Thursday, May 28, 2009

Kobe vs. LeBron + A Double Post from the Dr.



I am speaking on behalf of all sports fans out there who hate seeing the media focus solely around one or two of the players in their game: I am sick of the Kobe Bryant/LeBron James discussion. Yes I know it’s the playoffs and they both endorse Nike and they are each ridiculously good – but c’mon, there surely must be better things to talk about right now (maybe the fact that each of their teams are being pushed to the brink in these playoffs?).

But don’t worry; the discussion can now be put to rest.

The media loves to focus on stats – heck, who doesn’t – but when you talk about the greatest players in the game those get thrown out the window. The media also likes to focus on completely irrelevant items like our friends at ESPN did recently. The network polled its NBA analysts and columnists to see whether Kobe or LeBron had the best nicknames and commercials, who would be a better soccer of football player, and who would win a spelling bee. All interesting stuff to read, but comes nowhere close to answering the question at hand.

But there can only be one thing that speaks directly to all-time greatness in the National Basketball Association. Rings. Kobe has three; LBJ has none – end of discussion.

Throw out the fact that Kobe played with Shaq, it’s not like LeBron plays with a bunch of clowns (reminder: Mo and Big Ben are former All Stars, the latter being a four time DPOY). The bottom line is the Kobe has stood next to David Stern at the end of the finals three times, and three times hoisted the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy above his head.

This is not to undermine LeBron’s ridiculous skills on the court, or the fact that LeBron will eventually get that ring. But for today, tomorrow, and this very second, it’s all Kobe. Sorry media, discussion over.

-Dr. Murphy

#2

Two weeks ago “Pardon the Interruption” guest host Dan Le Batard told Mike Wilbon that he thought this year’s NBA Playoffs were boring – he was uninterested, had not seen anything that impressed him, and overall didn’t really think “amazing” was happening.

No big deal, right?

Wrong. I didn’t think much of his statement at first, but the more it boiled in my head, the more I began to disagree. This year’s playoffs are not only very good but also have presented interesting story lines that have contributed to such things as the Celtics-Bulls series breaking national TV audience records. The reasons are as follows…

The changing of the guard:
Probably the most obvious. The 2009 Playoffs have seen teams once considered longtime contenders fall at the hands of younger teams finally making a splash in the post-season. The Spurs (doesn’t it feel like they’ve made the playoffs every year since they joined the NBA in 1976?) were ousted in the first round by a Dallas team that was then run through by the red-hot Denver Nuggets. The same Denver team easily dispatched a Hornets squad that only one year ago was contending for a spot in the finals. The same could be said for the Jazz

On the eastern side of the playoff bracket the hyper-athletic Hawks defeated a Miami team only three years removed from a championship. The sweet shooting Magic toppled the defending champs in the second round and now hold a 3-1 series lead over the first seed Cavaliers. Also, the perennially contending Pistons were swept by the Cavaliers.

High octane offense:
The casual NBA fan is not in favor of defensive battles. They want to see scoring in bunches, long threes, and highlight reel dunks – and that is exactly what they are getting this post-season.

LeBron is scoring almost a point per minute at 36 a game. Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony aren’t far behind with 29 and 27 points per game, respectively. Ben Gordon hit over 30 twice on a bad leg. Dwight Howard is even getting in on the action, dunking and free throwing his way to over 20 a game.

Team scoring is up too. Denver tops 110 points per game against a Lakers opponent that gets themselves 102. Chicago averaged 108 against the defending champs. Even Cleveland and Orlando are nearing 100 per contest.

The stars are shining bright:
People don’t pay to watch Ben Wallace play spot minutes and defend Dwight Howard. They want to see the premier players on each team go at each other, and it is exactly what the audience is getting. LeBron is getting ridiculous numbers while receiving absolutely no help. Orlando’s forward combo of Turkoglu and Lewis has delivered in the clutch while Dwight Howard is busy tearing down shot clocks. Kobe turns it on in the fourth quarter every night. Carmelo Anthony is finally living up to his billing, even garnering praise from Mr. Big Shot himself Chauncey Billups. Early on fans got to see Rajon Rondo inhale triple doubles with Paul Pierce being as clutch as ever.

Every game in these playoffs the road team threatens to steal home court. Every night someone hits a game changing shot in crunch time. And as it stands right now, nobody (sorry Mo Williams) can guarantee who will actually make it to the final stage.

You know what Dan Le Batard, the playoffs this year are exciting, interesting, thrilling, (insert superlative here), maybe you just need to watch.

-Dr. Murphy

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Truth is in the House

The G - Force performed like a Cy Young pitcher last night and that makes me happy. So tonight I am going to relinquish to the Truth. Enjoy.

There are some things that are undisputed facts. Like them or not, these truths can be agreed upon by a universal audience. Rules like; spicy mustard only helps a bratwurst’s taste, KC becomes unbearably hot and muggy during August, Tony G was the greatest thing to happen to the Chiefs in the last decade and a half, or that the P&L district is hurting itself in this economy by being so overpriced. Another statement few in Kansas City would dispute is that Kevin Kietzman’s radio show on sports radio 810 is a black hole of bad afternoon radio. Kietzman epitomizes everything that is wrong with the sports radio scene in Kansas City, and what’s worse is that people have been letting him get away with it for years.

Sure to be entertaining in the sports media world the person with the mike must tip-toe the line between news reporting and their opinion (which might spark controversy by being edgy or against the norm). But there is a difference between being edgy and being blatantly biased and overwhelmingly stupid. A retarded cross eyed monkey could do Kietzman’s job.

Kansas City has a terrible sports radio scene. KCSP, or 610 Sports, has a boring line up featuring the annoying Nick Wright, and the bland Neil and Mary. The Chris and Cowboy show is a bright spot on an otherwise boring line up, the smart kid on the short bus if you will. Kietzman makes them all look worthy of a Nobel Prize in journalism. His reporting is so awful you can’t take him at fact. While he butchers commentary on the Royals and Chiefs issues quite often, he puts his foot in his mouth the most often when talking about the Kansas Jayhawks.

With the sad state of our professional sports franchises (which will take plenty of column space down the line), the only thing respectable in Kansas City is the college sports scene, and listening to Kietzman talk about it makes my blood boil. On the court the Jayhawks are the only team good enough to garner national media coverage, and Bill Self has taken the proud traditional powerhouse to a new level of success. Kietzman is a bitter K-State alumni unwilling to admit this. Missouri and Kansas State are both on the up and up in college basketball though, creating plenty to talk about with top recruits in Manhattan and deep tournament runs in Columbia. Mike Anderson and Frank Martin are both studs who have turned nothing into something, and both deserve respect on the local scene.

With a clown like Kietzman covering Big 12 basketball local fans will never get the honest reporting and analysis they deserve. What should be a great story becomes a huge joke when Keitzman opens his mouth. It’s a shame and an embarrassment that he’s still on the airwaves. If Petro didn’t share his airwaves I’d tell you to take 810 off your dial. And if the fried mushrooms weren’t so delicious at the 810 zone I’d tell you to boycott his restaurant too.

- The Truth

Tuesday, May 26, 2009


Kansas City is not a baseball town. I repeat: Kansas City is not a baseball town. Every day I hear some flatulent old man calling into a sports radio show remembering the glory days of KC Baseball and saying that is a baseball town and will always be. Well I hate to break it to the viagra generation, but this town no longer cares about baseball.

Case and point: I have never seen a playoff game in my life. Do I need to repeat? I'm not even talking about a World Championship here. All I'm saying is that I have never even seen an insignificant playoff game. Not even a play in game because of a tie! (Please refer to my profile for approximate age.) A whole generation is growing up with out the Royals winning, why on Earth would we care about baseball?

Some characteristics of a baseball town:

A. Most people can name at least two starting pitchers and maybe a handful of position players.

2. People care passionately when they lose.

III. Even when they lose or are in a losing season, at least half of the stadium is full.

D. Their team makes the playoffs every once in a while.

5. THE YOUNG PEOPLE CARE AND KNOW THE TEAM.

Now, I care about the Royals more than most people and in no way am saying that what we should give up on them or that we can never become a baseball town again. The way to make this town a baseball town again is to consistently put a quality product on the field and make people care. What I'm saying is that the media and the geezers of Kansas City need to get off of their high horses and come back to reality on this issue.

Kansas City is not a baseball town. A bandwagon town at best.

Monday, May 25, 2009

First Post

Why does the KC Star always find out information 8 hours after ESPN does? Are there not people at the star whose entire career is based on reporting the relevant news regarding the chiefs/royals?

Specifically I refer to the Matt Cassell trade. I remeber sitting at work, perusing espn and seeing in the rumor section that the trade might be ready to go down. Immediately I looked to kansascity.com to find some more insight on the situation. Sadly, I was mistaken, there was nothing but Adam Teicher(?) staring blankly into his webcam saying something ridiculously broing that had no relevance to the chiefs at all and had probably already been said.

The KC Sports Media is bush league. This blog is going to prove it.