12.29.2006

Ballin for Pride

(Note: I tried using a Yahoo Widget to submit this post, and when it failed to post, it also deleted what I typed. Lesson learned. So I'll try to summarize what I wrote)


This time of year has me feeling good for the recent successes of two players: Steve McNair and Allen Iverson. The players have similar backgrounds, as they both raised the play of teams that were jokes beforehand and led them to the Super Bowl/NBA Finals. Now, about five years later, both players were treated in a sour fashion.


Iverson led the Sixers to the NBA Finals, despite having no player that anyone will probably remember 5 years from now. The Sixers did nothing to try to improve the team, if anything, the roster only got worse. After the only major attempt to improve the team flopped, it was clear Iverson would not have a chance to win in Philly. The 76ers shopped Iverson around all summer to other teams like as if he was a used car with 120,000 miles on it. Unsuccessful, they finally traded him about a third of the way through the season, despite the team being within 6 games of first place in their division. (They play in what some are calling the worst division in sports history.) Now Iverson is on the Nuggets, a team that can compete and maybe even win the Western Conference, and will be even better next year when Kenyon Martin returns. The Sixers, on the other hand, have the ill fate of considering throwing games so that they have a better shot of the #1 draft pick, as that is the only way they will improve.


Steve McNair led the Titans to the Super Bowl, and were literally one yard short of being the champions. After an injury ridden past few years, McNair was banished from Titan facilities while on the comeback from a recent injury. Basically told he was no longer wanted, and being disrespected publicly by the team, McNair is now on the Ravens. The Ravens are 12-3 and can earn a first round bye in the playoffs. The Titans are now dangling to hopes for a playoff spot after finally finding traction with Vince Young. But this isn't about them.


The similarity of these two athletes, both in their thirties, is rather striking. They both show that players can overcome the unnecessary adversity placed upon them by their former teams, and can lead a new squad to success. I'll root for the Nuggets all the way, and the Ravens too...


... Until they meet the Chargers.
-CB

12.28.2006

Readership measure: tell me something I don't know

I figure this should not be that hard. For the random blog browser who catches this, leave a comment schooling me on something new/noteworthy. Knowledge is power, right?

-CB