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limpy
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Post subject: Patton: Kobe for MVP
 Posted: Apr 16, 2008 - 09:37 AM PST
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Die-Hard Laker Fan
Joined: Dec 04, 2006 Age: 22
Posts: 1637
  
votes: 6
Status: Offline
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Random notes, idle thoughts and honking for Kobe ...
It took a while, but all those people in Staples Center are finally right.
Those "MVP!" chants that greeted Kobe Bryant every time he went to the free throw line the past few years weren't just wishful-thinking hero worship this season.
The Lakers superstar has earned it. If he doesn't win his first Most Valuable Player award, we can only assume the ballots were counted in Florida by former NBA referee Tim Donaghy on discarded Enron calculators.
If New Orleans' Chris Paul still had a case to make, it disappeared with last weekend's back-to-back clunkers against the Lakers and Sacramento with the Western Conference title in the Hornets' grasp. Big games help define MVPs. In this case they helped eliminate the only player who did as much to raise his team to an elite level as Bryant.
Funny how Staples' favorite athlete didn't need an 81-point game or a scoring title, either. Those bedazzling individual performances always seemed to cloud the issue, leading Bryant's fans to lobby that "best" player also translated to "most valuable."
This year, that will be the LeBron James argument.
What Bryant did this season in leading the Lakers back to the top of the Western Conference was become pliable, adapt to his surroundings and not just impose his formidable talent on everyone. First, in a remarkable display of mental gymnastics, he detached himself from his trade demands and focused on making his teammates and team better.
He accepted and nurtured the emergence of center Andrew Bynum, and the Lakers rose. When Bynum was hurt, replaced by a ready-made all-star, Pau Gasol, Bryant switched gears and melded with Gasol's game.
He still averaged more than 28 points, and still dominated games when he needed to. But it also was his smartest, most inclusive season. It's such a simple concept that religions have been founded on the principle: In giving up some of "me," he finally wins the "me" award.
Politics and sports are always a clumsy mix. Hillary Clinton's call for President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics is just one more drop in the murky mess. We trade with China, we enlist their diplomatic help at times, and we permit travel between the two countries, but we use a sports venue to register our distaste for their policies? Well, OK, let's assume it's a good idea for Bush to tie a presidential boycott to a specific issue or two -- Sudan, Tibet, pick your favorite human rights hot spot. But since it was Clinton's idea -- a news splash in the middle of a presidential race -- doesn't that make it harder for Bush to boycott without political rival Clinton getting the credit? Now he almost has to be in China, whether he wants to or not.
I guess the golf season is over. Since Tiger Woods didn't win the Masters and start his run of the Grand Slam table, there's nothing left. It's the curse of unrealistic expectations. It didn't help that Woods was so nonchalantly confident that it could be done. Nor does it help that Woods is such a dominant force in the sport. If he should go on to win the U. S. Open, the British Open and the PGA, that remarkable sweep will be less of a story than the fact that he didn't get all four. The end-of-the-year headline will be: "Woods comes up short."
I liked it better when football was a daytime sport. No more; not in San Diego. The Chargers are scheduled to play half of their home games at night this fall, as one of those network-darling teams frequently chosen for prime-time viewing. The Chargers will play the New York Jets on Monday night, Sept. 22 at Qualcomm Stadium, and New England, Indianapolis and Oakland on Sunday evenings later in the season. They also play at Tampa Bay on a Sunday night in December. Two more home games against Atlanta and Denver tentatively scheduled for mid-day are part of the late-season "flex" plan and could be played under the lights, too. Eat lots of carrots, fellas.
We know where Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony was in the wee hours between Sunday and Monday -- getting ready for the NBA playoffs in his own special way. But where was everyone else? We can only guess how many professional team athletes at any given moment are doing things that might require apologies, composed by PR firms and attorneys, to "my fans, the organization, my family and my teammates." There's no reliable urine or blood test for irresponsibility, even though it usually stays in your system right up until you get caught, and sometimes much longer.
Good for boxer Mike Tyson, offering to reach out and offer life advice to troubled English soccer icon Paul Gascoigne, who was hospitalized for ongoing erratic behavior. That alone should be enough to jolt anyone back from the precipice.
http://www.pe.com/columns/patton/storie ... e62ab.html |
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noname24
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Post subject: RE: Patton: Kobe for MVP
Posted: Apr 16, 2008 - 12:47 PM PST
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Lakers Topbuzz Hall of Famer
Joined: Feb 28, 2007
Posts: 8374
votes: 37
Status: Offline
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| I think Stern will give in and give Kobe the MVP. He deserved it 3 years ago and didn't get it.. Watch guys, he WILL get MVP. |
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