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OJ Mayo's Just Shopping
He's not buying anything, and then there's Kobe
I'm proud enough to be a Lakers fan. But if Chris Paul were to bring a championship to New Orleans? I would not be mad. Sorry, but that just has to be said.
It's a rough Monday morning for fans of LA basketball superstars. At the college level, there are bruised feelings from OJ Mayo's alleged screwing of the NCAA system. (Personally, I think he deserved at least 5 percent of the gross from the new arena.) And there's temporary pain at the professional level about the current physical condition of Kobe Bryant. Without him, the Lakers nearly lost to the Utah Jazz.
That first hurt smarted more, and not just because USC football is used to scandalous hijinks. No, Angelenos just ain't ever really trippin' about the artist called Bean. There's something to Kobe's raised-in-Italy American blackness that suits Southern California. He's black but not too black. The Lakers are among the league's most ethnically fluid franchises, and David Stern could not have drawn up a better Negro super hero for his league if he had hired Stan Lee.
The NBA anointed Kobe the next Jordan, frankly, before he deserved it. Kinda like LeBron. And then came Colorado. What people say happened and what really happened are undeniably two different things. Yet as a result of Colorado, a lot of folks developed a visceral, bitter hatred. These people will probably go on to despise the Kobester. Nationally his case is the, um, stain that's forever on his game. But in LA? Man, Angelenos looked at the Colorado incident as the ultimate please-and-thank-you lesson. The fan base got him. Jack Nicholson's ass might have had three incidents like Colorado last year alone. Aided by the fact that LA is a big town without football, Kobe may well be the most locally beloved superstar in all of sports. Especially now that Brett Favre retired.
It's a rough Monday morning for fans of LA basketball superstars. At the college level, there are bruised feelings from OJ Mayo's alleged screwing of the NCAA system. (Personally, I think he deserved at least 5 percent of the gross from the new arena.) And there's temporary pain at the professional level about the current physical condition of Kobe Bryant. Without him, the Lakers nearly lost to the Utah Jazz.
That first hurt smarted more, and not just because USC football is used to scandalous hijinks. No, Angelenos just ain't ever really trippin' about the artist called Bean. There's something to Kobe's raised-in-Italy American blackness that suits Southern California. He's black but not too black. The Lakers are among the league's most ethnically fluid franchises, and David Stern could not have drawn up a better Negro super hero for his league if he had hired Stan Lee.
The NBA anointed Kobe the next Jordan, frankly, before he deserved it. Kinda like LeBron. And then came Colorado. What people say happened and what really happened are undeniably two different things. Yet as a result of Colorado, a lot of folks developed a visceral, bitter hatred. These people will probably go on to despise the Kobester. Nationally his case is the, um, stain that's forever on his game. But in LA? Man, Angelenos looked at the Colorado incident as the ultimate please-and-thank-you lesson. The fan base got him. Jack Nicholson's ass might have had three incidents like Colorado last year alone. Aided by the fact that LA is a big town without football, Kobe may well be the most locally beloved superstar in all of sports. Especially now that Brett Favre retired.
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