Really real

Here is the promised anti-BG rant, which I've noticed is not as unpopular a position as I thought it would be given his play during the Celtics series. Two notes before I get into that, I think Tris's response about the Kenny Smith quote is perfectly fair, especially because it was a personal reaction and I didn't see the segment in question, I was thinking more along the lines of how to appropriately label the series or any exciting sporting event like that and how they are incredibly fun and exciting especially if your favorite team is involved but that like most of life they are best causally explained as the result of playing the same game over and over, eventually cool things will happen and in the case of average to good players are more often the result of luck instead of whatever happens to particularly gifted athletes when they "step their game up" through increased focus or will power or whatever. I think Ben Gordon and Ray Allen, Rondo, and Rose qualify as "step their game up" type players, but Brad Miller getting deadly behind the arc and Tyrus and Big Baby hitting 18-footers, anything Eddie House or Scalabrine did, falls more into the sheer random luck category and those things are often diminished or overlooked in the immediate aftermath of such an emotionally exciting event like Bulls-C's. I think the Warriors-Mavs series is a great comparison because it had many more genetically freakish talents capable of athletic feats most people sprain an ankle dreaming about and less flukish type occurances and a collaborative coaching effort seemingly dedicated to producing games with Maximal Overtimes. Ok that was more than I wanted to say about that and it's more of a separate issue so I'll leave it for now.
The second thing was about Louis' post, which was a fantastic idea btw, and all solid picks, but I think taking Goliath over Abe at the 5 was a mistake, for a few reasons. One, ignoring for a moment the inconclusive evidence about whether he actually existed, historical measurements are notoriously nonstandard (and other translations put him at a more realistic 6'9" but most biblical scholars agree the story is largely allegorical) and if he was in fact the tallest person who ever lived I think the NBA has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that as height (and weight, ie Shaq) increases after a certain threshold, the physical toll of playing 35-40 minutes of high-level basketball has a significantly limiting effect on whether a given person can even participate without serious and long-term injury risks. We know Abe was physically adept (wrestling) and there are established benefits to having ugly people on your team. Ok now I'm splitting this up and making the BG thing its own post.