Why I Still Can’t Root For Kobe…
Congratulations to the 2008-2009 Los Angeles Lakers. There were times in the Houston series when they looked quite awful and times in the Denver and Orlando games when they looked unbeatable. The unbeatable moments far outnumbered the awful ones and the Lakers prevailed. The Magic were worthy adversaries who had more than one opportunity to make the series a bit more interesting than it was but champions have poise and…well…the Magic aren’t champions now are they?
I grew up a Laker fan. I bled purple and gold but never quite recovered after watching hated rivals turned has-beens don the uniform (Malone, Payton etc.) and then having Shaq and Kobe subsequently tear the team apart. I don’t blame any one more than the other, they were both foolish and missed out on rings they could’ve easily won had they learned to work together.
Shaq left…no longer rooting for him wouldn’t be an issue (although I did in certain spots).
Kobe stayed…and I never got over the fiasco he and Shaq caused followed by the Colorado incident and the infamous snitching. Moreover, Kobe is, was and always will be an awful teammate.
I thought about all of this and I wondered why even now — years later — I couldn’t bring myself to root for the leader of my favorite team. I mean personality wise — Kobe really isn’t that different than Jordan. MJ was an atrocious teammate.
(NOTE: Although Jordan would’ve NEVER been snuffed by someone with the size or basketball ability of Chris Childs. And Jordan would’ve NEVER said some sh*t like “Man, I should’ve just paid that hoe off like Charles Oakley does…” That just wouldn’t happen)
But, as I was saying — MJ was an atrocious teammate. Cold. Only cared about winning. Wasn’t really anyone on the team’s friend. He did his job and THEN SOME and brought 6 titles to Chicago. He kept winning and all was forgiven. Why not the same for Kobe? He has just brought LA their 4th title (!), but this great divide remains on him. Even within me…
Why?
And then it hit me. MJ never TRIED to act like he was a good teammate. He never pretended to be good friends with paxon (vujajic) or Bill Wennington (walton). He never tried to put on a show of pal-ing around with them for the cameras. MJ didn’t give a f*ck. I’m not saying he deserves accolades for that…but I am saying it’s much harder to hate on a REAL dude. And as it were…much easier to root for one. It’s the reason why Shaq isn’t held accountable by fans for what what happened in LA when he most likely deserves the lion’s share of the blame. Everyone just shrugs it of and says, “oh well it’s Shaq!” “he’s funny and silly…and….he’s Shaq!”. But Kobe is a funny guy sometimes, he’s a silly guy sometimes. What’s the difference?
Shaq’s pretty real.
More so than Kobe anyway. And until Kobe stops trying to pretend he’s someone else — some great teammate we just don’t “know about”… I can’t really f*ck with the dude.
Of course, Jordan never pretended to be anything other than what he was: a demanding teammate who cared about winning, and that’s it. Even during his last three Chicago seasons, he spent most of his free time playing cards in a hotel suite. His teammates were co-workers, he respected them, and that’s where it ended. Ever since the Gasol trade, Kobe has been trying to perpetuate the image that he’s a supportive teammate and one of the guys and all that crap, and there’s just too much information to the contrary. The one fascinating thing about “Kobe Doin’ Work” was Kobe’s contrived interactions with his teammates; it’s like he was taking us for fools. Watch this, I’m going to talk Italian to Sasha Vujacic. And what’s funny was that his teammates all had a “Wait a second, he never talks to me!” look on their face as soon as he walked away. It was a massive miscalculation of the average NBA fan’s IQ, and digging even further, a blown chance to show people that he’s a ruthless competitor who demands the best from everyone around him. Just like Jordan. I was bitterly disappointed. — Bill Simmons
“He’s alright, but he’s not real” — Jay-Z
J (Pres)
Amen. I agree completely. Kobe=snitch. MJ=an ass. There is a difference.
Kobe is the best in the league! Would I hang with him? Probably not but the boy gets his vitamins….I mean the boy gets his vitamins!
@T-Black - True. Lebron has really been impressive this year, but I’ve decided that you can’t be the best in the league when there is a giant hole where your low post game should be.
Ohhhhh! Yeah I said it…
What..in the world? Where’d you get all this from? You give props to MJ for never trying to be a good teammate and call Kobe a phoney for TRYING to be? Are you kidding? The media CRUSHED Kobe for not being a better teammate/leader. So he actively put in the work to be that and you crush him for that too? Being a leader doesnt come naturally for all of us. That little bit of hate wouldnt even bother me but in the same breath you give props to Shaq, the biggest phoney of them all? Real my goddamn ass. He was a phoney then and he’s even worse now. With his fake praise for Kobe on twitter.
And then you use Bill Simmons as a reference point? You, my friend, are a Kobe hater. *shrug* Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
What..in the world? Where’d you get all this from? You give props to MJ for never trying to be a good teammate and call Kobe a phoney for TRYING to be? Are you kidding?
–N0. I’m not kidding. Be you! Stop trying to perpetrate this guy you want us to believe you are. We don’t buy it. You’re TERRIBLE at trying to sell it. STOP IT! You put on this fake ass persona and then turn around and expect us to believe you when you say you didn’t run shaq out of town or you didn’t rape that chick or you didn’t mean to snitch on shaq or whatever bullshit reason you gave for changing your jersey #. How does all of this look/sound coming from someone who’s frontin for the cameras all the time?! And you wonder why people don’t believer you?! You wonder why people think you ran big man out of town (when he REALLY DIDN’T). Embracing the whole “black mamba” persona is the most authentic thing he’s ever done. I loved it.
And just because Bill Simmons is biased doesn’t mean he’s wrong. In the 3 years prior to last season when Kobe won his MVP, Bill Simmons was his strongest advocate to win the award. In fact he mentioned that the fact that Kobe wasn’t a good teammate shouldn’t be taken into account since it wasn’t for Jordan… He lampooned the NBA when they gave it to Nash for a SECOND (wow, i still can’t believe that) time…
You dont have to be a terrible teammate your entire career. Trying to change that doesnt make you a phoney.
Under most circumstances, I would agree that a bias doesnt make you wrong. But not with Simmons. He might as well be Dick Cheney to Kobe’s Obama (so to speak). Any and everything he says, concerning Kobe, is immediately suspect and more than likely absurd.
Kinda wish they just did away with the NBA MVP award. Its a joke.
man you act like you know these dudes…just get over it already. that nonsense happened 4 or 5 years ago. Only my exes remember shit that happened that long ago.
The one question I have about kobe snitching on Shaq was who did he say that 2? I remember hearing about it but did he say it directly to the media or was it leaked like the Andrew Bynum comments. that makes a big diffrence.
@JR I’ll tell dudes that all the time about Lebron! He’s buoilt like a poiwer foward but has no post game and can’t shoot eithier! Somthing is seriously wrong with that! Also Mike Brown is what people use to call Phil…an average coach with a star player. His play calling(if you want to call it that) sucks…as does Orlando’s! A couple coaches should be out of jobs next season!
look ALLLLLL and I do mean ALLLLLL of you smug KOBE hating YAMPS SOUND LIKE BITCHS..! I AM A TRUE LAKER FAN I AM A TRUE HISTORIAN OF THE LA ZOO AS WE WERE CALLED BACK IN WILT THE STILT DAYS.! THE POINT IS THO KOBE AND MJ HAVE SUPREME LIKENESS IN MANY MANY WAYS BEING REAL OR FAKE OR PERSONAL AGENDA DON’T MEAN SHHT WHEN YOU STEP ON THAT HARDWOOD ALLLLLL THAT MATTERS IS WINNING NOTHING ELSE NOT SWAGGER NOT STYLE NOT PERCEPTION NOT EVEN VOCAL LEADERSHIP AS PROVEN BY THE FACELESS AND EMOTIONLESS BIG FUNDAMENTAL TIM DUNCAN WHO HAS WON CHAMPIOnshipS WITHOUT BEING REAL ON ANY LEVEL EXCEPT PERFORMANCEAND THAT’S REAL STOP RUNNING YA MOUTH BOUT BULLSHHT AND SPEAK ON THE FACTS KOBE IS A CHAMPION AN MVP AN HALL OF FAMERHE IS NOT A RAPPER OR A A PIMP SO REALITY IS KOBE IS BETTER THAN MJ AND KOBE IS A KILLA JUST LIKE MJ
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