Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Why I've come around on Kobe

First of all, the guy said that if he played in college he would have wanted to play for Duke and Coach K. Then, when asked if he ever thought about whether he would have liked to play college hoops, he offered this response: "every March."

Then he comes out with this one, after he finally was ready to play for Team USA on the last national team:

"It always seemed like an injury would come up or something like that. My practice jersey, I hung it up in my room and just stared at it last night."

Kobe Bryant, excited about being able to play for the national team.

Gotta love it.

For a guy I hated as a rookie, I've got to admit it: Kobe has won me over.

5 comments:

SheaHeyKid said...

There's no question if you saw the pre-Olympics special on this year's redeem team that he took playing for the US very seriously. It obviously meant a lot to him, and was exactly the kind of attitude that had been missing by the other NBA losers the previous few Olympics.

dark commenteer said...

Kobe is a little bitch and always will be.

Oh, he wanted to play for Duke? What a shock--this is the same spoiled, entitled brat who, before the draft, stated that he would only play for the Lakers. It doesn't surprise me in the least that he would've only wanted to play for the #1program in the country at the time.

I'm not impressed that he stared at his USA jersey--it's just another manufactured moment to try to ingratiatehim with the public, like the Spike Lee documentary.

And his whole career has been filled with whiny moments. At least Shaq had the balls to publicly call him out on it. Kobe will always be a me-first guy who doesn't understand the "team" concept. I'm hoping that the Magic pull this one out.

What a douche.

SheaHeyKid said...

Haha, I think DC hates Kobe almost as much as I hate the NBA.

Fredo said...

I forsee much bitterness for D.C. when this Finals ends.

And as for the Duke thing, I understand your point. Playing for Duke has certain priveleges, not the least of which is that you get a lot of T.V. exposure, have talented teammates, and have at least a chance to make it to the Final Four every year.

But with that being said, not only many, but MOST, blue chip H.S. recruits want nothing to do with playing for Duke--they'd rather go to Memphis and get paid, Florida and sunbathe, or Connecticut and have their travel costs covered by Calhoun.

The guys at Duke really break their balls balancing academics and basketball, and it's not for the guy who just wants hot chicks and the quickest path to an NBA paycheck. I can remember sitting in classes with Chris Collins, Tony Moore, and seeing Grant Hill pulling late-nighters in Deryl-Hart library. Compared to the many schools where student-athletes are allowed to take 6 credits while biding time for the draft, it's not even in the same galaxy.

That said, Kobe didn't go to Duke, but even having the inclination reflects well on him.

dark commenteer said...

It's also easy to SAY you wanted to play for Duke when you had no intention of doing so because you just wanted the paycheck.

Sounds to me like he was sucking up to Coach K...