Kobe Bashing

One of the great pleasures in being a sports fan is the legitimacy of having completely irrational and ridiculous points of view. Often it is manifested in the love of a home town team and a misguided sense of hope for the all elusive victory. But nearly as often, it is the hatred of another team, a rival, a team or person who seems to stand for everything you oppose and hate about the world.

This is why I like watching the Lakers lose. I can blame Kobe for everything. I can blame him when he doesn't score enough (He's no Michael Jordan); when he scores too much (He's no Magic Johnson); when his team loses it is his own personal fault. I enjoy pinning all the blame on him and am justified - as a basketball fan - in doing so.

Kobe is a weirdo. Sometimes he decides to "take over" and takes ridiculous shots when he's triple teamed or completely covered. And more than any other player I've watched, he makes those shots. He's the best well covered scorer I've ever seen. And yet, I still think a lot of those shots are plain dumb. He can't make them all. I'd guess he only makes 30-40% of them. They are by definition low percentage. But he's not quick enough and doesn't have a feel for where his teammates are to pass it around and find the open man. Other times it seems like he "decides" to involve his teammates - probably to get people off his back about being "selfish" - and then passes when he's relatively open or could get fouled. The guy is just weird. He's smug, humorless, seems to be angry at the world for no good reason. Sometimes he wants all the responsibility of running the team, other times he seems to shirk it, and it always seems like he does these things on his schedule, as opposed to what's best for everyone. He's almost like an idiot-savant, completely unaware of what the guy next to him is thinking or feeling, and thinks by sheer physical and mental will he can overcome all of it. Werner Herzog should do a documentary on him.

He is also a creep. What are with his post game compliments for Boston and how they played? YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FINALS! It's like he's confused between Boston and his own team...treating them like friends and his own teammates like enemies. Can't you see it in his eyes rolling around when Lamar misses a layup or Radmanovic has the nerve to shoot a three.

Man, I love this crap.