Being a huge sports fan, I am usually inclined to turn to the sports page in the Nexus first. Most of the time, I’m greeted very kindly by interesting sports articles or discussions on professional and college sports. But today when I opened the paper to the sports page to check out the discussion on the upcoming NBA Finals, I was surprised to find another article by Jesse “Byrdman” Byrd.

Now, I’ve met Jesse and rooted for him while watching our Gauchos compete. However, I was hard-pressed to find a reason why the Nexus would even let him touch pen to paper after his non-interesting, offensive and pointless “Hoes” article. That week in my girlfriend’s psych class, her professor actually asked if the Byrdman was in the class, then proceeded to break down why it was a such horrible article. It makes me question why our supposedly award-winning school newspaper turns a blind eye to good creative writing and instead lets articles like “The Great Debate” eat up large portions of a page.

I must admit that at first I thought the article was gonna be an interesting debate over whether Kobe or LeBron was a better basketball player. Instead, after reading the entire article (which was a complete was of my time) I found out that it was really a very biased article about why Kobe shouldn’t be the spokesperson for VitaminWater. Even the title itself is a lie as there is not one word written about why LeBron James should or should not be the spokesman until the very end of the article, where Byrd asks the pointless question of whether you’d pick “Kobe Bean Bryant” or a “young man who came out of the womb at 260 pounds with a full-grown goatee.”

I would have been more inclined to champion my favorite Gaucho b-ball player had he gone on to talk about Kobe’s and LeBron’s stats, or compared the teams they play for, their leadership skills and their images. Instead he skips “The Great Debate” and goes on to talk for four pointless paragraphs about how Kobe is not as good at fighting or throwing left hooks as his NBA brethren Ron Artest and Steven Jackson (both of whose teams are out of the playoffs, BTW). Then I’m forced to read a paragraph of rambling supposedly about Kobe’s persona, which doesn’t even make a whole lot of sense.

None of Byrd’s points go on to prove either Kobe or LeBron is the better spokesman for VitaminWater, but instead lead me to believe that you should drink VitaminWater if you want to go to the Rec Cen and beat the crap out of some kids playing pickup b-ball games. If I really wanted to go crack some skulls on the courts, I’d be popping open a fresh 40 oz.

So instead of talking about who has better left hooks, I’ll have my own “Great Debate.”

Kobe is playing in the Western finals. He was second in the voting for MVP at the tender age of 30 and after 12 years in the league, has multiple NBA titles and an MVP nod.

LeBron, on the other hand, is headed to the Eastern finals, won MVP at the age of 24 after a mere 5 years in the league, but still hasn’t managed to get that first NBA title.

Realistically, how can you even compare the two when there is such a large age difference between them? If you compared Kobe at 24 and LeBron at 24, that would be “The Great Debate.” But, since we are debating who would be a better spokesman for VitaminWater, wouldn’t you rather have the seasoned veteran who’s been through it all and won multiple championships than the guy who is yet to win a championship? I’ll take championships over MVP trophies any day.