3 and Out - Arizona Style
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by user Bobman024
Original article: http://azsportshub.com/3-and-out/
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3 and Out is a new post here on AZSH where we take on three of the top hottest topics in Arizona sports.
1. Amare Picking Kobe Bryant for MVP?
As we are sure you already know on Sunday the New York Times ran a quote about who should win the NBA MVP from Amare Stoudemire saying:
(AP Photo/Paul Connors)
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> “I think Kobe Bryant should be at the top of the list. His game is unstoppable.”
On Monday Amare re-qualified his statements by saying that Kobe should be in the top three and that he’s > > “got to (represent) my teamate. “We’re comrades. We’re death before dishonor.”
Now, everyone has weighed in on this from the local columnists to the national media but what’s the big deal? Amare didn’t rip Steve Nash and say that his game is lacking, that his passes leave something to be desired and that the Suns, and Amare himself, would be better off with out him. He purely stated a fact.
Kobe, as much as it pains me to say this, is deserving of being in the conversation for MVP and his game is unstoppable (ask last years Toronto Raptors team or basically every other team in the NBA who has watched Kobe fill up the stat sheet). Stoudemire was asked his opinion and he gave it.
Here is another quote about who should win the MVP: > > “It’s such a strange thing to try to quantify. But I would say he (Dirk) is at the top of the list. It’s hard. You could make a case for a lot of guys who deserve it.”
Yet another athlete asked to give his opinion and yet again, this athlete named someone other than a guy who wears his same uniform. The quote above is from Steve Nash. Does that mean Steve was disrespecting himself or his teammates? …. No. So how can anyone feel that Amare is disrespected Steve with his quote?
2. Dbacks new skin
(AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
This past week was our first chance to see the revamped Chase Field. Gone was the purple, the teal and the old logos. In were the Sedona red, the sand and the new “db”. Ken Kendrick and the Diamondbacks front office has removed the past as this team looks towards the future. Gone are the high priced free agent blunders and the old school general manager. In are the young home grown talent and the new school general manager. Gone are the cash hemorrhaging teams and in are the fiscally responsible versions. While the new outlook for the Dbacks future is bright the past can’t be forgotten.
While Ken Kendrick, the front office and many fans want to only remember Jerry Colangelo as the man who left the team in horrible debt his impact reached far beyond the negative that revisionist historians want to remember. Colangelo may have used his line of credit like a 16 year old girl with her first credit card but he got results. Are the Dbacks still trying to recover from the debt that Colangelo accrued? Yes, but Kendrick also has been involved in his own financial blunders (Russ Ortiz anyone?).
In the end it boils down to this, as a fan would you rather be the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with their 584-884 all time record and no playoff appearances or would you rather be the Dbacks with their 728-730 all time record 5 playoff series and a world series victory. Remember that Colangelo is responsible for building the Dbacks into a world series champion and not just a team in debt.
3. Shawn Marion “The Invisible Man”?
(Photo from ESPN.com)
Guess what it’s time again for everyone’s favorite, the Shawn Marion self pity party. In the latest edition of ESPN the Magazine Marion continues his “Me against the world” campaign that was evident in numerous articles and the book :07 Seconds or Less. In the article Marion also says : > > “Would you rather be a 30-point scorer and an MVP candidate on a lesser team, say, one only flirting with the postseason, than the sidekick to the sidekick in Phoenix? “Wow, that’s interesting,” he says thoughtfully. /-/ “I’ve never been asked that,” he continues. “That would be an interesting situation to be in, to really show people what I can do.”
Shawn just a heads up but the only time you have been truly invisible were those stretches last post season where your team needed you. Be careful what you wish for because this offseason you might find out what it’s like to be “the man” on a team and it may feel a lot like Joe Johnson in Atlanta, irrelevant.
