mamba fever

Kobe Bryant

A stud on the basketball court. A highly unlikable guy off of it.

But who cares, right?

The guy is the arguably the best competitor in the four major sports. He is certainly one of the most successful.

7 Finals appearances, 5 championships

13 All-Star appearances, 4 MVPs

12-time All-NBA first team

10-time All-NBA defensive team

Gold Medal winner, league MVP, 4^th in all-time playoff scoring, 6^th in all-time regular season scoring, second most points scored in a game (81), and so on.

The guy will go down as one of the best basketball players in the history of the game. And that wouldn’t change if he quit tomorrow.

Yet, for all his accolades, he continues to have his doubters.

Take the other night for example…

Lakers – Heat

In a back and forth, playoff intensity fueled game, Kobe attempted to do what he has done so many times in his career; win the game for his team.

On this occasion he failed.

In the last 3 minutes of the game Kobe preceded to be stripped of the ball by Dwayne Wade for the go-ahead bucket, turn the ball over under the Miami hoop, and miss a wild, 30-foot three-pointer.

Damage done. Heat win.

Shortly after the game, some articles on ESPN started popping up suggesting that Kobe Bryant was hurting his team down the stretch. Saying he forces too many difficult shots, doesn’t look for the open teammate, didn’t take time to find a better scoring opportunity near the end of the game, etc.

In case you were questioning his decisions down the stretch as well, please refer back up the page to his laundry list of accolades.

The guy knows how to win.

Just about better than anybody else in league history.

Period.

Would Los Angeles even be in that game if it weren’t for Kobe getting them to a tie game with 3 minutes to go?

No.

Would Los Angeles even be a relevant TV draw against another star studded team, like the Heat, without Kobe?

Probably not.

Would Kobe have had this much success if he cared about the possibility of failure every time he took a daring chance at winning?

Certainly not.

I think these guys know what they are doing.

I think Phil Jackson, winner of 11 NBA titles, knows how to manage his star.

I think the owners of one of the leagues most successful franchises, knows how to build a winning team.

And I think Kobe, the star in a league of supremely talented stars, who has proven to be better than the rest of them at the end of the season, 5 times, knows what he’s doing.

And this is why media members, fans and “ESPN basketball experts” drive me nuts.

Who are we to really judge?

The players are the ones who make it happen.

They are the entertainers.

They are the music makers that we pay to see.

Without them, there is nothing to talk about. Maybe that is why there is always criticism – because it makes more interesting TV and allows the 24/7 sports feed to stay plugged in. But what value is there really in hours of talk shows dedicated to the lack of chemistry on a Heat team or the selfishness and bad decision making of Kobe Bryant?

The reality is we are collective drops in a bucket of meaningless commentary with no consequence on the game at hand.

It’s easy to sit at a desk, and draw up a reason for a team or player’s failure, but it is another thing to live it and actually overcome it. Let’s give these guys a little more credit; they didn’t simply fall into success, or have it handed to them.

After the game, Kobe did something fairly rare by going back out onto the visitor’s court, and had an impromptu post-game shoot-around. When asked about it afterward by media members he basically said he was sorting some things out and working on some of his “pet shots” that weren’t falling for him during the game. He also stole a great quote and said,

“I want what most men want, I just want it more.”

The guy is 32, has cemented his legacy, and is still bothered enough by a game-gone-bad to work on his jumper after the contest?

Unbelievable.

I think we forgot just how impressive these individuals are.

Sometimes the human element is taken out of it and we expect them to be locks for an allotment of fantasy basketball statistics. It’s as if we see them as characters in video games -guys who are rated a “98” in scoring, and therefore should make the majority of their shots every night and put up 30 in their sleep. Never mind illness, family issues, depression, loss of desire, aches and pains. They are basketball robots and are expected to produce. While we sit back on the couch and blog or talk to our buddies about them, they are currently pouring sweat in the gym, not eating pizza at 3am, studying film and doing everything they can to do what we expect them to.

Now, here’s what makes Kobe so impressive.

He has accomplished what he has in the world’s best basketball league, constantly going up against players who are also supremely talented and also work exceptionally hard. Every basketball player on the planet knows who Kobe Bryant is and when they play him, give their absolute best effort to shut him down.

It must be exhausting to be a measuring stick.

Now go and be one for more than a decade.

Kobe has done it and has done it his way.

So when there is displeasure over the type of guy Kobe is off the court, how cordial of a teammate he is, or even his performance on the court and the internet, fans, talk show hosts and ESPN personalities grab hold and create a whirlwind of debate, does it really matter?

No.

Because Kobe will be shooting in a gym, and we will be watching, talking.