MVP! MVP! MVP!

You know how there are some things on the face of this Earth that irk the crap out of you? Like poison ivy or hemorroids or George Bush? One thing that sets me off is MVP debates.

See, I got home Friday after work, turned on the tv (as I normally do whenever I am conscious) and there was this sports roundtable including Pinball Clemons, debating the NBA's Most Valuable Player.

What gets my thong in a knot, though (don't ask), is the inevitable argument by one party that MVP stands for the "player most valuable to his team." See, this is the precursor to the argument that a good player on a crap team should be MVP because if you took him off that team they would completely suck (see Kobe Bryant). And by extension, a good player on a good team should not win 'cause they'd be ok without him and he is thus not as valuable (see Steve Nash).

Now listen up, 'cause I'm only gonna say this once.

You.
Are.
Wrong.

Sit.
Down.
And.
Shut.
Up.

Every team has an MVP. Every team has a "player most valuable to his team". That's a team MVP.

A league MVP is the player deemed most valuable to the league. (Just like the Super Bowl MVP is the MVP of the Super Bowl game - see a pattern emerging?)

Which, more often than not, is a polite way of saying the best player in the league. Who that might be is a different matter.

There. One more thing I've ranted about. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find my Preparation H.


"I'll always be Number 1 to myself."
-Moses Malone, NBA hall of famer