So Long Kobe?
 

So, in the last ten hours, the person who is supposedly the most popular player in the NBA, L.A. Laker, Kobe Bryant, has said he was lied to, wants to be traded, and now has back tracked on his request.

Personally, I think he's a whining self-serving ball hog who doesn't know the concept of team play. In my opinion, the Lakers would be better off without him. In fact, Kobe Bryant is one reason I'm an L.A. Clipper fan, and no longer give a damn about whether the Lakers win lose or make the playoffs.

I do hope my glee of a Kobe-less Los Angeles is not ill-advised or premature. He'd be one of many celebrities this city could do without.

Link by the way:

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20070530/465cf6c0_3ca6_1552620070530-1054383007

He spent over 10 years with LA. He has 2 more years on his contract - who in the NBA besides LaBron even comes close?

Wow, a clippers fan (The Worst Franchise in All Sports History), that's tough.

Nope, a mavs fan. LaBron is the real thing though.

Yep. I'm a fan of the same "worst franchise yadda, yadda," that Kobe now states has more talent than the Lakers.

Go figure...

More reason the NBA has become glorified ghetto-ball since the end of the Michael Jordan era. I can barely stomach watching the game anymore (and I grew up loving the NBA as a kid in Boston during the time of Larry Bird, Danny Ange, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Bill Walton, the rivalry with Dr. J and Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, etc.) Now it's a bunch of wanna-be hip-hoppers trying to out-bling one another. It ain't what it used to be. Sad.

I have to wake up at the crack of dawn to go to a real job and earn in a year what Kobe probably gets for making one free throw. He can go to jail for rape for all I care.

(Go Warriors! :p )

What a disappointment, I thought this thread was about Kobe Tai.:(

All that talent couldn't even squeak into the playoffs?

So, so true.

At least half those guys don't care whether they win or lose, or even their own stats, once they sign a big contract. They're just there to collect checks.

Yeah, there are a few players and organizations that are still serious about competing, but there are far too many that don't really care.

+1 Insightful to PoP. I would happily classify baseball and football the same way (except different). Back in the day, there were athletes that you could look up to and respect -- they were involved in their communities, and they weren't criminals who used their money and celebrity status to get off the hook for doing things that would land those of us in the "unwashed masses" in the Big House for the rest of our lives.

Of course, there's a deeper cause to the effect of the decline in sports characters over the years: we, as consumers, continue to provide funding to these people. We watch games on TV, we buy tickets to their games, we buy sports paraphenalia to "support the team." All of that is, in effect, voting with our dollars to say that it's more important to have players with skill than to have players with character.

IMHO, guys like Kobe won't go away until consumers start caring en masse about the decline of so-called professional sports.

I go to quite a few pro sports events for business reasons. I don't really care what the athlete does off the court (Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, etc. were no saints). What I find offensive is guys getting paid millions per year to compete, and then refusing to seriously compete.

Pro basketball is the worst because of the guaranteed contracts. These guys all play to get the big long term guaranteed contract, once they get that, many really just check out. To use the Clippers as an example, look how big a stiff Chris Kaman became before the ink even dried on his ridiculous $50 million contract. The difference in the intensity of his play was noticeable immediately.

One of the biggest thing NBA scouts now assess when looking at new players is "How will the $$ affect his play?" Nobody wants to waste their #1 pick (or any high pick) on the next Kwame Brown.

Football isn't as bad because the contracts aren't guaranteed. So the player has to perform each year. And, lack of complete effort and concentration by a football player can result in his head getting taken off.

Baseball was ruined by free agency and the transient rosters of most teams. No loyalty anymore.

I quit watching baseball when Tony Gwynn retired.

Hard to say that Kobe isn't trying hard when he scores 50 points in consecutive games. But I think his attitude went downhill after he got the tats.

I actually don't follow any pro sports these days. My son doesn't really care, and I think they're pretty much all spoiled brats.

You're just jealous MIT didn't appear in the sweet sixteen. :p

All they need is Kobe, according to Kobe. Thing is, they'd probably be worse off if he did join the team.

And how many pro athletes do you hang around to lend suppport to such a pejorative statement?

Well, I am the only one and still believe in the Lakers and will always be a LAKERS FAN whether they win or lose although I like it better when they are winning.

We certaintly cannot bring back the past and the crazy days of basketball. I miss Chick Hearn, I miss Kareem and Magic playing although I was only 7-8 at the time these guys were my basketball heroes. Kobe is an amazing basketball player, he does have an incredible talent. He has asked for help and has not got what he needs to win and that is a team effort. Basketball is a team sport.

You guys can complain all you want about Kobe but he is an awesome basketball player so is/was Shaq. No one has the ability to score like he does. The closest I have seen recently is Gilbert Arenas but no one can turn it on/off when needed. Trade or not, the Lakers have to do what's best for the organization and I hope they rebuild one hell of a basketball team so I can see all these fairweather basketball fans jump on the bandwagon again and say oh I am a Lakers fan. Now ask me about the officiating and the leagues garbage policies for suspensions.

Ok I'm done for now.

"Yeah, there are a few players and organizations that are still serious about competing, but there are far too many that don't really care."

SI had an article about former team mates and NBA All-Stars Steve Nash and '07 MVP, Dirk Nowitzki. If true, it was refreshing to hear their take on fame and fortune in the NBA and their dedication to the game.

Sherwood

And yet Nash and Nowitzki are in many ways the wrong players to interview for such a story. The lesser regarded veterans inasmuch as ever becoming NBA superstars, like Gary Payton or Kevin Garnett, are better subjects, as they do have big paychecks, however have no hope of winning a championship, and still play hard game after game.

The stakes are far too large, and the money too big for a team to have players who are "just in it for the money." Sooner or later, such attitude is weeded out in the win/loss column, not to mention ticket sales and merchandising.

Granted, Kobe is awesome - but he's no team player. His own teammates don't even help him off the floor when he falls. I'd hate to see what might happen to him if he were to get into a fight with the opposing team.