FanNation

I HATE ERIC GAGNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August 10th- The Red Sox put up 5 runs in the top of the 8th after Erik Bedard shuts them down for 7+. Up 5-1, Francona puts Eric Gagne in.

 3 hits and 1 walk later the game is tied. The Sox end up losing in the bottom of the 9th.

August 12th- I was at this game. The Sox are up 3-1 with a runner on first and Miguel Tejada at the plate. Gagne enters the stadium to a chorus of boos as the Sox fans reminisce about the lost win from a few nights earlier. After replacing Okajima, Gagne immediately gives up a 2 run blast to even the game.

Thoughts on the last night's Red Sox game.

Since I live around D.C. (and am too stingy to put up the money to get mlbTV), it's rare that I get to see a Sox game. However, with the Orioles in Boston, I managed to catch the last two games on cable. There's couple of things that I observed:

- Manny's always been a terrible fielder, but he's looked gawd-awful lately. For two games in a row, on a ball that was hit to the warning track in front of the Green Monster, Manny took a step or two forward, then realized he misread the ball completely, backpedaled, and missed the ball. On Tuesday it cost the Sox 2 runs, last night it costed them 1. Manny wasn't charged with an error on either ball, but should've caught both. Corey Patterson also went from 1st to 3rd on a single hit to left field. Patterson is speedy, and was actually stealing on the play, but he completely stopped at 2nd base before going over to 3rd. If Manny's hitting the ball well, I don't mind his fielding, but he's been hitless in the past 2 games.

1. Wilt Chamberlain

Wilt Chamberlain 

MVP: 4

MVP Voting: Two 2nd place finishes, one 3rd place finish, two 4th place finishes, one 5th place finish

NBA Championships: 2

All-NBA First Team: 7 

All-NBA Second Team: 3

7 Scoring Titles, 11 Rebounding Titles, 1 Assists Title

Recently, Jordan's become the de facto choice for number 1. Most casual fans immediately proclaim MJ to be the greatest player of all time. Others allege that Wilt is the greatest of all time, but for the wrong reasons. I'll try to be as objective and impartial as possible in my analysis of why I consider Wilt to be better than Jordan, Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, and everyone else.

Wilt's put up the most dominating, and perhaps the most untouchable statistics in not only NBA history, but perhaps professional sports history. His rebounding numbers will never be surpassed. 

Most Career Rebounds 

1. Wilt Chamberlain- 23924

2. Bill Russell-  21620

3. Moses Malone- 17834

Chamberlain beats out Russell by over 2000 rebounds, and Malone by over 6000 rebounds. Incredible. Granted, there were a lot more opportunities to grab rebounds, but Chamberlain still beat out his contemporaries consistently. The only man capable of matching Wilt rebound for rebound was Russell, yet Russell only won 4 rebounding titles to Chamberlain's 10. Other than Russell though, Chamberlain towered over the competition.

Note: I chose 1959-1969  for the upcoming  comparison because it encompasses the time Russell and Chamberlain had overlapping careers

Updating and Re-ranking the NBA's 50 Greatest

In 1996, the NBA named the 50 greatest players of all time. Their list was good, but definitely not perfect. Players on the fringe, like Wes Unseld, Bill Sharman, and Dave Bing were part of the panel that determined the list. Oops. Granted, no player was able to vote for himself, but the presence of a fringe player on the panel probably influenced the rest of the panel slightly. Not so surprisingly, Bing, Sharman, and Unseld made the list.