sleep.
Isaiah Hartenstein, at theparade, said he hadn't had any
sleep and that was an iconicmoment.
Of course, in the post gameafter the Thunder won the
championship, sunday night withhis son you know where his son's
(23:57):
completely asleep in his armsand Chase said support the neck.
You know new daddy sga stillbeing a team leader out there.
But yeah, it's been.
It's been a major party.
J-dub had his first ever drinkever.
Uh, you saw nick gallo, thethunder sideline reporter, who's
done all those iconic post-gameinterviews.
(24:18):
Last year it was all about thewhoop, whoop you know all the
and this year was about stackingtowels on his head and how he's
been so open to that and he'sjust kind of gone with the flow.
And I would say Nick Gallo ofall of these sideline reporters
just for a team now, you know,not Lisa Salter, some of the
national people, but Nick Gallohas become a celebrity through
(24:42):
this right, he really has.
In his own way and he's a greatdude, great reporter, and then
he's out there taking tequilashots like Will Ferrell in old
school with Isaiah Hardenstein.
Yesterday it was just a funthing to see the Thunder.
They're a great organization.
You've been around them.
You know how buttoned up theyare but how professional they
(25:03):
are.
But it was a little bit of adifferent side of these guys
that we saw.
Everybody's going to bust outand have a good time when you're
celebrating an NBA championshipin 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 seeyesterday.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
I loved how these guys got some of their T-shirts
designed, the one with NickCollison's face on it.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Bloody Nick Collison.
Yes, Bloody Nick.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Mr Thunder, then Caruso's Mount Rushmore, with
his face on each, that wasbeautiful.
You know, I'm not going togonna 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 (25:52):
because they, I just don't think it's ending anytime
soon well, I mean, they're setup to make a, uh like a three to
four year run, you know, buteventually 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,
(26:13):
still in charge.
But you never know, Klinkster.
You know, because here's thedeal.
What did we all think in 2012when Katie Russ and James Harden
, Serge Ibaka, that whole crew,I could remember they won game
one still think Durant gotfouled at the end of the game
and game two.
But they, it was two, three,two.
So they went back and they'reclosed out in five against
(26:33):
LeBron and the heatles.
But you, I remember the cutawayshot of all those guys, you
know, with their arms aroundeach other on the bench and
thinking, ah, they got at leastone in them before this is done.
They never got back.
They never got back.
So, you know, I do think thisteam has a better leader in Shea
.
I don't know that there's abetter leader in the NBA than
(26:54):
SGA.
This guy's almost too good tobe true as a leader in the face
of your franchise.
And I know people talk freethrow merchant and I don't like
the way he plays.
Okay, I get that, but if he wasin your market and you saw him
play the kind of person andleader he is, you would love him
.
But at the same time, you neverknow.
Look what happened toHalliburton the other night.
(27:17):
You know, playing after a calfstrain is dangerous.
He got out, but you know whoknows how that turns out If Hall
?
He got out, but who knows howthat turns out if Halliburton
plays?
I still think Oklahoma Citywould have figured out a way to
win a closer game.
But you don't know.
You don't know what injuriesmight crop up.
Look, people are stacking theirguns and their stockpile of
(27:37):
weapons to take on Oklahoma City.
We see what the Rockets aredoing.
The Mavericks are going to getCooper flag.
I want to say major trade orsomething, but these teams in
the West are starting to load up.
The Spurs are going to be aproblem, Whoever they draft and
whoever they pair.
They already got De'Aaron Fox.
Who knows what other tradescould be made.
(27:57):
Celebrate this one.
I'd be surprised if during thisrun, they didn't win one more.
But you just don't know.
You never know what's going tohappen.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
It's so hard.
I sound like Tom Herman Winningis hard, but winning an NBA
title.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
I do not like Tom Herman, but he's right, he's
right.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
It is so much more difficult now to become a quote
dynasty in the NBA with the newCBA and then the salary cap,
because most markets I wouldventure to say most, maybe a
third or half they're not goingto want they do.
They're trying to avoid theluxury tax and OKC is not going
to be one of those franchisesthat's going to be in that
(28:46):
luxury tax mode.
That's just my opinion.
I may be wrong, but there'snothing wrong with that.
It just shows that anybody canwin this thing in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Yeah, and what I like is we don't.
I mean, are the super teamscompletely dead?
Probably not, but they're onlife support A little bit in the
league right now.
And you know that July 4th,when Kevin Durant left for
Golden State, oklahoma City wasDevastated, I mean absolutely
Devastated.
On my birthday.
Yeah, can you believe thatthat's crazy, but you know, I do
(29:21):
think as long as the Thunderhas Sam Presti, they're in good
shape.
And Mark Dagnall we all kind ofthought G League coach most
people.
If you're a hardcore NBA fans,you've seen the picture with him
and Alex Caruso together ascoaching player for the Blue,
the Thunder's G League team.
Then they reunite, obviously,and win an NBA championship.
(29:41):
But you know, mark Dagnall alsothink about this.
We were thinking through therebuild.
Well, presti's got his guyDagnall and you know they're
going to go through the rebuildand you know the tanking and
then, once they get seriousagain, maybe Dagnall they
replace him with a veteran headcoach.
No, they got a great coach.
Dagnall is perfect for theThunder, he really is.
(30:04):
He and Sam Presti are alignedstep-by-step.
He's the perfect coach forOklahoma city and, um, it's just
going to be interesting to seehow it unfolds.
But you know, can we get moreteams that are competitive in
the East?
I mean, look, the Pacers made agreat run, but it's like the
West is like the heavyweightdivision.
Back in the Ali Frazier days,every fight's a tough one.
(30:27):
There aren't any tomato cansout there hardly.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
I will say I will admit I underestimated Indiana
because back in January they didnot look like this team.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
They started 6-16 to the season.
That's a good club they gel.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yeah, they are Halliburton.
I hated seeing that.
I really did so to all of you.
If you're watching this orlistening to this in
Indianapolis or anywhere inIndiana, your future is golden,
I think.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Great fan base.
They've got a solid team.
Like I said, who knows?
You know I also don't buy thepeople.
Well, the only reason theThunder one is how they went
down, period.
You know the Twitter trolls andI get.
If you're a Pacer fan, I'm sickabout that.
I'm sick because I wonder whatyou know?
He knocked down three, threesboom, boom, boom early in that
(31:23):
game.
And I'm you as a Thunder fan.
You try and be impartial, butwho am I rooting for?
I'm thinking, uh-oh, you knowyou don't know how it would have
turned out, but you know, Iwould have liked to have seen
how it would have turned outbecause I knew immediately.
First of all, you feel horriblefor the kid, absolutely
horrible, because he's had amagical Harry Potter type run in
(31:47):
these playoffs as the wizardyou know, making all these
incredible shots.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Thunder fans know heartache losing Russell that
year, in 2013 and then 2016 or2016, up 3-1 on the warriors.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Clay Thompson game six.
Clay Thompson game six.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Oh God so but Carson Cunningham tweeted something to
all those people calling out thethunder because Halliburton
went down.
He made a.
There's a long list of teams inwhich the Golden State Warriors
played in the facing theplayoffs during their dynastic
run.
Several times those key playersfor their opposition were hurt.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
I mean, it's part of the game, unfortunately, you
know, for a game seven it washorrible, but we knew that he
had a major calf strain and oneof the things that is, you know,
very much in doubt when youhave a calf strain leads to what
happened If you try and playthrough it.
Right yeah To an Achilles injury.
(32:54):
And the minute he went down andyou saw him screaming and in
tears pounding on the floor, youthought that's it, he's not
coming back.
And it was a bad deal on whatwas a pretty good NBA finals, I
thought, particularly for theselowly small market teams.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Small market teams.
We're going to talk aboutsomething related to that in the
second segment, which isincredibly short, but before we
go to break steely, I want youto be part of something
traditional and legendary.
Is there any kind of man cavestory that you can share that
(33:40):
may be thunder related?
That's just as comical now asit was when it happened.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
So the story has to take place in a man cave or just
a good solid generic story.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Good, solid, generic story Filter free.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Let me think of one right off the bat.
So when I was first gettingstarted out in my career in
radio, the legendary Al Eshbachcame over.
Wwls got started and I was ajunior at OU and then my senior
(34:22):
year I'd been working at whatwas 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 Igot an endorsement from Al.
(34:47):
I get to do an hour show afterhe's done, and that's how kind
of everything got started.
But a couple of stories.
Who is the biggest buffoon as ahead coach in Oklahoma sports
history man?
He had one season as the headcoach of the football well.
(35:14):
So ironically, my first guest onmy show, which was called
sports call pm after al's show,was howard schnellenberger.
I don't know how we got him, buthe was the head coach at
Louisville at the time.
He just taken the Louisvillejob.
So I've got Howard on the airand and I like into it.
(35:36):
I was like, well, you know,howard, you know Louisville has
always been a great basketballschool.
And uh, I'm here to tell youthat university of louisville is
not a basketball school anymore.
So, young man, I resent yourquestion and we are indeed now a
football school.
You know that kind of thing.
(35:56):
And I'm like, the guy dressed medown on my one of my first
shows.
He was my first guest and Iremember thinking, man, there's
something wrong with this dudeand he's a jerk.
And then not long, you knowlater what, some eight, nine
years later he ends up at ou andeverybody's talking about man,
this guy, there's somethingwrong with him.
And he spent one season at ouand got fired by david bourne
(36:21):
and everybody said this guy isso 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 Iwas going to tell you and I'm
trying to think what the heck itwas.
Old man memory, you're a bigNolan Ryan guy.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
I love Nolan.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
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 myfavorite baseball player too.
And I was working at Fox 25where you ended up working and
before I left television andNolan Ryan was at some event for
a PR event for the Red Hawks Ithink they were the Red Hawks
(37:03):
and it wasn't at all sportsstadium, it was at the Bricktown
Ballpark.
I made arrangements to get achance to talk to Nolan Ryan.
I had always heard Jim Traversand other big boys here in the
Oklahoma City market.
It has been for a while.
I love Travers.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I love.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Travers.
He'd always say Nolan Ryan's acheater.
By the way, he was scuffingbaseballs late in his career.
You know, got there with honeycut, he's scuffing the ball.
So I do this interview withNolan Ryan.
He was great.
It was unbelievable to be inhis presence.
I'm fired up about it so Idon't know why.
I decided at the end of theinterview and he was fantastic.
(37:43):
You know, our radio colleague,jim Traber, says that you
cheated late in your career.
Any response to that yeah, andhe kind of smiled and said no
comment and then, like after thecameras were rolling, he was
still joking but he goes.
So Jim Traber said that right,and he goes.
(38:04):
That son of a bitch, yeah, buthe was done in a joking way but
I thought it was great.
Nolan Ryan.
What a stud Nolan Ryan was.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Still is, he still is .
You know I stud Nolan Ryan wasStill 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, greatstory.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Nolan Ryan's a rancher who played baseball.
Basically now right, alvin.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Texas Mm-hmm To the right near Houston.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
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 tocharge?
And then he made the fataldecision to charge nolan ryan
and it was like a steerwrestling event right with.
(39:05):
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 wrongdecision and that would probably
be the one.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
What he said Ryan was .
Nolan was popping noogies onhis head.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
I mean Nolan Ryan.
You think that dude even atwhat is.
How old is Nolan now?
Like 81?
Speaker 2 (39:27):
He might be 80.
He still gets around.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
I guarantee you that dude's been country strong his
whole life and still is.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
He would still whip somebody's ass.
Whip my ass.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
I know that I wouldn't charge the mound on him
.
I'd run in the other direction.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
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 justgood people, good people, but no
one.
They're just good people, goodpeople, but Nolan can still whip
some ass today you talk about aTexan and just a legendary
badass American.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Nolan Ryan's on that list somewhere.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
He's a legend and a long, tall Texan for sure.
Hey, we're going to take aquick break.
We're going to hear about ourguys at Jim Saxton State Farmer.
When we come back we're goingto talk about beer consumption,
or lack thereof.
Man the Thunder man, they'renot big fans of drinking beer.
(40:28):
Steely, I'll see you on theother side.
The Saxton name resonates inAustin.
Jim's late father, james Saxton, is a Longhorn legend, a
Heisman finalist while playingfor Darryl K Royal, and Jimmy is
a UT football legacy fromWestlake.
He has been insuring Austin fordecades.
(40:50):
He and his staff will give youold school hospitality when
servicing your insurance needsTo the best To the best.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
On the team I have, we all have drinks, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
You love that Careful Jack A little.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
A little.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Word to Kim, so shout out to.
Michelob Ultra.
Sponsor of the Thunder.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Or as Chad Holmgren called it, I got these Michelob
glasses here.
Michelob, I think he called it.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Michelob, what is listen?
I love it A lot of them.
They're not big drinkers, andJ-Dub said that was his first
time he's ever had alcohol.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
Yeah, and they completely what a coach he's
always talking about.
I can still hear Bob Stoops.
You know, bob, what's going tobe the key to the game?
Well, of course, certainlyalways execution, both sides of
the ball.
Their execution in the postgamelocker room with the champagne
bottles was rookie league,because they're all so young.
Yeah, and J-Dub said no, lying,first alcoholic beverage taste
(42:20):
he ever had.
And they did not.
They all figured out we don'tknow how to open these champagne
bottles.
So they got a guy who'd beenthere and done that, and Alex
Caruso, who won that Lakerschampionship in the bubble, who
knew how to do it.
Maybe they have a class attexas a&m, I don't know.
But caruso had to go around andshow every one of them how to
(42:42):
open a champagne bottle, so thatshows you how young they are.
And, uh, man, it was crazy, itwas just absolutely crazy and
thinking about uh, they're allready.
And and then, if you look atthe leftovers, I can guarantee
you myself, you sean, if we'dhad a post-game locker room
(43:03):
celebration for a championshiplike that with our pals, there
wouldn't have been an empty beerby empty beer cans everywhere,
dead soldiers, as we used tocall them right, and they left
like 70 of the alcohol there thewhole criticism related to what
you said two small markets.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Well, you know, less people watch television these
days and I'm not making excuses.
But game seven this had a lotto do with it because of the
build-up, the drama.
But check out these numbersover 19 million watch game seven
at its peak, yeah, so well, Imean you had nine something,
(43:43):
maybe ten, in game six and in itto make this leap.
Maybe it was because it's aSunday night, I don't know that
we hadn't had a game seven innine years since the.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
Golden State Cleveland matchup and you know
that's part of it.
But you're right, the viewingexperience is so different these
days.
But I mean, we knew immediatelybefore the series the numbers
were going to be lower, probablybecause of the market size,
right, but you know, I thinkthey were pretty good numbers.
(44:15):
We got a pretty good series aswell.
The only thing that sucks aboutit for game seven was
Halliburton going down.
Yeah, you know that was themoment for a lot of people, but
I think it was a fun series andtwo fan bases who really love
their teams.
They don't have a lot of fairweather fans, but yeah, I mean,
I think we pretty much knew fromthe outset.
(44:35):
Yeah, india and Oklahoma cityto smaller markets, the numbers
are not going to look great, butyou're right, there are a lot
of other ways to watch.
I don't know how much theyfactor some of that in, but you
clench.
You're not as old as me, butyou know I'm getting ready to
turn 62.
And I'm doing that commercialwith what, uh, uh, what's?
(44:56):
What's Travis Kelsey'sbrother's name?
Oh, my gosh, what's his firstname?
Eagles Jason.
Yeah, we're the one where he'strying 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.
You got to punch in a number 75million passwords, or go scan
(45:18):
your screen and I'm like scanwhat.
How does?
Speaker 2 (45:20):
that work.
That doesn't sound.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
That doesn't sound legal to scan my screen, the old
man some of the stuff I'mpretty well up to date on and I
think for my age I'm okay.
But when it comes to thestreaming services and where's
the ESPN SEC network, plusdammit you know, and then oh my
God, and then it takes you 45minutes to find out.
All right, now I've got to loginto this and log out of that
(45:44):
and it's like damn, this is likea fricking MIT equation here.
To get this game on.
This is ridiculous.
So, and the sad thing is it'sonly going to get worse.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
It's a every week we're going to see a new, or
every year at least.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
You have to purchase the Google glasses to see this
particular broadcast of theOklahoma Texas game.
That'll be an additional 79 95.
You know what they're going todo 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 lacarte now.
(46:22):
Oklahoma texas, five years.
That's going to cost you 219dollars by the way to watch
oklahoma, texas or whatever it's.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
I can't.
You know, I'm a rangers guy andI 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 (46:43):
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 Thunderfan and a Sooner fan.
But so I went into her, youknow, I went and asked her this
(47:04):
was three years ago when Bakerfirst 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 decidedwe're doing it.
You made it up.
I mean, yeah, how about that?
For a while she just decidedwe're doing it.
Boom, you made it up.
I mean, yeah, so she's campingout ready for every Tampa Bay
Buccaneers game too.
But yeah, for us olds, ussenior citizens, who've had our
(47:27):
AARP cards for a while, thegeriatrics versus technology is
a very one-sided rivalry.
It's kind of like battlingfootball, yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
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 (47:49):
years.
How many years?
I'm guessing you're 42.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
I'll be 52 next month .
What?
Speaker 3 (47:58):
That's my gosh dude.
I had no idea.
Well, I guess you get your arpstuff at well.
Then again, yeah, that was abad guess, bad guess that made
me feel great.
You just you look 42 youabsolutely look every bit of 42
you.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
You're a beautiful, fine American human.
Have you eaten?
Speaker 3 (48:18):
at a cafeteria, yet on a regular basis Back in the
day, Luby's hey man.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
Tell me something good.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
Mike Steele, the pride of OKC.
Don't get Lola the.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Chihuahua is here too .
Speaker 2 (48:40):
Lola, tell me something good.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
my brother and sister Well, I know you got a lot of
Longhorns there and, believe itor not, sooners and Longhorns
need each other because theystill have the best rivalry in
college football and Oklahoma'sgotten their asses kicked two of
the last three years.
They have put two of the worstoffenses in the history of
(49:06):
Oklahoma football in the CottonBowl.
Two of the last three years.
I mean the Davis Bevel, bradenWillis.
That was an absoluteabomination, horrible.
And then last year JacksonArnold, five-star playing like a
two-star.
They had all the receiverinjuries.
The O-line was banged up.
Texas was phenomenal.
(49:27):
They were really good ondefense.
They dominated Oklahoma.
But I think you're going to getsome excitement back in the
Cotton Bowl this year.
Oklahoma's offense with JohnMateer and the transfer Jay
Knott I think we're going to seesome drama in the Cotton Bowl
again.
I love look if you're anOklahoma fan, you love 65-13 and
(49:48):
63-14.
If you're a Texas fan, you love49-0, should have been 50-0.
You love last year.
You love to beat and humiliateyour rival.
But it's also kind of fun tosee some of those games come
down to the last second tooright, and I think this year we
might get that.
But hey, sark has done aphenomenal job.
(50:08):
Looks like Texas finally got aguy who could fight off those
boosters and build a cultureboosters 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 howis texas this mediocre?
They've got a, a really cool.
(50:31):
I love austin.
I still think it's a great cityand all the resources in the
world alumni base it's probablyfive, six times the size of
Oklahoma's A lot of money.
You know tradition and wealways thought, I think,
oklahoma fans, how can Texas bethis mediocre or above average?
(50:53):
Well, looks like they gotthings figured out in austin
right now.
They got it figured out.
Speaker 2 (50:58):
They have a guy who really I mean you know shout out
to charlie strong tom hermanfor taking that job.
When they did it just was not agood fit for them.
And then it wasn't.
I'll say this it wasn't so muchthem, it was providing for
Charlie.
He didn't have full support, hedidn't have the budget.
(51:22):
The leadership from the systemdown to the university was in a
disarray, Like Mack Brown said,the BBs were scattered.
Again, Tom Herman interestingtimes.
He won a little bit.
But again to your mediocrecomment, it's true, but all
those guys drafted recently wereTom Herman's recruits.
(51:44):
But Sarkeesian and that staff,they have got a firm grasp on
this.
Yeah, they do.
And for him to be and I'm goingto say this on a record and for
him to be and I'm going to saythis on a record to be a coach
and manage this NIL era, you'vegot to be a strong leader.
Oh, no, kidding.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
Hard to build a culture, because the culture for
a lot is just the cash right.
And that's what you look at A&Mright 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 aculture and it's harder than
ever to build a culture whenit's all about the cash Right.
(52:29):
And look, sooner fans, ifthey're watching this, some of
them are.
Don't get mad at me for sayingthis 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'sa little bit better, which is
much better, which is kind ofcrazy if you think about it.
(52:52):
And uh, but this is what texasshould be.
I agree, we'll see how long.
This is what Oklahoma shouldn'tbe.
Right now, brent's season's onthe line.
They've got to win, I think atleast seven and the right seven
for him to keep his job andmaybe more than that.
I think they've got a goodchance to bounce back.
Speaker 2 (53:13):
I say they're a nine-win program this year.
Speaker 3 (53:15):
You've got to beat Michigan in game two.
You need to roll into Dallasundefeated before you take on
the Horns.
You've got to beat Auburn athome in the SEC opener.
If they do that, they'll rollinto Dallas 5-0, and then
Oklahoma could be on the roadback.
Oklahoma is college footballneeds Oklahoma to be successful
(53:35):
and it's more difficult in theSEC.
Right, everybody did Like Isaid.
Same analogy as the WesternConference and the NBA.
You're in the heavyweightdivision with Ali Frazier-Norton
, larry Holmes, all those greatheavyweights from back in the
day.
You knew that you weren't goingto go through the Big 12 and
dominate like you did.
You knew that you were going totake a lot of punches.
You just had to punch back.
(53:55):
So far they haven't punchedback.
It's Oklahoma football.
I think they'll get back on theright track.
But look, you're never going todominate the way you used to in
the Big 12.
Speaker 2 (54:05):
Just not going to happen.
Texas and Oklahoma should be inthe top ten every year and what
they're doing now is unrealhere in Austin.
Speaker 3 (54:19):
And that transition from Texas was?
You talk about a smooth ride,pretty smooth.
Oh, you came down in a brokendown Ford Pinto.
You know it's like geezridiculous and you can talk
about injuries or whatever, butuh, you know, and Lincoln
Riley's departure messed up alot of things and I didn, and.
I didn't like his culture, andyou know they've been playing
(54:39):
catch up ever since.
I think they're starting to getcaught up, though I agree.
Speaker 2 (54:44):
Steely brother, it's good seeing you.
I hope to be up there beforethe summer is over.
Yeah, you know this has beenfun.
Maybe one day before we retirewe'll have our own regular show
together.
Speaker 3 (54:56):
I'm going, maybe I'm trying to go, two more years,
maybe something like that.
Then the old man's going to goout and go fishing and try and
play really bad golf.
It's going to be hard, since Ican hit my driver about 150
yards now.
But hey, I haven't gone to theseniors' tees yet, but I'm
heading in that direction.
Speaker 2 (55:13):
Head to the ladies' tee.
Speaker 3 (55:14):
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 (55:22):
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, whateverside of the Red River you're on,
and you do it with Mike Steeele, you know what.
It's always good to talk aboutit.
Speaker 3 (55:40):
I should have worn my Moffga hat today.
Make Oklahoma football greatagain, 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 (55:59):
Enjoy it.
See one my friend, enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (56:02):
You're my brother.
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