Jeff: Enough Already!

There's some whining going on in the world of sports right now. Some surprising, some...yeah not so much.

PEOPLE CRYING THAT DIRK DIDN"T DESERVE THE MVP...
Look this is just like the Heisman Trophy: it goes to the best player on the best team. Dallas was the best team, Dirk their best player, and voila! Your MVP! Nash was really the only other player you could make a case for, and we knew the voters were not going to give him 3 straight MVP's because they don't feel he's worthy of the company of other 3 time winners like MJ, Bird, and Russell. Who's fault is that? The voters of course for giving him the first two!!! For the record, I would not have given Stevie Nash the MVP the previous 2 seasons, but his numbers were better across the board this year and he did an excellent job of soothing egos and getting this group to play together. Not giving someone an award even though he's deserving because you feel he's not an all-time great, well, it's like Ricky Williams hitting the hash pipe yet again: it's just plain stupid. Oh, and just to remind folks: IT'S A REGULAR SEASON AWARD!!! Dallas losing in the first round does not mean Nowitzki should have to give back the MVP. By being the best player on the best team in the regular season, he was apparently deserving of the award.

SAN ANTONIO SPURS FOR CRYING, WAILING, AND GNASHING TEETH ANYTIME A FOUL IS CALLED ON THEM...
Who's more annoying: Red Sox fans or Spurs players? Joel, one of our 4 faithful readers, HATED the CWebb/Vlade Divac/"Close Your Mouth" Stojakovic Sacramento Kings from a few years back because of all their whining and flopping (and that Peja would't close his mouth. Nice signing by the Hornets though. $60 million for him to be on IR all year. Well done). I admittedly liked that team, mostly because CWebb was one of my favorite players (Shawn Kemp's my all-time fave. I've learned to live with my poor choices in players), but fully admitted that they were whiny floppers. Well the Spurs have taken this to an entirely new level, to the point that I think we need a new rule for the Spurs, and for any Europeans/Manu Ginobili's: act like a man! You want to play here? Stop flailing like you were hit with a cannon when somebody gets near you and for gawd sakes shut up when a foul/penalty/infraction is called on you. You wonder why football hasn't caught on over there? Good lord what would be their reaction in a game where they're actually allowed to get hit? (Just so we're clear, folks from the UK are not included in this group since they don't play basketball or hockey that I know of. Well except John Amechi, and we're not going there) Anyway I hate the Spurs, and if you live anywhere outside the San Antonio metro area you have to really hate yourself to cheer for that team.

PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT BARRY BONDS TO BE THE HOME RUN KING OR MAKE THE HALL OF FAME:
Am I a Barry Bonds fan? No. Do I think Barry Bonds used steroids after 1998? Yes. However I still have no problem with him hitting 756 and going into Cooperstown someday. 3 reasons:
1) He won 3 MVP's, 8 Gold Gloves, made 8 All Star appearances, and became the only player in baseball history with 400 HR's and 400 stolen bases. And he did all of this BEFORE 1999, when he magically put on 30 pounds of muscle, stopped stealing bases, and his head started to look like an orange on a tooth pick (it had it's own weather system. HEED! PANTS! NOW! He's gonna cry himself to sleep on his huge pilla). Unlike McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro, and others he was one of the greatest players ever even before his alleged roid use began.
2) As positive steroid tests from guys like Twins relief pitcher Juan Rincon and journeyman leadoff hitting center fielder Alex Sanchez show, there's really no telling who was/IS using and who's not. So I find it a tad hypocritical that we're going to keep the Bonds and McGwire's of the era out because they LOOK like steroid users, when there's countless other hitters and pitchers using that we'll do nothing about. I could name 10 guys off the top of my head, including a certain pitcher who just signed a ridiculous contract to play half a season with an AL East team, who have had VERY suspicious body changes/late career spikes, but we don;t like to talk about them. Nope, we'll only go after the guys we don't like. Pitchers seem to be like football players: we just don't seem to care if they use roids or not. But hitters? Stone them all!!!!
3) As ESPN.com baseball scribe Buster Olney has said many times on this issue: Baseball knew there were guys juicing in the 80's, 90's, and into this decade. Players knew it, teams knew it, and the media knew something was wrong with all the "new" body types that were coming in. But fans love offense and home runs, and the game needed to bounce back after the strike. We as fans should have seen signs, but we just didn't want to believe until we had to. I know I didn't. I LOVED the '98 season with McGwire and Sosa. I saw one of Sosa's 20 HR's in June in my first ever game at Wrigley (...allow me a moment of silence because I won't get to go to Chicago for the first time in 7 years...Thank you) So don't tell me this is some travesty to the game that Bonds will be it's all-time home run hitter: because baseball let it happen. You reap what you sow.

BRETT FAVRE MAKING A SPECTACLE AGAIN? WHAT A SHOCK!
Finally, Favre isn't happy because his Packers didn't get Randy Moss for a 4th round pick. He's only half right here: the Pack DID have a chance to get Randy back in February or March, so yes they dropped the proverbial ball there. But once New England got involved, it was over. Moss wants to win a Super Bowl, and I think even delusional Packer fans would have to agree his chances are a helluva lot better in New England than they would have been in Green Bay. So Favre's Pack didn't get Moss, didn't help him in the draft, and signed nobody of consequence in free agency so he demands a trade and starts whining about it?...Wait a minute...you know what? Mr Spotlight Brett Favre might actually be right on this one. For once I agree with him. And as a Vikings fan I couldn't be happier. Now back to my prayer vigil for Adrian Peterson's collarbone.