AboveLegit

Tough to really say. I don't believe the starting QB playing as the 2nd seed with homefield advantage would just quit on his team while only being down by 2 scores. Just because he wasn't screaming at the coach and medical staff, doesn't mean he doesn't want to be back in. But let's see what the Xrays say, if it comes back negative then he's going to be a dead man walking in Chicago.

Pretty sure he's a Steelers fan, so it makes sense. Anyways, I'm rooting for the Packers, but I'm not totally confident in them. It's going to come down to the game plan and coaching IMO, GB has enough talent on both sides of the ball to get it done, it's just a matter of putting it together. But you gotta believe Pittsburgh will come out ready to go, they've been there before and if the game is on the line, Big Ben has the ability to drive down the field and win it. Going to be a great game for sure, can't wait.

I agree with a lot of your points here, and this is where I think we should truly figure out what the MVP award is about. Your side of the argument is saying that the award goes to the best player on one of the best teams, while my side says it goes to the most valuable player on a playoff team. I guess it's all based off of preference, but I do concur that we need to have a Most Outstanding Player award. See, my criteria is that as long as you're a playoff team, you should be considered in the race. The teams record isn't as important as what the player was actually able to accomplish that season. Who else could have scored for the Lakers in 05-06? The media and the fans hated Kobe, pure and simple. You can talk about people making players better and whatever else, but the real deal is that Kobe is one of the few players in the league that could make the playoffs with that bum team. I'm a Shaq fan and I hated Kobe when he was playing keepaway from Shaq, especially in 04'. But he's turned the corner, and I cant think of another player other than MJ or Shaq in his prime that could do what he did last year. Nash, Brand, Dirk, etc. just dont have the talent, and Lebron doesn't have the experience, skill set, and mental toughness to match Kobe yet either. Kobe may not have led Odom to a 20 ppg season or Kwame Brown to respectability, but he led that terrible team to the playoffs. If that isnt making your team better I dont know what is. The sad thing is, the team had no foundation. At least with the Cavs LeBron had a team around him that he was able to feed off of, Kobe had nothing. No one was able to create their own shot, there were no reliable outside shooters, we're talking about one of the greatest offensive displays ever in a season. That has to warrant MVP talk. Shaq took a less talented team than Nash's to about as good a record. You can say that the Heat went to the playoffs the year before, but lets be real, until Shaq went to the East, the East was terribly weak. The East was very top heavy in 2003-04, with the Pacers and Pistons being the only real title contenders, and the Heat being a long ways away. Add Shaq, take away their 1st and 3rd best players from the previous year (Odom and Butler), and they are damn near the best team in the league. That would be akin to Nash taking the Suns to 60 wins after the Suns lose Marbury and Stoudemire, or Marbury and Marion, take your pick.

Easily Griffin. In 20 or so years, I truly believe we'll be seeing Blake as one of the top 5 PF's ever. He's already significantly better than his comparison, Shawn Kemp, and is having a better rookie year than Charles Barkley had. The scary thing is, his stats continue to improve, and he's getting more and more comfortable with his game. When he develops a better defensive game and some go to moves with his back to the basket, he's going to be deadly.

I understand your argument, but I just don't think it's completely logical. I don't see how LeBron having the better statistical season warrants him the MVP when clearly he isn't the most valuable to his team. That 3 game losing streak the Heat had without LeBron in the lineup is too small of a sample size as compared to the losing record Dallas had with Dirk out of the lineup. The most consistent player this season has been Rose without a doubt in my mind. He has missed all but one game this season (which they lost by the way) and has clearly improved in all facets of the game. And Malone and Stockton were the greatest pick n roll duo the league has ever see, so they fed off each other. Historically, this should have went to Jordan. They won 69 games for crying out loud. Utah won 64 which was quite good but the Bulls were very good. I think a lot of voters considered the Bulls a very deep team and gave it to Malone because of that, but come on, these are also the same voters who gave Dave Cowens MVP over Lew Alcindor based on the Celtics great winning record. In 1999, Spurs and Jazz tied for the top record, Duncan put up 22/11 and Malone put up 23/9. Malone basically got it because he was the veteran player and was considered the top player after Jordan retired, since he was the last non-Jordan MVP and had battled him in the previous two NBA Finals. Nash is unique because he draws help with his speed, if not flat out double teams, and pulls the help matchup out on the perimeter for mismatches. Regardless, in my eyes, this doesnt change the fact that Shaq drew more defenders more often than Nash in 2004-05, and was more valuable. Nobody else in the league can do what Shaq has been doing, career year or not. Even Lebron will never be defended like that, no matter how good he gets. Crediting him for "making" that team a contender would be to overlook Stoudamire's rise to a top 10 player in the league who dominated Duncan in the playoffs every game. And sure Nash helped Stoudemire, but Nash wasn't putting 30 and 10 on Duncan everynight. Stoudemire did that. I hate to sound as critical of Nash as I have, I just think that in spite of how great hes been, he was picked unfairly over one of the greatest players (Shaq) and greatest seasons (Kobe) of all time. Like Phil Jackson has said, great post players are always more valuable than great guards. In 05-06, I think was just a freak season though for Kobe, with the rules, his scoring outbursts, and all that. Not to mention the down (or non) years of the great post players like Shaq, Stoudemire, and Duncan.

http://i53.tinypic.com/213rzt2.gif YES I FOUND IT!

Well here's the thing about things we can't see (intangibles), it can influence things we can see. Although defense doesn't have an accurate statistical measure, we can still evaluate defense right? All of the intangibles I care about come through some how. KG's passion comes through in his defense and his night in, night out consistency. We can measure these things. Kobe's determination comes through in all the injuries he plays through. The thing about intangibles is that they're only intangible at sort of the surface level. You want to know how we can evaluate, say, Larry Bird's Basketball IQ? Well, starting with the knowledge that he wasn't exactly the most athletic guy, we look at his steals per game. Now, how does a six nine forward who isn't lightning fast average almost 2 steals a game? Basketball IQ. How does a forward end up 3rd on the all time assists list for non guards? Same thing. The thing to me is that the intangibles often end up being tangible, you feel me? And I suppose stats are somewhat overrated, but I feel the need to qualify things to an extent. I do my best to be informed of their limitations. So defensive guys, hustle guys, I KNOW it under ranks them, and I try to adjust accordingly. But if something I notice anicdotally conflicts with something a stat clearly shows, I've done enough statistical measurement exercises to trust the numbers. I KNOW I can notice things incorrectly.

With the league filled with young star PG's such as Rose, Rondo, Wall, Westbrook, and Curry, I don't give a [expletive] about this guy anymore. Tired of all his drama. But this is from the New York Times, and we all know how much credibility they have. They think everyone wants to play there.

That and Rex Ryan throwing his headset to the ground needs to be made as a gif ASAP.

Big Ben is just great. When the game is on the line, he's always finding a way to make a big play. I hate seeing the Steelers in the SB again, but at least we won't have to hear Rex Ryan's fatass talk for the next two weeks. Go Packers.

While you bring up an interesting point that has been magnified due to Rondo being credited for assists he didn't make, you seem to be downplaying the significance of the assist far too much. By using your logic, I can also say the majority of rebounds centers get are fairly easy as well. Half the time they are not working for them and are getting them because they are right near the basket or no one is near the ball. The same could be said about blocks as well. Does it really show how great of a defender that player is? Right now JaVale McGee is second in blocks per game, but is he really a top 3 defender at his position? Right now I'm having a hard time considering him as a good defender... And you can also say scoring is a bit overrated in certain instances. In the year prior to LeBron being drafted, Ricky Davis averaged 20PPG. But would you consider him a good scorer or merely a product of the system he was in? Regardless, every great team needs players that are able to initiate the offense, keep everyone involved, and above all else (if he's really the most important cog in your offense) find the absolute best avenue to score (if that requires him to score then so be it). So no, I would not consider assists as an overrated stat.

Loving every moment of this game.

BIG BEN

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/14584064/postups-nene-impatient-with-nuggets-focus-on-melo

What a terrible play, shouldn't have gone for it, way too risky.

Figures. Didn't Tomlinson get ripped apart by the media when he sat out of the championship game a few years back? I'm sure we'll be hearing some sort of QB controversy in Chicago this off season..

Great ending to the game, nice to see Packers win!

Gutter Rainbows So Low Cold Rain Mr. International I'm On One How You Love Me ^^Favorite songs off the album. They're all pretty decent, nothing really stands out for me.

[expletive] yeah! Love Kweli, downloading this now. Thanks for the link Nitro.

Yeah and John Wall didn't play THAT well. It also helps having Pierce in foul trouble, but to be fair, so was Wall. While Blatche wasn't having a good night on the statsheet, I loved his effort out there. Good win for us, should definitely boost our confidence.

When in doubt, always use variables, especially when values aren't given.

Make the length 4X and the width X, then solve for the perimeter. So you have 4X+4X+X+X= 100 yards; and X=10. Which means 4X= 40 Then find the area. Guru is right. EDIT: [expletive] you lkr, posted it before me. -_-

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/41182977/ns/sports-player_news/ My jaw dropped when i read that Haynesworth wants to play.. But seriously, a motivated Haynesworth would be terrific for Philly. But I doubt Washington would trade him to a rival team.

http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/27161920 http://twitter.com/#!/STEIN_LINE_HQ

So you agree with me...the more VALUABLE player deserves the award, not the better player? Jordan was having a great year, but him and the Bulls could've probably played better that season. I mean Jordan and the Bulls at times didn't look like the same team they were that won the past 2 championships, while Charles Barkley was amazing the whole year. Jordan was definitely the best player that year, but if the MVP went to the best player in the league, then Jordan would've probably won it almost every year of his career. Maybe they should change it to that criteria, but if their going by the same criteria they've had for the past 50 years, then Barkley was the way to go. Because Rose is more valuable to his team dude. You gotta understand the difference between being the better player and the more valuable player to his respective team. You're setting yourself up for a double standard here. Just now you mentioned LeBron being a better defender than Rose, yet you are advocating Nash's MVP award. He's one of the worst (if not the worst) defensive player to win MVP. it's a contradiction historically with the MVP award. Nash is MVP over Amare and Marion because he sets up their successes, right? Okay, then why does Karl Malone have 2 MVP wins and Stockton has never come close to 1? Bill Walton won it while playing 58 games. Two other things stick out. The first is that there really weren't too many standout players that season (or standout teams for that matter). The second is that Walton's defense was beyond phenomenal, which had a lot to do with his being named MVP, and a lot to do with the Blazers having such a great team defense. I think what I'm trying to say is that I understand picking him as the MVP that year. I just wouldn't have done it, since he missed so much time. I probably would have picked George Gervin, but I wasn't alive then, so I can't say that without being somewhat ign'ant. The fact remains, he won it while playing significantly less games than Iverson. He was also playing a league high 42 minutes a game on one of the most inept offenses in the league...Picture the 05-06 Lakers when Kobe was dropping 28 or so FG's a game, that's exactly what was happening in Philly. And while his FG wasn't great by any means, it was proven to be successful as he did lead them all the way to the Finals. Take him off the team, and they're a bottom seed in the East, just like the Cavs. As long as he wins 50+ games or so, I don't see anything wrong with him winning it. But they've all been top 5 players almost every year this decade, right? That's not the point. I'm focusing on your criteria for winning MVP. You are saying the MVP HAS to be a top 5 player in the league, and clearly, Nash never was. Not even on his best day is he one because he's such a liability on defense. Durant also has a player that's in and out of the MVP discussion this year. And as stated before, Rose has been taking over games and has elevated his game this year. He may not be better than Paul and Williams, but he's certainly playing like a MVP. Nash was never a top 5 player when he won. Malone and Stockton were both equally as important to that Jazz team when he won both times. I don't understand this obsession over being a top 5 player just to fit the parameters to win MVP.