The Kobe Bryant Manifesto
The Facebook Migration Series, Volume V
Originally written October 6, 2009
Last night, I was doing the proverbial kicking with some of my boys at an undisclosed location in Manhattan Beach. This is customary during football season, in which we get together to watch some Monday Night Football while gorging on food Claire Huxtable would not approve of and wolfing down some Newcastle. During one of the many annoying commercial breaks, we saw the promo for NBA 2K10 (I guess that's what it's called). The commercial is actually pretty sweet. Kobe Bryant is apparently the cover man for the game. Bryant, in the commercial, has the ball in the back court. This is all animated, of course. While he dribbles up, he is faced with getting by all the superstars in the league. They are all trying to take the ball from him while Bryant eludes them. All the while Rakim's "Don't Sweat the Technique" is playing in the background. The sample on that track is sick, and this back in the mid 80s. Anyhow, Bryant finally gets near the basket, and under the basket waiting for him is all the league's stars staring him down waiting for him to make his next move. So, since Kobe is the best player on the best team, it is up to the rest of the league to catch him and confiscate his title, the theme of the commercial.
As we watched the commercial, we were hooting and hollering at Kobe as if it were a real game. We were laughing at the same time, because we knew we were being ridiculous too. Look, I told you we were wolfing down some Newcastle, what can I say? Nonetheless, the commercial got me thinking about the superstar. Bryant is one of the generation's most polarizing players, and maybe one of the most polarizing players ever. There are three sides to this, those that love him, those that are ambivalent, and those that wishes everything short of death to him. Most people fall in the polar ends of the spectrum, meaning they either hate him or love him. Why in the world would anyone hate Kobe Bryant? Here, I will discuss why he is hated and why he should not be hated at all. Sure you can root against him when he is up against your team, but hate him? I will show you how ludicrous people who hate Kobe Bryant are.
First and foremost, I must say that I have been, literally, a lifelong Laker fan. My father tells me the story about how Magic Johnson once touched the baby Christopher as he was on his way into the Fabulous Forum. I guess that Magic touch made me a lifetime fan. I will probably come off to most as absolutely biased. While that may appear so, I will tell you the truth about everything. I am not trying to justify the way Bryant is, I am trying to show why he should not be hated as much as he is.
We have to realize that Kobe is a different cat. He did not have the typical upbringing. His father played in Italy professionally, thus, Bryant spent a significant amount of his childhood as an Italian. He grew in that culture, spoke the language, ate the food, and probably got his first female action from an Italian girl, I'm just saying. Later on in life, by the time he entered high school, his father, and subsequently his family, moved back to the United States to the Philadelphia area. When he got to high school, that is when Kobe started to blossom into what he is today. He went on to be an absolute phenom in high school. The funniest Bryant story I ever heard comes from ESPN Analyst, Tim "Legs" Legler. He was on the Colin Cowherd radio show talking about Bryant. Legs tells Cowherd about when he went to play some pick up ball during the off-season at Temple University in Philly. He said he walked into the gym and saw some the guys playing. Some were college guys and there were a few pros there with Eddie Jones being one of them. Legs sees this guy absolutely going to work on Eddie Jones. He said that he was just killing people on the court. So, Legs went up to one of the guys on the sidelines and asked about the guy that was killing everyone. "Who is that? Is that like some college dude or something?" If this guy were in the NBA, Legs would have known. One of the guys very calmly responded and said, "Nah, that Kobe Bryant. He's 15." This story cracks me up.
Bryant would go on to be a stand out player, but this would not ease the pain of being lost among his peers. Growing up in Italy for some time make him sort of an outsider. He did not fit in perfectly with his peers in the US. He also grew up in a more suburban area of Philadelphia, so by some crowds, he was lacking this street cred, whatever that means, which is important in urban areas such as Illadelphia, as the Roots would say. Here at a teenager, he is already in conflict with society. He's part Italian and part American, but he was never really wholly anything, according to the outsiders in his life.
Kobe's next decision would help his haters' cause. At the time, he became the youngest player ever drafted at 17. It was not until that August when he would become 18. You have to remember that this was before leaping over college was the norm. Kevin Garnett was the only successful college leaper in the NBA at that time. Bryant now has the task of being a pro at age 17. He is in the locker room with grown men who were not used to the idea of having adolescents in their locker room. Because of this, things did not go over smoothly. He was looked down upon by his teammates, because he could not relate to them as much. He was a 18 year old young black man who grew up in Italy for half his life. Since many players made the jump since then, looker rooms have become more tolerant of adolescents invading their territory. Kobe entered when there was no idea about how to handle these situations.
Bryant would go on to flourish, but not without his shortcommings. There were many times in which he was out of control, and struggled to find his way in the league. However, these shortcomming were just opportunities to get better. Who can't forget those consecutive air balls against the Utah Jazz in the playoffs when the Lakers were swept out of the playoffs? Painful. But what superstar didn't fail in his early years at times, besides Tom Brady? Through his failings, you could see his potential. He got after it, he played very hard, and improved dramatically every year. Can somebody start to tell me where he is becoming a unlikable player and person?
Ok. So, the Lakers decided to bring on Shaquille O'neal. From the moment Jerry West pulled the trigger on O'neal, we all knew it was inevitable for the Lakers to win it all. However, even with Shaq, the Lakers still had their trials. The were easily defeated in the playoffs by the Jazz and Spurs. This is when they brought along the retired Phil Jackson, leader of the Bulls dynasty of the 1990s. As they say, the rest is history. The Lakers would go on to 3-peat, as they say. Winning championships masked what was going on beneath the surface. There was underlying turmoil, years after they won their third title with Jackson. Things fell apart and the team was broken up. From this point on, the Kobe venom took an exponential leap.
Here is where I get to spike down all of these reasons why Kobe is so hated. I hear them all the time, and none of it makes sense.
Kobe Bryant is aloof. People complain that he is to himself, and not as "likable" as a Shaq or commercialized like Mike. How can you blame him for wanting to be to himself. For one, just because he does not blast himself all over the media does not mean he is aloof. Nobody, in terms of the people reading this and the rest of the basketball fans out there, really knows him. Also, he is to himself by nature. Look at his upbringing. He was really fully Italian, and he was not really accepted wholly by the city of "Brotherly Love," ironically. I forget if he was getting the all-star mvp or whatever, but when he got his award, he was lustfully booed by his own city. Think about that. A man that did absolutely nothing to anyone but play ball, gets booed by his own hometown. We as a society have told Kobe to stay to himself, because we do not fully accept him. He was shunned by his teammates once he got into the league, he, along with Garnett and Jermaine O'neal, were the only high school draftees at a time when that was not common, removed from his home Italy, shunned by Philly, and hated by many fans across the country for reasons that are invalid and, frankly, unjust. Besides, if you talk to people within the league now, they will tell you that they are cool with Kobe. The LeBrons and the Wades look up to him as big brother. Ric Bucher of ESPN talks about how Kobe talks to and is friends with many people in the league, especially Carmelo Anthony. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Kobe was revered by his USA teammates. The whole Kobe is aloof this is nonsensical.
Kobe Bryant is a ballhog. This is good too. For starters, Kobe Bryant was drafted as a shooting guard. Enough said. I will be the first to admit that sometimes he can take some ill-advised shots. However, though, these are considered bad shots when they do not go in, but spectacular when they do. Also, it is in his competitive nature that no shot is impossible to make, so this could get him into trouble at times. What is interesting is that Kobe is the only player in the league to get this label. Allen Iverson is my dog, and I really do have his back when he gets criticized for certain things (though there are other times in which he deserves the criticism). With that being said, he is a huge ballhog, if we are going to throw that label out there. He continuously over dribbles and hardly ever passes up a shot. I'm not mad at him though. He was usually the only player on a team full of garbage. He had to shoot his tail off. And when is someone going to get on Chauncey Billups with his ridiculous shot selection! I have continuously seen him jack up wild shots and let teams back into games. Not a whisper from anyone. The fact is that Kobe is a great shooting guard who believes he cannot miss a shot, just like ALL players in the league, well except Eric Dampier. When he score 81 freaking points, all people could do was just say well he was a ballhog. This was when the Lakers were garbage. They had something called a Smush Parker as their starting point guard. Enough said. That game against the Raptors I saw in its entirety. The Lakers stunk, and were down by as many at 18, I believe. Kobe, being the competitor that he is, had enough. He just decided to take over. He simply could not miss. I saw every shot he took. It was, whether or not you want to believe this, totally within the context of the game. The Raptors just did not play any defense. He also shot 28 of 46 from the field! That is a percentage of just under 61! Are you kidding me? Guards shooting over 60% from the field is great. He did this shooting 46 times during an NBA game. That is insane. If anyone else did the exact same thing, would we call him a ballhog? Funny, Wilt still evades that label.
Kobe got rid of Shaq. This argument from Kobe misanthropes is probably the most ridiculous of the ridiculous. First, Kobe does not sign checks, and he does not make front office decisions. Getting rid of Shaq came from the top. People from the outside takes the perspective of Shaq being the angel, and Kobe being the devil. This was so far from the case. Kobe and Shaq, though great together, are opposite personalities. Shaq is the more casual fun-living persona while Kobe was the hard working over-achieving type. It is well documented how Shaq would come into camp not in the best of shape and overweight while not improving his free throw percentage over his years. Kobe came in to camp year after year ready to kill. While Shaq benefits from this playful nature, it eventually forced the Laker MANAGEMENT to say enough. Who can forget when Shaq utterly and inexplicably refused to get surgery on his toe during the off-season and waited until camp started, saying "I'll get surgery on company time, not my time." Are you serious! And everybody let that fly for some reason. The true reality is that two superegos clashed rather than Kobe dismantling the team. Shaq even admitted that the Lakers went with Kobe who was the more reliable, young franchise player rather than the overweight, thus overpriced Shaq. Shaq thought he was proving a point in his favor by going to Miami and losing all that weight. Remember that? He actually proved the Lakers right. Kobe is intrinsically motivated while Shaq is extrinsically motivated. Shaq never came into camp in shape like that with LA. He waited until he was traded go get himself in shape as to say "I'll show you, Jerry Bus." Is that not a slap in the face to the Lakers and its fans? I sure think so. As usual, Shaq get a pass while Kobe takes all the heat. Shaq proved to be childish at times with his antics while Kobe was the grown up. Kobe did not ruin the Laker dynasty. The Lakers, including management, Kobe, and Shaq, ruined the Laker dynasty, not Kobe alone. I also want to say that I am a Shaq fan too. The man takes an ridiculous beating every night and does not complain. I got much love for him, but he is flawed just like all superstars can be, including Kobe. I just wish Shaq could have actually had some kind of decent competition at center during his prime and late years as opposed to Greg Ostertag and Michael Olowokandi.
Kobe Bryant is arrogant. Yet more ridiculousness from Kobe haters. When you are the best at something, you are going to be arrogant. It is easy for us to call anyone arrogant, because none of us are the best in the world at anything. Just take a look around. Shaq calls himself the Big Aristotle! We all would say he is playing, but he believes he is the big dawg in the league. Guess what? He is really. No center has even come close to challenging him outside of Hakeem Olajuwon. So, Shaq's arrogance is warranted. Shaq's arrogance sat wrong with me when he automatically called Kobe Robin while calling himself Batman. Lets look at this. Robin is the true hero when you think about it. Batman would leap into a situation and be close to defeat. Out of nowhere, Robin shows up and saves Batman, and thus, saving Gotham. Shaq, though great, was a huge liability at times in the 4th quarter due to his bad free throw shooting. The 4th quarter, the clutch, was Kobe's time to take over. There were times where Shaq was more of a defensive and rebounding presence while Kobe closed. In life, being the closer is where it's at! Getting the girl, getting the job, making the sale, is all about closing. Take a look at Mariano Rivera. Kobe was the closer for the Laker dynasty. He made the plays to close the game or make the great comeback. Shaq needed Kobe, as he did with Wade, just as much as Kobe needed Shaq. They were a team, they all needed each other. Rick Fox was needed. D-Fish was needed. Brian Shaw, Big Shot Bob, they were all needed. Shaq's arrogance led him to call Kobe a mere Robin. That was not cool. They should have been Batman and Superman. Kobe will come off as arrogant naturally because he is great. Did anyone watch Michael Jordan at all? Did you see his speech for the hall of fame? Mike could be the poster child for arrogance if he were to apply for it. He basically called up the guy who got the last spot on his high school varsity team to basically embarrass him for his own glory. He punched teammates in practice. He shunned any media type that did not $%$@ his #^&!@. Jordan was not very humble to say the least, but he did not have to be, because he was the greatest at his craft. If Kobe would have did what LeBron did after he lost to the Magic, Kobe would have been killed. LeBron was criticized a little in the media, but they and the fans backed off immediately. I will ask again, why does Kobe deserve this sentiment?
What about the Colorado incident? Kobe is a rich professional athlete that had sex with someone other than his wife. And? Not that I am all for infidelity, but how many rich males do think actually stay faithful their whole lives? Enough said. Also, if Kobe is a vicious rapists, why didn't the accuser do everything to pursue the criminal case to get Kobe off the streets? She sure as hell went after the civil suit though. I don't claim to know the truth, but I'm just saying.
I hate Kobe because he tries to be Jordan. So what? ALL players aspire to be like the players they adored since we were young. Would you agree that Jordan, as a basketball player, and not a man, would be a good person to pattern your game after? Exactly. Two, don't you think that Jordan learned a few things from players he watched? You don't see glimpses of Dr. J, George Gerving, or David Thompson in his game. Was Jordan the first to dunk from the free throw line? I did not think so. In life, we all draw inspiration from those that have done it before us. We take on things from many sources were we see fit, and create our own identity. I'm sure Jordan was one of the players Kobe learned from as a youth, but he still carved out his own style. He is a better shooter than Mike, and this is something even Phil Jackson said with no doubt. I did not see Jordan shooting left handed, contested jumpers during live games! Sick. Kobe's offensive repertoire, I would argue, is greater than Mike's. This does not mean I am saying Kobe is a better player than Mike. I will not argue about who is the better player. Those arguments are ridiculous anyhow. Nobody could possibly determine who's best when you have to cross eras. However, Kobe, whether you like it or not, is comparable to Jordan just like LeBron will probably be as well when its all said and done. Get over it.
This whole Kobe hatred is really sad. We as a nation should be hating on things that are really deserving. Hating on Kobe is bogus any how. Think about it. If someone really dislikes something or someone so much, why would they waste any thought on this thing or person? Hate requires an emotional attachment. I'd like to say that hate is nothing more than misplaced love. Kobe is like one of those middle class suburban guys that goes into the inner city and whoops everyone there. That can rub folks the wrong way too. If you are a hater of Kobe, you still are a Kobe fan in truth. You may be rooting against him, but you are still rooting. Why the hatred? He is only one of the best players to ever touch a basketball. I know I was probably the only one that actually liked "Kobe Doin' Work," because I like seeing the science behind an actual NBA game. I found it very interesting, but then I am a nerd. Anyhow, you just saw how much of a student of the game he was. He was constantly getting on guys about everything from how to defend a certain player to how to run the correct offense in a given situation. We was speaking Spanish to Gasol, and Italian to Vujacic. What is there to hate? If you had kids that played basketball, wouldn't you want them to be similar to Kobe? I would think so. We are living in a time where we have Peyton Manning, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, Ray Lewis, LeBron, Shaq, D-Wade, Roger Federer, Raphael Nadal, Alex Rodriguez, Kobe Bryant, among other. We should be able to sit back and watch Kobe, one of the greatest athletes of all times in any sport, give us spectacular entertainment. Lets enjoy this NBA season, well the part that is on once football season is over (LOL).
Originally written October 6, 2009
As we watched the commercial, we were hooting and hollering at Kobe as if it were a real game. We were laughing at the same time, because we knew we were being ridiculous too. Look, I told you we were wolfing down some Newcastle, what can I say? Nonetheless, the commercial got me thinking about the superstar. Bryant is one of the generation's most polarizing players, and maybe one of the most polarizing players ever. There are three sides to this, those that love him, those that are ambivalent, and those that wishes everything short of death to him. Most people fall in the polar ends of the spectrum, meaning they either hate him or love him. Why in the world would anyone hate Kobe Bryant? Here, I will discuss why he is hated and why he should not be hated at all. Sure you can root against him when he is up against your team, but hate him? I will show you how ludicrous people who hate Kobe Bryant are.
First and foremost, I must say that I have been, literally, a lifelong Laker fan. My father tells me the story about how Magic Johnson once touched the baby Christopher as he was on his way into the Fabulous Forum. I guess that Magic touch made me a lifetime fan. I will probably come off to most as absolutely biased. While that may appear so, I will tell you the truth about everything. I am not trying to justify the way Bryant is, I am trying to show why he should not be hated as much as he is.
We have to realize that Kobe is a different cat. He did not have the typical upbringing. His father played in Italy professionally, thus, Bryant spent a significant amount of his childhood as an Italian. He grew in that culture, spoke the language, ate the food, and probably got his first female action from an Italian girl, I'm just saying. Later on in life, by the time he entered high school, his father, and subsequently his family, moved back to the United States to the Philadelphia area. When he got to high school, that is when Kobe started to blossom into what he is today. He went on to be an absolute phenom in high school. The funniest Bryant story I ever heard comes from ESPN Analyst, Tim "Legs" Legler. He was on the Colin Cowherd radio show talking about Bryant. Legs tells Cowherd about when he went to play some pick up ball during the off-season at Temple University in Philly. He said he walked into the gym and saw some the guys playing. Some were college guys and there were a few pros there with Eddie Jones being one of them. Legs sees this guy absolutely going to work on Eddie Jones. He said that he was just killing people on the court. So, Legs went up to one of the guys on the sidelines and asked about the guy that was killing everyone. "Who is that? Is that like some college dude or something?" If this guy were in the NBA, Legs would have known. One of the guys very calmly responded and said, "Nah, that Kobe Bryant. He's 15." This story cracks me up.
Bryant would go on to be a stand out player, but this would not ease the pain of being lost among his peers. Growing up in Italy for some time make him sort of an outsider. He did not fit in perfectly with his peers in the US. He also grew up in a more suburban area of Philadelphia, so by some crowds, he was lacking this street cred, whatever that means, which is important in urban areas such as Illadelphia, as the Roots would say. Here at a teenager, he is already in conflict with society. He's part Italian and part American, but he was never really wholly anything, according to the outsiders in his life.
Kobe's next decision would help his haters' cause. At the time, he became the youngest player ever drafted at 17. It was not until that August when he would become 18. You have to remember that this was before leaping over college was the norm. Kevin Garnett was the only successful college leaper in the NBA at that time. Bryant now has the task of being a pro at age 17. He is in the locker room with grown men who were not used to the idea of having adolescents in their locker room. Because of this, things did not go over smoothly. He was looked down upon by his teammates, because he could not relate to them as much. He was a 18 year old young black man who grew up in Italy for half his life. Since many players made the jump since then, looker rooms have become more tolerant of adolescents invading their territory. Kobe entered when there was no idea about how to handle these situations.
Bryant would go on to flourish, but not without his shortcommings. There were many times in which he was out of control, and struggled to find his way in the league. However, these shortcomming were just opportunities to get better. Who can't forget those consecutive air balls against the Utah Jazz in the playoffs when the Lakers were swept out of the playoffs? Painful. But what superstar didn't fail in his early years at times, besides Tom Brady? Through his failings, you could see his potential. He got after it, he played very hard, and improved dramatically every year. Can somebody start to tell me where he is becoming a unlikable player and person?
Ok. So, the Lakers decided to bring on Shaquille O'neal. From the moment Jerry West pulled the trigger on O'neal, we all knew it was inevitable for the Lakers to win it all. However, even with Shaq, the Lakers still had their trials. The were easily defeated in the playoffs by the Jazz and Spurs. This is when they brought along the retired Phil Jackson, leader of the Bulls dynasty of the 1990s. As they say, the rest is history. The Lakers would go on to 3-peat, as they say. Winning championships masked what was going on beneath the surface. There was underlying turmoil, years after they won their third title with Jackson. Things fell apart and the team was broken up. From this point on, the Kobe venom took an exponential leap.
Here is where I get to spike down all of these reasons why Kobe is so hated. I hear them all the time, and none of it makes sense.
Kobe Bryant is aloof. People complain that he is to himself, and not as "likable" as a Shaq or commercialized like Mike. How can you blame him for wanting to be to himself. For one, just because he does not blast himself all over the media does not mean he is aloof. Nobody, in terms of the people reading this and the rest of the basketball fans out there, really knows him. Also, he is to himself by nature. Look at his upbringing. He was really fully Italian, and he was not really accepted wholly by the city of "Brotherly Love," ironically. I forget if he was getting the all-star mvp or whatever, but when he got his award, he was lustfully booed by his own city. Think about that. A man that did absolutely nothing to anyone but play ball, gets booed by his own hometown. We as a society have told Kobe to stay to himself, because we do not fully accept him. He was shunned by his teammates once he got into the league, he, along with Garnett and Jermaine O'neal, were the only high school draftees at a time when that was not common, removed from his home Italy, shunned by Philly, and hated by many fans across the country for reasons that are invalid and, frankly, unjust. Besides, if you talk to people within the league now, they will tell you that they are cool with Kobe. The LeBrons and the Wades look up to him as big brother. Ric Bucher of ESPN talks about how Kobe talks to and is friends with many people in the league, especially Carmelo Anthony. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Kobe was revered by his USA teammates. The whole Kobe is aloof this is nonsensical.
Kobe Bryant is a ballhog. This is good too. For starters, Kobe Bryant was drafted as a shooting guard. Enough said. I will be the first to admit that sometimes he can take some ill-advised shots. However, though, these are considered bad shots when they do not go in, but spectacular when they do. Also, it is in his competitive nature that no shot is impossible to make, so this could get him into trouble at times. What is interesting is that Kobe is the only player in the league to get this label. Allen Iverson is my dog, and I really do have his back when he gets criticized for certain things (though there are other times in which he deserves the criticism). With that being said, he is a huge ballhog, if we are going to throw that label out there. He continuously over dribbles and hardly ever passes up a shot. I'm not mad at him though. He was usually the only player on a team full of garbage. He had to shoot his tail off. And when is someone going to get on Chauncey Billups with his ridiculous shot selection! I have continuously seen him jack up wild shots and let teams back into games. Not a whisper from anyone. The fact is that Kobe is a great shooting guard who believes he cannot miss a shot, just like ALL players in the league, well except Eric Dampier. When he score 81 freaking points, all people could do was just say well he was a ballhog. This was when the Lakers were garbage. They had something called a Smush Parker as their starting point guard. Enough said. That game against the Raptors I saw in its entirety. The Lakers stunk, and were down by as many at 18, I believe. Kobe, being the competitor that he is, had enough. He just decided to take over. He simply could not miss. I saw every shot he took. It was, whether or not you want to believe this, totally within the context of the game. The Raptors just did not play any defense. He also shot 28 of 46 from the field! That is a percentage of just under 61! Are you kidding me? Guards shooting over 60% from the field is great. He did this shooting 46 times during an NBA game. That is insane. If anyone else did the exact same thing, would we call him a ballhog? Funny, Wilt still evades that label.
Kobe got rid of Shaq. This argument from Kobe misanthropes is probably the most ridiculous of the ridiculous. First, Kobe does not sign checks, and he does not make front office decisions. Getting rid of Shaq came from the top. People from the outside takes the perspective of Shaq being the angel, and Kobe being the devil. This was so far from the case. Kobe and Shaq, though great together, are opposite personalities. Shaq is the more casual fun-living persona while Kobe was the hard working over-achieving type. It is well documented how Shaq would come into camp not in the best of shape and overweight while not improving his free throw percentage over his years. Kobe came in to camp year after year ready to kill. While Shaq benefits from this playful nature, it eventually forced the Laker MANAGEMENT to say enough. Who can forget when Shaq utterly and inexplicably refused to get surgery on his toe during the off-season and waited until camp started, saying "I'll get surgery on company time, not my time." Are you serious! And everybody let that fly for some reason. The true reality is that two superegos clashed rather than Kobe dismantling the team. Shaq even admitted that the Lakers went with Kobe who was the more reliable, young franchise player rather than the overweight, thus overpriced Shaq. Shaq thought he was proving a point in his favor by going to Miami and losing all that weight. Remember that? He actually proved the Lakers right. Kobe is intrinsically motivated while Shaq is extrinsically motivated. Shaq never came into camp in shape like that with LA. He waited until he was traded go get himself in shape as to say "I'll show you, Jerry Bus." Is that not a slap in the face to the Lakers and its fans? I sure think so. As usual, Shaq get a pass while Kobe takes all the heat. Shaq proved to be childish at times with his antics while Kobe was the grown up. Kobe did not ruin the Laker dynasty. The Lakers, including management, Kobe, and Shaq, ruined the Laker dynasty, not Kobe alone. I also want to say that I am a Shaq fan too. The man takes an ridiculous beating every night and does not complain. I got much love for him, but he is flawed just like all superstars can be, including Kobe. I just wish Shaq could have actually had some kind of decent competition at center during his prime and late years as opposed to Greg Ostertag and Michael Olowokandi.
Kobe Bryant is arrogant. Yet more ridiculousness from Kobe haters. When you are the best at something, you are going to be arrogant. It is easy for us to call anyone arrogant, because none of us are the best in the world at anything. Just take a look around. Shaq calls himself the Big Aristotle! We all would say he is playing, but he believes he is the big dawg in the league. Guess what? He is really. No center has even come close to challenging him outside of Hakeem Olajuwon. So, Shaq's arrogance is warranted. Shaq's arrogance sat wrong with me when he automatically called Kobe Robin while calling himself Batman. Lets look at this. Robin is the true hero when you think about it. Batman would leap into a situation and be close to defeat. Out of nowhere, Robin shows up and saves Batman, and thus, saving Gotham. Shaq, though great, was a huge liability at times in the 4th quarter due to his bad free throw shooting. The 4th quarter, the clutch, was Kobe's time to take over. There were times where Shaq was more of a defensive and rebounding presence while Kobe closed. In life, being the closer is where it's at! Getting the girl, getting the job, making the sale, is all about closing. Take a look at Mariano Rivera. Kobe was the closer for the Laker dynasty. He made the plays to close the game or make the great comeback. Shaq needed Kobe, as he did with Wade, just as much as Kobe needed Shaq. They were a team, they all needed each other. Rick Fox was needed. D-Fish was needed. Brian Shaw, Big Shot Bob, they were all needed. Shaq's arrogance led him to call Kobe a mere Robin. That was not cool. They should have been Batman and Superman. Kobe will come off as arrogant naturally because he is great. Did anyone watch Michael Jordan at all? Did you see his speech for the hall of fame? Mike could be the poster child for arrogance if he were to apply for it. He basically called up the guy who got the last spot on his high school varsity team to basically embarrass him for his own glory. He punched teammates in practice. He shunned any media type that did not $%$@ his #^&!@. Jordan was not very humble to say the least, but he did not have to be, because he was the greatest at his craft. If Kobe would have did what LeBron did after he lost to the Magic, Kobe would have been killed. LeBron was criticized a little in the media, but they and the fans backed off immediately. I will ask again, why does Kobe deserve this sentiment?
What about the Colorado incident? Kobe is a rich professional athlete that had sex with someone other than his wife. And? Not that I am all for infidelity, but how many rich males do think actually stay faithful their whole lives? Enough said. Also, if Kobe is a vicious rapists, why didn't the accuser do everything to pursue the criminal case to get Kobe off the streets? She sure as hell went after the civil suit though. I don't claim to know the truth, but I'm just saying.
I hate Kobe because he tries to be Jordan. So what? ALL players aspire to be like the players they adored since we were young. Would you agree that Jordan, as a basketball player, and not a man, would be a good person to pattern your game after? Exactly. Two, don't you think that Jordan learned a few things from players he watched? You don't see glimpses of Dr. J, George Gerving, or David Thompson in his game. Was Jordan the first to dunk from the free throw line? I did not think so. In life, we all draw inspiration from those that have done it before us. We take on things from many sources were we see fit, and create our own identity. I'm sure Jordan was one of the players Kobe learned from as a youth, but he still carved out his own style. He is a better shooter than Mike, and this is something even Phil Jackson said with no doubt. I did not see Jordan shooting left handed, contested jumpers during live games! Sick. Kobe's offensive repertoire, I would argue, is greater than Mike's. This does not mean I am saying Kobe is a better player than Mike. I will not argue about who is the better player. Those arguments are ridiculous anyhow. Nobody could possibly determine who's best when you have to cross eras. However, Kobe, whether you like it or not, is comparable to Jordan just like LeBron will probably be as well when its all said and done. Get over it.
This whole Kobe hatred is really sad. We as a nation should be hating on things that are really deserving. Hating on Kobe is bogus any how. Think about it. If someone really dislikes something or someone so much, why would they waste any thought on this thing or person? Hate requires an emotional attachment. I'd like to say that hate is nothing more than misplaced love. Kobe is like one of those middle class suburban guys that goes into the inner city and whoops everyone there. That can rub folks the wrong way too. If you are a hater of Kobe, you still are a Kobe fan in truth. You may be rooting against him, but you are still rooting. Why the hatred? He is only one of the best players to ever touch a basketball. I know I was probably the only one that actually liked "Kobe Doin' Work," because I like seeing the science behind an actual NBA game. I found it very interesting, but then I am a nerd. Anyhow, you just saw how much of a student of the game he was. He was constantly getting on guys about everything from how to defend a certain player to how to run the correct offense in a given situation. We was speaking Spanish to Gasol, and Italian to Vujacic. What is there to hate? If you had kids that played basketball, wouldn't you want them to be similar to Kobe? I would think so. We are living in a time where we have Peyton Manning, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, Ray Lewis, LeBron, Shaq, D-Wade, Roger Federer, Raphael Nadal, Alex Rodriguez, Kobe Bryant, among other. We should be able to sit back and watch Kobe, one of the greatest athletes of all times in any sport, give us spectacular entertainment. Lets enjoy this NBA season, well the part that is on once football season is over (LOL).
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