Student Chosen Topic #3 Andrew Ours

 When I talk to my Dad on the phone, after we go through the normal topics of “How was your day?” Do you need anything?” Etc. the conversation always moves to sports. As we talked to my Dad about the NBA MVP race, we discussed why narratives have always consumed who got the MVP each year. I commented that it seems to me that the Most Valuable Player should be a player who quite literally is invaluable to their team, that carries that team to greater heights because of their play. However, it seems that it never happens that way. One reason that narratives are ever present in the race is because of who selects the MVP: reporters. From a journalistic perspective, why would they select a player like Lebron James to be the MVP every year, which would be quite boring for the fans and for the NBA popularity. Rather, they select someone like Russell Westbrook in the season after his best friend and teammate Kevin Durant left the team for the rival Golden State Warriors. Although he did average a Triple Double for the year, his team was the seventh seed in the Western Conference, the only time a player was selected for MVP not being in the top-3 seeds in their conference. The narrative of betrayal made for great a great story, and Westbrook would not be denied the MVP. Narrative will always impact sports because without the audience, sports would be nothing more than the sport itself. For better or for worse, it is here to stay. 

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