The previous blog o' mine attempted to disabuse any NBA layperson of the notion that we're dealing with anything but a graceful, athletic, intelligent era of basketball which will soon be heralded as one of the greatest of all time. Fellow A-junkies know what I mean; the class of LeBron, D-Wade, Melo, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul will attempt to enter the highest ether of the sport with their dining company including both MJ's, the Big O, Russell, Wilt, Bird, Gervin, Nique (and sometimes Charles) to compare statistics and ring accessories.

Alas, because I mentioned Steve Nash was of "fairer" skin, one commenter alerted me that I was being racist to even mention it as a factor in MVP voting. I did not mean to imply that Nash endeared the voters with ethnocentric qualities (read: long silky hair and inoffensive game). I only meant to say that there is not a snowball's chance in Hell that he should have been in the running after the Suns floundered so mightily in the last third of the season. I would never want to detract from the brilliance of John Stockton's pure passing and "nifty" defensive tactics by suggesting that his race had anything to do with that. What I will say, with no caveats, is that the media tends to favor players who purport an image of All-American, even if the athlete in question in Canadian.  College sports suffer the same sad stigma when the shooting prowess of J.J. Redick and Adam Morrison dominate the headlines of the back page, while another crafty offensive player, Brandon Roy, goes barely noticed. This might be an unfair parallel in the sense that Dwyane, Bron and KobeNo.8 all receive attention as MVP might-be's but it still boggles the mind that neither of those three surpassed Nash with their late-season efforts. Will Nash ever receive harsh aspersion for failing to take game-winners in the closing moments as LeBron did? Will Nash be diminished for playing with another great leaguer in Shawn Marion a la Wade-Shaq?

We must raise these questions because ultimately sport is about fairness in competition. There are at least fifteen more subjective criteria I could list for LeBron or Kobe as the 2006 MVP over Steve Nash, one being my boy's text message when the word leaked reading "Nash is Mark Price ... and not even as good a passer." But, these opinions amount to little in the world of sports commentary and it is just as hard to name a deserving award-winner as it is to eliminate his worthy runners-up. In sum, race will always be a factor in determining the legacy of a player. It may not always be a negative factor but, writers -- like all people-- retain biases that affect how they cover a player. Tim Duncan has won MVP's in years when Shaq was a clear favorite because the writers and opinion-makers in sports simply like Duncan more. We are at a loss if we patly ignore the biases of human beings when examining our motives. Charley Rosen hates Larry Brown and Stephon Marbury. I would be at a loss if I read his columns without embracing this fact. Bill Simmons thinks Isiah Thomas is a blowhard and idiot. Again, I would be remiss if I failed to consider that when I read any of his pieces about the Knickerbockers. The same acknowledgement of bias informs the MVP discussion.

So Nash had "less players," a "better statistical year" and collected many wins. LeBron was without Larry Hughes for the better part of the season and Kobe had no players before Lamar Odom showed up for the first round. I love Steve Nash's game and find it entertaining to see any point guard demonstrate his vision and split-second decisiveness. Maybe that got him the award. Oh wait! Lebron and Kobe both have amazing court vision and where LBJ throws no-looks and zip passes incredibly, Kobe can demonstrate his creativity in mid-air! Nash, again, is a terrific player who has taken the hodgepodge talents of a less-than-immaculate team and meshed them to great effects. Oh wait! Kobe and Lebron did the exact same thing. Be real about your basketball info before you approach Drew about his 'biases.'