I love sports. I love them in a "fanatical" sense, a true fan. I am an Atlanta Braves (but you already knew that), Minnesota Vikings, Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Cincinnati Reds, Andy Roddick (may he be retired in peace), USA fan. I love baseball first, basketball next and the NFL close behind. I will sit and watch Tennis, Lacrosse and Soccer without complaint. I have digested more stats in the MLB and NBA then most people will ever care to even hear. So, if you are not a Sports person, this and the following several posts will probably not interest you. However, I challenge you to broaden your horizons, these are multi-billion dollar industries, there's no shame in knowing about how they work. And besides that, they're fun.
These are general thoughts I've come to while watching and becoming a fan of the NBA, my second favorite sports league.
First of all, it's better than college basketball. That's right. WAY better. There is no college basketball program more "fundamental" than the San Antonio Spurs, so you can take your "they play iso-crap" argument and stuff it. Every single professional basketball player played in a college, minus the few high school jumpers, so every single one of them is at least that good, so I'm not listening to a "they don't play as high a level ball" argument either. Besides, the offensive sets being run by even the least productive teams (say the Hornets, formerly Bobcats, or the Pelicans, formerly Hornets) are still more complex and more ingenious than the most prestigious college programs can afford to attempt. Izzo, Boeheim, Kryzewski, Williams and any other coach you care to mention all have or do hope to coach in the pros not vice versa. In fact, they jump at the chance to coach in the Olympics. In short, anyone who thinks the NCAA Men's Basketball Association is possibly better than the NBA is flat wrong and needs to watch more basketball.
Secondly, the greatest player in the history of the game is Michael Jordan. I am 100% on the MJ train. I understand the arguments for Wilt and Kareem and don't understand but realize insanity can be persuasive in regards to Russell. Mike did everything, he scored 30+ a game for several seasons, he produced in the playoffs, he is the 3rd all-time scorer, he won 6 rings, he retired 3 times, he's a first ballot HOFer and I'm lucky I got to see part of his career. My first clear memories of the NBA are of the '97 title between Jordan and Malone. I'm a Jazz fan, mainly because of that team with Stockton, Hornacek, Russel, Malone and Ostertag but I'll always be a Jordan fan too. This leads me to give my top 10 players all-time, something which is argued about among the men in my family probably twice a month.
1. Michael Jordan
2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lou Alcinder)
3. Wilt Chamberlain
4. Shaquille O'Neal
5. Kobe Bryant
6. Erving Magic Johnson
7. Larry Bird
8. LeBron James
9. Bill Russell
10. Karl Malone
Shaq above Kobe and Karl on the list instead of Duncan usually draws the most criticism, but I stand on my 10.
Thirdly, I have irrational dislike for certain teams and players. Sometimes there is a rationality on the surface, but really there's just this negative sense when they succeed and a positive sense when they fail. Reggie Miller, LeBron James, Tony Parker, Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce are the best examples. Hence I'm forcing myself to root for San Antonio to pull out Game 7 tonight and believe that Ginobili and Green were both fouled. (The Spurs would be an organization that I irrationally dislike as well)
Finally, I have an equally strong and possibly irrational man crush on some players. When I first started watching it was Bryon Russell, then it was Scottie Pippen, Jerry Stackhouse, Michael Redd, David Lee and Wesley Matthews. Most dominantly though, is my fanatic support of Dirk Nowitski. I honestly believe, and think I can prove, Dirk is a more talented and more accomplished player than Tim Duncan. That had Dirk been teamed up with David Robinson, Steve Smith, Stephen Jackson, Michael Finley, Ginobili and Parker, the Spurs would have won 6 straight titles. However, this could probably be stored in the "crazy" file.
In any case, if you're ever itching to talk basketball I can go 10 rounds with the best of them and would love it.
The Braves split a 4 gamer with the Mets, a couple rough ones on Tuesday bookmarked by good wins Monday and yesterday. Alex Wood looked real solid starting Tues and adds one more young arm to Atlanta's already insane future. Medlen, Minor, Beachy, Teheran, Sean Gilmartin, JR Graham, Wood and Lucas Sims all are or project to be top of the rotation starters. Not to mention 2013 1st round pick Justin Hursh. Tony DeMacio and company are real good at what they do, and they scout pitching.
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