RIP Kobe Bryant

I will say this and say this only. At the very least, in the most charitable interpretation of events, Kobe Bryant engaged in a sordid and borderline criminal (remember, most charitable) event. Rightly or wrongly, he got a second chance. As far as can be told, he used it well. That's all.

 

It's a tragedy, of course, for all of the victims. One of ESPN's talking heads called Bryant's death one of the great tragedies in all of American history. Um, no.

 

Well, I'd guess of those 30 million fathers, probably 29,950,000 or so have never been accused of sexual assault.

 

My 11 year old daughter was watching CNN’s interview with Kareem just now and asked me where Kobe was going with his daughter. When I said to his daughter’s basketball practice, she laughed and said, “Who takes a helicopter to a basketball practice?”

Yeah, that’s not 99.9 percent of people’s lives.

 

Had this same thought today, and I’m sorry if stating that offends. But he was a retired man worth hundreds of millions. Being a good dad should be the floor, not the ceiling.

 

Clay Trumpist is going to go insane over that one, blasting ESPN's "woke" people and suggesting that the tragedy will quickly be overshadowed if the Special Guest of the Alabama-LSU game and the LSU-Clemson game somehow loses in November.

 

Hyperbole is pretty normal 24-48 hours out, especially from ESPN.

Bryant’s death is one of the all-time shockers, because we convince ourselves we can control our own death, or at least stave it off for a few extra years, and Kobe lived in the kind of way where it seemed likely he’d be here in 2060. If Tupac Shakur’s death was titanic and tragic in a certain community, it was also something you could conceive happening when it did. Cobain too, awful as it was.

Not this one. He, his daughter and six others died having no control of their own death, and it’s an awful thing to realize.

 

I'd be inclined to feel that way if Kobe had paid one minute of debt for what he admitted he did.

I'm all about those who get punished for their sin and fix their life for the better afterwards and who want people to learn from their mistakes. They paid a debt and because they did? They deserve and earned forgiveness.

But that's not what happened. His criminal trial ended with his accuser suddenly and mysteriously not wanting to testify. He made his non-consensual sex admission in the civil trial only after he was given immunity for his statement. Knock me over with a feather.

Then, he got the full force of the NBA hagiography machine in his corner. Before the ink on the civil trial settlement was dry, NBA mouthpieces ESPN, Turner and the (mostly) star-fucking NBA media were falling all over themselves to lionize Kobe and consign the sexual assault trials to that figurative box in the closet you never talk about.

It worked remarkably well for Kobe. An entire generation of basketball players see Kobe as the ultimate competitor. Many probably don't have any idea the sexual assault trial even happened. (And I'd likely hate to hear what perception they have of it if they do know.) People who ought to know better (Obama for example) eulogize him while unintentionally (maybe?) sanitizing him. Media members, who would normally (and rightfully) be calling out Kobe out for his sordid past with a female victim, put their fingers in their ears, sing la-la-la to themselves and walk between the raindrops. MeToo? More like FuckThat, It's Kobe.

I don't make a point to speak ill of the dead. What happened to Kobe and all of the victims of the plane crash, especially the children, is tragic. Truly.

But I don't believe in sanitizing the truth either. This shit happened. And I don't understand why Kobe gets a significant amount of benefit of the doubt when there are others in his position who may have done less who are never forgiven.

 

Well said. Thoughtful and without petty sarcasm.

I think Kobe had three things that help him now. First these accusations happened 15 years ago which put them at a time when the accuser could suddenly have a change of heart, settle out of court, everyone sign NDAs and that is that. This happens in the last three years, his career is tarnished and we're not even debating his legacy.

Second he became a legit icon in the subsequent time. He helped others and (appeared) to dedicate himself to family following the accusations. He made a contrition that was 1) assured could never be used against him and 2) was probably the most (seemingly) sincere apologies an athlete has made on the matter. He projected to be someone who learned a lesson. Whether he did or didn't brings me to No. 3 and that's in the days of #MeToo where every star who did something shitty to a woman for the last 35 years was getting publicly blasted. He was a known philanderer and admitted to sexually assaulting a woman and we never heard his name come up with anyone else (even if the rape incident resurfaced).

Does that exonerate him? Probably not, certainly not completely if only a little bit and definitely not in the eyes of those who wanted more justice for the woman. At the very least both sides are right to vilify him and lionize him and maybe both. But both should be done. There are daughters who lost a dad who will don't understand what happened in 2003. Friends, teammates, colleagues and fans need a place to vent grief. And a woman who had something horrible happen to her who deserves a voice too. All is legit so long as we acknowledge the right they both sides have their feelings.

 

I will add that if you read Kent Babb’s feature from 2018, Kobe was obsessive about storytelling and altering his own narrative.

“That awakening has renewed the focus on something Bryant has been trying to drown out of his story.“

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/sports/kobe-bryant-hollywood-revisionist/

He worked on changing the perception about him by winning and becoming more personable and charming at a time when few athletes are. That shouldn’t sanitize his history, but I can see how it has, at least with many fans and those who have influence over how he’s remembered.

 

What happened inColorado wasn’t something, I believe, that was consistent with Kobe’s character as much as it was the professional athlete’s in general and NBA in particular. Females in hotels are as complementary as pillow mints or available as minibar beers. He thought it was his for the taking. The reason he thought she consented was because he figured consent, like the pillows and bathrobe, were included. Kobe was a man of privilege and wealth from day 1. That girl was part of the furniture and he had no more regard for her than the guy who brought up the bags or the hangers in the closet. His crime was rape, but it was hubris and arrogance too.

 

Through all the hosannas for his accomplishments on the court (mostly well deserved), there's little mention of the fact he essentially threw the 2004 NBA Finals in an attempt to one-up Shaq in the cavalcade of legendary Lakers.