I love the showtime Lakers. I am plenty old enough to remember Magic and Kareem and the epic battles with the Celtics, Sixers, and Pistons. I am a born and raised NoCal and really enjoy hating on the Dodgers and LA Kings. SoCal is stupid, but I still always made an exception for the Lakers when I was a kid. Back then, come playoff time, the Warriors were no longer on television, so the Lakers were the team in this household that time of year. Yesterday, the Warriors went up 3-1 over Denver, and the Lakers got swept in the first round against the Spurs. Without David Lee, this will not be the Warriors' year. Still, look for them in the playoffs for years to come, but do not expect for the Lakers to be down for long.
Ever since the incident in Colorado, I have been a Kobe hater. Being a Kobe hater has made me a Laker hater. I have a lot of Laker fan pals, like Kevin my bro in Huntington and Maggie at the gym. I actually like rooting for teams my friends root for, since I like it when they are stoked. I can even be happy for Josh and Thao, when the Cowboys win (but barely). The Lakers would be a great team for be to be able to get behind, at least a little and at least every once in a while. But that thing in Colorado, the alleged rape or sexual assault, ruined it for me. And if you defend Kobe, you should stop.
My own analysis of the publicly-known fats of the case is that Kobe is a slimeball and maybe even a sexual predator. But since I am asking you to judge here, I will stick to the facts. Kobe cheated on his wife. Kobe was flippant in trying to talk his way out of a very serious, disgusting, and violent act. Kobe was probably the best basketball player on the planet and revered worldwide. It seems like pretty much everybody has excused one and two because of three, and this drives me crazy -- especially when the fans are women. And it is not just Kobe, either. I hate Ben Roethlisberger too. The view in this country that you can be an ass to women if you are a good enough athlete is disgusting. That we hold certain gifted people to different standards is weird enough if you really think about it. But when it comes to basic human decency, there should not be exceptions.
I am really bothered by what Kobe may have done to that woman in Colorado. He was legally cleared, however, so I certainly must consider that all that may have been fun and consensual at the time. But he is still an ass for embarrassing his wife and seeming so selfish and casual about the whole thing. If he did nothing wrong, why was he so quick to through Shaq under the bus and suggest throwing money at it to make it go away? And that he is so famous, what makes it excusable to so many people, is what makes it more frustrating to reasonable people. I like Charles Barkley but all that mess about him not being a role model is ridiculous. If you are famous for being a good athlete, kids are going to look up to you. It is not a choice the athlete makes. If he (or she) does not want to be imitated by children, he should pick another profession. If the athlete takes the huge sums of money to play whatever game, the athlete accepts this responsibility and needs to not be a disgusting pig in a hotel room. Being famous makes it less OK to be an ass, not more OK. This is not enforced in the World, but it should be.
So I hate Kobe. And he needs to go away, so I can go back to liking the Lakers.
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