Evil always wins. There's never any redemption. There's never any Karma. The most smug, arrogant, self-righteous, narcissistic teams with the most obnoxious, self-entitled, insufferable fans always seem to win. Teams that are put together with good, humble players that have grown, gelled, and endeared themselves to their long-suffering fanbases always end up with the short end of the stick. Is that because the NBA is basically a league of fuckers? A league of self-important, egotistical douchebags who think the world should bow down before them because they are good at putting a ball through a hoop? And the biggest, most cocksucking fuckers always come out on top? The NBA can suck a dick.
Man... I hope that you aren't as angry in real life as you are on this board. Even without MIXUM to rip into, you manage to spit fire! Ed O.
Welcome to America the land of the free!! And doesn't David Stern look like the kinda guy that lives a crazy lifestyle and does things no one wants to know about?
What do you expect of a country where a Congressman tapes an abstinence video, with his mistress? Seriously, I know what you mean, and true it's not just basketball. There are times when I just want to forget the world and listen to Beethoven. Then I remember that Beethoven was a rude, insufferable, egomaniacal, arrogant bastard.
Which is of course, why I want the Blazers to become more evil. I can tell you, that being happily evil, really isn't all that bad of a way to go through life.
You sir, need to check yourself. This past decade has been a mixed bag of teams that have won a WS, something never seen in the NBA. Since 2001 The Dbacks, Marlins, Cardinals, Phillies, Red Sox(2), Angels, White Sox, and Yankees have all won a WS. Thats 8 different teams in 9 years. Baseball has quite the diversity in terms of champions. Yankees = 27 Championships Cardinals = 10 Championships (the next closest) MLB was founded in 1869 = 141 years Lakers = 16 Championships Celtics = 17 Championships The NBA formed in 1946 = 64 years That leaves 31 years where other teams won championships, less than half the leagues existence. Here is where things get scary to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_champions Code: Num↓ Team↓ W↓ L↓ PCT↓ Last appearance↓ Last title↓ Notes↓ 30[3] Los Angeles Lakers 15 15 .500 2009 2009 (one as champions of the NBL which merged with the BAA to form the NBA; not considered an NBA Champion.) as Minneapolis Lakers; two three-peats: one as Minneapolis from 1952–54 and one as Los Angeles from 2000–02. The Lakers have won 10 NBA Championships in Los Angeles, the most recent win in 2009. 20 Boston Celtics 17 3 .850 2008 2008 Won 8 straight titles from 1959–1966. 13 of their 17 championships were Brown Trophies. 9 Philadelphia 76ers 3 6 .333 2001 1983 1–2 as Syracuse Nationals 8 New York Knicks 2 6 .250 1999 1973 In 1999, became first 8th playoff seed to ever reach finals 7 Detroit Pistons 3 4 .428 2005 2004 0–2 as Ft. Wayne Pistons 6 Chicago Bulls 6 0 1.000 1998 1998 All with head coach Phil Jackson and players Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Three-peats from 1991–93 and 1996–98. Most championships won without losing a Finals. Never played a Finals game 7. 6 Golden State Warriors 3 3 .500 1975 1975 2–1 as Philadelphia Warriors; 0–2 as San Francisco Warriors; 1–0 as Golden State Warriors[4] 4 San Antonio Spurs 4 0 1.000 2007 2007 All with head coach Gregg Popovich and Power Forward/Center Tim Duncan. 4 Houston Rockets 2 2 .500 1995 1995 2 championships with center Hakeem Olajuwon (named MVP in both championship series) with one of those being with Clyde Drexler, championships were back to back. 4 Atlanta Hawks 1 3 .250 1961 1958 All appearances as St. Louis franchise 4 Washington Wizards 1 3 .250 1979 1978 0–1 as Baltimore Bullets (see note below), 1–2 as Washington Bullets. 3 Portland Trail Blazers 1 2 .333 1992 1977 Lost games 1 and 2 in Philadelphia, won four straight, three of those coming in Portland, led by UCLA legend and NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton. 3 Seattle SuperSonics 1 2 .333 1996 1979 Are now the Oklahoma City Thunder franchise as of the 2008-2009 season 2 Milwaukee Bucks 1 1 .500 1974 1971 2 Phoenix Suns 0 2 .000 1993 Never 2 Utah Jazz 0 2 .000 1998 Never Both with coach Jerry Sloan and players Karl Malone and John Stockton. 2 New Jersey Nets 0 2 .000 2003 Never Won 2 ABA titles in 1974 and 1976. Also appeared in 1972 ABA Finals. 2 Orlando Magic 0 2 .000 2009 Never Lost both NBA Finals appearances. Swept by the Rockets in 1995 and defeated in 2009 by the Lakers in a 4-1 series. 1 Baltimore Bullets 1 0 1.000 1948 1948 Team folded in 1954 and is not the same franchise as the current Washington Wizards. 1 Sacramento Kings 1 0 1.000 1951 1951 Won first appearance in NBA Finals as Rochester Royals 1 Miami Heat 1 0 1.000 2006 2006 Won 4 straight games after losing first 2 in 2006. 1 Indiana Pacers 0 1 .000 2000 Never Team won three ABA championships (1970, 1972, 1973) and made two other ABA Finals appearances (1969, 1975). 1 Dallas Mavericks 0 1 .000 2006 Never Lost 4 straight games after winning first 2 in 2006. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers 0 1 .000 2007 Never Only team in history to have made the Finals, without a single win. 1 Chicago Stags 0 1 .000 1947 Never Team folded in 1950. 1 Washington Capitols 0 1 .000 1949 Never Team folded in 1951. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Finals (I'm not sure how well these charts will show so there are the links) MLB has had 27 different champions. (only 3 franchises have never made it to the WS) NBA has had 17 different champions. The reason why it is scary is because the NBA has a salary cap that supposedly breeds "competition" for a title whereas MLB is run free with no cap. Which league has diversity amongst champions? MLB. It has been proven that money alone cannot buy championships in baseball and teams do still have a chance, no matter their market, to win. If you arent winning in baseball it is because of inept ownership. In the NBA you can have the best ownership and still never win. That is why I hate the NBA.
my favorite story about Ludvig occurred on a day when he was out on a walk. The King (governor/ruler? I'm not really sure) procession happened to be out as well, approaching from the opposite direction. While everyone else cowered up against the street lining buildings to give their ruler a wide berth, LVB is supposed to have strode right down the middle of the road through his entourage. From what I know of his legend, he probably only looked up to scowl at the King as they passed STOMP
Beethoven also got arrested once, he was out at dawn roaming the streets screaming and waving his arms. The local constable ran him in, whereupon he kept shouting "I am Beethoven!" (his era's version of today's "Do you know who I am?") The constable thought he was some madman and locked him up all day. Finally in the evening someone got the bright idea of bringing in the local orchestra conductor, who confirmed, to his horror, that the "madman" was indeed Beethoven. Beethoven was sent home in the mayor's personal carriage, and the unfortunate constable was instructed on differentiating madmen from geniuses in the throes of inspiration. Back to the subject at hand... The World Series list is a tad misleading. Because, in the last 20 odd years, if you list the teams with the top 5 payrolls each year, in nearly every season one of those 5 will be the WS winner. Clearly, money is not enough, witness the New York Mess, er, Mets. But it sure helps. And the teams that are contenders virtually every year tend to be the richest (Yankees, Cardinals, Dodgers, Red Sox).
^What about the Mariners? A few years ago they had one of the highest payrolls in all of baseball and not even a World Series appearance to show for it.
Ever heard of Robert "Cheap Shot" Horry? How about Bruce Bowen? Both 2 of the dirtiest players in the NBA during their careers in my book. The last time the Spurs won anything big, they were both on the team.
I think part of the reason for that is that Baseball is more of a team effort, where as in the NBA, one player can pretty much dominate (See Russell, Magic, Bird, Wilt, Shaq, Abdul-Jabbar etc.) You can have the best pitcher, but he's still only gonna pitch once a week. The best hitter is only gonna get 4 at bats a game.
@PdX: chris in pdx was talking about how evil wins most of the time. The Yankees are evil. They have won the most championships in the MLB. The Lakers and Celtics? Yeah, evil. The normed counts of championships won over total seasons doesn't have much sway in this conversation. When talking about such subjective and emotion-laden subjects as the pure spiritual alignment of sports franchises, wikipedia can only provide so much insight. I wouldn't go so far as to say they are evil or smug and self serving. They were douches of the highest caliber at their worst for sure, but not nearly in the realm of Kobe or KG or Derek Jeter or A-Rod. Besides, the presence of a DnD playing, wizard tattooed, squirrely voiced and utterly dominant Tim Duncan basically negated their influence.
