By Staff
May 26, 2002
Thinking about this and that on a Sunday, while wondering whatever happened to Sean Murphy …
The NBA Playoffs just got interesting. I am one of those who loves dynasties. I think they are what makes sports great. You take take parity and go stick it in a garbage disposal as far as I am concerned.
Who wants a league where every team is equal. Besides dynasties give you a chance to love somebody or hate somebody.
You have the Yankees and and you have the Yankee haters. You had the 49ers in their hey day and the folks who could stand them. You had Michael Jordan and the Bulls and the rest of the league.
It is good for a league when one team is dominant. It brings the rest of the league down. Usually when you have parity it means you are bringing the best down to average and the sorry teams up to average. That makes everybody average. That's not any fun.
When you have a dynasty then you have everyone else trying to knock them off the pedestal. That is the case in the NBA these days, with the Los Angeles Lakers appearing to be the invincible franchise at this time.
But with the whipping the Kings put on them Friday night, the Lakers may have a little chink in their armor.
The Kings won the game in L.A. by 13 points and now lead the series two games to one. However if you are going to beat on somebody other than the Lakers to win the the NBA Championship this year, please use somebody's money other than mine.
Never count a proven winner out until it's over, over, over. Yes, a flaw may have been discovered, but the series is not complete. But Sacramento's win has made it exciting.
I am sure a lot of people are cheering on the Kings, especially the New Jersey Nets and the Boston Celtics.
Monday could be sad
one for state schools
At one time it looked as if at least two NCAA Division I schools from Mississippi would make the NCAA Tournament field that will be announced tomorrow. There was even a chance that three would make it.
Shoot, two weeks ago there was even talk of Ole Miss and Southern Mississippi possible hosting regionals. But now, it looks like State, Ole Miss and USM could all be left out of the tournament.
For most of the season Ole Miss was riding high. There was an occasional stumble, but nothing really serious. That changed the next-to-last weekend of the regular season when a struggling Arkansas team waltzed into Oxford and took three straight games from the Rebels on the same week that Mississippi State was losing three at Alabama.
Two weeks ago the Golden Eagles of USM were going into a Sunday game with East Carolina as the No. 1 team in Conference USA. A loss on that day knocked USM all the way down to fourth. Them came a three-game road sweep at the hands of Tulane and two losses in three games in the C-USA Tournament.
MSU knocked Ole Miss out of the SEC Tournament with a three-game sweep at the end of the regular season, all but assuring Ole Miss of not playing another game until the 2003 season.
While the Bulldogs did finish on a strong note, they have had their troubles during the regular season and really don't have the overall record to get an NCAA bid.
So what appeared to be another strong baseball year for the three biggest NCAA Division I baseball-playing schools in the state has, quite frankly, become a disappointment.
There may be a surprise on Monday and one, or even two of them may be chosen, but that would indeed be a surprise. It is strong finishes that carry a lot of weight in these things. The last 10 games mean a lot, and they have not been a pretty site for State, Ole Miss and USM.