My Return and the 2008 NBA MVP & NCAA Player of the Year rants

This is my first posting in what seems like forever. I did take a hiatus to blog on myspace, but this is my first back on blogger. I skimmed through former posts and realized just how horrible they were. I'm not sure if I just didn't proof read or what, but they were pretty bad. Hopefully I won't make that same mistake again, although I wouldn't be surprised if I did. My primary goal is to regurgitate ideas, and practice my writing second. But I do understand those mistakes can be a distraction, so we'll see.

2008 NBA MVP Pick
The season is winding down and talking heads are making their bold and thoughtless predictions for who deserves to win the League's most valuable player award. I want to first admit that I haven't followed the NBA too closely this year. Our satellite package doesn't include the channel that carries the Rockets home games and honestly, I've just found more important things to do than watch sports 24/7. So take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Most media have the candidates down to Kobe and Chris Paul, with Garnett and Lebron just outside the conversation. I'm fine with that. Lebron is great, there's no doubt. What hurts him is the eastern conference and his teams record. Garnett has less than stellar numbers. People point to the change in culture and attitude he's brought to the Celtics to support his case, but I don't think his numbers are big enough and unfairly, he has received too much help in accumulating wins with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce as sidekicks.

So I too have Kobe and Paul in my final ballot. I really cannot say anything bad about Kobe. His numbers are great, and he's brought what he thought was going to be a lottery bound team to a top team in the tough Western Conference. He should receive much credit for that. But I can't help but pick Chris Paul. The guy has great numbers and is a true leader. What rattles my brain most about the guy is that he could dominate even more than he does now. I confess that this pick may be based off one game. It was against the Rockets during the winning streak. The Rox were dominating, but Paul kept them in the game with amazing shot after shot and pass after pass. Every decision he made was the right one, and he executed each one flawlessly. It was simply sick. Each pass was on the money and made shots were nothing but net, every time. I couldn't believe my eyes the guy was so amazing. He was so good and plays with such class, that you find yourself cheering for the guy even when he's playing against your team. Beware, this is not a sentimental pick, nor is it some anti-Kobe pick either. I've observed Paul's game and I love to watch Kobe as well. It's just that Paul has done so much to put his team in first place. That's right, first place. The New Orleans Hornets. Heard of 'em?

If he continues to play like this in the playoffs, he will become one of the greatest PG to ever play the game, if not THE greatest.

2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Player of the Year
Tyler Hansbrough has snagged every single Player of the Year award this year. What a joke, kind of. I respect him and will even admit he's a very good player. But he's not even close to being the best player in Division I basketball. Michael Beasley is. Hansbrough won the award not because he was the best player, but because he was a great hustler. Hustling should not determine who the best player is. Performance should. Beasley outperformed everyone this year, no question. I'm not sure if it's fair to compare two different seasons, but how can Durant win it last year with lesser stats and then Beasley lose it this year? Not only did Beasley have better numbers than Durant, this UT fan believes he's better than him too.

I probably wouldn't have even brought this subject up, but I have no idea how Hansbrough swept all the awards away. Durant didn't go any further in the tourny than Beasley did. Beasley had way less to work with in terms of teammates, hurting any chance of making a deep run.

Not to take away from the great season Tyler had, but I just felt like someone needed to say that Michael got the shaft. Here's to Beasley haven't a brilliant NBA career.