Newz Forum: OTHER: Dean's List: Nashional Teasure

He's not even the second-best point guard in the league. Hell, he's not even the second-best player on his team...

But I admit: Steve Nash is the most valuable player in the NBA. Even if he's least the least dominant MVP in league history. And even if it was a down year for superstars (KG and AI didn't get any help, and injuries limited the production of Shaq and Duncan). Nash's 11.5 assists per game is the most we've seen in 10 years. And the Suns' league-leading win total (62) speaks for itself, especially in contrast to the 33 they managed without him a year ago. Still, the numbers only tell part of the story. It's about attitude. Nash breathed a winning mentality into the Suns by giving new life into the fast break, which has resuscitated a stagnant game in a league gasping for a rebirth...

Last year, the Pistons defied the odds - and NBA history - by winning it all without a bona fide "superstar." This year, Phoenix is trying to become the first offensive-minded (and defensively absent-minded) squad to do the trick, as Nash and the Suns are out to prove that defense doesn't always win championships. But it won't be easy. Like Bill Belichick and the Patriots, coach Gregg Popovich and the Spurs know that the best offense is a good defense - especially in the playoffs. So just watch. And when Nash becomes just another Peyton Manning in the conference title game, Tim Duncan will be one step closer to joining Brady as a three-time champion...

Just days after Boston's Game 7 meltdown against Indiana, Director of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge addressed the state of the union. "We need more character," he explained, "and less characters." How clever. Sounds more like a marketing slogan than a master plan to me, but I'll still give Danny the benefit of the doubt. And if I understand him right, this is a simple case of addition by subtraction. And it's only a matter of time before Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker - characters with no character - are history in Beantown...

Sports has never been without superstition. The playoff beard, for example, is well documented in hockey and to a lesser degree in football. But why everyone seems to have given up on the playoff moustache is beyond me...

By the way, John Beard - Fox LA's evening news anchor - has a moustache...

Congratulations to reigning strikeout king Mark Bellhorn for hitting his first home run of the year this past Friday. After 40 whiffs in 31 games, the Red Sox infielder finally has a strikeout-to-home run ratio to show for it all (dividing by zero is a mathematical impossibility). And while it's hard to say that any Major League hitter is 28 times better than another, you better believe that Albert Pujols (1.44 K/HR) is at least 27.69 times better than Bellhorn...

After Jason Varitek's ninth-inning, walk-off homer against the A's this past Wednesday, the Red Sox rallied around their captain. "He's a warrior," said first baseman Kevin Millar. "That's why he's got the big 'C' on his chest." Of course, there's no guarantee that Millar, an admitted idiot, knows that the "C" stands for "captain," not "catcher." And there's no guarantee that Millar doesn't dream about having a "1B" stitched onto his jersey...

Varitek has long been hailed for his "intangibles," those elusive qualities that make a winner win. Stil, there's something tangible about the four-year, $40-million-dollar contract Varitek signed over the winter. And there's something tangible about his 7 homeruns, .330 batting average, .388 on-base percentage and .604 slugging percentage, all of which lead MLB catchers in 2005...

If Mientkiewicz is pronounced "Man-cave-itch," is caveman spelled k-i-e-w-m-i-e-n-t? What about Johnny Damon? Is he Captain Kiewmient? And if Alex Rodriguez is "A-Rod," is Javy Lopez "J-Lo"?

Bill Miller was umpiring second base in the opening game of this past weekend's Red Sox/Mariners series. Bill Mueller, meanwhile, was manning third base for Boston. I'm Dean Christopher, Deans-List.net...


[Edited on 5/14/05 by deanchristopher]

varitek is one of a number of players that the mariners have lost out of their system who could help the team out of their doldrums of the past couple of years