I'm not going to cry about why i'm leaving, or even give much of a reason why, beyond not having much time or energy to devote to it, and maybe the biggest reason, fox having so many tech issues.

on that note, i'd like to ask fox to at least allow me to look at my archived posts, so i can print off some of them.  i suppose i could search by category, but i already tried that, and after 23 pages of "CSIN" (which, by the way, is short for "Cuziffer Sports Inter Network"), i found 3 of the posts i wanted.  i know there are more, but i simply dont have the time or patience to search by category, not to mention some of the categories i used to use when i first started are no longer around, either because i decided not to use them anymore, or you decided they were somehow offensive.

i know this is probably too much to ask, but i thought i'd throw it out there anyway.

oh, and 1 more thing...i know you're busy and all, making sure nobody uses any non-PC words, but do you think you could rid the site of all those annoying people who keep advertising their "dating" websites?  yeah, i know, why should i care if i'm leaving, right?  well, there are alot of other people on this site who are fed up with them too.  if you had a clue, you'd realize these clowns are chasing away the people who made/make this site enjoyable.  are you seeing the connection here yet?

meh, nevermind.  just please fix it so i can get to my archives, and i'll leave you busy, overworked, underpaid people alone.

thanks!

First, I better say right off the bat that this is not a Kobe-hating slam blog.  For anyone who remembers when I defended Steve Nash when he won it, I couldn't even begin to argue that Bryant didn't put up numbers that made him worthy of being MVP (I tried, believe me, but his stats were more than good enough to win the award both years).

What this is about, is the absolutely freakish season Chris Paul (commonly referred to as CP3) had, how it compares to the stats Nash put up both years he won it, and how both these player's stats compare to those of Bryant.

When Nash won the award, his offensive numbers were obviously all that the voters looked at in terms of his stats.  They made the claim that he made his teammates better on the offensive end, which he did.  But they failed to take into account how incredibly bad he was (and still is) as a man-to-man defender.

Bryant was, and still is, way better defensively, as an individual, than Nash ever was, is, or will be.

What I don't understand is this:  Paul put up better numbers overall (I won't even bother trying to post the stats, because it would just look like a pile of manure if I tried) than Nash did in either of his MVP seasons.  Not just offensively, but defensively as well.

Add to that the fact that Bryant's numbers are down this year compared to those 2 seasons (dramatically down in PPG, where I believe he averaged 35 per in 1 of those seasons, and managed "only" 28 or so this year).

So, my question to the voters is, how do you vote Bryant the MVP this year when CP3 had as good of a year overall, if not better, than Nash did in his back-to-back award-winning seasons when Bryant himself had marginal improvement in FG and 3PT %'s, rebounds and assists, but scored 7 fewer PPG than his "best" season when he averaged 35.4?

If anything, this only strengthens the arguement for Kobe and Laker fans that he should have won it at least 1 of the 2 years Nash did (possibly even last year when Dirk won the award).  I would have to agree with them on that.

Since we can't go back in time and give him the award for any of those 3 seasons, will you admit you're giving him the award this year based on either lifetime achievement or simply being sick of hearing all the "you're just a bunch of Kobe-haters" comments?

In conclusion, YES I now admit Kobe should have won the award any 1 season out of the last 3...which one is irrelevent in my book.  NO I don't think he should have won it this year, based on the stats he had compared to those seasons, plus the stats CP3 put up in comparison to Nash in his MVP seasons.

And once again, this is not to rip Bryant.  If anything, it's to rip the voters for doing a 180 in my opinion in how they determine who wins the award.

Is Bryant worthy of it this year?  You bet.  But in my opinion, Paul should have won it based on all the above information.

NCAA Nat'l Champs

I picked Memphis.  At least they got to the title game.  Came in 138,746th (or something like that) in the foxsports.com bracket challenge.  Pretty bad for having 43 picks right, especially since I don't spend every waking moment breaking down game film of North Central Kentucky State Tech to see if they're good for an upset.

Congrats to Kansas.

NFL Draft

Less than a month away, and still no clue who the #1 is, or should be.  Part of this is because Miami has roughly 48 roster spots that could use immediate improvement.

I really dislike Bill Parcells, but if he can pull off a rebuild of this team, I'll have no choice but to give him credit (it will still hurt tremendously, but I'll do it).

New Minimum Age for NBA Draft

I like it.  I was all for a 2 year wait (at least) after high school all along. 

The big debate all along seems to be that, since these "kids" are 18, and thus "adults" by legal definition, it is their right to earn a living in the NBA.  No, it's not.  As a few have already mentioned (Lisa for example), businesses and business owners each have their own personal rules regarding their hiring practices.  If the NBA (THE employer and parent business owner) and the team owners are in favor of a longer wait before "hiring" these youngsters, more power to them.

As for the mess with these kids going to college for a brief amount of time, when they obviously have little to no interest in getting an education...Well, I say if they don't want to "waste" their precious youth playing for nothing (which is another debate, since they all get scholarships...for an education...to play ball), then they can go play in Europe.

One rebuttal to this stance is that the kids won't get the exposure by NBA scouts and will get drafted lower than they should when they become eligible.

What I'd like to know is....Are you serious?  Yao Ming was drafted #1 overall several years back, and he played in China.  Yi (whatever his last name is, or how you spell it) was drafted 6th just last year, and the team that took him (thanks Herb, by the way...sarcastically) seen almost nothing of him prior to selecting him.

Trust me, if these kids go to Europe out of high school with the hype current kids are getting, teams will remember to send a scout over to watch them.  Teams are already sending scouts over to find the next great Euro-born player anyway.  I think they'll be ok, and they'll make a little money to support their families in the process.

NBA MVP

We're back to debating that Kevin Garnett should get it.  Maybe he's worthy, maybe not.  I really don't know as I rarely watch the NBA anymore.  What I don't understand is, why is he more worthy than Chris Paul (I sure am arguing in favor of him alot, aren't I?)?

Garnett plays on the best team in the league, hands down.  That's all fine and dandy, but he's also playing with 2 other NBA superstars in Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.  Who is Chris Paul playing with again?  Oh yeah, career underachiever Tyson Chandler and David West (who I really like by the way).

Paul is putting up ridiculous numbers.  But when he plays poorly, the Hornets tend to lose.  Garnett has missed a few games (from what I remember anyway) and the C's seemed to do just fine while he was out.

Garnett is easily the MVP of that team, and the Eastern Conference.  Heck, just his ability to motivate Allen and Pierce into workout fiends gets him this award.  But of the entire league?

My vote is still with Paul.  (Sorry Kobe and Lebron lovers....really, I am)

More Predictions

The NCAA tourney is barely over....Kansas is far from done celebrating, and North Carolina, UCLA and Memphis are far from done being disappointed in coming up short.  Yet somehow, early early early predictions on next season's top 25 are coming out like quarters from a change machine.

I guarantee you half the teams anybody (and that means "experts" and schmendrick bloggers alike) puts on their lists won't finish within 5 spots of where you have them now.  at least half a dozen won't even be in the top 25, and 3 won't make the field of 65 (or however many it is by next season).

Are sportswriters this sport-specific that they can only write about ONE sport now?  And if so, is there absolutely nothing else to write about already...just 2 days after the tourney ended?

But since this is what sportswriters do anymore (make stupid, early predictions, speculate, create news that isn't there, etc...), let me throw in a few early NCAA basketball predictions for next year.  Mine might be more accurate.

Duke will fall early (*too early, according to the experts) in the tourney.

Bill Self will get back to the Sweet 16....as coach of the Oklahoma Sooners.

Billy Packer, Ricky Vitale, and Jay Bilas will continue to annoy everyone within earshot.

Brent Musberger still won't be able to pronounce Wisconsin correctly.

Erin Andrews will still look hot, but be absolutely useless in trying to give me any useful basketball information.

Somebody who has no business at all even being in the tournament will make the Sweet 16.

The debate will rage on regarding expanding the field to 257 (we'll still need a play-in game no doubt).

Bo Ryan's team will over-achieve.

The Big Ten will be down...again (even though 1 "expert" has both Michigan State and Purdue in his top ten...but what do you expect?  MSU still has Izzy McIzzo, and Purdue was the feel good story of the year with all their freshmen).

Kelvin Sampson will get another job he doesn't deserve.

Eddie Sutton's favorite former player, Doug Gotlieb, will quit ESPN to devote his life to defending Sutton's alcoholism and subsequent bad decision making.

questions

what if the nba, nfl and mlb all awarded points to teams based on number of minutes led, or how many times they led after a quarter ended (sort of like racing does w/laps led, and hockey does with...w/e the heck they do)?

where is the next great duke product, j.j. redick?

or how about the latest next great duke product, josh mcroberts?

are they hiding with waldo?

why does it seem like every nfl team traded 1 of their best defensive linemen (DT especially) this offseason?

does it surprise ANYONE that the raiders traded for deangelo hall, and then gave him the keys to the franchise with a mega-contract?

does it surprise anyone that they also signed javon walker to a 6 year, $55 million deal, after coming off 2 MORE knee surgeries and missing 8 games last season?

what are the odds, after losing randal gya and asante samuel, that troy brown will be starting at CB for the pats next year?

the mlb season is about to begin....which team is going to be their version of the patriots, whom all their "fans" believe is destined to win the world series, only to a) bomb in the regular season, b) tank in the 1st round of the playoffs, or c) steam roll their way to the WS, only to get beat by a sub-par (or shall we just say NL...?) team?

does your bracket look as bad as mine?

where are the florida fans?  wait, i'm guessing they're rebuilding, along with the program.

hey, did jeff green, former g-town standout, go pro?  i swear he did, but i cant say i've heard a word about him.

does anyone think michael beasly, k-state freshman phenom, will return for his sophomore season?

predictions

next season, there will be a new nba team, consisting of patrick ewing, dikembe motumbo, alonzo mourning, roy hibbert....and earl boykins.

to solve their QB dillema, the bears will coax jim mcmahon out of retirement.

milwaukee bucks owner herb kohl will convince his new GM (larry harris couldnt wait to get out, as kohl wouldnt let him do....his JOB) to draft some lithuanian project, because he sees a boat load of money from merchandise sales.

heather mills will be forced to ride in the luggage compartment, as the $48.6 mil she got from paul mccartney just isnt enough to live on.

the ncaa tournament will expand from 64...err, i mean 65....to 96, giving the top 32 teams a 1st round bye, and the 97th team will whine incessently about how they should have gotten in.

the nba will scrap its current playoff format, and allow every team into the postseason, in an effort to extend the season as long as the nhl does.  1st round series will last 3 games, and teams will be re-seeded after each round.

tiger woods will begin playing tournaments blindfolded, and still win.  honestly, i'm questioning whether this guy is really that good, or if everyone else just believes if they're ahead after 3 rounds, they win.

barry bonds will sign a minor league contract w/the pirates, and even though both knees are shot, will be allowed to bat sitting in a wheel chair, still manage to hit the ball out of the park, and run over at least 1 opposing infielder and an umpire on his way around the bases.

john kruk, even with the pirates 23 games back on may 15th, will predict they take over 1st place by the 1st of june.

duke will lose early in the ncaa tourney  (oops...they already did).

the cubs will win the world series (ok, seriously, i have to stop this now).

Billy Crystal

Yawn.  As I stated on Dudski's post, let me know when Jerry Seinfeld tries out at RB for the Patriots, and their entire LB corps gang tackles him in a walk through without pads, and I might care.

Doubtful though.

Brett Favre and Politics

No, it's not what you're thinking.

I just read in the newspaper the other day that the Wisconsin legislature passed some bill honoring the now retired (which, as I've learned from Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Roger Clemens and others, could change next week) QB.

Wonderful.  We were the last state in the Union to pass a budget last year (some 9 months into the fiscal year as I recall), but it took them all of about 10 days to write this legislation and pass it.

That's not even the worst of it.  Why are we taking time out of working on important things like the budget, immigration laws, unemployment fixes, and the dreades oil/gas price explosion to work on something so incredibly stupid?

Do we really need an official Brett Favre holiday?  People around here already think he's God.  They don't go to church on Sunday, they sit and watch replays of his biggest games (which basically means playoff games....prior to 2000).

On a Related Topic....

Work is underway to make St. Patricks Day an official, federal holiday.

Why?  Here's another situation where we really don't need to make this a federally recognized holiday in order to get drunk, and eat something that's going to give us really really bad gas (corned beef and cabbage).

Hey, before you get all bent out of shape thinking I'm bashing Irish people....I'M PART IRISH.

But what's going to happen here?  We've got St. Patty's day, Good Friday, Easter and all that mess jumbled up into 1 week's time this year.  All we'd be doing is giving Congress and the rest of the politicians another reason to take another 2 weeks off work (paid for by us of course) in the spring, and extend the amount of time we have to work before we've cleared the amount of income taxes they're going to molest us of.

Bobby Knight on ESPN....

As much as I dislike the guy, I can almost tolerate him now.  Well, based on the 1 time I heard him talking about the conference tourneys anyway.

But, he rambles a bit too much.

Come on, did you really expect me to LIKE a sports "analyst"?