Mackenzie Baily

Follower of Jesus • Wife • Momma • Sooner born and Sooner bred • Mostly on Twitter for sports • Eph. 4:1

[Joshua Boydston @joshuaboydston_]

Go get it @nyknicks.

[BonkDaCarnivore @BonkDaCarnivore]

What's amazing to me is that, 10 years apart, there are the exact same clouds in the exact same positions.

DC truly is a magical place

[Matt Royer @royermattw]

Because it took $13 million to make the reflecting pool do something it already did. Glad we could clear that up.

[Mackenzie Baily @macbaily]

@HQNewsNow 💯

[AB @DaktoJdub]

Everyone on this spurs team flops worse than Shai, and everyone on this spurs team is dirtier than Lu Dort, I will stand on it

[News 9 @NEWS9]

Steven Adams was at Game 7

Before Opening Night he said “there’s something strangely magical about OKC.”

“It’s the people mate”

[Mike Beckham @mikebeckhamsm]

I immensely enjoyed watching the Oklahoma City Thunder win the NBA Championship last year.

But, I learned more by watching them lose this year.

For the last two years the Oklahoma City Thunder have been the best team in the NBA. That ended on Saturday night when they lost to San Antonio in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals.

I’ve decided the reason we need sports is because they teach us about success and failure. Every week we intentionally pit teams against each other in a zero sum game. One side will win and one will lose.

We do this because we want to be a part of success. But we also want to learn how to fail from those we admire. We want to experience failure as a part of a community that is disappointed together.

Even the most successful teams have to go through periods of failure and disappointment.

The same is true of us as individuals.

I do a lot of public speaking and I have come to loathe the part where I am introduced. I get it, the point is to communicate credibility so that people will actually listen to me when I speak.

But when I hear my bio it isn't the full story. It is just the highlights. It is a way of telling my story that sounds like an unbroken string of success.

The people who know me best know the deeper truth. For every success I’ve experienced, I can tell several stories about the setbacks that preceded it.

Simple Modern has been more successful than I could have dreamed. But the startup I helped build in the years before founding Simple Modern was a failure that lost millions of dollars.

Those kinds of stories don’t show up in newspaper articles. They should because they are essential.

Success is like a cake and you cannot bake without the ingredients of failure, difficulty and hardship. Without these challenges, It is impossible to develop the skill and perseverance needed to achieve anything worthwhile.

The Thunder failed to reach their goal this year, but as I have listened to their reactions following game 7 I have heard individuals who are:

Owning the failure
Avoiding excuses
Taking personal responsibility
Choosing to trust their teammates
Looking for ways to grow and improve

In my estimation, someone is a “winner” based on their mindset and not the scoreboard. Winners eventually win on the scoreboard because they have a mindset that makes it inevitable.

I’ve been fortunate to have a front-row seat, both literally and figuratively, to the Thunder’s ascension. I’ve learned that the foundation of their success was built when they weren't winning basketball games. Because the foundation is their mindset and culture. Over the last two years they’ve experienced more success than a fan like me could reasonably hope for.

But since their season ended, I realized something surprising. I appreciate the team in defeat even more than I have in victory.

They have shown me, and many other people in this community, how winners approach failure.

[ThunderND @ThunderND]

Thunder fans watching the rest of the league find out in real time exactly wtf we were talking about:

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

@JesseBWatters @DonnaPrissyrn1 Four of us respected the Constitution.

[PokeNation @Big12Pokes]

The foul merchant Victor Wembanyama scored 26 points on 6-21 shooting and 12/13 FT’s 🤮

[Bobby Reagan @BarstoolReags]

I agree with Thunder fans talking about the Spurs now

[Hater Report @HaterReport]

Wemby CLOTHESLINED Karl-Anthony Towns and they called an offensive foul on KAT 😭💀

[Tierani @tierani_kristen]

Time and time again, you see tweets about the kindness of Okies in real life. Everyone hates OU or Thunder fans until you get around them (and off the internet), and realize we’re some of the nicest people ever.

As always, Thunder Up and Boomer!☝🏽

[247Sports @247Sports]

247Sports Top 25 Team Recruiting Rankings 🔥🤩

Oklahoma takes back the #1 spot 👀

[Mackenzie Baily @macbaily]

@Osbornegabe5

[Rivals @Rivals]

Oklahoma and Brent Venables have landed FIVE top-40 recruits in the 2027 cycle⭕️

View: https://t.co/P3nlAdBuCK

[Parker Thune @ParkerThune]

The state of Oklahoma had never produced three national top-50 recruits in the same cycle… until 2027.

And all three of them are now committed to the #Sooners.

[Mackenzie Baily @macbaily]

@Hayesfawcett3 @tykni53 @Rivals @Osbornegabe5 @JimNagyOU @COACHSTACE_ @CooperHackett65 @CooperWitten_ @JamisonERoberts @JaylenS_4 @GreydonHowell4 @KrewJones1

[Hayes Fawcett @Hayesfawcett3]

BREAKING: Elite 2027 CB Gabriel Osborne Jr. has Committed to Oklahoma, he tells me for @Rivals

The 6’2 190 CB chose the Sooners over Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, & Miami

He’s ranked as a Top 30 Recruit in the 2027 Rivals300

“Mama, I’m Staying Home.”

https://t.co/siEYBRVNq9

[Rex(inald) @Rextopiaxx]

This is a lie. There has been a festival planned at scissortail park for months long predating this game