NBA MVP - Dirk Nowitzki

Say what you will about the latest NBA season for Dirk Nowitzki & his team, the Dallas Mavericks. Sure they were among the Top 10 Regular Season teams of all time...and then lost to the genius of their former coach in the first round. As a Stranger once told me, "Sometimes you eat the bar. Sometimes the bar eats you." It happens. However, any 7 foot man that can do this, has a sweet jumper, & can rock the Leif Garrett locks gets mad respect from me...and apparently the National Basketball Association after being named its Most Valuable Player this week. Amid stiff competition from the likes of two-time winners Steve Nash & Tim Duncan, he emerged victorious...and deservingly so, becoming the first European-born MVP.

I'm also a huge fan of basketball becoming an international game. I remember when I first really started watching & playing ball as a kid when it was a big deal because Sarunas Marcuilonis was the first European in the league history or something like that. Now, I don't believe there's a single team out there that doesn't have an internationally born player. In the last millenium, only Hakeem Olajuwon (born in Nigeria) had been a foreign-born MVP. Over the last six years, only Kevin Garnett was an American-born MVP. The other have been Nowitzki (Germany), Steve Nash (Canadia) & Tim Duncan (Virgin Islands, ironically named for all the hanky panky going on there as we speak).

What's my point? Nothing really...but I like it because there's not a really big deal being made about Dirk being the first European-born MVP (more talk about how the Warriors ousted his team in the 1st round & him being overrated). However, if Denzel won the Hart Trophy (that's hockey for all the American-born readers) then the media would be having a f**king kniption and we'd be planning a parade & government holiday or something. What do I suggest? On June 19th, Mr. Nowitzki's 29th birthday, I suggest that we show our congratulations & respects by drinking a fine German brew in his honor. It's a small gesture...but an important one.

My prediction for next year - Yao Ming wins the Most Valuable Player award. Does anybody else think that it's funny, that the tallest man in the NBA is Chinese?