It just seems like overkill. Everyone else is playing, even hours after his death. Are they not allowed to grieve too?
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
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.
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: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.
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.
1) Mark Cuban is ridiculous. Both for retiring his number & that statement.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.
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?
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.