Sports: Unselfish Team Player Wins MVP

Another Worthy Role Model

I rarely talk about sports celebrities to applaud their numbers or accomplishments. If you're a fan of such-and-such a sport, you already know that so-and-so broke such-and-such a record; and if you're not a fan, then you don't care. When I talk about sports celebrities, it's to either commend or condemn something less numerical, such as their behavior.

After being traded to the Phoenix Suns, Steve Nash won the MVP award for the 2004-2005 NBA season, which is currently in the second round of the playoffs. But he's not the Most Valuable Player because he hogs the ball and scores all the points. In fact, he's quite the opposite of, say, Shaquille O'Neal, who came in second. His average points per game wasn't all that impressive, but he had a great amount of assists. He's a team player. And it paid off, too. The Suns went from winning a sad 29 games last season to a league-best 62.

Nash invited his whole team up to the podium to accept the MVP trophy. He said, "I really just want to share this with my teammates. This has been an incredible year for me and for our team..." (and other subsequent, unselfish phrases) Nothing like the Eagle's wide receiver Freddie Mitchell, who thanked his hands for being so great and dissed the Patriots secondary the week before they beat him in the Super Bowl (Mitchell, incidentally, has been released, according to SportsCenter). Nope. Nash seems to be a nice celebrity.

In football season, we have Peyton Manning, who broke the NFL touchdown pass record and said he didn't really care about the record and was more concerned with getting them into the playoffs. (see " Sports: Manning (Humbly) Breaks Record," Dec. 27, 2004) And now we have a worthy role model for basketball season: Steve Nash.

Steve, thanks for proving that professional sports isn't all about money and fame. And good luck in the playoffs, especially if you happen to face Duncan and Ginobili and the San Antonio Spurs.

Edmond the Hun