Sacrilege

Tonight, I go mad. I was watching some of the Laker-Warrior game at a bar and paying mild attention to Kobe. He is old. He lost the ball a couple of times - something he does quite a bit since he often forces the issue on offense - but I had a thought -- perhaps it is because the Lakers are clearly past their prime, and Kobe is past his prime, and the Lakers are obviously underdogs in the West - but a thought occurred to me -- is there still hope for Kobe becoming something worth rooting for. Sacrilege? Just wait until later in the post...

It is about grit. Kobe has always been a weird dude. An unlikeable teammate, a guy who always needed more help than he let on. A bad shot taker. A guy with an overblown reputation for being clutch. An unremarkable defender. A mediocre passer. A guy was always much more fun to root against than to root for. But there is a version of all these negative traits becoming something else in older age. That thing is grit. Imagine Kobe playing 5 more years. Imagine the Lakers not getting Howard (I don't think they will). Imagine Kobe just showing up every night until he is 38 years old, playing the same old style he's always played, taking too many shots, trying to do things his body won't allow him to do anymore, chucking up ridiculous 3's. Imagine his teammates. Guys like Ariza, Barnes, Gasol, Artest, maybe a maturing Bynum. Imagine them not making the playoffs one year. Imagine them losing in the first round to superior teams like the Clippers, the Trail Blazers, OKC, etc. But then imagine this team 4 or 5 years from now, where these other teams have matured into the veteran teams, mature teams, and then you have this Laker team, with a few newer guys around, and this aging relic, this guy, Kobe who still takes the shots at the end of the game. And it's almost like a joke, like no one even recognizes him as a top 10 player anymore, but he figures something else out, like he finally comes to understand his skill set and his mental toughness somehow becomes transcendent and he can still get off his shot and realizes the value of the people around him, and becomes this guy who brings a toughness to his team, who still yearns to win. Imagine this version of Kobe, the beaten down veteran, the guy other teams don't even worry about anymore, imagine this version going for his 6th title to match Jordan. Maybe this becomes someone we can root for.

Of course, the more likely scenario is the shitheel requests a trade next season.

Onto other things...and as long as I'm committing sacrilege, let me offer another thought: the first season of Cheers might be better than the first season of Seinfeld. A younger version of myself just tried to break into my apartment and stab me. But seriously, I just got finished watching Cheers season 1. That is a mature show. It is like Tim Duncan showing up in the NBA ready to play and win an NBA title. Seinfeld is like watching a young Jordan play. You can sense potential - almost infinite potential - but it is unformed and unruly and not mature. And you have to take away the future achievements - the future greatness - and view it for what it is - and it isn't genius. Not yet.