Professional Sports

I don't know that we'd be able to use the evidence below, the way this issue is currently worded. It's very specific - "necessary to make the playoffs"

If a player's team doesn't make the postseason, should he or she be excluded from the league's MVP consideration?

Fox Sports

 Valuable means having great use or service, in other words the Most Valuable Player is the one whose service was the greatest for his team, and in the world of sports, greatness is determined by winning.

 

There are intangibles, in addition to statistics, that should be considered in determining an MVP, and a key element is that a player helps his team into a contending status.

 

Closing thoughts

 

For anybody who questions just how valuable Brad Lidge was in Philadelphia, ask the Mets and Diamondbacks how much their lack of a dependable closer down the stretch played into their fading from the postseason races in the final weeks.

approving...

Ny Times

“He seems to me a Hall of Fame lock now,” said Joe Posnanski of The Kansas City Star. “In fact, I had no idea that his numbers were as similar to Juan Marichal’s as they are.”

Mark Feinsand of NY Daily News

Mussina is going out on a high note, having just won 20 games for the first time this past season. He is the first pitcher since Sandy Koufax in 1967 to retire following a 20-win season, but where Koufax retired due to physical problems, Mussina chose to go out on his own terms.

We’ll have to wait five years for an answer on whether Mussina’s career is worthy of the Hall of Fame, but I think it is. He finishes 270-153, just the 21st pitcher to go more than 100 games over .500. Of the other 20, 16 are in the Hall and the other four - Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine - aren’t yet eligible.

Chris Mottram of Sporting News

Despite the fact the O’s fan inside of me will never forgive him for going to the Yankees, I think he’s definitely a Hall of Famer, as you can tell from my weak case against. The numbers are there, the longevity is there and the spans of domination as an ace are there. He may not be a first ballot guy, but at some point, he’ll be in Cooperstown

Recently retired Mussina, like Schilling, is an interesting case.

Of his contemporaries, only Glavine, Clemens, Maddux and Pedro have a better career winning percentage. At 270-152 lifetime, he has more than 100 wins than losses and no player in baseball history has ever been denied the Hall of Fame with such numbers.

However, he has never won a Cy Young, has never won a World Series and won 20 only games only once ... in his final year.

Ian Thomsen

The 2007-08 Celtics are my Sportsmen of the Year because they embraced the least respected and most valuable quality of NBA millionaires: humility.

I would think he's clearly the favorite; award is announced Dec. 2. Perhaps we want to compile a list of candidates and reword to "who should win??"

Here's Peter King's take 

I  realize it's presumptuous, because the sport I cover is football, and I've never met Kevin Garnett or Michael Phelps or any of the other great Olympians from a starry year. I can't sit in judgment of all of the candidates, because I don't know them or their cases for the Sportsman of the Year award. But I can stand on a soap box and argue for Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner with the same fervor I did a year ago for Brett Favre when he won the award.
 

Kostya Kennedy

What makes Niklas Lidstrom so Sportsman-like is, well, his sportsmanship: his humility, his professionalism. He is intuitive on the ice and equally so in the locker room. Earlier this year Babcock told me that he had never coached player this good. "In what way?" I asked. Replied Babcock: "In any way you can think of

Chris Ballard

So when it comes to Sportsman talk, no, Tiger is no great humanitarian. Neither has he taken advantage of his clout -- would there have been an easier, more natural move for a guy like Woods than endorsing Obama this year? And no, he didn't set records like Phelps did. But what Woods did give us was one of the most indelible sports moments of recent history, followed by a reminder of why, more than ever, he matters. For that, he is my 2008 Sportsman of the Year

I think you're being too picky. We're not going to lose pf evidence and it's common for someone to say "I played for the 2008 World Series Champions" for instance, even though they may not have played in one game.