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Meet the International Man of Mystery from Stigler, OK

Hershel Prentice at recent OKC Thunder game

I’ve been everywhere, man
I’ve been everywhere, man
Crossed the desert’s bare, man
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man
Of travel I’ve a-had my share, man
I’ve been everywhere
— “I’ve been everywhere” as sung by Johnny Cash

If you ask Stigler, OK, native Hershel Prentice where in the world he’s been lately, he’ll gladly tell you.

Dubai? Check. Oman? Check? Poland? Check. Austria? Check. Germany? Check, Newfoundland? Check? Labrador? Check. Check. Check.

Whew! And that’s just this year.

“I was in Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Montenegro about a year ago,” he told me.

I listened with awe as Hershel recounted some of his travel experiences as I sat down with him at the home of our mutual friend, Ed Godfrey. Ed, with whom I worked for many years at The Oklahoman newspaper, is also a Stigler native and has known Hershel for even longer.

“I’ve been to about 90 countries so far,” Hershel said. “I’ve stood in Red Square in Moscow. I stood in Tiananmen Square in Beijing and I’ve been on the Great Wall of China.”

Did you catch that? Hershel has visited 90 — 90!– countries around the world. He told me that he lives out of hotels about half the time.

How does this happen, a country boy from rural Oklahoma literally traveling across the nation and the world virtually nonstop for decades?

A couple of things to note: Hershel is retired after 29 years of service with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. A graduate of Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, he has no living immediate family.

Hershel said he often made road trips with his grandparents as a child, which sparked his love of travel, seeing new places and meeting interesting people.

“And I like maps, globes, far away names, Budapest, Istanbul,” he said. “I’d hear those names and knew I would go someday.”

His parents, who owned a trucking firm, are deceased, as well as a sister, his only sibling. He lives in the Stigler house that belonged to his parents, although it seems to be only for temporary respite between trips.

Hershel has a philanthropic side, too, in support of his hometown. He funds a scholarship for Stigler high school graduates to support their college education. And he’s a regular at Shelly’s Cafe whenever he’s in town.

“I’m the first customer,” he said. “5 a.m.”

When I asked Hershel how old he was, he was reluctant to reveal his age.

“I don’t do chronological things, I do situations,” said this International Man of Mystery.

So, what year were you born in?

“Just pick a number.”

All right, 1950. “OK,” Hershel said to the random number that I pulled out of the air. I’ll go with it. That would make him 75 years old, or somewhere in that neighborhood.

Never married, Hershel said he prefers to travel alone.

“Fast and free that way, when you’re alone,” he said.

Yeah, but don’t you get lonely?

“Not really.”

Hershel’s travel is arranged by a Fort Smith, Ark., travel agent. Most of his world travel is done as part of group tours with a set itinerary. That ensures he’s not totally alone on his sojourns, although he said he uses free time to explore on his own.

How has he been treated as an American tourist in all these foreign lands? He says he’s been treated well everywhere and never feared for his safety, including in Cuba, where he went as part of a program arranged by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Here are some fun facts about the International Man of Mystery’s travels both here and abroad:

Hershel has visited all 50 states, visiting famous and little known museums, national parks, Civil War battlegrounds and much more. He’s seen baseball games in all but eight Major League parks, along with dozens of minor leagues parks across the country. He’s been to NBA, NFL and college football games, NASCAR events, toured multiple halls of fame, every presidential library and points of interest like the site of Custer’s Last Stand in Montana or the big ball-of-yarn museum in Kansas. He’s visited every county seat in Oklahoma, as well as in Arkansas.

He’s made friends and met many interesting people along the way. Sometimes, he’s run into fellow Oklahomans in, say, Europe or Asia.

“People that you meet who are visiting Auschwitz, people that would go pay money and time to go do that, they’re gonna be pretty interesting,” he says. “Or you’ll have a common factor. If I meet someone on a trip, I tell them I’ve been by their house, because wherever someone is from, i’ve been by there or near there.”

The most interesting country Hershel has visited?

“Probably Cuba,” he said. “It’s just amazing how they live there, how it was for a long time and how it is now. They don’t have Internet, you couldn’t use a credit card; they didn’t have that infrastructure. We had to use pesos or American money or Euros. They like the Euro more than the dollar.”

He visited Havana, along with the infamous Bay of Pigs, Hemingway’s home, and coastal areas along the island.

I became acquainted with Hershel Prentice a few years ago through Ed when we all went to an OKC Dodgers (now Comets) game together. Hershel’s also a big fan of the OKC Thunder, and sent me a photo of himself at a recent game at Paycom Center. He has called Ed from many museums, ballparks and foreign cities. He often brings him souvenirs from his travels.

Hershel showed me a set of refrigerator magnets decorated to represent the flags of about a half dozen Scandinavian countries. Of course, he’s been to all of them.

So, what’s on Hershel’s travel itinerary for 2026? For now, he’s looking at traveling to Uzbekistan and Kaspiysk, located in former Soviet Union territories and now independent Russian states.

Still, I wanted to know what compels him to stay on the move. His answer was about modes of travel as much as about locations. He likes planes, trains, trolleys, subways.

“Anything that moves,” he said. “I like it when it takes off, that little thrust, the movement. Here we go to a new place, new time, new day, new people. Being free.”

Hershel, you really are the International Man of Mystery.

Hershel Prentice at the Dardenelles Strait in Turkey in 2024.

Aging well: 3 Old Geezers podcast returns

A screenshot from the 3 Old Geezers recent podcast recording session

Along with my friends Steve Buck and Ed Godfrey, I will celebrate a special anniversary on Nov. 6. Two years ago we launched the 3 Old Geezers podcast, which took years of sport debate via group text messages to a worldwide audio forum.

Steve serves as our host and keeps things on track, while Ed fills the podcast with humor and angry get-off-my-lawn rants about, well, anything and everything. I mainly serve as their foil because my perspective doesn’t fit in their neat little boxes.

I wrote about the 3 Old Geezers podcast back when we started at the end of 2023, and you can read it here.

We have no set agenda each week, except to cover the latest Thunder news, as well as that of other pro and college sports. We also may go off on an occasional non-sports rant.

Here are links to our two most recent episodes so you can discover for yourself what we’re all about. These links are to Apple podcasts, but we’re on Spotify or most places where you listen to your favorite content.

Oct. 17, Episode 44, The Boys are Back!

Oct. 24, Episode 45, Celebrating a Banner Night

Here’s what my fellow Geezers say about the podcasting experience:

From Geezer Steve: “Having the opportunity to hang out with Jim and Ed regularly is something I cherish. Always spirited. Always funny. Just three guys who love sports bobbing and weaving through a conversation. When the idea surfaced one day that we should record our ramblings, the idea seemed like a natural. So, regardless our listener count, we keep going because its a chance to spend time with good friends. And time with friends is something I am learning to cherish more each and every day.”

From Geezer Ed: “Frankly, I am doing a podcast because I enjoy the company. And after 40 years in the newspaper business, I like telling stories, and now I can tell some whoppers. Besides, I can’t let Geezer Jim’s goofy opinions go unchecked. I enjoy the company and the conversation.”

My reasons for doing the pod are similar to Steve and Ed in that I enjoy hanging with the guys, as well as airing my thoughts on sports subjects, whether they are in line with conventional thinking or not.

For the most part, we’ve kept an every-other-week podcast schedule, except for an extended break we took over the summer, before relaunching the pod on Oct. 17.

We’re committed to posting a new episode weekly throughout the OKC Thunder season, which means we’ll have to do some remote when one or more Geezers are tied up with work or out of town. Episode 45 was recorded with Steve calling in from out of town, so we’re off to a good start.

I hope you listen to and enjoy the sample episodes using the links above. Then subscribe and keep up with our Geezer rants, raves and get-off-our-lawn takes.

BONUS CONTENT:

Here’s a link to the very first 3 Old Geezers podcast so you can hear where it all began.

DOUBLE BONUS CONTENT:

The 3 Old Geezers podcast is presented through the generosity of MentaliTEA and Coffee in Bethany. I hope you will visit them and enjoy a coffee or tea and something tasty off their food menu.

Be careful out there; it’s a deep fake future

Screenshot taken from deep fake video of Ja Morant post-game interview

My wife sent me a video interview she saw last week with Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant that was pretty shocking.

In what appeared to be a post-game interview with the media after the Grizzlies’ loss to OKC, Morant made some outrageous comments. He said that Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was not MVP-worthy, that the Grizzlies had no chance in the series and that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had taken away his motivation.

It was such an eye-opening interview that I forwarded it to my friends Ed, Steve and Casey.

Trouble is that it was a totally fake video created with Artificial Intelligence. Ed tipped me off because he immediately started searching for articles about what Ja had said and found none. Zero.

But I fell for it, and I hang my naive head in shame.

I invite you to click on the video below and tell me that you could spot it as a fake, aside from Ja’s outrageous comments. Ja’s voice and the post-game setting are both realistic.

I find the fact that this fake video was so well done to be disturbing for what it portends about the future. It is part of a growing phenomena commonly known as deep fakes.

The Ja video was pretty harmless, but what if someone created a fake video of a presidential candidate saying incredibly racist things that he or she would never utter?

We can see where this is headed. I’ve read that such videos already exist.

Want an example? The video in this link isn’t exactly a political deep fake, but it that made the rounds shortly after the death of Pope Francis, created around his meeting with Vice President J.D. Vance the day before he died. The creators took an historic meeting and turned it into an attempt at humor that is pretty disrespectful.

Screenshot from Threads of deep fake video of Pope Francis taking a swing at VP JD Vance

I decided to seek an expert’s opinion and reached out to John Hassell, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Software Development and Integration at the University of Oklahoma Polytechnic Institute in Tulsa. If you are not familiar, the Polytechnic Institute is OU’s newest campus that offers a host of technology degree tracts, including Artificial Intelligence.

Dr. Hassell has incorporated AI into software development for the past couple years, and shared his thoughts on the subject with me in a 2024 blog post.

When I asked him about the Ja Morant deep fake, he immediately put me in touch with Colin Torbett, an OUPI student who possesses a master’s degree in data science but is now pursuing another undergraduate degree in cyber security.

“Colin is actually doing research on that very topic now,” Dr. Hassell said.

So, Colin connected with me and shared some thoughts on the emerging flood of AI generated deep fakes.

“These fake videos (but also images and audio recordings) are called ‘deep fakes’ because they use an AI technique called ‘deep learning’ in order to create a fabricated, digital artifact,'” Colin told me. “They are indeed pervasive and I see new ones appear everyday on social media, though I typically find one’s which are humorous, benign, and easy-to-spot as fake. On the other hand, some are more nefarious and easily pass as real at first glance.”

A cyber security major at OU’s Polytechnic Institute campus in Tulsa, Colin Torbett is researching the deep fake phenomenon

Colin described a deep fake he recently saw that claimed to be an interview with a young woman on her dating preferences. Apparently, it was a well done video, but the person holding the microphone for the interview had six fingers. Dead giveaway.

“It does illustrate how pernicious deep fakes can be — and how easily duped anyone can be,” he said. “This can only become a concern for politics especially with all the chaos in the last decade. Obviously, fake video or audio of speeches would be detrimental — if not fatal — for a political career, but would sow discord among voters and the general public.”

My question: how can these deep fakes be more easily detected and even stopped before they are in widespread distribution?

“While there is no immediate antidote to the problem, I am confident that cybersecurity researchers and computer scientists will create digital watermarks and signatures which validate any digital piece of information (video, audio, document, email, etc.) as authentic,” Colin said. “The digital infrastructure and software for these solutions is still in it’s infancy, being developed by startups and university researchers. It might take 5-10 years for this technology to be refined and widely adopted.”

Wait. Five to 10 years for a real solution? The bad guys are going to have quite a head start.

“In the mean time, my only advice (unsolicited, I admit) is to take everything online with a few grains of salt — especially if it confirms something one already believes,” Colin said. “It’s easy to dismiss something if runs contrary to a belief about the world, but being skeptical about information that affirms a deeply held worldview is an effective antidote to confirmation bias, and the deep political entrenchment we see reinforced by social media today.”

Colin has worked for technology-based firms for about a decade, beginning with an internship at OKC’s Spiers New Technologies in 2015. He gained his interest in deepfakes and AI while in graduate school, earning his MS in 2017.

“Since then, deep fakes have exploded and are becoming a serious concern,” he said. “My interest revolves around helping to create a novel solution for a pervasive problem that affects everyone. What I really want to do is what every good engineer wants: to use my skills and science to solve complex problems for the world.”

I hope that one day Colin Torbett leads his own high tech company that creates antidotes to deep fakes and will keep videos like the Ja Morant interview out of my timeline.

Then I won’t get fooled again. Maybe.

BONUS CONTENT: My friend Don Mecoy shared a video with me that provides a deep dive into deep fakes and how they are evolving and their threats to society. Watch the video below:

DOUBLE BONUS CONTENT UPDATE:

Concerned that AI is coming after your job? Read what my friend Dr. John Hassell at University of Oklahoma Polytechnic Institute has to say on the subject. Spoiler alert: It’s not likely!
https://www.news9.com/story/68c731020ebc3adec64fbb37/is-ai-coming-for-your-job-ou-professor-weighs-in-on-widespread-fear

Looking back at my BlogOKC favs of 2024

EDITOR’S NOTE: In what has become an annual column of its own, I look back over BlogOKC in 2024 and list my 10 favorite posts. Not most popular, but those that meant the most to me. I went back and forth, adding some then eliminating them, because each of them meant something to me. I hope you enjoy browsing the list and clicking on the headlines to read the full post. My list of personal favorites also includes a wonderful guest post by my friend, Don Mecoy. Enjoy!

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said the ‘Golden At-Bat’ is being discussed

Major League Baseball’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea

Dec. 11

When I was a young would-be sports writer just out of college working for the Southwest Times Record newspaper in Fort Smith, Ark., my editor sent me out to cover the state small school baseball tournament.

I had not seen much high school baseball through the years, so I was caught by surprise by one particular rule the small schools played by.

It was called the “Courtesy Runner.”

The Bricktown Ballpark scoreboard shows the team’s new name at reveal event.

What’s in a name? Apparently, a lot in OKC Baseball Club rebrand to ‘Comets’ … Or not much

Oct. 28

The Oklahoma City Baseball Club revealed its new name, “Comets,” in a ceremony Saturday evening at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark witnessed by at least a couple thousand enthusiastic fans.

I was among those who showed up for the Big Reveal, so I can attest to the collective cheer that went up when the “Comets” name and logo appeared on the scoreboard screen.

I was not expecting “Comets,” although I’m not sure what I expected. Maybe “Flycatchers,” which my friend Ed Godfrey had predicted as the future team name. Or the “Waving Wheats” or something that related to Oklahoma.

acu group — From left, Scott Kirk, Jim Stafford, Peggy Marler, Ron Hadfield, Corliss Hudson Englert, Brad Englert, Cheryl Mann Bacon

ACU Hall of Fame recognition for my friend Ron Hadfield … and a grand reunion

Oct. 22

Ron Hadfield is a long-time friend who was my student editor on the Abilene Christian University newspaper, The Optimist, in 1977. Ron recently was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the ACU Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony that I was privileged to attend.

I showed up on ACU’s doorstep in 1976 as a transfer student with a dream to some day become a newspaper sportswriter, but with virtually no writing experience.

Ron likes to tell the story that on the first assignment he sent me out on, I turned in some terrible copy and proudly showed him the quotes I made up.

I deny the accuracy of his memory.

Brady and John — Brady Spencer with his son, John, outside Kansas City’s Union Station during the 2023 NFL draft.

The Populous impact on OKC sports venues & my friend, Brady Spencer

Sept. 17

A recent update in The Oklahoman newspaper on the new OG&E Coliseum under construction at the State Fairgrounds identified it as a venue designed by a firm named “Populous.”

In an even more recent story, I learned that Populous has been hired to design the new $71 million soccer stadium just south of OKC’s Bricktown.

I think I’m noticing a trend.

So, what exactly is Populous?

Solomon walking — Solomon rolls his new backpack up to OKC’s Omni Hotel on Friday morning.

Solomon’s ‘road trip’ to OKC’s Omni Hotel

July 12

This is what happens when his GiGi is out of town on business and Papa is left in charge of entertainment on a Friday for our grandson, Solomon.

So, when it was just us two early Friday, Solomon said he wanted to go on a road trip. He suggested “the beach” and then Branson.

I said we couldn’t do either of those today, but maybe we could drive up to Guthrie and find a place to eat.

Solomon sort of accepted that, but later told me he wanted to go to that “nice Thunder hotel downtown.” All of us had stayed the night at OKC’s Omni Hotel last year when my wife, Paula, was booked there for a convention meeting.

Screenshot — A black ’65 Mustang that looks exactly as I remember the one driven by my Aunt Dee.

The ’65 Mustang was my Aunt Dee’s ride or die

June 28

This is a story of the Ford Mustang. Or, rather, two Ford Mustangs. One of them did not have a happy ending, and I was in it.

If you are hazy on your Ford Mustang history, I’ll catch you up to date a bit. The Mustang was conceived by team at Ford led by Lee Iacocca, who later gained fame as the man who saved Chrysler.

The first Mustang was introduced to the public in April 1964, as the “1964-1/2” Mustang. It was an instant hit. The public fell in love with it because it had a unique, sporty body style compared to what U.S. autos had been, which were cars shaped like boxes and quite unattractive.

My dad was among the millions of Americans who were taken by the Mustang and eventually bought one when he was stationed on the island of Okinawa while in the military. I’ll come back to that.

Apple in 2024: Nobody likes a bully

March 23

I read a magazine article when I was in college in the 1970s about a scrappy startup called Apple Computer, founded by two guys named Steve who built their first computers in the garage at the home of one of the Steves.

I couldn’t get enough of their story; the David-vs.-Goliath way that Apple blazed the personal computer trail that forced the industry behemoth at the time, IBM, to play catchup. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were my entrepreneurial heroes.

So, I admit that I am a long-time Apple fanboy and remain one today.

But my fandom has run smack into some ugly reality. Apple is no longer the scrappy industry underdog. In fact, it is one of the world’s largest companies by market value. Yet, it has begun to flex its financial muscles like a bully that nobody likes.

In my hometown, the long decline of a Fort Smith institution

Feb. 22

Here’s a bit of nostalgia for you. When I walked into the Southwest Times Record newsroom for the first time as an employee in 1978, I encountered a bustling community of talented writers, editors and photographers all scrambling to publish local news seven days a week.

The Fort Smith newspaper was a great place to learn the craft as my first job out of college. There are many folks among my former colleagues there whom I will never forget. I worked at the SWTR for five years in a variety of positions before moving to Oklahoma City and working for The Oklahoman for almost a quarter of a century.

So, it’s been disheartening to watch the SWTR decline as a community force over the past few years as the number of subscribers declined and employees were laid off. It’s a situation not unlike that in many other cities across the nation.

Evard and car — Evard Humphrey and his No. 12 super-modified sprint car

Why Evard Humphrey remains a sprint car hero to this child of the ’60s

Feb. 16

Editor’s Note: Don Mecoy is a friend and former colleague at The Oklahoman who retired as the newspaper’s managing editor at the end of 2022. A recent conversation about sports heroes from our youth when Don was a guest on the 3 Old Geezers podcast sparked his memory about a local race car driver fromthe late 1960s. Don wrote this guest blog post about that driver and those memories.

By Don Mecoy

I had my share of sports heroes when I was a kid. Roger Staubach, Lou Brock, Johnny Bench and Joe Washington were among my faves. But my personal hero — and it truly was personal — was a guy you probably never heard of: Evard “Kerfoot” Humphrey.

Evard was the driver of the No. 12 super-modified sprint car that ran every Friday night at State Fair Speedway during my youth in Oklahoma City.

tarps1 — Advertising banners cover the entire upper deck seating area down the first base line of the Bricktown Ballpark.

Fading glory: Bricktown Ballpark needs upper deck rehab

Feb. 2

I was enjoying a summer evening at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark with a friend last year, savoring the crowd, the game and the park’s immaculate green pasture.

Then my eyes landed on the upper deck along the first baseline that extends out into right field. There were no seats or bleachers visible. Only advertising banners draped across each section.

Don’t get me wrong. Oklahoma City has a beautiful ballpark that has retained its attractiveness since it opened in April 1998. However, the tarps do nothing but detract from the ballpark’s charm.

A critique of the OKC Thunder ‘City’ edition uniforms through the years

Together with my friends Steve Buck and Ed Godfrey, I cohost a podcast known as the 3 Old Geezers.

Steve and Ed are only pretend Geezers, while I am the real deal. Or as Ed says, I live in downtown Geezerville. That’s ageism, Ed!

Anyway, all of us are OKC Thunder fans, and much of our podcast discussion revolves around the team, the players and the potential for success as the season progresses.

We also share an interest in Thunder branding and the various uniform schemes the team uses. For instance, I’m a big fan of the team’s “Sunset” uniform, which might be seen as orange by some folks.

All of which brings me to the annual “City” edition uniform the Thunder unveils as each season begins. The 3 Old Geezers recently critiqued the 2024 City edition. on the podcast (LISTEN!)

Someone suggested that we rank the City edition uniforms from 2017-2024 by our personal preferences. So here are mine, ranked No. 8 to No. 1:

No. 8 2020: I take issue with leaving the word “City” off of a uniform of the team known as the Oklahoma City Thunder. Makes no sense unless you think the folks in Tulsa or Elk City will buy into the team even more than they already do when they see “Oklahoma.”

No. 7 2021: Not sure what statement a gray-on-white City edition uniform makes, except that it doesn’t stand out to me.

No. 6 2022: I have nothing against this uniform, except the lettering looks too much like what we’ve already seen, And it uses “Thunder” instead of OKC or Oklahoma City.

No. 5 2019: White lettering on a gray uniform doesn’t do much for me. At least it says “Oklahoma City.”

No. 4 2017: I’m just not a fan of racing stripes on a gray background. But it gets extra credit because it says “OKC.”

No. 3 2024: I really like the color scheme but can’t rank this one higher because leaves off the word “City” AGAIN.

No. 2 2018: The lettering and the turquoise make this one of my favorite City edition unis. And I like that it reads “OKC.”

No. 1 2023: I love this City edition version. It’s got orange and yellow trim on the navy jersey with bold orange “OKC”. That’s good enough for me.

Here are the takes from my fellow Geezers:

Steve Buck
Geezer Jim asked Geezer Ed and me to rank our team’s city jersey series. I am not a graphic artist so I’m sure my limited mind has missed some really cool elements that others love, but my rankings fell out pretty darn clearly.

No. 8 2020: Just not much to like on this one. Looks like the packaging to a Hot Wheels car. Points deduction for reading “Oklahoma”

No. 7 2017: I almost moved it higher because the year matched Poku’s number but common sense prevailed. I can’t find any connection to Oklahoma City and it just doesn’t look very sharp.

No. 6 2021: Not awful but not that attention grabbing either. The vertical look makes it somewhat unique but I prefer a bit of color in my uniforms and this is just too blah.

No. 5 2019: Almost crept into my top half of rankings. Like ’21 there is jut not a pop in terms of color but the arched Oklahoma City is just fine with me.

No. 4 2024: First too similar to ’23 so I had to provide some penalty for copying the prior year’s efforts. I like the colors and the detail on the sides are a nice nod to OKC. Speaking of…why didn’t it say Oklahoma City instead of simply using Oklahoma. Like the ’20 version, points deducted.

No. 3 2022: This one could’ve easily been my #2 choice. The blue and red pops against the dark gray. Just a super crisp look that was a wonderful look on the floor.

No. 2 2023: I loved every element of this jersey. The dark blue with all the intricate details was so solid. The accent colors stand out beautifully. The diagonal in motion OKC is really on nice.

No. 1 2018: Yes, the color scheme has nothing to do with our current colors other than a few subtle uses in the accents but the design is fantastic and this jersey screams OKC like none other. It was unique in the league and a true reflection of honor and respect for our community and state. Bring these back. For my votes, this was the hands down winner.

Ed Godfrey
No. 8 is the first city edition jersey to not include “City” in the name, the 2020-21 version. Again, they are the Oklahoma City Thunder, not the Oklahoma Thunder. I think the jersey is ugly.

No. 7 is the first city edition jersey, the 2017-18 gray uniform. An orange and blue stripe with the OKC logo above it. Meh.

No. 6 is the simple all white city edition of 2021-22. I’m not a big fan of the all-white look with the OKC logo displayed vertically on the jersey, but it’s OK.

No. 5 2024-25 is the latest city edition jersey. I love the look and the colors that pop. This jersey would rate higher if it had the word “City” on it and not just “Oklahoma.” A city edition jersey without the word city?

No. 4 is the 2023-24 version. I like the vibrant colors of yellow and orange and the design is interesting and artistic.

No. 3 is the 2022-23 City edition jersey. A simple, but solid look with “Thunder” emblazoned across the chest. The “Oklahoma Standard” badge is displayed on the jersey.

No. 2 is the 2019-20 slate gray City edition tribute to the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The gray uniforms with gold lettering and white accents are fantastic.

No. 1: My favorite City edition jersey is the 2018-19 turquoise version that paid tribute to Oklahoma’s Native American heritage. I love the color and the diamond influence in the OKC logo. It’s a sharp look.

So, what’s your favorite and least favorite among the Thunder’s City edition uniforms? Leave your thoughts on the City editions in the comments.

A passion for the Thunder and game-day experience

Paula TV — Paula Stafford stands close to the television as the Thunder-Mavericks games plays ojn

Watching the televised Thunder-Dallas game with my wife this past Saturday afternoon turned out to be a personal treat for me.

Not because the Thunder won or lost (they lost).

Paula and I were both disappointed to see our Thunder lose and go down 2-1 in their NBA second round playoff series to the Mavs.

Rather, it was the rare shared experience of watching a game together and being able to see Paula’s passion for the Thunder as the game progressed.

As a fan, Paula is a Thunder veteran. She’s attended a vast majority of Thunder games in the arena since the team relocated here in 2008. This year she saw most of their home games live as she accompanied her mother to the Paycom Center.

I mostly watched from home, and saw only a handful in person.

So, we watched separately most of the time. As for televised out of town games, they are usually played at night when we are trying to wind down and get our 4 year-old grandson in bed for the night.

It’s even worse for the playoffs when start times for NBA Western Conference teams like the Thunder are at 8:30 pm or later.

So Saturday afternoon brought us together in front of the TV for a rare shared watching experience.

Paula made it fun by wearing her passion on the sleeve of her Thunder T-shirt, so to speak.

Before the game, she offered a coaching tip to Thunder coach Mark Daigneault. Send Gordon Hayward out on the court to give Luka Doncic a couple hard fouls early and protect Lu Dort from accumulating fouls.

And when the Thunder have the ball, go hard at Luka, whom she perceives as soft on defense.

Later, we both decided that Hayward wasn’t tough enough to rough up Luka, so we settled on Kenrich Williams as a good matchup.

Daigneault did not heed her coaching tip.

Still, the Thunder hung with the Mavs throughout the game, even taking the lead several times.

Paula took to barking whenever Jalen Williams — J-Dub to fans — made a great play. J-Dub started the barking trend in post-game interviews, and it has spread to fans, even those at home.

As the game progressed, Paula would call her sister or our friend Donna and break down what just happened with them or celebrate a good play. Sometimes, they called her.

She chanted “Let’s go Thunder” periodically like they do in the arena, or “Rebound Thunder!” when they needed a boost.

The phone line was hot. In fact, out of the blue, her sister, JoAnne, suggested that the Thunder put Hayward on Luka to give him some hard fouls.

Where had I heard that?

But the Thunder couldn’t hold off the Mavs in the second half, and Paula was indignant over how the game was called by the refs.

“It’s hard to win when you are having to play against both the Mavericks and the refs,” she said. “Every call has gone Luka’s way because he’s getting star treatment.”

And so it went. I enjoyed watching her reaction as much as the game itself.

When it was over, Paula called her sister and our friend Donna, and they all commiserated over the loss and the unfair star treatment Luka received. The consensus was that Luka is a drama queen. I concur.

As for me, I enjoyed Paula’s enthusiasm for the Thunder to the end of the game and beyond.

It was a great afternoon of basketball.

3 Old Geezers took text rants to Podcast

Geezers in text exchange - 1

Before there was a 3 Old Geezers podcast there was the 3 Old Geezers text exchange, a sort of daily debate over the Thunder and the world at large.

The group included my friends Steve Buck and Ed Godfrey, who disagreed strongly with my stance against tanking — which translates to losing on purpose to get a better draft position — by the Oklahoma City Thunder, or any NBA team, for that matter.

We went back and forth for a couple of years with Steve often reacting with ‘we need to take this debate to a podcast.’ It was a nice thought, but none of us had any podcast experience or equipment.

Then Steve came up with a couple of microphones and technology to connect to a recording device like a computer.

We had no more excuses.

So, last fall we launched the 3 Old Geezers podcast — LISTEN HERE — which has had only moderate success. But it allows us to vent our old man rage in get-off-my-lawn type rants.

Ed’s righteous indignation over perceived ills like bad officiating in college softball or the challenges of new technology have been well worth the effort. His humorous Old Man rants are exactly why I’m participating.

Steve hosts with a steady hand, suggesting appropriate and timely topics, while I’m mostly reacting to what’s been said or forgetting the Mayor’s name or even the web address of this blog. It happens.

Anyway, last week, Steve suggested we include some of our text exchanges in this blog to provide insight into where our material comes from.

Great idea. I’ve gone back through our Geezer text string and come up with some material that has led to blog discussion. Here’s a taste:

JANUARY 9
Jim Stafford: This is from a Geezer’s wife last night after she came home from the game: “I’m so impressed with our coach because of how many players he uses in a game. Instead of using just the starting five with two or three of the same substitutes like our old coaches, he uses a lot of players throughout the game, and you never know which one might come in.”

Ed Godfrey: He will be relying on that bench this month with a heavy slate of games.

Steve Buck: Paula knows. Jim on the other hand yearns for the Scottie Brooks days of predetermined rotations

Jim Stafford: I love Foreman Scottie! He was my favorite coach until Mark Daigneault came along.

Ed Godfrey: WHAT? Daigneault is your favorite coach now? Next thing you know you will be telling us Chet Holmgren is better than Mike Muscala.

Steve Buck: #truth

Jim Stafford: I like Daigneault’s courtside demeanor. Man, you can’t get him flustered. I’m still mulling over Chet vs. Muscala.

Back to reality. Here’s the latest on Muscala that I sent my Geezer partners:

As I said online, it’s a Christmas miracle!

Screenshot

More text debate:

JANUARY 29
Ed Godfrey: They changed the comics today. No Shoe! No B.C.! No Wizard of Id! Who wants Pearls Before Swine? Non Sequitor? Jump Start?

Jim Stafford: Welcome to the 21st Century

Ed Godfrey: Who reads newspapers? People from the 20th Century!

So, are you getting the drift? The Geezer text stream never ends. Here’s one more for good measure:

FEBRUARY 20

Ed Godfrey: Just asked Alexa to play Eddie’s playlist again. She played an Eighties playlist. I give up.

Steve Buck: What exactly is on Eddie’s playlist?

Ed Godfrey: Chris Stapleton, Tyler Childers, Turnpike
Troubadours, Johnny Cash, Coltor Wall, Zach Bryan.

Steve Buck: Yeah…no overlap with 80’s lol

So, there you have it. Our failures to communicate in unending text rants found their place in a podcast.

I hope you’re listening. It’s Geezer gold.

Confession: I was an Internet domain name squatter in 2006

Bennett Sonics — New Seattle Supersonics owner Clay Bennett showcases a Sonics jersey after purchasing the NBA franchise in 2006.

EDITOR’S NOTE: When it was announced in July 2006 that a group of investors from Oklahoma City had purchased the Seattle Supersonics NBA franchise, everyone in OKC knew what that meant. The team would relocate to Oklahoma City sooner or later. Probably sooner. That happened in 2008. Sorry Seattle. I was working in The Oklahoman newsroom at the time as a Business News reporter, and hit upon the idea of buying some potential Internet domain names that the future OKC Sonics (we thought) might want. Then I could sell the rights to that domain name to the team owners for a nice profit. Buy low, sell high. It didn’t work out, but I did get a nice story out of my brief tenure as an Internet domain name squatter. It was published as a column in The Oklahoman back in 2006. And that was the sole purpose of buying a domain name. This is that story.

By Jim Stafford

Like a tsunami traveling across hundreds of miles of ocean, it didn’t take long for ripples from last week’s $350 million acquisition of the Seattle SuperSonics to wash into Oklahoma.

A group of Oklahoma businessmen now own the Sonics, and less than a day after the deal was announced another group of enterprising Oklahomans spotted opportunity in a possible relocation of the team to the Sooner State.

We huddled in The Oklahoman newsroom.

A colleague I’ll call “Don” suggested that we research available Internet domain names using such words “Oklahoma, OKC, Sonics and Super-Sonics.” We could pool our resources and buy up the most promising real estate.

“I’m in,” I told him. The new team owners will need some prime Internet real estate if they relocate to Oklahoma, and we wanted to own it when they got here.

So began a race not unlike the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889, although the mode of transportation this time was a high-speed Internet connection. Using the domain broker GoDaddy.com, we did a search of virtually every combination of Oklahoma, OKC, Oklahoma City, Sonics and Super-Sonics.

Apparently, some Sooners had already anticipated the deal and staked out some virtual land before we got into the race. Names like oklahomasonics.com, okcsonics.com and sonicsokc.com were all gone. Even okiesonics.com was no longer available.

We settled on okc-sonics.com as the best of the unclaimed property. We formed a 50-50 partnership and sealed the deal through GoDaddy. Total investment: $9.40.

When word spread that a pair of Internet real estate moguls inhabited the newsroom, several of our colleagues began clamoring to join the investment group. They wanted in for $1 each, but Don and I decided the value already had risen beyond the original purchase price.

We decided to expand our investment empire the next day and claim another domain name. This time we went for sonics-okc.com. Another $9.40.

An editor who heard of our venture happened to wander by the business news desk. What were our intentions in owning these domain names, he inquired.

We’re not going to hold anybody up, we assured him. If the new owners of the Sonics want one of these domain names for the team’s Web site, we’ll demand nothing more than season tickets for each of us. And our spouses. On the floor. Plus parking.

The editor decided to play devil’s advocate. “Let me ask you this,” he said. “On whose computer and whose time did you make this deal?”

Gulp. The devil IS in the details.

Uh, we only took this move to assure the new Oklahoma owners that prime domain names will be available to them if they need it. Just kidding about the season tickets. HA! HA! We won’t really need to be on the floor anyway. And we can pay for our own parking.

Meanwhile, Don began looking for a possible exit strategy. He located the domain name auction site afternic.com where homesolutions.com recently brought a bid of $9,210. Therapy411.com reeled in a $2,000 bid.

Suddenly, new opportunities seem possible. We will wash our hands of this Sonics deal just as soon as our auction is over.

The auction won’t end until our reserve price is reached. We will set it just high enough to cover a pair of season tickets. Parking included.

Chatbot argues both sides of Thunder tanking issue

Thunder mascot Rumble makes an appearance in the stands at a recent OKC game.

I’ve heard a lot recently about this Artificial Intelligence app called ChatGPT, which allegedly will answer any question and write a report or an essay on any topic.

So, I found the OpenAI page and signed up for the free chatbot service.

I figured that I owe BlogOKC readers an explanation of what ChatGPT is, so I went right to the source. Here’s what the Chatbot told me.

“ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI. It is trained on a dataset of internet text, which enables it to generate human-like responses to a wide range of text-based prompts. It can be used for tasks such as text completion, question answering, and conversation. It is based on the GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) architecture.”

A little long-winded, but there you have it.

So, I came up with a topic for my Chatbot to address to see how awesome it could be. Since much of my time seems to be focused on the Oklahoma City Thunder and my opposition to its tanking philosophy to rebuild for the future, I thought I would ask Chatbot for its take on the subject.

Here’s Chatbot’s take on why tanking is not the right philosophy for the Thunder:

“Tanking, or losing on purpose, is a controversial strategy that can have negative consequences for teams in the NBA. For the Oklahoma City Thunder, tanking may not be the best route to rebuild their team and become a contender in the league.

“One of the main reasons why tanking is a bad route for the Thunder is that it can have a negative impact on the team’s culture and morale. When a team is losing on purpose, it can be difficult for players and coaches to stay motivated and maintain a positive attitude. This can lead to a lack of effort and poor performance on the court, which can ultimately harm the team’s development. Additionally, it can also lead to a lack of fan support and engagement with the team, making it harder for the team to attract and retain fans.

“Another reason why tanking is a bad route for the Thunder is that it doesn’t guarantee success in the future. The NBA draft is not a sure thing and even the top draft picks do not always turn into star players. Therefore, tanking may not result in the Thunder getting the high-quality players they need to become a contender in the league. Additionally, even if they do get a high draft pick, it takes time for young players to develop and it’s not guaranteed that they will become the star player the team needs.

“Additionally, tanking can also lead to a lack of stability for the team. When a team is consistently losing, it can be difficult to keep coaches, players, and management in place. This can lead to frequent changes and a lack of continuity, which can make it difficult for the team to build a sustainable winning culture.

“Furthermore, tanking can also be detrimental to the league as a whole. When teams are not trying to win, it can lead to a lack of excitement and interest in the league, which can negatively impact the league’s reputation and overall revenue.

“In conclusion, while tanking may seem like a quick fix, it can have negative consequences for teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder. Tanking can lead to a negative team culture, lack of fan support, lack of stability, and lack of success, and it can also harm the league as a whole. Instead, the Thunder may be better served by taking a more gradual approach to rebuilding, focusing on player development and making strategic moves in the draft and free agency.”

Did you read that? “Detrimental to the league.” Chatbot went right to the heart of why tanking doesn’t fly for me, and I hope millions of other fans. If a lot of teams are playing to lose, the interest will wane everywhere.

I think Chatbot is dead on in its assessment of the impacts of tanking, including decrease in attendance and a loss of revenue.

All in all, I would grade this essay with an A+.

Chatbot, you’ve impressed me with this argument.

After I read this essay, I decided to have Chatbot argue the other side of the equation for balance. So I ask it to write 450 words on why tanking is good for the Thunder.

Here’s what it wrote in favor of tanking:

“Tanking, or losing on purpose, is a controversial strategy that teams in the NBA have used in order to rebuild their rosters and improve their chances of success in the long term. The Oklahoma City Thunder are currently in a position where tanking could be the best route to rebuild their team and become a contender in the league once again.

“One of the main reasons why tanking is the best route for the Thunder is that it would give them a better chance of getting a high draft pick. The NBA draft is the primary way for teams to acquire young, talented players who can help them improve in the future. The higher a team’s draft pick, the more likely they are to select a player who can make a significant impact on their team. By losing on purpose, the Thunder would increase their chances of getting a high draft pick and selecting a player who could be a cornerstone of their team for years to come.

“Another reason why tanking is the best route for the Thunder is that it would give them more financial flexibility. The NBA has a salary cap that limits how much teams can spend on player salaries. When a team is not competitive, they may not be able to attract top-tier free agents who can help them improve. By rebuilding through the draft and developing young players, the Thunder would have more financial flexibility to make moves in the future.

“In addition, tanking would give the Thunder a better chance of building a team that can contend for a championship in the future. Building a championship team is a difficult and time-consuming process that requires a combination of talented players, good coaching, and a solid organizational structure. By losing on purpose and getting high draft picks, the Thunder would be more likely to acquire the young, talented players they need to build a championship team.

“Furthermore, tanking would also give the Thunder a chance to give more playing time to their young players and prospects. This would be beneficial for their development and would also help the team to evaluate their potential.

“In conclusion, there are several reasons why tanking is the best route for the Oklahoma City Thunder to rebuild their team. The Thunder are currently not in a position to compete for a championship, and tanking would give them a better chance of getting a high draft pick, more financial flexibility, and a better chance of building a team that can contend for a championship in the future. Additionally, it would also give more playing time to the young players and prospects and help in their development. While tanking is a controversial strategy, it can be a necessary step for teams like the Thunder to rebuild and become a successful team again in the future.”

ChatBot presented some compelling arguments in favor of tanking for a rebuild. It hit on an argument that my friend, Steve Buck, often makes in favor of tanking: player development.

Chatbot wrote: “Furthermore, tanking would also give the Thunder a chance to give more playing time to their young players and prospects.”

Again, Chatbot wrote a compelling essay without an factual errors that I can detect. I give it an A+ on this assignment, as well.

However, I’ve still not moved an inch from anti-tanking stance.

Chatbot, when I finally found you at the OpenAI web page, you surprised me with some fine writing and compelling arguments.

Well done.

Editor’s note: My first attempt to have ChatGPT to write essays for and against tanking by the Oklahoma City Thunder was done via an app I downloaded to my iPhone from the Apple App Store. I’ve since discovered that app is ChatGPT filtered through a company hoping to make money by charging a weekly fee for the free, open-source app. So, I signed up on the OpenAI page and had the Chatbot write me new, much improved essays.

Thunder game

An NBA Don Quixote takes on tanking — again

Plenty of seats should be available this season at OKC Thunder home games

I’ve been on a 2-year long diatribe on this blog against tanking in the NBA, mostly because of my frustration with the OKC Thunder playing for better draft position instead of winning.

NBA teams never, ever say the word ‘tanking.’ They use the word ‘process,’ instead. If you want to know, tanking is the process of sitting your best players in favor of less experienced back-of-the-bench guys in hopes they will lose instead of win.

Enough losing and you get more ping-pong balls and potentially a better position in the annual NBA draft. It’s all so teams can capture the next unicorn for their roster, who in this year’s case is 7-4 Victor Wembanyama from France.

Wembanyama wowed the NBA world this summer when he dominated a couple of games played in Las Vegas against international and G-League teams.

For what it’s worth, a website called NBA Draftroom already has the Thunder selecting Wembanyama as the No. 1 pick in next summer’s draft.

What does that tell you about where the Thunder are in The Process^TM? It means the Thunder must lose enough games this year so they finish among the bottom three teams. That will give them the best odds (14%) of receiving the No. 1 pick.

It’s still a long shot.

So, that leaves me with the point I’ve tried to make for months. Tanking disrespects fans, corporate sponsors AND current players, as well. I could go on all day about ticket prices, sponsorship packages and the lean crowds we saw at Paycom Center last season.

But, my friend Ed Godfrey says I’m an NBA Don Quixote tilting at windmills. I’ve aired my own theory of how the league could discourage tanking.

Ed put a pin into my trial balloon.

“I don’t think the league cares about tanking,” Ed said. “If they wanted to stop it all they have to do is give every non-playoff team an equal chance of getting the No. 1 pick.”

In fact, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has addressed tanking in a couple of articles recently published on ESPN.com.

Here’s the money quote from the most recent article:

“It’s one of these things where there’s no perfect solution, but we still think a draft is the right way to rebuild your league over time,” Silver said. “We still think it makes sense among partner teams, where a decision was made where the worst-performing teams are able to restock with the prospects of the best players coming in. So we haven’t come up with a better system.”

That leaves fans, sportswriters and bloggers with the responsibility to come up with ideas to negate tanking.

I proposed in a blog post earlier this year that the league institute a late-season lottery tournament among non playoff qualifiers that would reward the team with the best record with the No. 1 pick. It’s the ultimate play-in.

My friend Steve Buck has given the tanking issue a lot of thought, as well. He’s come up with his own proposal that I think has a lot of merit.

Steve suggests that the league monitor “load management” among teams and how often healthy players are sitting out.

“Teams can practice load management if they want,” Steve said. “But teams that play their best players most frequently are rewarded with better draft odds than teams that routinely do load management. If your roster is truly bad, you get help. But if you are gaming minutes, you receive a penalty in reduced odds.”

Steve has it all sketched out down to the deadline for teams to announce a player sitting out and a requirement to reduce ticket prices for fans who often buy tickets just to see a specific star player.

“Only one player can be on ‘load management’ per night max, and a player is only allowed four load management nights per season,” Steve said. “Load management must be announced 24 hours before a given game and the club choosing to rest players must find a way to compensate single game ticket holders that bought seats for a specific contest through the NBA sanctioned ticket vendor.”

His scenario also includes evaluating injured players for game-ready status. The Thunder’s Shea Gilgeous-Alexander last season, for instance. We had to take the team’s word (or maybe the team’s physician) that SGA was not game ready for about the last 20 games or so of the season.

“That’s tough to prove,” Godfrey said. “If SGA has a ‘minor’ injury and the Thunder don’t want to risk further injury by not playing him the last 20 games when they are out of the playoffs, how are you going to prove that is tanking and not a decision in the best interest of the player’s and the team’s future?

“And the player’s union would get involved.”

So, what have we solved? Nothing, I guess. But I hope the tanking dialogue continues until the NBA takes substantial action to level odds for all non-playoff qualifiers, as Ed suggested.

A final word about draft odds from Silver as quoted in the ESPN article.

“You’re dealing with a 14% chance of getting the first pick,” Silver said. “I recognize at the end of the day analytics are what they are and it’s not about superstition. A 14% chance is better than a 1% chance or a no percent chance. But even in terms of straightforward odds, it doesn’t benefit a team to be the absolute worst team in the league, and even if you’re one of the poor-performing teams, you’re still dealing with a 14% chance [of winning the lottery].”

So, why can’t you level the odds for non playoff qualifiers?

Stay tuned.