Credit to Castle for the honest answer.
But the question illuminates how the media has fed into and amplified the false narratives surrounding OKC and the Spurs.
Not surprised Wembanyama got away with a goaltend. If anything, these NBA playoffs have proven the rules just don't apply to him. Whether it's suspensions, postgame fines or whatever else
To my Oklahoma family;
this piece comes straight from the heart.
I hope you’ll take a moment to read it and feel what I felt.
Thank you for allowing me to be a small part of it.
I came to @okcthunder to play basketball. I left carrying 168 lives.
When I was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder, I was thinking about basketball, nothing more.
I didn’t know that before I ever stepped on the court, this place would show me something that would stay with me far longer than any game.
Like any player, my mind was on the game. A new team, a new city, a new opportunity. I expected the usual routine when I landed in Oklahoma City. Physicals, practices, meetings, and a jersey waiting in a locker.
But before any of that, Sam Presti pulled me aside and told me there was somewhere we needed to go.
He didn’t explain much, and I didn’t think to ask. I was focused on the next step in my career.
What I didn’t understand was that, before I could represent the place I was about to play for, I needed to understand it.
So instead of heading to the facility, he took me to the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.
I walked in without knowing what I was about to see, and within minutes, everything slowed down.
There are 168 chairs at the memorial, each one representing a life lost on April 19, 1995. They are arranged in quiet rows, each engraved with a name, each standing where a person once stood in that building. Then you notice something that is impossible to process the first time you see it. Some of the chairs are smaller.
They belong to children.
There is no speech that prepares you for that, no headline that captures it. You simply stand there, and the silence carries a kind of weight that is hard to describe but impossible to ignore.
As you walk through the memorial, you pass between two gates marked 9:01 and 9:03. At first, they seem like simple numbers, but then you understand what they hold. One marks the last minute before the attack. The other marks the first minute after. And in between those two gates is 9:02, the moment when everything changed.
That minute does not feel like history when you are standing there. It feels present.
The reflecting pool stretches across what used to be a city street, its surface calm and still. When you look into it, you do not just see water. You see yourself standing in a place where unimaginable loss occurred, and for a moment, everything else in your life becomes quieter.
Nearby stands the Survivor Tree, an American elm that was damaged in the blast but endured. It is not untouched. Its scars are part of what it represents. But it is still standing, and in that, it carries a kind of strength that does not need to be explained.
We did not speak much while we were inside. It did not feel like a place for conversation. Some places ask for words. This one asks for reflection.
When we stepped outside, Sam Presti looked me in the eye and said, “This is what this state has been through.”
Then he said something I will never forget.
“Every time you step on that court, you are not just playing in front of fans. You are playing for a state that carries this with it. Give them everything you have. They deserve that.”
In that moment, basketball felt different.
Not smaller, but clearer.
Because what I had just seen was not only about what was lost. It was about what remained. A state that had experienced unimaginable pain and still chose to come together, to rebuild, and to move forward without losing its humanity.
From that day on, every time I stepped on the court, I carried that with me.
On the nights when I was tired, when I was hurt, when I was dealing with challenges that felt heavy in the moment, I would think about those chairs, about that minute, about the people behind those names. And I was reminded that what I was going through did not compare to what this state had endured.
https://t.co/XfNLliRVaO
UPDATE @OU_Football fans: NCAA has denied Owen Heinecke's petition for another year at OU. When other players are being granted 7th and 8th years of football, CFB governing body has ruled Owen won't get a 4th year. Evidently, this walk-on's three games of lacrosse at Ohio State in 2021 couldn't be reconciled.
There will be an appeal.
If that appeal is denied, one lucky NFL team is going to get a stud two-contract player and an even better human being.
Love everything you're about, Owen.
You stand for everything that is pure and great about college football, @HeineckeOwen! 🤝🫡
You only need ChatGPT + a laptop + 1 hour/day to make $8,500/month.
I’ve prepared the exact step-by-step guide.
Normally $179, but it’s free for 24 hours.
To get it:
• Like, Repost & Peply "NEED"
• Follow me so I can DM you
ICE officer to moronic female protester:
"We are here to arrest a child sex offender. You’re honking and impeding our investigation while we’re trying to arrest a child sex offender. That’s who you guys are protecting… insane."
🚨 Here is the full 42 minutes of my crew and I exposing Minnesota fraud, this might be my most important work yet. We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day. Like it and share it around like wildfire! Its time to hold these corrupt politicians and fraudsters accountable
We ALL work way too hard and pay too much in taxes for this to be happening, the fraud must be stopped.
Guess who gets on a plane to Norman in the AM....
👋👋
Guess who got invited to the Boys and girls clubs Christmas party!?!?!??!
👋👋👋
Let's GO!!!!
We'll be there!
Gonna swing by the Big Red Shop and grab some things to take with us!
Four years ago, Oklahoma chose Brent Venables to pick up the pieces of a program that lost its coach in the middle of the night.
A deep dive on the search for Venables, why OU never stopped believing in him, and the affirmation that they got it right: https://t.co/oj7jwsYo2g