R.I.P Kobe Bryant

Thread made it a pretty decent length before it turned into utter shit.

Solid progress.

Ohio said:

It just seems like overkill. Everyone else is playing, even hours after his death. Are they not allowed to grieve too?

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As with most things in pro sports it's because of the market he played in. They are also waiving HoF rules to rush him into the HoF. People are pushing for Kobe to be the logo too.

It's a horrible tragedy amplified by being LA.

I'm not sure what rushing him to the hall does tbh.

Its knee jerk which I understand. I mean it's only been days since it happened so I get the high emotion.

I mean does Lebron get in early because he put thousands of kids through college?

We have officially jumped the shark.

Nice, balanced appreciation of Kobe from (who else) Zach Lowe:

cavsfever said:

Nice, balanced appreciation of Kobe from (who else) Zach Lowe:

Lowe: Kobe's greatness was both beautiful and maddening

Kobe Bryant had the skill and knowledge to be any kind of player he wanted to be.

www.espn.com

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I think that's kind of why people are bringing up the less savory elements of his history -- because some of the adulation seems to be going a bit overboard. Nothing wrong with grieving or honoring the man for what he did on the court and the good things he did off the court. But there clearly are some folks going over the top.

It hit me the same way Paul Walker's death hit me. I obviously didn't know him or anything, but I'd spent roughly 20 years watching him 2x a week or more (during playoffs) on tv during basketball season so you felt like you knew him a little.

Tragic. Absolutely horrible for him, his family, and the other families of the passengers on board.

Breaking

The Knicks have vowed to go on a 24 game losing streak in honor of the late Kobe Bryant.

The Human Q-Tip said:

I think that's kind of why people are bringing up the less savory elements of his history -- because some of the adulation seems to be going a bit overboard. Nothing wrong with grieving or honoring the man for what he did on the court and the good things he did off the court. But there clearly are some folks going over the top.

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I lost it when I saw an ESPN reporter say "all fathers should take note from Kobe"...literally stunned me.

So far I've seen:

- Retire both #8 and #24 for all teams
- Make him the logo
- Mark the 24 and 8 yard lines at the Super Bowl with purple and gold hash lines
- Make 8/24 a National Holiday
- Mark Cuban saying Kobe has brought America together for the first time in our generation.

Meanwhile, LeBron is getting attacked on IG by people saying he killed Kobe and a Washington Post reporter was suspended and received death threats because she posted a link to a story about Kobe's rape accusation.

I was shocked when I saw the news, and it's incredibly sad people lost their lives, especially the kids. Kids passing away always hits me. But with Kobe, we're now living in a world where Kobe stans are just throwing out ridiculous ideas like the one's above and nobody will stop them out of fear of getting the pitchforks coming after them.

Crazy idea, instead of putting Kobe's name on things and other hollow gestures, what if the NBA commemorated him with a financial investment in girls and/or international youth basketball? Or would that just be way too over the top?

Steve_424 said:

I lost it when I saw an ESPN reporter say "all fathers should take note from Kobe"...literally stunned me.

So far I've seen:

- Retire both #8 and #24 for all teams
- Make him the logo
- Mark the 24 and 8 yard lines at the Super Bowl with purple and gold hash lines
- Make 8/24 a National Holiday
- Mark Cuban saying Kobe has brought America together for the first time in our generation.

Meanwhile, LeBron is getting attacked on IG by people saying he killed Kobe and a Washington Post reporter was suspended and received death threats because she posted a link to a story about Kobe's rape accusation.

I was shocked when I saw the news, and it's incredibly sad people lost their lives, especially the kids. Kids passing away always hits me. But with Kobe, we're now living in a world where Kobe stans are just throwing out ridiculous ideas like the one's above and nobody will stop them out of fear of getting the pitchforks coming after them.

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I was just a little kid when the Colorado incident happened, so I didn't really understand it. I never really went back and read about it once I got older either. After he passed away and I saw your earlier post, I went back and read about the case. In addition to the things you posted, I found these statements pretty alarming:

Eagle County Sheriff investigators first confronted Bryant with the sexual assault accusation on July 2.[1] During the July 2003 interview with investigators, Bryant initially told investigators that he did not have sexual intercourse with his accuser, a 19-year-old woman who worked at the hotel where Bryant was staying. When the officers told Bryant that she had taken an exam that yielded physical evidence, such as semen, Bryant admitted to having sexual intercourse with her, but stated that the sex was consensual.[2] When asked about bruises on the accuser's neck, Bryant admitted to "strangling" her during the encounter, stating that he held her "from the back" "around her neck", that strangling during sex was his "thing" and that he had a pattern of strangling a different sex partner (not his wife) during their recurring sexual encounters. When asked how hard he was holding onto her neck, Bryant stated, "My hands are strong. I don't know." Bryant stated that he assumed consent for sex because of the accuser's body language such as her kissing him, putting her hand on his penis, and bending over, but that he did not explicitly ask for her consent during the encounter. Bryant later said that he believed his accuser was capable of saying no because during the encounter he asked her if he could "cum on her face", and she said no.


The examination found evidence of vaginal trauma, which Bryant's defense team claimed was consistent with having sex with multiple partners in two days.

Evidence recovered by police included the T-shirt that Bryant wore the night of the incident, which had three small stains of the accuser's blood on it. The smudge was verified to be the accuser's blood by DNA testing and probably was not menstrual blood because the accuser said she had her period two weeks earlier.

He denied even having sex with her until he found out they had evidence that his semen was inside her. She had bruises around her neck. Her blood was on his t shirt. The rape kit found evidence of trauma. His apology after the charges were dropped was kinda sorta an admission of wrongdoing. I don't know what happened in that hotel room. Only Kobe and the woman do. But, people have been convicted with less evidence than that.

It is incredibly tragic that his family lost their husband/daughter, father/sister. No one deserves that. I understand that right now isn't really the time to talk about the Colorado incident. But it shouldn't be completely swept under the rug either when it comes time for the NBA to decide how to honor his legacy either, imho.

MediumBaller said:

I was just a little kid when the Colorado incident happened, so I didn't really understand it. I never really went back and read about it once I got older either. After he passed away and I saw your earlier post, I went back and read about the case. In addition to the things you posted, I found these statements pretty alarming:

Eagle County Sheriff investigators first confronted Bryant with the sexual assault accusation on July 2.[1] During the July 2003 interview with investigators, Bryant initially told investigators that he did not have sexual intercourse with his accuser, a 19-year-old woman who worked at the hotel where Bryant was staying. When the officers told Bryant that she had taken an exam that yielded physical evidence, such as semen, Bryant admitted to having sexual intercourse with her, but stated that the sex was consensual.[2] When asked about bruises on the accuser's neck, Bryant admitted to "strangling" her during the encounter, stating that he held her "from the back" "around her neck", that strangling during sex was his "thing" and that he had a pattern of strangling a different sex partner (not his wife) during their recurring sexual encounters. When asked how hard he was holding onto her neck, Bryant stated, "My hands are strong. I don't know." Bryant stated that he assumed consent for sex because of the accuser's body language such as her kissing him, putting her hand on his penis, and bending over, but that he did not explicitly ask for her consent during the encounter. Bryant later said that he believed his accuser was capable of saying no because during the encounter he asked her if he could "cum on her face", and she said no.


The examination found evidence of vaginal trauma, which Bryant's defense team claimed was consistent with having sex with multiple partners in two days.

Evidence recovered by police included the T-shirt that Bryant wore the night of the incident, which had three small stains of the accuser's blood on it. The smudge was verified to be the accuser's blood by DNA testing and probably was not menstrual blood because the accuser said she had her period two weeks earlier.

He denied even having sex with her until he found out they had evidence that his semen was inside her. She had bruises around her neck. Her blood was on his t shirt. The rape kit found evidence of trauma. His apology after the charges were dropped was kinda sorta an admission of wrongdoing. I don't know what happened in that hotel room. Only Kobe and the woman do. But, people have been convicted with less evidence than that.

It is incredibly tragic that his family lost their husband/daughter, father/sister. No one deserves that. I understand that right now isn't really the time to talk about the Colorado incident. But it shouldn't be completely swept under the rug either when it comes time for the NBA to decide how to honor his legacy either, imho.

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I was in college when this all went down and it was a pretty big deal in the news. His legal team leaked the girl's name and it got ugly from there - people caling her a slut, stories about her being mentally ill, etc etc etc. To me, his statement was pretty much an admission of guilt.

I thought this was a good write-up on the right time to discuss it:


I do wonder how many out there are in your shoes and just never looked closely at the case prior to now because you were too young at the time it happened. I'm guessing many won't do what you did and look back at it because either consciously or subconsciously, they don't want to know.

Steve_424 said:

So far I've seen:

- Retire both #8 and #24 for all teams
- Make him the logo
- Mark the 24 and 8 yard lines at the Super Bowl with purple and gold hash lines
- Make 8/24 a National Holiday
- Mark Cuban saying Kobe has brought America together for the first time in our generation.

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1) Mark Cuban is ridiculous. Both for retiring his number & that statement.
2) Super Bowl hash lines....equally ridiculous
3) Retiring both numbers is RETARDED. People are so dumb when mourning.
4) Logo I support 100% and here is why:

Kobe Bryant, although you can dispute his place in history, is an all time great in his sport. Not an all star, not an up and comer, not labeled as solely a winner.....an all time great. This is the 1st sports death, of an all time great, that seemed so sudden and out of place. The guy was in the league 3 years ago and was extremely successful after playing; with a lot let to give IMO. He also looked to be on the verge of making female basketball players relevant. Jerry West means nothing to NBA players today....Kobe means everything. He played from the time I was in the 2nd grade until I was married. I grew up with him. So did many of these players. Hell some of them were born after he was drafted.

The NBA jumped the gun making West, 1-8 in the Finals. Making a true all time great like Kobe seems more appropriate. He has had significantly more of an impact than West did & to be fair, thats with the controversy and a few question marks.

I wouldnt think of it as replacing West, but simply updating the logo.

LeBron in June:

"KOBE! THIS IS FOR YOU!"

aka "Win One for the Gipper".

Tlyons said:

As with most things in pro sports it's because of the market he played in. They are also waiving HoF rules to rush him into the HoF. People are pushing for Kobe to be the logo too.

It's a horrible tragedy amplified by being LA.

I'm not sure what rushing him to the hall does tbh.

Its knee jerk which I understand. I mean it's only been days since it happened so I get the high emotion.

I mean does Lebron get in early because he put thousands of kids through college?

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Is he going in early? I thought Duncan and Garnett in 2020 was his class, maybe one of the best HOF classes ever?

bigfoot5415 said:

The NBA jumped the gun making West, 1-8 in the Finals. Making a true all time great like Kobe seems more appropriate. He has had significantly more of an impact than West did & to be fair, thats with the controversy and a few question marks.

I wouldnt think of it as replacing West, but simply updating the logo.

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yes, the logo should be a contested 3 on 1 midrange jumper