Please stop the meaningless sports rankings, power polls, and MVP races. - By Neal Pollack - Slate Magazine

Links (7)

Thursday Bullets
Published 4/17/2008 at ESPN.com - True Hoop - Blog
... of recent playoff series. Author Bill Woten writes: "It's worth noting, however, that only one eventual champion had homecourt throughout the playoffs (Spurs, 2003). The past four title winners were all forced to win at least one series that they started on the road. Curious as to why SA pushed hard to get the No. 3? Yes, they drew the Suns in the first round. But Phoenix hasn't won a single road series in five years (0-2)." Neal Pollack, brilliant and funny, speaks for those who have had enough of the MVP debate. ...

But what do you have to say about…THIS!?
Published 4/18/2008 by fynalcut at The FynalCut
... For a good majority of this week, the focus of my conversations with BabyJ has been the ridiculousness of the NBA MVP coverage. It’s come up a scary number of times. Today, a major media outlet (that we enjoy greatly) gave its take on the shitstorm. We battled the depression with Onion clips like this and this. I would say everyone’s pretty used to critiques on the media. But in one week, it couldn’t get any worse, ...

Neil Pollack Doesn’t Care About The Race For MVP
Published 4/18/2008 by GC at Can't Stop The Bleeding
... , who really gives a hoot about the Association’s battle to be named MVP of the ‘07/8 campaign? Well, seemingly everyone with a press pass writes Slate’s Neil Pollack (above, left), insisting “If stupid arguments were outlawed, then nobody would ever talk about sports, and we don’t want that to happen because then we’d have to think about our actual problems. Still, this MVP race talk is far more annoying than the typical pointless sports discussion.” ...

The Freezer for 18 April 2008
Published 4/18/2008 by D at The DCenters
... And really, we're a year ahead of the curve, as even Slate magazine has decided that the Power Poll concept is tired. Should we put power polls themseleves in the freezer. And then, couldn't you still argue that this is a power poll, just one with a goatee saying things like "Your agonizer, please." The mind boggles. ...

Stop the Madness? I Have One Word For You ...
Published 4/18/2008 at Fan Voice: Recent Topics in The Court Reporters: The NBA.com Blog
... Apr 18, 2008 Yesterday, in Slate.com, author Neal Pollack made a plea: Please stop the meaningless sports rankings, power polls, and MVP races . My response: No. Apr 18, 2008 5:22 PM EDT ...

End-of-season Basket-Blogger Rankings
Published 4/21/2008 by Crucifictorious at We Rite Goode
... ; for those new to the process, votes are compiled from roughly 20-40 blogs each round. To reveal today: Basket-bloggers' final Rookie of the Year , as well as our collective Coach of the Year and Most Improved Player picks. (Inspired by the NBA's own staggered reveal--not to mention Neal Pollack 's love for this kind of thing--we're going to stretch the results out into multiple posts. Consider yourself warned.) Let's get to it. Rookie of the Year Honorable mention: Jamario Moon, Carl Landry, Joakim Noah 5. ...

Week 9 Power Rankings, CMRP, and Weekend Pillow Fight: Let’s get meta!
Published 4/25/2008 by JM at It's Still Football
... . So imagine my surprise when I stumbled across this nugget by Neal Pollack on Slate regarding things such as weekly power rankings, mock drafts, and MVP races being signs of lazy sports writing (ironically, similar points have been made on ...