Best? Or Most Valuable?

Somewhere along the line, I think the acronym MVP began to take on a less nuanced definition akin to "best".

This creeping definition has lead to many debates among sports fans, and fueled arguments about who deserves an MVP award. Some support the player they see as best, while others focus on the definition of "valuable" and favor a player they feel contributes most to team success.

This year in the NBA, there was general consensus that LeBron James was the best player, and strong, simultaneous speculation that Kevin Durant would win the MVP. I found myself mystified by this, as I sit among those who would give the award to the "best" player. Frankly, I couldn't understand why Durant was so highly considered by so many knowledgeable fans of the game.

That all changed when he accepted the award with this 26 minute speech:



You imaginary readers know that I think that speeches matter, and Durant's acceptance speech made me cry. It was the kind of speech that can galvanize a team. It was the kind of speech that can motivate an entire organization. It was the kind of speech that can touch a community and pull millions of casual observers into the emotional vortex of a championship run. No ability to shoot, pass, or defend is more valuable than a speech like that.

Kevin Durant is the MVP.

Will Donald Sterling Spark a Movement?

Social injustice has an amazing capacity to persist until, under the right conditions, a spark ignites the movement that brings a long overdue change. But change is hard, and a great many sparks can burn to no avail.  As of this writing, Donald Sterling is a spark that has not yet ignited a movement.

Within the next week, we should know if his flaming bigotry will catalyze another step toward race equality in professional sports, or if it will burn brightly in the national media for a short period and be snuffed out without leaving a mark.

Sterling, (a.k.a "the worst owner of a professional American sports franchise"), spouted a tirade of racially charged comments in a recent recorded conversation, and those comments were leaked to the press yesterday.  In the ensuing 24 hours, athletes, race-relations experts, and Heads of State have all weighed in to voice their distaste for Sterling and to share opinions about how the world should react.

A lot of commentary has focused on how the current players on Sterling's team, most of whom are African-American, should respond as they make their way through the play-off series at hand.  Many other comments have focused on how the fans, who contribute to Sterling's riches when they attend Clippers games, should respond. I don't think either of these groups are broad enough to affect any real change.

The financial structure of the NBA ensures that Sterling will profit as long as the league profits.  Whether or not the Clippers players perform well (or at all) is practically immaterial to Sterling's financial results.  After all, he bought the franchise for about $15 million and it's now estimated to be worth anywhere from $600 million to $1.2 billion.  One should note, the team has stunk ever since he bought it, but financially it's a gold mine.  Even if fans boycotted the Staple Center where the Clippers play, Sterling would enjoy his share of league-wide gate and sponsorship revenues.  

It's not up to the Clippers players or the Clippers fans to affect change here.  It's up to the players on all other 30 NBA teams to unite and deliver a message to all their fans.  And it's up to those fans who fill the seats in all 30 arenas, and who drive the TV ratings (and advertising revenue), to withhold economic support of the league. It's also up to the corporate sponsors of all 30 teams to deliver an economic message (some are already stepping back).

If league revenues can be constrained by fan reaction, then the other 29 owners will interpret and enforce the NBA by-laws in a manner that removes Sterling from his current ownership position.  The law can't do it; he doesn't appear to have broken any laws.  The NBA Commissioner can't do it, he merely takes orders from the owners.  But the other owners could do it, and probably will, if motivated financially.

Will they or won't they? That depends on how the fans react, which may be greatly influenced by a well-crafted and uniformly delivered message from the players.  

Maybe Sterling will be just another innocuous spark in the long history of racial inequity in America.  But I'll be watching to see if this isn't the start of another change for the better. 

Burning Question for Shaq

So Shaq has officially been traded to Cleveland where he can now run the court with LeBron. This will undoubtedly invite an obvious question from the lazy, sensationalistic media.

The question that Shaq will soon tire of hearing is this: Who is better, LeBron or Kobe?

At first, this may seem like one of those questions to which an answer can only stir trouble. But I don't think so. Here's how I would handle it.

First time it comes up, Shaq needs to look into the camera without hesitation and say "no question, Kobe is the best". This is supported by the most recent season when Kobe took his team all the way and gains further credence from Kobe's 4 rings. It may also serve as motivation to LeBron to aim higher and to continue improving.

Answering the other way just makes Shaq look like a homer, probably gets dismissed as ongoing bad blood between the former teammates, and pretty much ensures that Kobe will go off for 60 or more any time their teams meet.

NFL Draft: A Major Media Event

Is the NFL a Juggernaut or what? More than 34 million people watched the draft last year and this year the coverage is doubling.

I heard about an ESPN poll showing that, far and away, the most eagerly anticipated sports event of this weekend will be the NFL draft. Sorry NBA play-off fan; sorry NHL play-off fan; college kids are going to find out which team they can try out for and the whole world thinks that's more interesting than the conclusion of your season.

Sorry Red-Sox/Yankees rivalry fan; we know your little hate fest is a good show but not as good as watching Dan Snyder trade the future for his latest man-crush or Al Davis moving up to draft a track star.

I didn't respond to the poll but I guess I am with the masses on this one. There's something about the draft that just can't be ignored.

Puzzling behavior

Auggie here...

A little help? If there are any behavioral psychologists or cognitive scientists among the readers I would appreciate some help explaining two human behavioral patterns that, quite frankly, have me baffled. Let’s call these two behaviors “the scowl" and "road stupidity”.

You know what? Even if you’re not a scientist feel free to chime in – all theories are welcome.

1. The scowl:

I think NBA stands for National Bizarro Association. How else to explain the scowl?
Observe the nearby picture of Chris Bosh, a basketball player for the Toronto Raptors. Based on your understanding of human emotion and corresponding facial expressions, what emotion do you think he is feeling at that moment? In my world it is clearly anger. That’s the exact expression I would make if I just discovered a hair line fracture in my new Nike Sasquatch driver. Let me pose the question another way - suppose this was your SAT and the question was worded: From the following choices, describe the event that would NOT produce the accompanying facial expression:

• A rookie just backed into his new Hummer H3
• An opponent made a derogatory comment about his Mama
• He just competed a rewarding play to help his team.

If you answered “c”, enjoy community college. This is the typical facial expression of an NBA player after a positive play. It is not just occasional, it’s the norm. Now, I know why most players do it – because they have seen their predecessors do it and the herd mentality impedes them from alternative expression. But how did it all start?

When I was a child, if I had seen my dad arriving home from work with that face do you think I would have said, “Whoa dad, you really nailed it today huh?” Nope. I might not have known the problem but I’d have been out of there faster than George W. at a fifth grade spelling bee.

There must be some good scientific theories out there.

2. Road Stupidity

We hear a lot about road rage these days, but the precursor to road rage is road stupidity. I witness it daily on my commute to work and back. When I see people risking the safety of themselves and others, or worse, me! it’s infuriating. They’re basically saying “I’m more important than the rest of you oafs, and these silly laws and regulations do not apply to a person of my stature”. Attempting to describe the levels of stupidity and inconsiderate behavior is beyond the scope of this blog, but I’m sure we all could cite examples we’ve witnessed.

Sometimes as I’m cursing a person from the safety of my car, I stop and think - if I knew that person I might like them and think of them as a good person. Even as a stranger, they would probably come to my aid if I needed help. And that is probably true a majority of the time, so the question becomes: what happens to an otherwise decent person when they slide their sorry butt behind the wheel of their vehicle? This is not a rhetorical question, I firmly believe a chemical change takes place the brain.

We’re all at least vaguely familiar with similar scientific concepts in other aspects of life. For example adrenaline. When a person encounters certain kinds of stress, a hormone is released that prepares them for ‘fight or flight’. And what about the numerous brain activity studies that show how certain brain regions are activated by certain experiences. You gonna tell me something similar doesn’t happen when some people get in a car? Can we get a control group together and study this? Slap some probes on their noggins and see what happens, its not that hard. Why hasn’t it been done?

I have some brain activity (or lack thereof) theories based on empirical evidence, but I’m not fluent in the scientific terminology so I’ll need to express my theories in lay terms.

Brain regions that become more active when some people begin to drive:

• The region controlling territorial instincts
• The region controlling the basic attitude “since we are all anonymous behind our steel barriers, I can act like a cretin and get away with it”
• The region controlling general buttheadedness.
  

Brain regions that become less active when some people begin to drive:

• The region controlling consideration for fellow humans.
  

I look forward to some enlightenment.

5 baffling sports-related questions

1) How do athletes' salaries become public information? Who has the right to talk about their compensation agreements other than themselves? If any of my imaginary readers know the answer to this, please send me an email.

2) Why do so many athletes, coaches, analysts, and journalists speak of "going out on top" as a noble way to exit the game? To me that is the height of cowardice. If an athlete loses his drive and motivation after climbing to a certain height on the ladder of success, then I think that is a good reason to retire. But quitting so that everyone's last impression will be the one when you won is just another way of saying "now that I've succeeded, I can no longer bear to let anyone see me fail". I will never understand this attitude and I am amazed (and quite frankly, flabbergasted) at how casually and comprehensively it has been socially embraced. The poster boy for "staying too long" seems to be Willie Mays who loved the game so much he couldn't walk away even after his skills had diminished. In my eyes, that makes him all the more worthy of my adulation. He loved the game and played for as long as he could earn a spot on someone's roster, even if he no longer played like a superstar.

3) What is the basis for the common belief that a certain style of play or approach to competition may work in the regular season but not in the play-offs? I understand that the stakes are higher in the post-season and that there may be more pressure to perform on a bigger stage but the rules of engagement, the equipment, and the fundamental competitive parameters are unchanged. A competitive advantage in the regular season is still an advantage despite the date on the calendar, right? So why do I hear this nonsense spewed repeatedly by "experts" while other "experts" nod in agreement? Anyone?

4) Why does the NBA allow its referees to call games in such a way that the home team is expected to shoot significantly more free throws in a match-up than the visitig team? Over and over again...game after game...season after season. This is a direct affront to the notion of fair play. What is the purpose of this travesty?

5) Ever been to the circus? Isn't it mind-boggling to see the upper limits of physical precision that a person can achieve with a concentrated effort? A human being can fly off a trapeze and land on a lever that flings his brother 30 feet into the air where, after a few twisting somersaults en route, he lands squarely on his uncle's shoulders and proceeds, in one fluid motion, to pull a 14-inch carving knife from his teeth with his left foot and flings it through an apple that is strapped to his daughter's head as she rides a roller-skating elephant along a high-wire with no net. Pretty impressive if you ask me. So, why has no major league pitcher developed a behind-the-back pick off move to first base? It is a very simple maneuver compared to the upper limits of what we know we can achieve. Do I have to think these things up or can we expect that the guys who are getting paid to win will start stretching their bounds a little?