Kobe Bryant is, at worst, the second-best player in the NBA. In thirteen seasons, he's won three NBA Championships (yes, they're HIS, too), an MVP award, two scoring titles, been an eleven-time All-Star, and owns all kinds of NBA records. He is universally recognized as the best closer in the game, and is three wins away from another NBA Championship (and first Finals MVP, if they win).
Yet, Kobe Bryant is probably the most hated player in the NBA, and has been for some time.
Since he's come into the league, he's been accused of being aloof, arrogant, vain, self-centered, out for dolo, and every other way that a player can be described as "selfish." People say he shoots too much or that he's not a good teammate; people throw in his face that he's not Michael Jordan. And they're right. Michael took way more shots than Kobe did.
I'm not saying he hasn't been a selfish player at times; he has been. I just don't think that's a reason to hate a player as much as Kobe is hated, because Kobe being selfish doesn't mean that his 81 points against Toronto wasn't amazing. But we all know that's not what this is about. After all, hating a player for being great is really stupid. Unfortunately for Kobe, he gave his detractors their reason for making their hatred legitimate.
He "snitched" on the beloved and untouchable Shaquille O'Neal. What a reprehensible act.
Now, I don't know what that has to with admitting that Kobe Bryant is a great player. I also don't know exactly when snitching became an unforgivable sin.
Was Kobe wrong for telling the police what he told them? Yeah, he was. At the same time, the man was being interrogated by the police over a rape charge, and this is a guy who (as far as I know) had never been in trouble with the police before. There's no telling what was going through his mind at the time. He was probably scared, because unlike so many of us, he actually had a lot to lose. You'll have to excuse him for not being a hardened criminal like the rest of Thug America. At 24 years old, he was too busy winning championships to get in shootouts with the police.
Personally, I don't hold that one against him. Shaq was understandably and rightfully upset with Kobe. Of course, Shaq also shouldn't have been cheating on his wife, but we can't expect superhuman behavior like that from our professional athletes. That's just silly.
But all of that happened in 2003 and Shaq has gotten past it. I don't know if he's actually forgiven Kobe, but they're on speaking terms again. Shaq has even expressed a desire to return to the Lakers when his Phoenix deal is up.
Yet, everyone else is still holding Kobe's youthful mistake against him. Remember, he was only 24 at the time. That was six years ago. You know how much dumb stuff people do in their early 20s? There's a long list of things on that list that are worse than what Kobe did. Now, how much of that do you want to keep having thrown in your face when you're 30?
How would you feel if your girl kept throwing in your face how you cheated on her in 2003? If it was me, she'd be talking to an empty room, because I would have left her in 2004. Who wants to be around someone who won't let go of the past?
There are so many of us preaching about forgiving our public figures; preaching about letting Michael Vick live his life now that he's out of jail, but not a day goes by that someone doesn't bring up that Kobe's "a snitch." Now, I could be crazy, but where I come from, financing and participating in a dogfighting operation is way worse than telling the police that Shaq uses hookers. We can forgive Michael Vick for committing an actual crime, but we can't let Kobe live this down? Is this real life or is this a Chris Rock stand-up special, because that's n-word logic at its finest.
The truth of the matter is that people didn't like Kobe since he left Lower Merion, and since they didn't have a valid reason not to like him (perceived arrogance is not a reason), they waited until something, anything presented itself and rode it into the ground. When it comes to Kobe Bryant, people act like middle school girls; treating Kobe like crap because both of you wore the same dress to the 'Enchantment Under the Sea" Dance. And here I was thinking that we were all grown-ups.
The only person he wronged was Shaq and the only person he needed to apologize to was Shaq. He must have done it, because we all know how touchy Shaq can be. If he hadn't apologized, Shaq probably would have released a single about it, with an accompanying dance by now. So unless people are somehow attuned to his soul and can still feel the unresolved hurt from Kobe's words, that should be the end of it.
I'm not defending any wrongs that Kobe has committed in his life, and that's not the point here. We all know he did wrong, but he didn't commit genocide or sodomize children; he wronged his teammate. Everybody makes mistakes, and in comparison to many of our own mistakes, his wasn't that bad. If you think you were worthy of forgiveness for yours, then you should probably let this one go. If you don't like Kobe, let it be for something that like might go in his Hall of Fame entry, like the time he crushed your team in the playoffs, Denver. Not because his rape trial was held in your state. A lot of things have changed since 2003.
And so has Kobe Bryant.
No comments:
Post a Comment