Monday, April 27, 2009

NFL Draft, NBA Playoffs - All for One Price

Well it was a busy sports weekend lots of happenings, non-happenings, and possible happenings depending on one's perspective. Here's a quick few thoughts

NFL Draft
I finally realized what The NFL Draft on ESPN reminded me of...salmon. Salmon swimming upstream. Salmon, mindlessly driven by some basic instinct and follow their genetic destiny upstream. While Herm Edwards was wearing a suit as opposed to an emblem while he made his incoherent rants and Todd Mcshay seemed to be on the verge of crying (possible due to the fact that Kiper killed his prize horse) it was an NFL Draft by the numbers. Belichek traded down (possibly with the belief that with enough 2nd round picks he could get better A/V equipment), the Bengals drafted talented but "misunderstood" players, Belichek discples blew up their teams (thank you Josh Mcdaniels for making the AFC West even more of a joke), and the Browns put a premium on loyalty over talent (13% of the current Browns players were backups for the Jets last year...yeah that's going to work). And much like spawning salmon, reporters/GMs performed the yearly circle jerk (X team is ecstatic over their draft).

NBA Playoffs
Most Dominating/Most Disappointing Series
The Cavs simply annihiliated the Pistons. An average margin of victory of 15.5 points over 4 games is simply unheard of in the playoffs. While props fall on Lebron with a historically well rounded performance or Joe Smith out of nowhere offensive explosion its hard not to point that the Pistons simply quit at the end.A sad ending to an impressive run for the once mighty Pistons

Most surprising Domination
I might be jumping the gun but hats off to Houston. Portland Houston had the makings of a close balanced series but it really hasn't been. Houston has simply been better. They've been better because nobody can stop Yao. While Dwight Howard gets the accolades (and deservedly so) its distinctly possible that it is Yao is the most dominating offensive big man in the game today.

Most surprising lack of domination
Orlando - Philly. I expected a red hot Chicago to give an aging KG-less Celtics fits. Philly putting Orlando through the ringer? Didn't have that. Philly barely eeked into the 6th spot and never seemed to be near greatness. Orlando? Orlando was one of the top teams in the league all year. Yes there's a few injuries but nothing preventing their players from playing. Nothing that would explain why the aging Andre Miller is owning Orlando. Or why outside of Howard there's very little in the way of defense or offense for the Magic.


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