Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Why I'm trying to like Kobe Bryant

He's done himself no favors, since day 1 it seemed apparent that he wanted to be the greatest player to ever play the game. Which is cool but the rule is, it only should show when you're on the court , not in interviews or everyday life. I shouldn't really blame him, when you're in high school at the ripe old age of 17 and you're having a press conference telling the whole world that 'you're taking your talent to the NBA' one might acquire a bit of smugness and arrogance to themselves. We can't expect everyone to be like Lebron cuz LeBron is not the norm. There are a lot of reasons to not like Kobe, be it running off Shaq, bad mouthing his teammates in public, demanding a trade even though he put that team together by forcing a Shaq trade which in effect by default put the team in rebuilding mode, cuz there's no such thing as equal trade value when dealing superstars. Selling Shaq up the river when he got caught up in the Colorado fiasco. Quitting on his team a couple of years ago against Phoenix in a game 7 no less refusing to shoot. I admit part of my dislike for Kobe has been the ridiculous comparisons to being as great as MJ, Laker fans i don't blame you at all, you're disillusioned no doubt but some of the things that Kobe does is flat out incredible but Mike is Mike a career 50% fg shooter while Kobe is shooting a career high this year of 47%. 

But I'm over that, I have a new outlook on Kobe, a good friend told me something about Kobe that I believe to be true. Kobe is just slightly crazy he's the kind of guy that laughs at the wrong part of a joke and thats cuz he's obsessed with his place in history. All time greats play to be the best in the game in there time and when their career is over. Their place in history speaks for themselves, but not Kobe thats why he ran Shaq off cuz he wanted to be the big dog, but he's seven years younger than Shaq so the passing of the torch woulda came and he could be sitting on 5 championships not 3, why Magic never shared this secret with him is very suspect. I watch Kobe now and i see a slightly humbled , more relaxed person, still crazy but more at ease with himself and his game.

That's not the reason i want to like Kobe. The reason is that i watch sports and i want to see the best there is, everytime I turn on the television and watch a game, i want to see an electric td run, a no-hitter pitch, a skill level to the highest degree and thats what Kobe represents. he's the best hooper in the game today, yes better than lebron who someday will be better than Kobe if he develops a consistent J and a postgame. Kobe is a magnificent talent and when i watch basketball I want to see the best player in the world and i want him to score 81 points and terrorize the fragile Vince Carter and boo him when he beats my team but still appreciate his performance. I think Michael jordan is the best to ever play the game but as a sport fan wouldn't it be great if someone was better than Mike. Isn't that why we watch sports? To see someone take it to the next level ala Tiger Woods over Jack Nicklaus. So you keep ballin' Crazy, and I don't care if you refer teammates as your team as if you drafted and coached them, nor do i care that I semi-believed you took Andrew Bynum out on purpose to pad your stats, keep calling out 'In yo face Oscar Robertson, Take that MJ, You can't hold me Larry Bird' as you're playing Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Paul. I know you're a crazy mutha f*#ka trying to secure your place in history, but I love the NBA and to love the NBA means loving Kobe Bryant...I'm a fan son, sorta!