Dan Lebatard

[Middle Buffalo]

Lebatard is somewhat Mariotti-like in the way he always brings up crap that really has nothing to do with the subject he's talking about. I mean, Nash the MVP because he's white? Argue that he doesn't deserve the award, but leave race out of it. It's tired, Dan. I heard about this, but couldn't get the article without registering for the Miami Herald. F them. I took it from a sports blog. Come get me b****es.

 

 

 

Here's a sample from the blog:

Would Nash have won the MVP if he were black?

Dan LeBatard asks a question I know a lot of folks are thinking about in the back of their minds when they heard Steve Nash won the MVP Award. Did race play a role in this outcome?

 

LeBatard doesn't pretend to have an answer to a tough question, but considering some of the recent Swamp discussions, I thought this might be of interest. Here are some excerpts:

 

"No one who looks or plays like Steve Nash has ever been basketball's MVP. Ever. In the history of the award, a tiny, one-dimensional point guard who plays no defense and averages fewer than 16 points a game never has won it. But Nash just stole Shaquille O'Neal's trophy, even though O'Neal had much better numbers than Nash in just about every individual statistical measurement except assists, so it begs the question ..."

 

"Nobody is suggesting voters made their selection while wearing Klan hoods. Today's racism rarely is that overt. It tends to be hidden better than that ..."

 

"Who is to say that, given the same stats as Nash, 5-5 Earl Boykins, who is black, may not have gotten the MVP vote, too, because he is so tiny? Or that being white helped Nash no more than being Canadian? But, again, there is no precedent, none, for any of the black guys who have put up Nash's numbers during the years -- and there have been plenty -- winning the MVP."

 

I think it's an interesting question, and would like to see more evidence that there have been plenty of black point guards that put up Nash-like numbers and had the incredible positive effect on his team's win total.

[T R U]

I agree with Dan

 

Shaq should have been MVP, not Nash

 

EDIT: Dont agree about anything with Race, just that Shaq should have won

Edited May 9, 2005 by T R U

[The Critic]

Dan Patrick actually said it best:

LeBetard was lazy in insinuating that.

Good cases could be made for Shaq or Nash, but the fact is that even now, when Nash is out of the lineup the Suns just don't play all that well.

IMO race had absolutely zero to do with it.

 

I like LeBetard on the radio - I'm disappointed that they replaced him on ESPN's Sunday Magazine show with the talentless Mark Madden - but I don't like him in print.

[WilliamTell]

I'm sure there was no race involved. If anything, they'd want an American to win it and not a Canadian.

[qwerty]

I'm sure there was no race involved. If anything, they'd want an American to win it and not a Canadian.

 

What if they were born in south africa?

[Rowand44]

Listening to the radio this morning, Barkley calls him Dan Retard I love Charles.

[DonkeyKongerko]

Same reason the Professor won on that And 1 tour.

[Punch and Judy Garland]

Lebatard is in bed with Shaq and Ricky Williams. It was an article meant to stir which is a shame because it diminishes slightly the great year Nash had by even talking about this. Bill Simmons has argued the same thing and it's just bad journalism

[AddisonStSox]

Is it: Most Dominating Player, or Most Valuable Player?

 

Discuss.

[Punch and Judy Garland]

Both are incredibly valuable as evidenced by their teams improved record. MVP is always a tough argument with the definition up in the air. I refuse to feel bad for Nash winning just because Simmons/Lebatard are trying to squeeze a few columns out of this.

[Rowand44]

It's awful that this crap has come up. Instead of looking at the kind of year Nash had we're reading and talking about this s***. It gets rather ridiculous with the race card being played all the freakin time now. Steve winning the mvp had nothing to do with race, Dan Retard(thanks chuck) absolutely nothing.

Edited May 9, 2005 by Rowand44

[Punch and Judy Garland]

As the Haker would sya: spinmasters, that's all they are-spinmasters.

[T R U]

a tiny, one-dimensional point guard who plays no defense and averages fewer than 16 points a game never has won it. But Nash just stole Shaquille O'Neal's trophy

 

I couldnt agree more with that, I dont get how Nash beats Shaq for the MVP..

[sec159row2]

dan patrick had a caller yesterday say... " nash isn't white, he's Canadian"

 

dan retard should move to san francisco and cover barry bonds. He'd have plenty of material, 'cause everything anti-barry is racist

[greasywheels121]

They had a whole segment on this on SC yesterday afternoon. This is f***tarded. This is nothing more than LeBatard being a homer. Patrick really got LeBatard froze up when he asked him if would be writing this same article if he resided in Chicago, New York, LA, or Philadelphia versus Miami (where he resides).

[jackie hayes]

Bomani Jones has a nice piece on this for ESPN's Page 2, here. The article is a good, balanced look -- he dismisses the view that the voting was racist, without dismissing how important race still is in how people view the NBA. Anyway, it's a good article, check it out.