I am not alone in this world. A guy named Brian McCormick shares my frustration (albeit somewhat indirectly) over the state of a professional sport that caters to its stars' every whinny-whim (Kobe for MVP) and over-hypes big market teams. He recently posted an entry to his blog that voiced these frustrations along with other ones concerning the "rivalry" between the Lakers and Celtics. One piece rang so true to me (and Henry Abbot, as it turns out) that I had to include it here:
But, I find it difficult too root for the Lakers to win. It seems wrong that Kobe Bryant can epitomize everything wrong with the NBA last summer, belittling his teammates, demanding a trade, calling out his GM, etc and now he is the MVP and on top of the world. I have a hard time rooting for this to happen.
On the other hand, I also hate when players like Sam Cassell are able to get their team to buy out their contract mid-season so they can sign a new contract to play for a championship contender.
Hells yeah. That first paragraph is ostensibly what I've been screaming since the first day of MVP talks. You can't be an MVP (no matter what the numbers) if you actions off the court are detrimental to both your team's confidence and well-being. That would be the opposite of value.
He goes on to say that the league has adopted certain rules in the past twenty years that are now indirectly preventing rivalries. I don't quite agree with him in this regard, as I feel it has less to do with NBA rules and more to do with the average player's allegiance to money over team (with rare exception). Regardless, for the most part, Mr. McCormick's words on spot-on. I shall now buy him a beer.
***
As an addendum to the above introduction, I've just found out that Mr. McCormick happens to be an ex-coach and writer, having authored a book called Crossover: the Model of Youth Basketball Development.
The More You Know [wink].
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