Notent Notables

• I'm still shocked that England failed to qualify for Euro 2008. It wasn't until they drew the groups for the finals the other day that it hit me the three lions wouldn't be participating. I haven't seen a game since I left, and I'm still upset. I can't imagine what the nation is going through. If I were Steve McClaren, I'd go hide in Florida somewhere for the rest of my days. Good heavens, what a disaster.

• I think we can all agree that the NFL is the biggest sport in America. But that doesn't mean it necessarily has to stay that way. Thinking the NFL will always be king is like thinking the US economy will always stay strong or that America will always be the strongest nation in the world. Baseball used to be the biggest sport in the country. In the 80s, as I understand it, the NBA was bigger. Personally, even though I followed Michael Jordan religiously and liked college football more than the NFL when I was a kid, I've always admitted the NFL was on top. But now I'm sensing a change. I'm finally seeing Chris's point, that the parity in the NFL might have gone too far. Sunday Ticket isn't quite as appealing as it was 5 years ago because the number of worthwhile teams has dropped. I still like tuning in when all the games are ending, in case it gets exciting, but most of the afternoon the games don't have my attention. Don't get me wrong, I think the playoffs are going to be amazing this year. But I think the overall quality of the product has slipped...

• ...while the NBA is looking better. I think the number of worthwhile teams is growing this year. I also think that with the Big Three in Boston and Dwight Howard's emergence as an all-time superstar in Orlando, the East has legitimate contenders this year. In fact, I think more teams can realistically win the NBA championship than the Super Bowl. Count 'em yourself. The NBA is coming back, folks. I'm intrigued.

• College Football will always have its base with the Solid South, but the lack of a tournament is really killing it. This season has been the most exciting one that I can ever remember. It is true that the significance of the upsets would have been lessened slightly by a post-season playoff. But ask yourself this: how many of the huge upset games have been "appointment viewing" for the casual college football fan? For me, the only appointment viewing games have been the Ohio State-Michigan game, and the Missouri-Kansas game, both of which would have been on my list of games to watch even if there was a playoff system. (Think of it this way: if #1 plays #2 in college basketball during the regular season, are you going to watch?) My point is the exciting storyline of the season isn't making me actually sit down and watch more games. And I'm not really interested in any bowl game other than the national title. But an 8-team playoff, that included the 6 major conference winners plus two at-large teams...I'd watch every game that stayed close, and I'm sure other casual college football fans like me would, too.

• I have Jim Valvano's ESPY speech on our downstairs TiVo tagged with "Save until I delete" status. If you're in town and need a pick-me-up, feel free to drop by.

• On SU's loss to UMass. That was a wildly entertaining game. Well into the 2nd half I was still watching with glee. But about halfway through the 2nd half (which was, I realized later, when Donte Greene cooled off), I got one of those bad feelings that you get when you really know your team is going to lose. You know what I mean? Sometimes it can work in the opposite direction, and you'll just know your team is going to pull it out. The problem, I decided, was that we weren't playing Big East basketball, or Syracuse basketball for that matter. Syracuse basketball wins with defense. As spectacular an offensive team as we are this year, our defense needs to be a lot better. We're not going to win too many games in the Big East playing shootout basketball. I didn't see the Tulane game, but it sounded like we took a step in the right direction. I think we're going to learn a lot more about this team on Wednesday, in Virginia.
  

David Stern who?

The MLS is coming to Seattle! The MLS is coming to Seattle! Hey! Ho!

I'm thrilled.

I've also been away from blogging for so long that I'm embarrassed. Here's a truism: Being away gathers momentum of a sort. Here's another: The election is over. I've worked insanely in the last five weeks as campaigns gathered steam. Now, I'm planning to work less insanely.

But, soccer! Soccer!

NBA: Why I'm More Excited About Tonight's Draft Than Any Draft Ever

Well, the MAIN reason is Bill Simmons. I haven't missed a column in months, and the NBA draft has been his number one focus. I even followed yesterday's Mock Draft with Chad Ford live for a couple hours. So not only am I excited about the draft, I also feel more knowledgeable about the draft pool than ever before.

Having said that, here's the top few things I'm looking forward to tonight.

1. Watching the draft with my brother. I think it says something about a person if they watch an entire draft alone, even the 2 round NBA draft. I don't want that said about me.

2. Finding out where Demetris Nichols will be drafted. According to John Hollinger's fascinating statistical ranking method for collegiate players, guys who make a ton of threes and shoot a high percentage translate well to the pros. Nichols' 41.7% wasn't quite high enough to warrant mentioning by Hollinger, but couple that with his outstanding draft workouts and he seems like a lock at this point to get drafted, though perhaps not as much a lock as the Orange were to make the NCAA tournament this year. Too bad the 2007 NCAAs never happened.


3. Seeing if the Hawks blow the draft and take anyone other than Horford or Conley with the third pick. Chad Ford says GM Billy Knight likes Horford, so that probably means Horford is going to be a bust. I completely buy into Simmons' take on Yi Jianlian, which is quite negative, and Ford notes that Hawks ownership wants to grab him. So if they do reach past Conley for Yi, it won't be Knight's fault.

4. Seeing where Conley goes. Hollinger's ranking loves him. Simmons loves him. I think everyone loves him. I hope he goes to Memphis at 4 to throw alley-oops to Hak Warrick.

5. Seeing who the Celtics pick. I think they'll trade this between now and the draft, despite what Ainge is saying. If not, I'm rooting for Simmons to get the guy he wants in Corey Brewer who I buy into as a defensive whiz if not an all-star.

6. Seeing who the Bulls take. If I had to pick a favorite NBA team, it would be the Bulls, from following MJ growing up. I like them now with ex-Dukies as well as the likable Kirk Heinrich. The right pick tonight could boost their championship chances. A trade might help them even more.

Missing a Classic and a Question for Chris

Over the past couple years, my attention has been returned to the NBA after a long period of dis-interest that was triggered by MJ's retirement and enforced by the dominance of the unlikable Lakers and the likable but dull Spurs. Why am I following the pros? Quite simply, Bill Simmons's NBA articles get me excited about it. For instance, there is no annual media offering I look forward to more each year than his annual NBA Trade Value column, which has provided, for me, the definitive ranking of NBA players every year since 2000.

This article back in January keyed me into the Suns this year. I had been a Steve Nash fan for a little while, dating back to his Mavericks days. I was excited to see the guy win the MVPs. The Simmons column got me more excited about an NBA team than I had been since MJ left the Bulls. I immediately asked my dad to tape the next Phoenix game before he came to visit me in February. The taping failed, and as a result, I haven't seen one Suns game (or NBA game for that matter) all year. The North American Sports Network had NCAA rights, and now is delivering MLB plus PTI as a result ESPN's recent takeover (woohoo!), but someone else, probably my nemesis Sky, has the NBA. I didn't see a single Premiership game in its entirety this year because of Sky's monopoly. Not one! I hate them. But back to the NBA...

It seems to me that this Spurs-Suns series is turning into a classic, and I can't watch it. If it does go to 7 games, I'll have to take evasive action and either buy it online or go to a sports bar and watch it in the wee hours. I'm bummed to be missing it. Despite Simmons's assertion that the Suns will not win, I think it could go either way.

Anyway, that's a long foreword to a question I wanted to pose to Chris. Back when Nash was on the Mavericks, you were much less impressed with him than I was. I was wondering how you feel about him now, following two MVP seasons and a third season that might have been his best yet. I know you admitted he made the leap in the past few years, but how far has he leaped for you? Do you have anything to say about this or does the Seattle situation still preclude you from commenting on the NBA? Just wondering...

Kobe Bryant is Hated

The only thing more shocking than Kobe being suspended tonight for an unintentional elbow of Manu Ginobili back on Sunday is the lack of uproar in his defense. There is nothing on ESPN.com except the story by Chris Sheridan reporting on Kobe asking for an immediate appeal by the commissioner. Sheridan does insert his opinion on whether the suspension is justified.

I've only seen the replay on ESPN Motion from one angle. And I don't know if anything happened before that play that might've caused Kobe to want to elbow Ginobili. But I think this is the most insane suspension I've ever seen (excluding NCAA suspensions, of course).

Kobe has no on-court track record that would warrant such strict discipline. So it's reasonable to suspect that the NBA doesn't like him.

ESPN.com has had all afternoon to post a story or two in Kobe's defense, yet no writer has. ESPN.com's reporters must not like Kobe either.

Has there ever been an athlete quite like Kobe? Everyone raves about his talent, but that's about it. He is not beloved.