NBA: Kobe, Ready To Eat Those Worms?

Dear Kobe,

You pointed your finger at New Jersey’s Vince Carter Sunday.

If I were you, pointing fingers would be the last thing I’d do. Your teammates tolerate you - because they have no choice. Your coach, because he wants a piece of Lakers ownership, buried his pride and signed up to work with your sorry ass (pardon the reminder). He tolerates you because he too has no choice, (although Jackson’s about to realize flexibility is needed more than the triangle offense.)

Kobe you are no longer the golden child.

What happened earlier in your career? What do your college teammates say? Oh, that’s right. You’re no LeBron. But Lower Merion High School loved you. Except, I’m sure the coach there doesn’t point to you as an example of anything. On or off the court.

Kobe, rape charges against you were - rightfully - dismissed, but you still cheated on your wife; your longtime girlfriend; your high school sweetheart.

Mr. Kobe Bryant, I can’t think of anyone, off-hand, who’s proud of your accomplishments any longer. Today, you’re an ugly spot in the NBA, where once you were a jewel. One I admired for class personified. Heck, you could speak Italian.

It’s obvious you play for money and “me, me, me” and that may just be you being you. Great. But it only earns you being tolerated, and little else. Ron Arteste is more of a charmer, and these days does more for his team than you have been doing lately or will in the future.

What makes you so blind to this?

Sunday night, when you injected your anger and projected your finger and the usual arrogance of the entitled, you scored 46 points, just under half the Lakers output for the evening.

And the team lost.

Someone on the LA Times Laker’s blog, called you a "sociopath in sneakers" while everyone else there was dishing out blame, Kidd-like. You're something that atrophies players around you rather than makes them grow stronger.

Article Author: Temple Stark

A graphic designing wordsmith, with a decade-plus career in community journalism behind me. Take a mean photo, have a new camera, and have been riding the wave of Twitter for more than a year.

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