Archive for the ‘nba’ Category

Kyrie gets the last Laugh

Posted: December 18, 2021 by datechguy in covid, nba, Sports, vaccine mandates
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I really cracked up when I read this story:

It’s kind of hard to argue that the unvaccinated Kyrie is a danger to the team when all over the NBA, NHL & NFL games are being delayed and postponed by COVID breakouts among fully vaccinated players but I give yahoo sports credit they give it their best shot:

Players of all levels are testing positive, so what’s the harm in bringing in a healthy body for road games, to help out the overworked Kevin Durant even in a pinch?

The harm, aside from common sense, science and everything believed to be true about teams with championship aspirations, consistent standards and chemistry concerns, seems to open a sliding door that may never be closed again, as Irving will be allowed to play in road games — except for Toronto.

Alas both common sense and science suggests that it’s Kyrie and not those who banned him that were right.

Now this doesn’t change the fact that Kyrie brings the same non-covid baggage that he always carried before there was such a thing as a pandemic and the fact that he almost immediately ended up in the COVID protocols means a delay in the Nets getting him on the floor.

But the bottom line is that Kyrie’s return is a blow to the narrative that has been pushed by the various sports teams in solidarity with the Biden Administration on the vaccine but reality doesn’t care about the narrative and the reality of the cost of cancelled games in cash is starting to have an effect to the point where leagues are reconsidering rewriting the rules concerning COVID protocols.

The NFL and the NFL Players Association continue to discuss changes to their COVID-19 protocols that could ease the burden on vaccinated individuals, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

The two sides are working to test vaccinated players less frequently and address player concerns about the number of vaccinated, asymptomatic players who are being forced to miss games because of positive tests.

The real losers in all of this are the players who took the jab and feel like chumps who’ve been played:

The NFLPA has been under pressure in recent weeks from players who are upset because they feel they were effectively forced to get vaccinated (because of the far stricter rules that apply this year to unvaccinated individuals) and as a result of the proliferation of COVID-19 variants are now testing positive and missing games anyway. This has led to player dissatisfaction with other of the league’s COVID-19 mitigation strategies, such as mask wearing and physical distancing in team facilities. 

Now as I’ve said repeatedly I have no problem with people getting the vaccine if they feel the cost benefit analysis works for them and I’m sure there are plenty of players in the all the major sports who took the vaccine and thought it was the right move for them.

Kyrie didn’t think so and in the long run it’s worked out for him, and if nothing else he will always be one up on those who took the vaccine unwillingly to play and now feel like chumps.

Five Reasons Why Tom Brady is Superior to Michael Jordan as the Sports Goat

Posted: September 9, 2021 by datechguy in nba, nfl, Sports
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There was a bit of a fuss on TV over Michael Irvin & Stephen A Smith over who is the overall Goat Jordan vs Brady.

In my opinion there is no debate at all. The nod is to Brady for these reasons

  1. Brady won championships and made finals all through his career Jordan did not

Michael Jordan career spans from 1984 at age 21 to 2003 at age 39 with one year off for baseball and three years off for retirement before returning with the wizards. Jordan won six championships during that period at ages 27-29 & 32-34.

Tom Brady’s career spans from 2001 at age 24 (in 2000 he appeared in one game and threw 3 passes completing one for six yards) and continues in 2021 at age 44. During this period he has won seven championships at ages 24,26,27, 37, 39, 41 and 43. He also made the finals three other times at ages 30, 33 and 40. Which is far superior to Jordan

  1. Brady won championships in a sport where it is harder to win a championship

In basketball playoffs it is very easy for the cream to rise to the top. Series are best of five or best of seven. So a single off game or hot game from your opponent or freak play might cost you a game but is unlikely to cost you a series.

In football it’s one and done. One bad throw, one off game, one supreme effort by an opponent or one freak catch off the top of Helmut can be the difference between a title and an also ran. Jordan had a margin of error, Brady does not.

Furthermore Football weighs a schedule based on your finish thus when he was regularly winning AFC East titles he was doing so when constantly playing a 1st place schedule. He succeeded against a system designed to make him fail.

  1. Brady has won championships with different lineups on different teams with different systems

Jordan won six titles in Chicago under Phil Jackson with a fairly consistent lineup around him. Tom Brady has not only won titles with two different teams with two different systems but even when he was with the Patriots over twenty years he managed to win titles and get to titles with a completely different cast of characters around him. None of the teammates from his first three titles played with him in his last two.

  1. Brady has taken a sub .500 team to a title not once but twice.

Michael Jordan’s did take a Chicago team with a losing record to the playoffs then later to the conference semis, then the conference finals and then at age 27 to the finals where he established the Bulls Dynasty. But while he was able to make a horrible Wizards team 20 games better then they were he was unable to get them even to the 1st round of the playoffs

When Tom Brady at age 25 started for the injured Drew Bledsoe in game 3 of the 2001-2002 season the Patriots’ were coming off a 5-11 last place season and were 0-2. He would lead them to their first superbowl victory. When he came in as the new QB for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at age 43, he took over a 3rd place team with a 7-9 record and took them to their first superbowl in almost twenty years.

  1. At age 44 Brady is favored to make it to the Superbowl AGAIN!

All of these previous points would, in my opinion be enough to close the case here, but if that wasn’t enough the icing on the cake is that at age 44 nobody is picking Brady and the Bucks to do any worse than the NFC title game and many are picking him to win yet another Superbowl. It’s true that both Aaron Rogers and Patrick Mahomes will likely be standing in his way with a big chips on their shoulders and nobody would be shocked if either Rogers kept Brady from another superbowl appearance or Mahomes kept him from his eighth ring.

But the fact that we are even having this conversation makes my point for me.

In conclusion with all due respect to Stephen A Smith there is no debate to have here. Brady is over Jordan. WAY over.

Full Disclosure: I don’t rate Michael Jordan as the GOAT of the NBA or LeBron, I give that to Bill Russell who in 13 years in the NBA made the finals every year but one and won the title every year but two and won two of those titles as a player coach.

He is the person Brady should be compared to and points 2-5 count in Brady’s favor, however Russell gets points for

  1. 2 titles as player coach (and as the 1st black coach in the NBA)
  2. Coming up in an era of segregation and STILL ruling the roost.
  3. playing in a smaller NBA where the talent was more concentrated

To me it’s a tough call, but if Brady goes to another Superbowl then I’d have to give it to Tom.

My WNBA Draft Question

Posted: April 15, 2021 by datechguy in nba, Sports
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I understand the WNBA draft is today and I have a question:

If a NCAA player who played in the men’s tourney, say a low level NBA prospect publicly defines himself as a woman is he/she eligible for the WNBA draft?

If not why not?

I imagine a player who has no chance at the NBA and looking at a regular job having a huge incentive to do so but that’s just me?

Tom Brady is the 3rd Best Player in an American Team Sport Behind Russell 2nd and Ruth 1st

Posted: January 30, 2021 by datechguy in baseball, nba, nfl, nhl, Sports
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We have now been hearing a discussion where people are asking: Is Tom Brady the greatest player in an American Team Sport ever? Brady being in his 10th Superbowl has earned him a place in that conversation with 10 trips to the finals in 21 chances. Or to put it another way,

  • Tom Brady’s avg of going to superbowls is higher than Ty Cobb’s avg of getting hits.
  • Tom Brady’s avg of going to superbowls is higher than the 3 point percentage of any NBA player in history
  • The only NFL team that has been to more Superbowls than Tom Brady is the New England Patriots with eleven trips over 61 years to Tom’s ten in 21 years. Nine of those trips were in years they were led by Tom Brady.
  • Tom Brady’s as of today has one less playoff win then Maurice Richard has Stanley Cup goals.

That being the case Brady deserves to be in consideration for the best player in a major American Team sport (Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey) of all time. There are two people in that conversation with him. Babe Ruth and Bill Russell.

Babe Ruth in 22 years went to 10 World Series winning Seven and if you look at the Baseball Reference pages over his career led the league in over 200 different categories over his career as both a Pitcher and as a Right fielder.

Bill Russell in 13 seasons in the NBA went to the playoffs every season making it to the finals 12 times and winning 11 titles, two of them as player coach.

Brady has four things in common with Ruth and Russell.

  • A Long Career
  • Success early and late in a career
  • Regular trips to the Finals
  • Long tenures in Boston

Brady has one thing in Common with Ruth favoring him over Russell

  • Success on multiple teams under multiple coaches/managers

Brady has two things in common with Russell over Ruth

  • A high level of play every uninjured season of his career (to this point) (Ruth’s final season stunk)
  • Never having cost his team a title with a boneheaded play to lose a series (Ruth inexplicably getting caught stealing in 1926 to lose the World Series)

And Brady has one advantage over Both Russell & Ruth

  • No Margin for error.

In a championship season Babe Ruth and his teams had the liberty of having as many as three bad games or three games where the opposing team outplayed them while still being capable of winning a championship. Bill Russell’s margin of error was larger, with a 6 to 9 game margin or error as their series were all best of seven. Or to put it simply if your better team had a bad day you still had the rest of a series games to show the other guy whose actually better.

However Tom Brady , as a football player, had no such margin of error. A single bad game or a single bad move and you are out. Russell’s Celtics & Ruth’s Yanks and Sox could blow a game or two in a series and still win. Brady never had that luxury.

Why then does Brady rank behind Russell? Very simple. While this season it’s been implied that Brady has functioned as a “coach” to the Offense, Bill Russell for two seasons won titles while actually being the head coach as well as the center. He not only had to play at a high level but had to while on the floor manage the team, call the plays and be aware enough to coach the team to the playoffs and to the title. He not only managed to do so, but managed to do so TWICE.

For that reason I give Russell an edge over Brady, at least so far. If Brady goes to an 11th Superbowl (which is entirely in the realm of possibility I may revisit that advantage.

However Babe Ruth has an advantage over Brady that is even more pronounced. He not only won six titles as the most feared slugger in the major leagues but won three titles as one of the top pitchers in the Majors. It would be as if Brady won his first three titles as the top linebacker or Defensive End before switching to Quarterback. Furthermore Ruth fundamentally changed the game of baseball in a way neither Russell nor Brady did in their sports. It’s true that after Ruth started hitting homers other soon followed, but Ruth did it first and the only chemical enhancements he had were hot dogs and beer.

For this reason I consider Babe Ruth the greatest team sport player in the history of sports, over Russell and over Brady. If Brady wins the superbowl this year and perhaps one other then I may revisit these rankings, if not then.

FYI Michael Jordon doesn’t make this list because while he won six titles in six trips all those titles came in the 2nd half of his career all with the same team and system and failed to make the playoffs with the wizards when he came back. LeBron James doesn’t make this list because of only four titles wins but given that he won three titles in three different cities under three different systems and has been to the finals 10 times one more trip will force him to be considered in this company. Kareem fails to make the top 3 because despite the six titles with two teams and titles early and late in his career, he had a very long period without making those finals or more properly if included on this list he is currently 5th with LeBron right behind him. Yogi Berra with 10 titles in 14 years and 3 MVP titles in a league that had Mantle & Williams is the person that Brady edges out for 3rd. Berra might have had better stats but his development was curtailed by a more pressing engagement off Normandy on June 6th 1944 & two months later in the invasion on the southern coast of France. In fact you might even be able to make a case for Berra going all the way to the top.

My top five list as of this moment would run Ruth, Russell, Brady, Berra, & Jabbar in that order with King James knocking on the door and very likely to take Kareem’s spot on this list perhaps as soon as this year.

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