Gold Medal Thoughts (K@be haters do not read this)
by premthegrem on Aug 24, 2008 3:19 PM PDT
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Print2 points:
First: some love for Rudy
I'll be honest, I was really excited when I heard that Calderon was out of the game, because that almost guaranteed that we'd see some combination of Rudy+another Spanish SG. Lo and behold, Rudy came into the game in the 2nd q playing (at some point) alongside Navarro, which was the perfect opportunity to see him shoulder part of the pg duties with Navarro. This was really the moment in the game that made me start salivating. Wouldn't you, considering that Rudy played the way he did against Team USA with Navarro as his backcourt mate? Switch Navarro with Roy and decrease the opponent's defensive intensity by a factor of 10, and the sky is the limit for Portland's backcourt dominance of the NBA. Also those 3 NBA 3's didn't hurt either.
2nd: Taking the asterisk out of K*be
I don't know if the Kobe we saw yesterday is the Kobe we will see for the rest of his career, even in the NBA. When he hit that backbreaking three against Rudy which gave him a 4pt play AND kicked Rudy out of the game, I was simultaneously thrilled and devastated (as any patriotic but laker-hating blazer fan would understand). However, from just that game, I can no no longer hate Kobe Bryant as a player. The guy is not Michael Jordan, and will never be, but he put the Olympic team on its back in the 4th quarter along with Dwayne Wade, and his tenacity and clutch play is impressive, although heartbreaking as a Blazer fan. I had no idea how to react when watching Nate hugging Kobe after the game, in fact i broke down into almost hysterical laughter. There seems a subtle, but yet powerfully tangible change in the NBA from yesterday to today. Blazer fans can finally put the nightmares of Shaq to rest, as his career is slowly dying, and his reputation in tatters. And the K@be that beat us in 2000 isn't the Kobe that won a gold medal yesterday. I may be putting the cart before the horse here, but the L@kers don't frighten me at all anymore (and that's not just because of Rudy), and that means that I can't bring myself to hate them. You love and hate players/teams that you respect as threatening, and although they're good, I just can't see them dominating the NBA in the next 5 years, especially with the blazers. LeBron may be the best candidate there is to hate/respect in the NBA now, especially if he ever gets a supporting cast wherever he ends up. I just don't feel like Kobe is under the umbrella of the L@kers anymore, so much as he has enveloped them under his world-wide stardom, culminating with this Olympic Gold. Thus I see these current WCF champs as Kobe and the L@kers, rather than just the L@kers. He's almost a separate entity from them now, and that as much as anything allows me to appreciate his momentary triumph with that gamebreaking 3 over Fernandez, and the shushing motion he made afterwards. Kobe the Olympian is a player I can appreciate.
*Additional note*
First of all, thanks for those who read this post, (especially those that rec'd it). I realize that this issue is a controversial topic for many of us as blazer fans, which is why I wanted to post it in the first place. That being said, I was getting ready to go to work when I published this post, so I didn't get a chance to expand on what I thought was the most important issue about the gold medal game. I don't know about you, but I feel that there are some games that have moments that have significance beyond the play, beyond the game, and have unseen and yet far-reaching consequences on the future. I believe that Kobe's shot over Fernandez is one such play. In my mind, that play signals the passing of the guard in the NBA. Shaq, SSOL, the geriatric spurs, Pistons as perennial ECF losers, KG, Ginobili the these are all iconic parts that made up the NBA's first decade in this millenium. Shaq and Duncan dominated the 2000's in terms of winning championships, but Kobe was really a true megastar. With the 2008-2009 season getting ready to start in a couple of months, chronologically the 2000's aren't really over, but there is a palpable sense of change, with the curtain falling on the game's older stars and rising for the new. One thing remains the same though. As in the 2000 WCF, for the next couple of years, the fate of the Blazers seem inextricably linked to Kobe.
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OK I'll bite
Kobe was not the dominant we have feared in the past. He looked tired and slow in the first half. Throughout this tournament Dwyane Wade was the best player on the team, imo. He seemed to be a step faster than the others – was that because he played fewer minutes? Roy, Rudy, Blake, Bayless are going to be hard for the league to contain. Rudy proved to me last night that he could and will play with the best in the NBA and hold his own. Roy is already there. Adding Bayless and the steady hand of Blake will make this group the favorites.
That said the Blazer front court is not yet there. Development time continues. The depth is excellent and the talent unmatched but the combination of Gasol, Bynum and Odem will not be overcome until more experience is gained by LMA and GO and Martell. The bench is where we should hurt other teams this year. We are all hoping Greg and Joel remain healthy as they will form a very formidable tandem. Frye and Diogu will be as versatile as any other PF bench combo. Travis is simply better than many SF starters and other than Ginobili I cannot think of a player better at SF on the bench.
For the record I am not a hater of anyone. Kobe is a sad story of arrogance and maybe rape. I do abhor that behavior. The NBA is a mirror of society and that means we have some miscreants among solid citizens. On the court, there is no one in the world better than Koby in hitting that critical shot at the end of games. That was a hat trick in scoring the basket, making the foul shot and fouling out the one player (Rudy) most responsible for keeping Spain in the game. We have seen it all too often. The answer is don’t let him get that close at the end of the game. Even Koby has not perfected the 10 point play.
Aldridge said. "We feel like we can beat any team. We feel like we can beat the Spurs, Suns, Lakers, Mavericks, whoever any night right now, and we'll still be here when those teams get old and their guys retire. We're going to be here for a long time."
no maybe's about it
I’m no Kobe lover, but I’m also really, really sick of hearing that he is a rapist. This was NOTHING but an accusation, and the facts have born that out. Nobody in the history of this planet has been raped, went straight home to have sex with their significant other, then decided the following day to file charges… rape is devastating and lifechanging, it’s not a game or a label that should be tossed around.
The world can keep up the K*be hatred all they want (I’ll join in that), but the world also needs to stop the false accusations. Kobe cheated, he didn’t rape.
by ItsMrHarris2u on Aug 25, 2008 6:50 PM PDT up reply actions
really
Nobody in the history of this planet has been raped, went straight home to have sex with their significant other…
unless your missus harris, your asershen has room for error. Im not saying women do that, but i wont say that its NEVER happened.
lee only said maybe, so get over it, youll hear it again, and most of the time, it will be in much harsher tones. thats a fact of kobes carear. question, what do you think would happen if brandon was accused? would there be as manny (per capita- as less people know of broys exsistance then kobies) people to believe? idk.at any rate, this will follow him forever, so youve got a lot of time to perfect you speach, check out my avatar, then click on my profile.
(our) great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit, our system of of credit is privately concentrated, the growth of our nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men... who necessarily, by very reason of their own limitations, chill and check and destroy genuine economic freedom.
We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world - no government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men.
--- Woodrow Wilson
My K*be Beef
Nice pun huh?
K*be reminds me of that kid you would play against who was on the winning side time and time again. However, once you are able to out strategize or out play him, he starts to get frustrated. Once the fear of loosing is in sight, he starts to break down and will begin taking gambles in order to win. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesnt. But he is willing to take those chances. I myself hates it when a team wins on a last-ditch split-second half court shot, even if it is the Blazers who makes it and takes home the prize.
With K*be, there doesnt ever seem to be any respect for the other team when he plays. He doesnt seem to understand that there is a kind of honor when you are beaten by a superior team. You dont have to like it, but get back on the horse and become better so the next time you meet you can win. He just wants to be the best right now.
My reaction to seeing K*be dancing around and hugging everyone was one of disgust. I am happy the Redeem Team took home the gold. There are some decent players on that team (I myself am a bit of a Wade fan and was happy to see him show everyone he is still a baller), but I was not happy to see the cameras going back to K*be. In my opinion he was not the league MVP last season. There were quite a few more cannidates I feel were better team players who should have taken that award.
Anyway, I do have to say I loved hearing the announcers talk about the Blazers so much whenever Spain was on TV. :) We have the makings of an absolute amazing team. All this K*be talk as of late has been due to the fact there isnt a more prolific basketball player in the league right now. He is flashy and the best 1-on-1 player in the NBA at this point, hands down. The media sure likes to hype up solo players (see Tom Brady, Peyton and Eli Manning or anyother Marquee player on any team) but last I checked it was a team game and none of those players would be where they are without the people around them.
I am still trying to let the Rudy dunk from last night sink in. I havent chirped out in joy over a play in a long time. That was priceless.
"OK, it's going to rain tomorrow. And there is going to be a Greenpeace meeting and hippies are going to be protesting" ~ The Buffet of Goodness on Portland
Right On
Excellent post. You addressed much I’d thought about myself. In Rasheed Wallace’s case that the NBA’s as fake as the WWF, we have Exhibit A in Kobe Bryant. A preening, self-mythologizing circus clown. In a postgame interview posted on ESPN, watching Bryant buddy-buddy with Anthony, I felt I was watching Hogan and Kevin Nash back in their nWo years, just a couple of bad actors stunting and gloating. Lebron James’s businesslike “we did it the right way” and Chris Paul’s heartfelt “we need everyone back home to celebrate with us”, these gracious and respectful words contrasted sharply with Bryant and Anthony’s cartoonish pomposity.
Reporter: How did you feel when Spain pulled within two, what did you…?
Bryant (interrupting, glaring): It was fun! It was fun for us. We all enjoy challenges; we enjoy competition.
…
Anthony: We’re the best team in the world. We shook up the world. We put basketball — American basketball, back where it’s supposed to be. Which is at the top. And we’re going to close it right there. (grins and walks away)
Anthony forgot that he missed six of his eleven shots, hadn’t a single steal or block — in fact, his defensive assignments, Marc Gasol and Carlos Jimenez, had an easy time of it, nailing well over 50% of their field goals — and garnered a single rebound. Ricky Rubio, a 6’2" 17-year-old, grabbed six boards in fewer minutes. So we can hardly say that Anthony “shook up the world” — more that he rode the Dwayne Train to victory, just like everyone other American player during these Olympics. No wonder Anthony walked away without further comment.
In fact, that has been the most interesting story of these Olympics — the resurgence of Dwayne Wade — and yet, as you pointed out, the media has focussed on Kobe Bryant. Close-ups of Bryant’s welling tears and clenched fists and general melodrama: Bryant, we could say, is well posed for an acting gig after his legs wear out on him, but keep in mind that he has just starred in a massive advertising campaign for Nike. Which campaign? The viral video? No, I mean the U.S. Olympic Team — excuse me, the “Redeem Team,” a nickname cooked up at Nike’s advertising bureau, memorialized in the shameful “Road to Redemption” video (with Reebok sponsor Dwight Howard strangely absent for much of the “documentary,” by which I mean, "commercial"). Soon the “Redeem Team” name was rubber stamped by the press, and now fans all over the world will remember them as such.
Let me be absolutely clear. Your American basketball team’s dramatic return to the top was exploited and partly orchestrated by a giant shoe company to glamorize its spokesmen for profit.
What a coup for Kobe Bryant. He’s got to be mighty thankful to Nike for this whole publicity stunt. Now he looks like some golden boy patriot when the record has shown otherwise. After all, this is a guy who a few years back started his own “road to redemption” after committing adultery and perjuring Shaquille O’Neal for promiscuity. Now NBC and Nike want us to cozy up to Bryant all over again. Forget the old messes he made. No wonder I felt so cold and empty after the U.S. won the gold medal, with shots of Bryant ruffling his U.S.A. logo and “hushing” Rudy Fernandez — again, you may recall Hulk Hogan putting his palm to his ear to rile up the crowd — and you may recall, too, even the WWF exploited American imagery to rally fans around its fake patriotism, just for profit.
+1
excellent
(our) great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit, our system of of credit is privately concentrated, the growth of our nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men... who necessarily, by very reason of their own limitations, chill and check and destroy genuine economic freedom.
We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world - no government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men.
--- Woodrow Wilson
Kobe's a complex person
like most people. He has his good and bad points. I appreciated that he and Dwight were singing along with the national anthem on the podium. I rejoiced with the Redeemers and it didn’t bother me at all that Kobe was one of them. He scores big points with me for wanting to be on the team and bring home the gold, and especially so because it means so much to him.
I’m with prem — Kobe the Olympian is a player I can appreciate.
Asked his specialty in the kitchen, Oden paused and said, "Hamburger Helper and tuna fish."
I used to dislike kobe but as he gets older i respect him and his game more.
He is the best player for our biggest rivals, the fact that he is so good makes us dislike him even more (the fact that he is so good makes him even more arrogant.). Of course anybody on another team will hate him cause he is the man. If they could they would have him on their team in a heartbeat. This said the MVP of this tourney is hands down DWade. He is good and not arrogant, I would take him (healthy) over Kobe any day.
Kobe is a spectacular athlete
He has elevated his game to an art form and has maintained his dominance for a decade. No question the man deserves to be appreciated for his athletic prowess.
As for his personal life, I don’t know anything about that so I will not comment. I bet if I met him I would like him, but maybe that’s just me. I like almost everyone.
I hope Kobe stays healthy and continues to dominate the league for many more years. I have nothing but admiration for him. I feel bad for him sometimes because he can’t seem to help himself and he says and does dumb things. But that is no reason to dislike him. Maybe all he needs is some love.
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
K0bes skills as a basketball player have never been at issue with me.
He’s a great basketball player and his play has been a thing of beauty to see over his career, if that’s part of the game for you as it is for me. None of that is in question. I thought the game last night between Spain and the USA was one of the very best basketball games I’ve ever seen, there was so much passion on both sides. Wow. I’ve never watched such a physical game and I’m surprised and glad no one was hurt. The thing about Kobe that I don’t like is his personality. Prem, I have to correct one little thing in your post and that’s that Kobe hugged Nate, not the other way around. Kobe made a point of going straight to Nate and throwing his arms around him.
"Besides, AnntheFan will be here any minute to #25 you." T Darkstar
Did you catch what Kobe said to Nate during the hug?
“Coach, you got to get me onto the Blazers. I want more rings!”
Asked his specialty in the kitchen, Oden paused and said, "Hamburger Helper and tuna fish."
Same here
I have no problem acknowledging his skill on the court. What I hate about him is the taunting, and his utter disrespect for his opponents. He very very rarely acknowledges another teams great effort. Most of the time he just smirks and says something like “nah”.
I have not fallen for the ‘new kobe’ thing one bit. There are still plenty of times when he’s yelling at teammates even when something is his fault, and taunting when he makes a shot. Someone does something to make him look bad and he immediately turns to the refs…
Him and Melo are embarrassments to me. Still though, I was rooting for the USA and am happy they won, even if it means those two boneheads got golds. IMO though the credit for getting the team to the podium belonged to Wade.
Good catch, ATF
I certainly did not mean to imply that Nate initiated the hug.
Andy Roddick has the most wimbledon titles in the world. He just hides them in Federer's trophy case
I didn't see any difference
between Kobe the Olympian and Kobe the L*ker. The US could have won that game running away rather than by the closer-than-it-seemed 11 point margin.
When Spain refused to go away and kept the game in that 6-8 point margin early in the fourth quarter and Kobe started handling the ball a lot, I knew what was coming: bad shots, no passes, lack of team involvment. This is Kobe’s version of “putting a team on his back”. He hoists hero shots. It just so happens that he’s such a phenomonal player, those shots sometimes fall, which sickens me because it breeds a misplaced confidence in that style of basketball. When he was missing those shots, Spain took advantage and pulled to within 2 points. If they had caught a couple of breaks, Spain could have won a game they had no business winning. Imagine what would have happened if Kobe’s long range bomb hadn’t gone in and that “foul” on Rudy had gone uncalled.
I actually found myself rooting for Spain in that fourth quarter. Partly because of Rudy, yes, but also because when Kobe decided to revert from the team concept I dreaded seeing all the praise he was going to recieve as the “hero” of the game that “put the US on his back” should those ill advised shots happen to fall.
Kobe is a selfish, insecure, arrogant player. I can respect his ability, but will never respect his style.
Kobe = Tool
All Gropee showed me was that he is all about him. Nothing different from when he won rings in L.A. Hits the 3 and gets fouled, does he pump his fist and high 5 his teammates? No. Does he stare down his competition and calmly hit the free throw? No. He decides the best course of action is to make the huge grandstanding gesture of shushing the crowd, or the Spanish team, or someone. Really?? Who were you shushing? The Chinese crowd that was cheering every good play by both teams? The Spanish team? They were behind you. What were you doing?
It reminded me of my 14 year old niece walking into a room and announcing her arrival by telling everyone there some inane story to get their attention. Immature, self important, and totally disregarding of others. That’s the kind of guy that I want on my team!!!
And you don't eat crackers in the bed of your future, otherwise you might get....all scratchy.
Kobe < Tool
I am sorry if there was any confusion. I certainly meant that Kobe was equal to a tool, and no where near equal to the Tool.
Not as good as:
And you don't eat crackers in the bed of your future, otherwise you might get....all scratchy.
K2@%E is a tool because
when he hit that 3 over Rudy he also put his finger to his lips to shh the crowd. He just did not have to do that. It has a good clean game and he tried to spoil it with one simple jesture. Just because the Spainish fans were chanting? K%$e is a tool! Tools can never be liked, cause they are, well tools. By the way the next time Rudy meets the tool on the court, Rudy will stick that finger up the you know where!
Yes, he is talented
But he is selfish and arrogant. As is the theme on this post, he is only a teamate when his team is winning. Just when I start to think he’s an ok guy and player (I was rooting for L* in the finals because I dislike Boston a tiny bit more), he does something to irritate me more than ever. He is the greatest player in the leauge (blasphemy!) but that doesn’t mean I have to respect him. When he “shh” after hitting that 3 I wanted to vomit. Seriously, I almost did. I was rooting for Spain to win the gold from the very beginning. Even with Pau on the team, I wanted Rudy to win the medal SO BADLY. Even though he walked with a silver and that is pretty sweet. At least he did not disappoint! There were a handful of USA players that I liked seeing up on the podium. However, looking at the majority of them up there I did not feel happy or excited to see them representing my country. The “redeem team” is a bunch of crap. I really wonder what Nate has seen over this past month. Maybe there is something about him we don’t see. That, or Nate is secretly bonding with him just to crush him that much more in the WCF the next few years as payback.
Dear God,
It's me, Twiggs.
Please, oh please, let Brandon Roy have a speedy recovery.
Us Blazer fans don't ask for much in this life. All we want is our team to be healthy (and win). You would really be doing a service to us if you had him bounce back in a few weeks (without pushing it). I promise I won't ask for anything ever again (until the regular season anyhow).
Thank you,
Twiggs
True,
he is selfish and arrogant,
but so is most every sports figure in history as well.
"I think that the team that wins game five will win the series. Unless we lose game five."
Who else? Charles Barkley
by prezofdeath on Aug 25, 2008 11:19 AM PDT up reply actions
There is a difference between selfish
and self-righteous. Kobe crosses that line.
Self-righteous + arrogant + petty = The intolerable jack-donkey trifecta.
And you don't eat crackers in the bed of your future, otherwise you might get....all scratchy.
I just like
how you spelled his name 3 different ways in the same paragraph.
Things happen for a reason they say, but I say there's a reason things happen.
So
I have no problem with Kobe and I obviously think he’s a great player. I don’t have any info on the rape case, so I don’t let that influence my opinion about him ( If I knew he was a rapist that would change). The fact that he’s arrogant does not bother me at all, don’t know why.
I used ( and still do) to despise Jordan as a person, and that made me like him less as a player. For some reason I like Kobe as player and that makes me not care too much about his flaws as a person.
Counterfactual
I actually think USA wins by more if Kobe didn’t play. Sure, Kobe hit the big shots and made the big plays down the stretch, but he was largely responsible for why the game was so close.
He took several horrendous shots on top of the ones that he hit. As I said in the game thread, those shots are probably fine in an NBA game when the shooting percentages are in the 40 to 45 range, but not in Olympic basketball when the rest of the team is shooting at about 65% on two point attempts and 55% on threes.
Though Kobe was supposed to be the USA’s defensive stopper he was torn about by BOTH Rudy and Navarro in this game. He had trouble dealing with picks. Ran the wrong way around screens, and gambled relentlessly. Take a look at the play on which Rudy dunks on Howard. Kobe goes for a silly 6th grade reach around steal. If someone played perimeter D like that in a pick up game at lunch, I’d give them the evil eye. Moreover, even though he gambled relentlessly, he finished with ZERO steals, while Wade 4 and Lebron had 3 each.
Still a K*be hater.
I agree that it is annoying when K*be does
little things like putting his finger to his lips and shushing the crowd after his 3 pointer, that type of showboating is just classless and unnecessary.
Did anyone watch in the postgame interview when K*be was talking about his 4th quarter and he said that someone on team usa told him to “Let the mamba loose”. He clearly thought this was the funniest thing ever and was so proud of himself.
"Jerryd is straight ahead at you. Rudy dips around. Jerryd is a rock. Rudy is the wind. Jerryd loves the ball in his hands. Rudy moves without it. Jerryd defends by getting up in your grill. Rudy plays the spaces in between. Jerryd has focused vision. Rudy sees all around him. Jerryd likes to score off of the dribble. Rudy can catch and shoot. Jerryd is aggressive. Rudy is sneaky. Jerryd will hit you hard. Rudy will annoy you until you hit him." -Dave
Word.
why do people...
… get on Kobe for showboating but not Jose Calderon and Jorge Garbajosa for their ridiculous three finger signal every time they make a 3?
I get it, he’s a Laker, but the criticism I’m reading of Kobe at the Olympics is a little crazy- he won a gold medal and was stoked about it.
Boomshakalaka
Because the camera
does not show them doing it 50 times in a row. Plus, I personally get the impression that they are throwing the three up out of excitement and not at anyone in particular, whereas when Kobe shushes everyone it just feels like a big F*** you.
"Jerryd is straight ahead at you. Rudy dips around. Jerryd is a rock. Rudy is the wind. Jerryd loves the ball in his hands. Rudy moves without it. Jerryd defends by getting up in your grill. Rudy plays the spaces in between. Jerryd has focused vision. Rudy sees all around him. Jerryd likes to score off of the dribble. Rudy can catch and shoot. Jerryd is aggressive. Rudy is sneaky. Jerryd will hit you hard. Rudy will annoy you until you hit him." -Dave
Word.
+10000000
That’s what I’m saying. There’s a difference.
"I eat polar bears and babies"
~Sophia 08/25/08
in my opinion
Your Laker hatred prevents you from giving Kobe the benefit of the doubt- how do we know he’s not just doing that out of excitement? We don’t know what’s going through his head.
To me, as long as he doesn’t do the “shh!!” right in an opponent’s face (in the gold medal game he did it while being embraced by his teammates), it is no different than throwing up the 3 fingers.
Boomshakalaka
Uh well.
It’s not because we hate him that we hate what he did. It’s because he does that stuff too often that a lot of us hate him. That Shh was either to Rudy or the Spanish fans. There is a giant difference between throwing up a 3 sign and taunting your opponents or the crowd. If Kobe threw up a 3 of his own or even a 4 I would be ok with that, but instead he decided to use the ‘shh’. I’m a huge Lebron fan and was upset when he stared down his opponent after a block as well. Kobe however is constantly doing this kind of stuff, like his finger wag a few games ago. He’s completely full of himself and shows no respect for his opponents. He acts like the hero of that game and the media is treating him like one when Wade was the leading scorer and carried the team since the exhibition games. It’s not as if Kobe needed to take over the game, he has the best players in the world to pass too but he wanted to be the one to solidify the win so was taking all the shots he could in the 4th quarter. The 4pt play was a terrific play, but could have just as easily not been called a foul or he missed the shot, so to taunt was over the line.
So yeah, it’s not Laker hate at all, it’s Kobe hate. The Kobe hate is BECAUSE of stuff like this. He could have kept it classy but didn’t.
i Dunno If I am a USA fan at the game and any of my players does that
to the opposing crowd (who you know was trying to be rowdy as they can be) after a big shot, I love it.
To add a little something, it could be pointed out that there were times in the fourth that everyone said ohhhhh
What a horrible shot by Kobe! As he jacks an NBA three + about 4 extra feet when he has four other players perfectly capable of going in and dunking it.
I think the hero of the tournament is LeBron. He seems so humble and doesn’t try to take over the game, even though he could. He sits back and sets up Kobe and Anthony and lets them take the credit. You know James could be scoring like Kobe and Anthony if he wanted to, but he realizes what matters—-winning. LeBron is a winner, and I think that’s why Cleveland does so well even though he has NOOOO help, and Anthony struggles despite having Camby and Iverson.
"I think that the team that wins game five will win the series. Unless we lose game five."
Who else? Charles Barkley
F' koMe
A small part of me cried when Nate and koMe embrassed.
As far as giving him his due, I don’t care to do so. He is easily the least likable athlete in all of sport, at least at the moment. I don’t care how good he is at the sport I love. I despise him. My hate for him is deep and will never be washed away, just because he helped bring our country a gold medal.
Again, F’ koMe
Witty Unpredictable Talent and Natural Game
Well. This. Post. Sucks.
But I cannot help but chime in. I, as always, have an opinion.
Kobe Bryant is a superb athlete. He is a basketball genius. I perceive him to be the best basketball player in the world…ever. I am only 22 so I didnt get to live through the MJ Legacy. Clearly i am basing my opinion on my contrived perception of basketball. My dad taught me to HATE the Bulls but come on i was not old enough (6-7) to appreciate in reality that rivalry and the greatness that Michael Jordan is/was. For the record, I am currently debating cutting off my fingers to punish myself for typing this blasphemy.
One thing I hate is Kobe’s arrogance and obvious sociopathic-ness. ( i know that most likely isn’t a word, but work with me here) He doesn’t even hide the fact that he has no regard / empathy/ sympathy for other human life.
I chose to regard Kobe with Pity. I always have. He never has scared me and Im apalled to read that some of you guys actually admitted to having once feared him. What you should fear is our front office (ahem Whitsit) lack of smartness in aquiring a real “kobe stopper” b/c that would have been the answer.
Nate said “I love you man” twice whilst in the embrace of Kobe… that was truly the most sickening thing I have wittnessed in my entire life! Asinine appalling absurd… ok you get the point NASTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So Kobe is a great bball player, but I hate him still .
Sophia
"Thank God those nightmarish booty-less days are behind us. I blame cocaine."-Mortimer
I detest that man who hides one thing in the depths of his heart, and speaks for another. - Homer
That was a very hard winter,
and it was just like one long night,
with me lying awake, waiting and waiting and waiting
for daybreak.
- Black Elk
1881
Sophia,
please afford me me the courtesy of explaining why my post sucks. Bashing it in the title of your comment doesn’t exactly give me chance to defend myself if you don’t explain why you don’t like it. And if your reason for disliking it is because you hate Kobe Bryant, the only thing i can say is you should have read the words I placed in parenthesis in the title of my post.
Andy Roddick has the most wimbledon titles in the world. He just hides them in Federer's trophy case
OMFG PREM CALM DOWN
Did you read my comment? The post sucks because it made me feel bad. I wasnt directly taking a shot at you or your writing skills.
I wasn’t bashing you either. I dont HATE Kobe.
I really want to say something unkind but I wont
Kill em w/ kindness…
I <3 U
Sophia
"Thank God those nightmarish booty-less days are behind us. I blame cocaine."-Mortimer
I detest that man who hides one thing in the depths of his heart, and speaks for another. - Homer
That was a very hard winter,
and it was just like one long night,
with me lying awake, waiting and waiting and waiting
for daybreak.
- Black Elk
1881
K0bIe BrIant
I always spell it K-Zero-B-I-E. Because it’s I before E except after C, and you can’t spell his name without a huge “I”…
His problem has always been MJ
it’s not just the media that has held Kobe up to MJ standards, it’s himself, also. I hate to say it, but an interesting experiment would be if you could somehow switch Kobe and Drexler’s places in history and see how each’s career would have turned out. I really doubt Clyde would have developed into the legitimate cancer that Kobe turned into for a while, and still is, on the lakers, albeit more stealthily, but at the same time, without having an impossible standard that the media and himself are constantly holding him up to, I think Kobe turns out vastly different. I mean, no matter what he does, he’s never going to touch MJ in the vast majority of NBA minds (rightly so), and so you can see how this would make him bitter. I mean, let’s be honest, ballhog or not, he did put up 81 in a game, have a streak of like 7 games scoring over 50, things Jordan never really came close to, but he’ll just never be on Jordan’s level.
It’s like in 10 years, every great young American swimmer is going to start getting compared to Michael Phelps, and no matter what they do, they’ll never be able to touch Phelps in almost the entire population’s mind. And if the swimmer is holding himself up to that standard and manages to shatter WRs by like 5 seconds, but never hits the 8 golds because our relay teams suck, you can see how he would get jaded.
I’m not excusing Kobe’s behavior over the past 4 years, but I think it’d be really interesting to see him play in an alternate NBA in which MJ had never existed, and neither us or him wouldn’t have to deal with these ridiculous comparisons, but who knows.
Kobe would never be the same
His entire PERSONA is crafted after Michael. The Tongue, the shaved head, the over agressiveness, the supposed swagger. Even his voice in the way he talks.
In this aspect that you brought up Royster, I truly feel bad for Kobe.
I imagine a kid playing basketball in a foreign country, not having many friends, shooting at a hoop for HOURS by himself, copying everything he saw Michael do on TV. Sitting in front of a TV reciting what Jordan says in the same voice and stucatto.. I mean he was an American abroad. Any army brats who went overseas would relate (if there were very few other kids on the base) to that feeling of loneliness. I think he probably wasn’t liked as a kid and thus developed this F you world attitude.
I somewhat equate it to the guy in highschool who NEVER gets any girls. None.. not horrible looking but not great. Then suddenly once he graduates, girls are all over him. He gets very very full of himself and pisses off everyone around him. Yeah we know dude, we have been with girls before. Except for Kobe.. that lonely streak runs deep. Most guys grow out of it. We are in year 13 in the league. Hasnt worn off yet.
"Why would we lie to ourselves dude?"
"Be excellent to each other."
"All we are is dust in the wind, dude."
"Strange things are afoot at the Circle K."
The Wisdom of Bill S Preston Esquire and Ted Theodore Logan
by GreatOden'sRaven on Aug 26, 2008 5:51 PM PDT up reply actions
One thing that has always bothered me about Kobe
Other than the many obvious character flaws yall have mentioned above, is the undeserved praise. It really gets to me.
Obvious examples:
- Kobe is a great defensive player. (Uhh no, he is a decent defender. What made him great in those championship years is the giant monster behind him that you have to face if you get past him. Not saying he doesnt have the skill to be great but 1st team defense? Cmon! If that is TRULY the case, then we just got the best offensive player in the league because Fernandez TORCHED him. There wasn’t ONE time when Kobe didn’t get beat to the hoop when Fernandez wanted to drive.)
- Kobe is a great team player now. (Yeah, I’m sure. Its not too hard to be a team player when you have Gasol on the block. Pass to a good player and they will score. I never hear anything about Iverson doing the same to Carmelo. But Iverson passes to Carmelo ALL the time! Never hear bout that do ya)
- Kobe is the most clutch player in the league. (Hardly. And stats prove it. This really is a factor of the announcers. In the gold medal game coming down the stretch kobe made a wild in the lane runner that banked off the backboard from dead on. We ALL know that wasn’t what he meant to do. But sure enough. A FANTASTIC PLAY FROM KOBE BRYANYT. DOUG, HE IS SO CLUTCH DOWN THE STRETCH. Well it was a horrid shot, if anyone other than him tried it they would have been benched and he got lucky. I agree that the man does have a flair for the dramatic in clutch situations. The Portland game a few years back certainly refreshes my memory. But as far as clutch goes, only kinda sorta)
- Kobe has changed. (Really? I’m still waiting to see it.)
I hate Kobe Bryant as a Laker. I pity him as a phony contrived person (see post above). I love him for his game. I just get sick of his hyperbole and corniness and planned everything. Nothing he does is natural or emotional or true.
Thus I hate Kobe.
"Why would we lie to ourselves dude?"
"Be excellent to each other."
"All we are is dust in the wind, dude."
"Strange things are afoot at the Circle K."
The Wisdom of Bill S Preston Esquire and Ted Theodore Logan
by GreatOden'sRaven on Aug 26, 2008 6:09 PM PDT reply actions
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