See, What Had Happened Was... Soccer Edition

See what had happened was... the very first piece I wrote for this blog was about my love for soccer and how I became a fan.  As the season winds down, we take a look back at some of things that have kept my fandom going strong.  England has provided a very exciting backdrop as of late.  The world’s most popular sport was on full display.  Whether it was exhibiting the quality of their top league’s competition on it's season's last day or hosting the championship match of Europe’s Premier tournament, those aligned to the union were quite spoiled.  Even play in the United States has been newsworthy.  Here's a look at some of the events that transpired...

Which State Births The Best NBA Players?

When starting lineups are introduced before an NBA game, the arena announcer usually include a player's height, jersey number, position, experience, and college.  If a player didn't attend college, then their high school is declared, if they didn't attend high school in the United States, then their country of birth is given.  As I was browsing Twitter the other night, I ran across a question that piqued my interest.  Someone said "I wondered, if you made NBA teams with players all from the same state, who would have the best team?"  Being that I was raised and live in California, I answered quickly, "Easily California."  Is the answer really that simple though?  To be sure, I did further research and for fun, assembled rosters based on the birth state of players.

2012-13 All NBA Team

The All NBA Team isn't about who the most entertaining players in the league are.  It isn't about who meant more to their team, so there's no factoring "what the team did when so and so wasn't on the floor."  It's really about the guys who got the work done better than anybody else at their position this season.  So position by position, I took the guys who produced and put them in an imaginary starting lineup to make up the first team.  Certain players clearly stand out, others can be debated.  If their play didn't contribute to a winning record, they were excluded from receiving recognition.  Here are my thoughts on the 2012-2013 All NBA Team.

Post Season Awards... NBA Coach Of theYear

The terms MVP, 6th Man, and Rookie Of the Year all are sub-categories of what's known as "post season awards".  Every year there is what I like to call misconceptions about who is deserving of these awards.  I'll make one thing clear;  even though these accolades are awarded in the post season, how someone, or his team performs in the playoffs have absolutely no bearing on if he's deserving or not.  If you don't understand that most of the time the ballots are turned in before the season is even over, you should now.  What "post season" means in this context is the award is given out after the season is over, in the same way that preseason awards are predictions of who will win these awards and not awarding trophies for players' performances in the preseason.