Kobe Wins MVP

It was announced that Kobe Bryant was named the NBA's MVP last night for the first time in his career. Kobe averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists while playing in all 82 games this season despite tearing a ligament in his finger in February. Kobe also led the Lakers to the best record in the very tough Western Conference this year and a sweep of the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.

While some fans may disagree with the decision, I think Kobe was the right choice for the award this year. He was the best player on the best team in the tougher conference. In the clutch, with the game on the line he is the guy I want with the ball in his hands. Kobe has won the scoring title twice in his career before and finished second in the MVP voting a couple of times before this year. Kobe has also won 3 straight NBA titles with the Lakers when him and Shaq were both on the team. Kobe is now looking to lead the Lakers back to the finals for his 4th championship this season. The NBA playoffs continue tomorrow with Kobe and the Lakers taking on the Utah Jazz in Game 1 of the second round.

The Greatest Upset in NBA History?

The Atlanta Hawks beat the Boston Celtics last night 103-100 to force a game 7 tomorrow afternoon in Boston. This Eastern Conference quaterfinals series is now tied at 3 games each. The winner of tomorrow's game 7 advances to the next round and the loser goes home. The Celtics finished with the the NBA's best record this year at 66-16. They were expected to easily breeze by their first round series against Atlanta, who finished the season 37-45, which is the worst record of any team to qualify for the playoffs.

The series has been much closer than anyone would have thought. The Hawks have played really well in a series where most people didn't think they could win a game. I think it is going to be very difficult for them to win tomorrow but if they do I think it has to be considered one of the biggest upsets in NBA history. The home team has one every game in the series so far, so the Celtics will have the advantage tomorrow playing in front of their home crowd. But Atlanta who is a much more inexperenced team than the Celtics, have looked like the quicker, more energized team throughout the series. Almost no one will give them a shot to win the game tomorrow, but they still have a chance to pull off what would be one the greatest upsets in NBA history.

The Run For the Roses

Tomorrow is the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby. For those of you not familiar with horse racing, the Kentucky Derby is horse racing's first big race of the year. It is run the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs every year. The race is the first leg of what is known as the triple crown. The other two races are the Preakness Stakes, which is held two weeks after the Derby in Baltimore and the Belmont Stakes, which is the three weeks after the Preakness in New York. Many horses have won the first two races and failed to win the Belmont.

Only 11 horses in about 130 years of these races has a horse won the triple crown. The last horse to do it was exactly 30 years ago in 1978. Tomorrow there will be 20 horses racing in the Kentucky Derby, hoping to win the triple crown. Horse racing is a still a very popular event, even though it it not as popular as it once was. I think that people enjoy these races because so many fans like to bet money on horse racing. I have watched some of these races over the years and sometimes they are really exciting and fun to watch. The Kentucky Derby starts at 6pm tomorrow on NBC.

BCS Mess

This week it was announced that college football would keep its current postseason form exactly the same for at least the next 6 years. The BCS (Bowl Championship Series) has been in place for over 10 years and has generated a lot of controversy. After the regular season ends in college football instead of having a postseason tournament, there are a series of bowl games that teams play in. One game always pits the two best teams in the country against each other with the winner being the National Champion. College football is the only major sport that does not have a postseason tournament. There are over 100 division 1 schools in college football. The current system only allows the top two to play for the championship.

I feel that the current system makes no sense and is unfair to many "mid-major schools". To not have a tournament after you play a regular season makes no sense to me. There have been some instances in the past where teams have finished the regular season undefeated and not gotten a chance to play for the national championship. I mean what more can you ask for than for a team to win all of its games.

I think what college football should do is have an 8 team playoff. The bowl games are a good idea, but what you have to do is pick the best 8 teams in the country and pair them off to play in the four top bowl games. Then the winners would advance to the next week as you eventually cut 8 teams down to 1. I think a postseason tournament would make college football more popular than it even is. Every other sport has a tournament, there is no reason to not have a legitamate postseason in college football. The fans have been angry with the BCS system for many years now and a change has to be made.