Kobe Bryant Was Never Robbed
Posted on March 28, 2008
Consistency is key.
In recent years, the outcry among Lakers and Kobe Bryant fans has been that Kobe Bryant has been robbed of MVP Awards that he rightly deserved. This year, with LeBron James often considered a front-runner in the MVP race despite his team’s lackluster record, the indignant outcry has grown even louder: “Kobe was robbed the last two years!”
No, he wasn’t.
Lakers fans, it’s time for a wake-up
Filed Under Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, MVP | 46 Comments
Branching Out
Posted on March 19, 2008
This is just an announcement.
I have recently joined the Most Valuable Network (a.k.a. MVN) as a sports writer covering the Lakers. MVN is a sort of indie sports media outlet, so to speak, giving non-credentialed guys like me a chance to dabble in informal sports journalism and see where it takes us.
My first article on the Lakers is up on MVN, and I’d encourage you all to read it. I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s called, Are the Lakers Ref Favorites?
Here’s a hint: No, they’re not.
Filed Under Lakers | 9 Comments
MVN Lakers: Are the Lakers Ref Favorites?
Posted on March 17, 2008
This article was originally written for MVN. Since I no longer write for MVN, it has been removed from their archives, so it is reproduced here in full:
While the Lakers were busy losing to the Rockets on Sunday, I was chatting with Matt from Hardwood Paroxysm. During half-time, he expressed a view that is held by fans across the United States: That the Lakers consistently receive an unfair advantage from
Filed Under Kobe Bryant | 1 Comment
John Krolik: The Other Side of the Debate
Posted on March 15, 2008
John Krolik of Cavalier Attitude (among other things — the man is everywhere) recently emailed me. Apparently, he considers me a “worthy adversary.” That’s right, he’s a Cavs fan (and, by extension, a LeBron fan — how could you not be when you watch that much Cleveland basketball?), and not only that, but a Cavs writer, covering the Cavs for MVN.com. And he emailed me, first to let me know he likes the site, and second to initiate further discussion on LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.
In his email, John proceeded to make several counterpoints to points I have made on this site, either in the articles or in the comments. He indicated that he’d like to start a discussion, and would be interested in posting our discussion on the web sites for which he works. I thought that was a great idea, but as some of you may have been aware, have been busy with family issues (which then transitioned straight into the all-important Kobe Bryant Blog Day, which I couldn’t miss). I’ve finally found the time to respond to the points John made in his email, and I’ve decided to post our conversation here in the form of a discussion, point by point.
Filed Under Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, MVP, Statistics | 32 Comments
Rise Again: The Undefeatable Kobe Bryant (Kobe Bryant Blog Day ‘08)
Posted on March 11, 2008
The sports fan is, by nature, a forgetful creature. And why shouldn’t he be? We are constantly inundated with visual stimuli, and it is only natural that those events and accomplishments for which we have little or no visual reminder would fade in our minds. Furthermore, every new generation of sports fans sees greatness before their eyes, but, not having watched previous generations, they have no context within which to evaluate today’s players. This applies not only to the relatively distant past, dominated by Elgin Baylor and Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain (30 years are an eternity in sports), but also to much more recent years. Time has caused us to forget the flaws in Michael Jordan’s game, and that he was once criticized as the most selfish player ever. It has caused us to view Steve Nash and Jason Kidd as two of the best point guards ever to play the game, while Magic Johnson and John Stockton go unremembered. And it has caused us to forget, all too quickly, the greatness that is, and has been, Kobe Bryant.
We’ve allowed ourselves to forget the years in which Bryant, along with Shaquille O’Neal, led the Lakers to three consecutive championships. And even when we do remember, absent-minded revisionism gives all of the credit to O’Neal, wiping from memory the countless clutch performances from Bryant, without which the Lakers could not have won a single championship. Bryant is retrospectively painted as a cancer, rather than a leader on the team that dominated the early part of this decade. He is portrayed as “selfish” and a “ball hog,” rather than the primary distributor and facilitator for a teammate with a reputation for pouting when he didn’t get the ball as much as he wanted. And in many cases, he is remembered as a detriment to his team, rather than the very reason the Lakers have had any success at all.
Not today. Today, he will be remembered as he truly is.
Filed Under Kobe Bryant | 37 Comments