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The Olympics Need Some Doping

August 21st, 2008

The Olympics stand as the undisputed biggest event in sports. Part tradtition, part politics- it is in essence a celebration of humanity on the largest of stages. This years Olympics promised to be one of the most important Olympics in history, and backed by 40 billion dollars and a intriguing host, it has most certainly lived up to the hype. However, behind all the glitz and glory, these Olympics have once again revealed one major flaw in the Games’ design – the overall competition for medals is seriously flawed.

Case in point: Swimming

I have nothing against Swimming, it is a fine sport by all means. However, history has time and again proved that there is an over allocation of gold medals in this field. Sure Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals this year and that is truely a remarkable achievement. However, it is not as if he was the first swimmer to collect a huge amount of gold medals in one Olympics. Mark Spitz, previous record holder with 7 gold medals in one Olympics, was uncoincidentally also a swimmer. Now we can fool ourselves and think that swimmers produce some freak athletes who are worthy of the amount of gold they collect, or we can stop and see that there are way too many swimming styles which are awarded seperate gold medals. I’m not suggesting getting rid of any events, but it would be helpful to group some of them together and have one medal for all 200m swimming styles lets say and award medals to those that fair best across the board – similar to what is done in Gymnastics.

Weight of Gold

Isn’t it kind of wrong that a country can win the basketball, football, volleyball, tennis competitions and end up with less medals than a single person? I already discussed the problem of some events having too many golds allocated to them, but how about the sports that have too little gold allocated to them. Football and basketball are the two most popular and played sports in the world. They start competing at the beginning of the Olympics and continue long and hard fought out matches to the very end. The country who ends up winning gold, despite having to suit up over 10 athletes gets only rewarded with one medal in the standings. How is this fair? Did they put in any less effort? Was their field any less competitive? Was it a ‘lesser important sport’? Was there not the work of at least 10+ athletes needed? But yet, some fat random guy who has never done any real Lose Weight Exercise in his whole life can come and shoot a gun at a target for a couple of minutes and be rewarded the same amount in the final standings as a full team of the worlds most competitive athletes.

Ranking System

The first two concerns lead directly to the point I’m about to make. How well a country has performed in the end is almost universally linked to the amount of gold medals they have amassed (except the stubborn Americans who rank by total medals). The ‘winner’ of the Olympics Games if you will, is the country with the most gold, simple as that. However, as made clear in my previous 2 points, this system is not really reflective of which country is ‘best at sports’ to put it bluntly. In such a important and large competition, it is mind boggling the discrepencies that are present. However the blame here doesn’t lie solely on the Olympic Comittee, it is on the media and the rather ignorant fans watching at home. When the Oympics first started, the gold rush was never as intense. The important thing was to compete and country’s were content in improving their national standards and athletes were happy improving personal records. Skip forward to present day and you have the uninformed person at home watching some sport they have never seen for the first time and anything but a medal is deemed as failure. You have the media simplifying the concept of the whole Olympics down to a gold medal race so that the clueless person at home can attach some meaning to everything and tune in to pay for those huge broadcast costs. And in the end you have an athlete like Michael Phelps being escalated as the greatest sportsmen of all time amidst this mix of gold hunger, and media hype. A real tragedy for sports fans and anyone who is forced to compete in a field where competing for more than a single medal is simply impossible. (Usain Bolt just became the undisputed fastest man in the history of civilization in the oldest and most meaningful sport on earth by shattering two records in a field where sometimes it takes decades to break a record – and the amount of coverage and praise he got was minute when compared to Mr. Phelps. )

O-limp-ics

There is no doubt that the nature of sports, the Olympics, and the revenues attached to them evolve over time requiring and seeing many changes. This is why we have new sports introduced, rules allowing more ‘stars’ in sports such as football and basketball, and a constant evolution and moderation of technology and medicine. The Olympics have massively evolved from the days when the Greeks would host a sports competition in their backyards. It has become commericalized, mainstreamed, and the spirit has been significantly removed. No one wants to see the greatest sporting event in the world diminished to a form of tourism promotion, or advertising extravaganza, or political forum. Make the necessary changes to the allocation of gold so that there will be a true race to show which country is the greatest sporting nation. It might take a complex and perhaps subjective formula – but surely anything is better than a single swimmer outperforming over 200 countries. The China vs USA race can only take us so far.

Perhaps radical changes might be needed, such as removing the very traditional system of only 3 medal winners and instead be replaced with a point allocation system such as F1 Racing. At the end of the day, we need to bring back some sense of competition and spirit to these games where each and every athlete of a nation can feel like he is contributing. These are the athletes’ games afterall. Reality also has it that in this era of capitalism the ‘customer’ (general public in this case), is king. Therefore the best solution to please both athletes, the spirit of the games, and the fan at home is to make the suggested changes to the overall competition. Then truely, the Olympics will live up to its slogan: Citius Altius Fortius – Faster, Higher, Stronger…Better!

Tags: fix, medal allocation, olympics
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Euro 2008: Turkey Ready to Shock the World

June 5th, 2008

The first day of the most intense and competitive football tournament in the world is almost underway.

Tomorow evening, Portugal – who are crowd favorites with their flashy play, big superstars, and recent success in the World Cup and Euro – will face off against a relatively unknown and written off Turkey team. Let me tell you here and now that the world is about to be SHOCKED. Shocked as France was in the 2002 World Cup when they were beaten handily by an unknown Senegal squad.

Turkey doesn’t exactly have history on its side. They failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup after losing out to Switzerland on away goals despite beating them 4-2 in the 2nd leg. This was after a disappointing playoff lost to Latvia that kept the Turkish side away from Euro 2004. Adding to this is the fact that Portugal has beaten Turkey twice in the Euro competition – once in 1996 where Turkey collected 0 points, and once in 2000 in the quarter finals.

But this isnt to say that Turkey can’t perform on the grand stage. Turkey finished 3rd in the 2002 World Cup with Brazil being the only team to beat them. They also have had some success in European club competitions with Galatasaray winning the UEFA cup in 2000, and Fenerbahce beating some serious opposition in this years champions league.

The biggest expectations will be on the shoulders of Turkey’s stars playing their football abroad. Hamit Altintop (Bayern Munich), Nihat Kahveci (Villareal), Tuncay Sanli (Middlesborough) are three stars that are one or two magnificent games away from capturing the world’s attention. Emre Belezoglu who always seems to play heroicly for his home country, and Arda Turan – the new golden boy of Turkish football – are also sure to surprise their fair share of defenders and fans.

But Turkey’s biggest strength in this tournament and any competition that it enters is the heart factor. Turkey is undeniably one of the worlds most nationalistic countries, and football is far more important than anything else going on in peoples’ lives. Turks always play with a chip on their shoulder and want to prove themselves to the rest of the world. With this kind of motivation, aspiration, and desire – it is hard to count them out even if skill or talent was not part of their repertoire.

Skill, however, is very much a part of this years Turkish side. There are a handful of players that I no doubt believe will receive major offers after this tournament is over. The only thing that remains is whether Turkey’s egomaniac coach, known as The Emperor, can manage to show brilliance rather than madness and make this unbalanced and fragile team cooperate together and play some quality football.

The skill is there, the motivation is there, and you can count on thousands of Turkish fans to be there. Portugal and the world will be shocked tomorrow night, as Turkey will dazzle and razzle and steal the show from under the nose of football’s darlings. Football fans: its time to forget about Portugal, there’s a new Champ in town.

Tags: euro 2008, portugal, turkey, upset
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The NBA Finals

June 3rd, 2008

The NBA Finals that everyone and their grandads wanted (and expected for oh..about the last 4 months) has finally become reality. The two most recognizable franchises of the NBA (Boston’s Leprechauns and the Laker Girls), the two most gifted players of the last decade (Lamar Odom and Ray Allen- not even kidding about this one), and the two ugliest ~~humans~~ living creatures on the planet (Sam Cassel and DJ Mbenga) will square off battling exclusively in a “how-Kobe-Bryant-will-be-remebered-throughout-history” 7 game series. Let’s have a look at some of the more hidden keys that will decide the outcome of this series.

Home Court Disadvantage

I dont know if this theory has ever seen the light of day, but I feel strongly that the Celtics having home court advantage is in fact a disadvantage here. With a series with as much hype/history/emotion/importance as this one – and with a buildup as epic as a WWE pay-per-view – it is hard to imagine any one of these two teams winning the first two games, and hence a 1-1 split is really the only outcome that I foresee whether the game is played in Los Angeles, Boston, or Baghdad (ummm actually in Iraq, the series might come to an early end…and I’m not talking about a sweep if you know what I mean).

Hence, these Finals arent really a 7 game series with home court advantage to Boston like everyone believes….it is a 5 game series with LA having the home court advantage. By Game 3 all the hype will have died down after the American public will have realized that a Boston-LA Finals wasn’t the answer to all their problems and that they do in fact still have to Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise about a 100 pounds, and get proper health care, and stop getting into stupid wars, and Vote for Obama (SPONSORED ADVERTISING), and stop watching “The CLose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exerciser” (highest rated Cable series of all time…WTF).

Lets not forget that in the NBA Finals the game structure is 2-3-2, this means that after LA steals one game in Boston, they just have to win their games at home, where they are undefeated in the post-season, and they will be champions!

Key Matchups

Trevor Ariza vs Paul Pierce:

Ariza hasn’t seen much action since being acquired from the Orlando Magic due to his injury, but he proved in the games he did play that he was a great fit in the triangle offense – and that goes beyond the prerequisites of being able to watch Kobe shoot contested 30 footers over 2 people without showing any sign of frustration . His biggest strength is obviously his defense – a really athletic and mobile defender with long arms, Ariza is sure to get significant minutes trying to contain Paul Pierce. Pierce, an LA native, always seems to have his best games in his hometown. So this will be a very crucial matchup that is bound to give one of the two teams a distinct advantage.

(Sidenote: Imagine if the Lakers had a game in Boston and imagine all Laker players were from Boston and had homes and families there and got home cooking, a nice days rest in their own bed, and had family at the game the next day…would this mean that the Lakers would have pretty much stolen home court advantage without even playing a game…?)

Ronny Turiaf vs Glen Davis:

This is a heck of a matchup in terms of which of these two players has the bigger chest. One of the modern cliches of the NBA is the importance of having this ‘energy guy’ come off the bench to instantly ‘spark’ your team. Are we talking about the NBA here or some electronic engineering convention. Anyways assuming we buy in to this general assumption, whichever of these two players ends up shouting more, dancing more, and drinking more Gatorade could in the end decide who ends up with the championship rings.

Kobe Bryant vs Kobe Bryant:

Which Kobe Bryant will emerge this June as he enters the most important series of his life (even more important for him than his series of court hearings in Colorado I would imagine). Back in November I wrote the following:

“In fact, it is no question that after several NBA titles, consecutive scoring titles, All-NBA, All-Star, All-Defensive Team awards– it is in fact these last remaining years of his career that will define who he really is. Is he really the next Michael Jordan, or will he be yet another one of the wanabe’s that just couldn’t live up to the expectations. Only the future will reveal Kobe’s true worth.”

The future is now for Kobe as he is more than equipped with whats needed to be champions. Based on the way the Celtics played LeBron and the Cavs, history suggests Boston will try to make Kobe’s teammates beat them rather than the Black Mamba himself. Will Kobe be able to relinquish the Finals MVP, great stats, global glory, and be finally be able to prove he’s the ultimate team player?

Coaching

Doc Rivers and Phil Jackson are rated on complete opposite spectrums of where they should be. Doc is, by what I have witnessed, a terrible coach. His previous seasons and horrific records aside, this year in the playoffs when everyone from player to shot-clock reseter is put to the ultimate test – he has failed miserably. From being forced to elimination games against the lowly Hawks and Lebron-less Cavs, to not being able to give his team an inch of confidence or strategy heading into opposing teams’ arenas, to not being able to get the best out of his tried and tested superstars, to making horrible calls on the sideline by benching the likes of Leon Powe and Glen Davis while forcing the return of E.T. more than the greedy execs in Universal Studios must have ever attempted.

Phil Jackson, meanwhile, the most succesful coach in basketball continues to be underappreciated. His throne like seat, his wise-cracks and flirting with Craig Saiger, his cool poise, the witty laugh-out-loud comments about his players, the outrageous books and movie analogies he gives to his players, and that almost too-casual whistle to get his players’ attention make us forget what a genious mastermind he is. You might not notice it, but the player rotations, the controlling of Kobe, the trust of the bench, the way he spots out in crucial points in the game who out of the stars should exploit the Triangle, the inserting of Sasha to cLose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise out games….all of these are intangibles that another coach might very easily miss out, or not handle or execute correctly..perfectly. But with Phil, even if his team goes down 17 or 20, the players, fans, and everyone associated with basketball knows that they are not out of it – and this is just as much because of Phil as it is because of Kobe.

Heart

This series will ultimately come down to which team shows more heart. Desire, passion, will, spirit, craving, lust – those feelings will determine which out of these two evenly matched teams end up on top. We all know that on center stage, for a championship, tradition and legacies on the line – both teams will be ready to go. But the emotions mentioned above go beyond just ‘wanting it’, it necessites the ability to go to extremes. It might mean Kobe not resting in the fourth quarter and running solely on adrenaline, it might mean Kevin Garnett being a bastard for once in his life and shouting at his teammates, it might mean Lamar Odom and Ray Allen stepping the **** up and imposing their will above their inconsistent tendencies, and you know what…it might even mean Sam Cassell refusing to check into the game because deep down he knows he will just hurt his team!

Win and go…wherever

The 2008 NBA Finals will not be decided by the 82% chance of winning if so and so has home court and the series score is this and that and if the big three score over x amount of points. The 2008 NBA Finals will not be decided by the past meetings, or by what stats geeks have crunched up on their Excel sheets, and even not by what Magic Johnson or Larry Bird had for lunch on gameday. The 2008 NBA finals will be decided by 2 or 3 key matchups, coaching, the home court ‘disadvantage’ paradox, and a whole lot of heart.

(Lakers in 5)

Tags: 2008, celtics, lakers, nba finals, preview
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2008 NBA Playoffs – First Round Preview

April 16th, 2008

The time has come for the most intense and entertaining annual 2 months in professional sports – the NBA playoffs. This year we have around 10 teams who could legitimately end up in the NBA finals! Drama is higher than its even been, hype is not something that we will need TNT and ESPN to fabricate, and its set to be the most entertaining Playoffs in recent memory. Let’s have a look at what’s on the agenda shall we?!

WESTERN CONFERENCE

(1)LA Lakers vs (8) Denver

On paper, the Denver nuggets might just be the most talented team in the NBA. You have Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony who are two true superstars and actual All-Star starters this year. You have Marcus Camby the reigning defensive player of the year, along with Kenyon Martin who is getting back into his old scary self that earned him the first overall pick by the Nets some years ago. Then off the bench Linus Kleiza and J.R. Smith are two of the most high octane scorers period, forget the fact that they are coming off the bench. Nene at his peak can destroy just about any power forward in the league, and Najara could just be the most energetic/rugged player in the League. Yes, on paper they are THAT good. However, on the other side we have a man by the name of Kobe Bryant, who is capable of destroying 2 superstars, defensive beasts, energetic benches all by himself. This year however he won’t really have to, as Odom is playing the best basketball in his life, and Gasol has fit perfectly into the triangle offense. If the 3 point specialists Vujacic, Radmanovic, and Farmar start getting hot from beyond the perimeter, this could be a short series. But if the Lakers dont bring their A game, the Denver just have enough firepower to give Jack Nicholson a heartbreak or 4.

(2) New Orleans Hornets vs (7) Dallas Mavericks

If there has ever been a season where a Number 7 seed is considered a favorite over the 2 seed, then this has to be it. Let’s not forget Dallas are coming off a 67 win season, and they actually got better by adding a true Playoff veteran in Jason Kidd. New Orleans on the other hand have been the surprise team this year and have led the Western Conference for longer than any other team. However, everyone continues to doubt whether this team is for real and whether they have enough playoff experience to win a series. Their poor form at the end of the season sure didn’t help comfort critics, but with perhaps the MVP, the coach of the year, and the best player you never heard of (David West) – they can go on to win the Championship and no one could feel too surprised. They have, afterall, favorable season records against almost all top teams in the NBA.

(3) San Antonio Spurs vs (6) Phoenix Suns

Last year these 2 powerhouses met in the 2nd round of the playoffs, and everyone thought it was a early final. This year their clash has been pushed all the way up to the first round in what must be the two strongest teams to ever meet in the first round of the playoffs. You have San Antonio on the one hand which are the only dynasty since Jordan‘s Bulls and are the team to beat year after year. On the other side you got the Phoenix Suns who have 2 former MVP players (Nash and Shaq), a future MVP player (Amare), a one time ‘the next MJ’ player (Grant Hill), the 2nd best bench player (Barbosa) and perimeter defender in the league (Bell). And one of these two teams will be knocked out in the first round, holy crap! Oh and I didn’t even mention the bloodbath of a series these two teams had last year where there were broken noses, below the belt trashtalk, controversial suspensions, refing scandals, and an all out war on the court. I’d be surprised if this series doesn’t end in the 3rd overtime of the 7th game, with enough drama to make any Brazilian soap look tame in comparison.

(4) Utah Jazz vs (5) Houston Rockets

This is suppose to be the ‘boring’ series of the first round out in the Wild wild west – but I’ll assure you right here it’s not going to be boring…not one bit. If you are into UFC type fights, then you’re sure going to enjoy watching these two defensive minded and tough nosed teams beat the living crap out of each other. Of course, this is the NBA playoffs and the hype doesn’t end there. Last year these two teams met and Utah ended up upsetting Houston on its own floor in the decisive Game 7. This year despite Houston being the 5^th seed they still have homecourt advantage due to a better record, and will need every one of their horde of Chinese fans to give them a lift… or perhaps burn down Carlos Boozer’s house. Without Yao Ming, the pressure lies on T-Macs shoulders to finally lift one of his teams past the first round. Last year he guaranteed victory and ended up crying in front of the press after the game 7 loss…this year he might totally Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise it.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Boston Celtics vs (8) Atlanta Hawks

The best team in the NBA probably isn’t fearing an 8^th seed in the weak East who couldn’t even manage to achieve a .500 record, but they should sure not take them lightly. The Atlanta Hawks, more so than the Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers who are seeded higher, have a legit chance to upset the heavily favored Celtics. Why you ask? Their team is so athletic you could send them to the Olympics this Summer and rest assured they will come back with a handful of medals. Joe Johnson on a good day can be a poor-man’s Kobe Bryant, Mike Bibby a poor-man’s Steve Nash, Al Hornton a poor-man’s Dwight Howard… So you can imagine if things start clicking, the Hawks can become dangerous fast! If they don’t elevate their game however, this is gonna be a relaxed fall season front yard sweep.

(2) Detroit Pistons vs (7) Philadelphia 76ers

I’ll admit, I never expected to see the numbers 76 being mentioned this post-season next to the Detroit Pistons other than what they are likely going to concede per game against their first round opponent. Moving swiftly along, the Detroit Pistons are one team that likes playing against important teams and elevate their game when they do so. Last year they were the most impressive looking team in the playoffs until they bumped heads with the puny Cavaliers and seemed to have lost any form of motivation. The 76ers sure aren’t likely to get Rasheed fired up, and this could cost them big as the 76ers have shown that they can beat the top teams when they are in full flow with their high-flying and lightning quick young players.

(3) Orlando Magic vs (6) Toronto Raptors

The Orlando Magic really haven’t got much attention this year even since their hot start to the season. No one expects them to win the East and a Toronto upset would in fact not be so upsetting. They have the pieces to make a run out in the East – Dwight Howard is the most dominant big man in the league today, Hedo Turkoglu can elevate his game to become a mix of Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant at times (no kidding!), and Rashard Lewis is able to light it up when the stage is big. Toronto is a really balanced team that will need Chris Bosh to be a superstar, and with Dwight Howard clogging the middle this will be a true test of what he is about…if you ask me, its ImBoshible.

(4) Cleveland Cavaliers vs (5) Washington Wizards

Last but most certainly not least, is my personal favorite matchup of the first round. Woww, where do I start? How about 2 seasons ago, when LeBron and Arenas had the most competitive rivalry in a playoff series in a long time. 40 points, 50 points, game winners, they were coming left and right each and every game. The Cavs ended up beating the Wizards after LeBron talked smack to Arenas during crucial freethrows which he ended up missing. I imagine those freethrows still haunt Gilbert to this day. Last year they met again, but the Cavs ended up making minced meat out of the Wizards after Caron Butler and Arenas had season ending injuries. This year the hype and rivalry has not died down one bit. DeShawn Stevenson and LeBron James ended up exchanging quite a couple words in their final head to head game of the season which DeShawn and the Wizards ended up winning. Stevenson said after the game that LeBron was overrated which escalated all the way into their rivalry being compared to a Soulja Boy vs Jay-Z rap beef. While everyone expects the Cavs to give the Celtics a serious run for their money in the second round, I believe the only way they will be able to do that is by wagering on the Washington Wizards…if you catch my drift.

Predictions for the First Round

Lakers over Denver in 5

Dallas over New Orleans in 7

Phoenix over San Antonio in 6

Utah over Houston in 5

Boston over Atlanta in 4

Detroit over Philadelphia in 4

Orlando over Toronto in 7

Washington over Cleveland in 7

Tags: 2008, first round, NBA, playoffs, preview
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Chris Paul no match for Kobe Bryant

April 14th, 2008

It’s ridiculous to think that the award for the league’s most valuable player during an 82 game season can actually come down to one single game. Yet that was the case on Friday night, as Chris Paul’s Hornets took on Kobe Bryant’s Lakers in what everyone believe to be the game that would decide the winner of this years most valuable player. Sitting at home watching, I was indeed engulfed in the hype that had so succesfully billed this game as the most important game of the season. Truth be told, before I started watching I really wasn’t convinced that one single game should or could determine anything, let alone the most coveted individual prize in all of basketball…But as the minutes passed and both players displayed exactly what they had to offer on the grandstage – it was then that it became clear that this game would indeed seperate the two, but not exactly in the way everyone had envisioned.

Most people that watched the game will have taken the 15 points 17assists 6 rebounds by Paul, and the 29points 10assists 8rebounds and the W for Kobe and given the slight edge to Kobe Bryant on the track towards the MVP award. Yet, if anyone watched cLose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercisely enough, it should have been really easy to see that these two players that everyone has placed in a deadlock in terms of value…are in fact not worthy to be mentioned in the same breath.

The New Orleans Hornets this year, just like the Phoenix Suns of years past, are a team built around the point guard position. Stojakovic and Peterson are two of the deadliest shooters of our generation. Tyson Chandler is a player that can’t create anything for himself and will only score if a player creates a dunk opportunity for him. So when 3 out of 5 of your starters absolutely need the point guard to create something for them to be succesful – you can see why Paul has so many assists and has established himself as one of the frontrunners for this years MVP. However, this is also exactly the reason why he is totally out of his league when being compared to a player like Kobe or LeBron. Chris Paul has been handed over the ideal team for his skillset. He controls the ball 90% of the possesion and everything goes through him. So while Paul has done a tremendous job with this huge responsibility, he hasn’t exactly proved on a consistent basis that he can take over a game like Kobe, or make defenders look overmatched like LeBron, or control the defensive end of the floor like Kevin Garnett. Paul, if you will, is a one trick pony. He goes around screens, penetrates, and creates havoc around the paint area and as a result of the gifted shooters around him, the pogo stick known as Tyson Chandler, or the scoring machine David West – collects dimes faster than your local arcade. If the MVP award was solely based how much importance you have to your own team, then Paul would probably be have to be given the award…despite his replacement Pargo being more than capable of running the offense and even being more dangerous than Paul on some occasions.

However, the award is the league’s most valuable player, not a team’s. If you dont understand the logic, imagine a team with all guards and players under 6 foot 3. Except there is one center, and you can imagine that under these conditions this player will collect 15+rebounds, and be by far the most important player on the team and more valuable to his team than any other player is to his own team. Should this player get the MVP? No, I certainly hope not.

Let’s take a look at Kobe for a second. He is able to draw double teams on a consistent basis and ends up creating the space and time for his teammates much like Chris Paul..without even having to move a single step. The defense is always playing catchup when 3 players have to guard 4, and this is an advantage that won’t show up on the stats sheets, but it is far more valuable than any statistic could suggest. So Kobe is easily able to play the facilitator role that Paul is admired for, and if he was to have the ball in his hands the whole time like Paul, you can be sure he would be averaging 10+assists. Yet, this aspect of Kobe’s game is only a fraction of what he is about. His ability to score at will, his defensive presence, his post up game, his 3 point game, his morale breaking plays and demeanor, his clutch ability…all of this is impressive, and the fact that he can do any one at anytime depending on his team, the score, the situation, the matchups…is what ultimately elevates him to a level that Paul will persevere to match throughout his career.

Kobe has played alongside a dominant big men, and shaped his game accordingly and won three championships. He has played alongside one of the worst teams imaginable (Smush Parker, Luke Walton, Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown), and carried them on his shoulders to the playoffs and near playoff upsets. He has now adjusted his game to first turn Brynum from laughing stock to a legit All-Star, and now Gasol from forgotten cavemen to superstar playboy. He has never had the perfect team built for him like Paul has had, and yet…anyway you look at it he has been able to thrive and retain the tag as the world best player for the past half dozen years. You might be thinking to yourself now that past seasons shouldn’t be taken into consideration when deciding this year’s award – but we do it all the time (teams’ strengths, players’ abilities, expectations of them…they are all based on past seasons).

If you really watched the game cLose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercisely on Friday night, and ignored what the commentators were saying, and what the stats said…you would have seen everything that I mentioned in the above paragraphs. The 17 assists by Paul were by no means all spectacular, he was not a factor on defense, his team didn’t suffer with him out, he didn’t have the ability to take over the game by himself down the stretch, and he really wasn’t feared as much as some of his teammates were. And yet, as everyone acknowledges, that was a typical CP3 game and he wasn’t far off his 100% self.

If you had put Paul on that team with Kwame, Parker, Walton, Odom….would he really be as good? Does Paul really have that amazing ability to put his stamp on the game no matter the circumstance? I’m not so convinced. As I watched Chris Paul on Friday night, and the near dozen times I have seen him before this season, I didn’t get that feeling that he was the best or most valuable player in basketball. Apart from several lightning quick coast to coast drives, and several neat passes, I couldn’t make out why this player was being billed as highly as he has been recently. Sure the stats dont lie, but do they tell the whole story? Does Stojakovic make those incredible three pointers in people’s faces just because the pass came from Paul? I just can’t see such a big gap of Paul compared to the average starting point guard (Rafer Alston) , than I see when I compare Kobe to the average starting shooting guard (Jamal Crawford).

You can say what you want but at the end of the day, Kobe is a better player than Paul and more deserving of the MVP award. We saw it on Friday, we saw it the 78 games before, and we saw it the past 3 seasons. Give the award to Paul if you wish, but come June…you will be thinking hard and long about what was so damn special about anyone not named Kobe Bryant.

Tags: chris paul, kobe bryant, MVP
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Internet Piracy – Hope for humanity

April 3rd, 2008

It’s kinda funny isn’t it – the internet has turned millions of otherwise innocent people into true criminals. In fact, I’d be surprised to find any experienced internet user who hasn’t infringed some copyright law in one way or the other. Even the most moral of mothers and fathers must have watched an ‘illegal’ Youtube video or downloaded some random mp3 track. And yet, even tough the world is now full of ‘thieves’, no one really seems to really care besides the music labels and perhaps movie/tv studios. Even the little FBI warnings at the beginning of movies threatening prosecution or the reported lawsuits filed by the RIAA on individuals for lifesavings don’t seem to bother the average citizen.

What is the reason for this recent phenomenon – is it that people think music/video should be free, is it that its just so damn easy to steal stuff on the internet, or is there perhaps a deeper layer to this ‘crime of our times’?

One of the most important, and certainly most shocking things I learned at school (besides stuff in sex ed class of course), was that Communism, in principle, was actually a great ideology. All through my upbringing I was led to believe that it was the most evil thing on this planet – but as my history teacher explained, in a perfect world we would be governed by Communism. If people weren’t so selfish and greedy, then it would be the way towards the most harmonious society imaginable.

What does this all have to do with internet piracy you wonder, well in fact it has everything to do with it. You see, the main reason why people ‘steal’ on the internet isn’t because it is a much more conveniant way to obtain music (altough it sure is more conveniant), and it certainly isn’t because they don’t believe it is a crime – it is actually because of the communist/collectivist mentality rooted deeply inside every human’s brain. Music label execs, multi-million dollar artists aren’t regarded with much compassion in the eyes of the average citizen just working to get by. In their mind, they shouldn’t have to forego a large chunk of their earnings just so the rich get even richer. It is this type of psychological communism that gives moral citizens like you and me the moral freedom to commit crimes.

While it makes perfect sense that a Chinese person making 100$ per month gets the Britney Spears album for free rather than foregoing their sons’ school money to purchase it – it doesn’t make it legal in the eyes of the law. But what is the law at the end of the day… simply a set of rules to help society function better. Will society function better if this person starves and helps Britney make another 5$ or will it be better if he stays alive and Britney Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercises 0.000000001% of her revenue. You could argue that the Chinese person shouldn’t buy this album in the first place, but then again will this really help Britney’s cause or will it just take away from the one of the only available methods of entertainment for this poor bloke in China.

Laws are laws, but sometimes they shouldn’t just be broken they MUST be broken. Will I wait at a red light on an empty street if I’m driving my dieing grandmother to the hospital? Absolutely not, #@*!& the law! At the end of the day, beyond the laws, rules, guidelines, policies governing us all, people are looking after themself. Ironically it is a form of extreme selfishness that leads to this communist mindset. No one will ever feel like making sacrifices to their personal living for people much more fortunate than themselves unless they have to.

At the same time, people wouldn’t commit these ‘crimes’ against those less fortunate than themselves. Charity fits into the opposite side of the spectrum of internet piracy - people give money to those less fortunate than them because they want a more balanced society. Of course, the amount of people ready to give away their money to randomers is a much smaller proportion than people ready to commit internet piracy. The psychological explanation behind this might be tied to a proffesor’s study that people are 2.5 times more motivated to perform an action if it prevents them from losing something, compared to gaining that exact thing. So people are more motivated to do something to make sure they dont Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise their equality status than doing things to make sure others are on the same equality. Or you could just say that people are selfish and care more about themselves than others if you wana be boring about it.

What’s the lesson to take away from this all? Capitalism is wrong? No, thats not it – that debate was settled half a century ago. What we must take into account is that an extreme form of capitalism should not see government support. I’m in full support of our current economic and political systems where succesful people get more than those who aren’t. Without this system, society would cease to progress. However, when these companies and societies start getting greedy to the point where they use the law to ruin the lives of those not so fortunate, thats when I have a problem. It shouldn’t have to be extremes – where either we are a cutthroat society where everyones ready to backstab each other for a dollar or two, or no matter what you do you will still be equal with everyone else. The balance that must be achieved is that succesful people should continue to reap the benefits of what they sow, and those less fortunate should try the best they can to contribute back to society and give back when and IF they can. The government doesn’t start sueing homeless people who don’t pay tax for using the street lights on the streets do they? So these music/TV/movie industries shouldn’t get mad at poor people who download their goods – they don’t actually Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise anything, because the poor wouldn’t have bought the good in the first place.

Of course, there are thousand complications that stem from this sort of outlook – how poor do you have to be to deserve exemption from having to pay for non-exclusive non-exhaustive goods? This is a tough matter to agree on, and in our society there will of course never be these sort of exemptions for poor people. The law doesn’t discriminate, and I don’t see an ‘entertainment welfare’ support seeing the light of day anytime soon. It is indeed a Darwinist state we have become, and the rich will continue to get rich whilst the poor will continue to be poor.

But as the internet has showed us, there is yet hope for those less fortunate! Hundreds of years ago it was the scum and nobodies of society that commited piracy in the seas in hopes of a better life. Today it is again the poor, young, and less fortunate who have a chance to get even with society on the virtual domains of cyberspace. Only difference is, this time no one’s really getting hurt and I have to say – this time around…. I’m siding with the pirates.

Tags: humanity, internet, piracy
Posted in Science & Technology | No Comments »

MVP Fallacies

March 18th, 2008

I’ve read more than my fair share of MVP articles lately. In fact, I make it a habit to search ‘MVP’ on Google News couple of times per week and check out what the latest trend is (T-Mac seems to be the hot commodity right now). While usually there is a good point or two in these articles, there always seems to be at least one major fallacy that ends up destroying the validity of the argument. Today I will list the most common fallacies that people make when talking, writing, and thinking about the MVP race.

1) The word value in the Most Valuable Player title is very open to interpretation. Therefore not too much importance should be attached to it. Some people think value is measured by how much the situation would be changed without the ’object’ (use to be Kobe fans, now LeBron), others believe ‘valuable’ things must come from very respected sources (the Dirk Nowitzki connundrum). Being such a subjective word, this creates a real problem when people need to decide matters based on its definition. Therefore in the end, rather than assuming your definition of the world ‘valuable’ is what should be the basis for the MVP award, you should also explain why that interpretation of the word ‘valuable’ has more merit in the basketball context than any other.

2) There should definitely be a consistency to the MVP award. Therefore those that argue “Kobe deserved it couple of years ago, but just because a mistake was made in not giving him the MVP, doesn’t mean LeBron shouldn’t get it this year” are commiting a major reasoning fallacy. If the panel that picks the MVP award begin using different criterias for selecing their MVP every year, then the title will truely Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise credibility. So the argument that should be made is not that LeBron should be MVP. Instead the case should be made against why individuals who have the most impressive stats and whose team would suffer most without them – dont get MVP.

3) There needs to be consistency in an MVP argument. You can’t argue that LeBron has a much more horrible team than Kobe’s, and then dismiss people who say the East is weak. If you want to compare teams then you should do it against teams in your own conference, or just suck up the fact that the East IS really weaker. Of course, LeBron’s MVP chances really fall when you compare a team like the Cavaliers and the 76ers and realize that there is only a 4 loss difference between them.

4) Stats are flawed by nature, they should never be the main focus of an MVP discussion. Yes LeBron does average more assists per game but does that mean he’s a better passer? Not at all. It could be that LeBron’s teammates are more proficient at hitting open jumpers, it could mean that the L.A. team has a tendency to pass twice after a Kobe drive and dish to set up the perfect jumper, or it could perhaps mean the exactly opposite. At the end of the day, its not as strong an argument as it might look on paper.

5) When you compare a player on a very strong team to a player on an average team – you need to consider things besides wins. When a great team is winning and killing opponents, the importance of stats really goes down. If the Lakers are up 10 throughout the game and Kobe’s teammates are doing a good job, does that mean that Kobe should still try at all costs to get his stats? Absolutely not. A smart player, an MVP player, will realize that he should step up only when he needs to. Just because a bad team struggles alot and always needs its best player to play 100% it shouldn’t take away from a great player on a great team just having to be average for 50% of the time because that is what benefits his team most. Great players should not be punished for their team being succesful!

6) A team’s bad record without the player is not necessarily a good thing to mention in MVP arguements. The whole point of the MVP award has to do with how much value a player brought to his team. So if you sat out 25 games with a broken leg - thats on you as the franchise player, and the fact that the team went 0-25 without you is something you shouldn’t hold any responsibility for. Especially if the injury was something minor, then you should be accounted for every loss your team got.

7) The strength of a players team often comes into play when determining an MVP. As hard as it is valuing a single player, valuing a whole team is that much harder – especially when you need to consider the team without its star player. Therefore no real evaluation is accurate enough to make a sound judgement on it. Can you definitely say the trio of West, Chandler, Stojakovic is worse than Odom, Gasol, Fisher? I wouldn’t be confident enough in making such a statement and relying on it to prove that what Paul has done is much more impressive than Kobe. In fact, the strength of a team without its best player is a very speculative area that should be left to crazy bloggers like me and not used to make MVP decisions.

Putting it all together

At the end of the day, it is clear that one single argument is not enough to decide the MVP. It cant be based solely on best team, best stats, best player even. It is a combination of all the little intricacies that make up a regular season in the NBA - but of course you knew that already. So the tough part is knowing how much to value each of the criterias. For me, Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant have accumulated amazing statistics and win percentages on a very tough conference with teams that in my oppinion are not so much worse than the likes of Cleveland – and my choice of MVP would go to the player that leads his team to the best record at the end of the season. Of course, in making this statement I have broken just about every rule I spent ages writing above….but then again thats the whole point, in the NBA MVP debate, no one is clear of slipping up.

Tags: MVP, NBA
Posted in Sports & Games | 1 Comment »