Kobe Bryant is a good player and had a great game in overtime the other night but by the press he is getting you would think he had hit the game winning shot in his 6th championship. Kobe-mania is all over ESPN's website today. After reading the Chronicle's site for the past couple of days I'm beginning to suspect that Fran Blinebury is really Bob Costas. Quote: "Kobe smiles. He winks. A new era dawns." What a ridiculous comment! Bryant is a good player. He may even turn out to be great one but a new era dawns when he smiles and winks?! Talk about nauseating! If this continues I'll have to take dramamine 30 minutes before I read the Chronicle sports every day. Poor Vince Carter. He will now have to play in the shadow of "Kobe" as Clyde Drexler did with Jordan. I can see Carter now as he looks pleadingly at the official for a call as "Kobe" bowls him over with an obvious offensive foul. I can hear him say, "Excuse me, but I'm Vince Carter. I'm an All-Star too." In the background an older but never gray Costas marvels how "Kobe" kept his balance and looked so graceful despite Carter's "rough play." Have I made the picture sickening enough yet? Here's to hoping Steve Francis reaches his full potential and becomes Bryant's worst nightmare. ------------------
What's interesting, is to note that as far as highlights go, Carter had Kobe way outdone this season. Carter single-handedly brought the Raptors onto national tv broadcasts after that experiment NBC did with the Toronto-Phoenix game. Not to mention he had a slam-dunk contest for the ages. He may have given the single greatest slam dunk performances ever. But when it came to play when it counts, he shrank and Kobe stepped up. I have to agree I'm sick of the media jumping on anyone/anything to promote the product. Just let them play.
Oh my god you are so right . He scores 28 points in a Finals game and people herald him as a god . Espn says >A legend is born . Oh my god Im so sick of this crap . Vince Carter is a hellavu lot better than Kobe ------------------ Will Work for Clutch 101 Book
I'd rather see Kobe get the media attention than Carter. Kobe has paid his dues in the league and has performed well on the biggest platform. Carter can dunk. That's it. The Raptors self destruction shows that the other Carter and the team leader Vince didn't get the job done. Here's hoping Tracy skips town. ------------------ It's all good!
i totally agree. i actually kinda like the lakers and kobe, and i'm already sick of all the kobe this and kobe that crap. damn nba hype machine. ------------------
Why is everyone so down on Carter? He just finished his first full season as a pro, Bryant's in his 4th. Also, Vince is THE MAN on his team, while Bryant just has to play off of Shaq. How many times has Kobe choked in the playoffs? Try 3 years in a row (remember the 3 straight air balls?). Get off Carter, he's doing a lot better at this stage than Bryant was. The main point to remember is that Carter is the go-to guy on his team. Without Shaq, Bryant wouldn't even be in the playoffs. You can't say that about any other Raptor. ------------------ Too-Rye-Aye!
Good point TheFreak. The NBA and media was obviously disappointed when Bryant flamed out in his previous playoff appearances. They act like they were embarassed because of their premature annointing of him as the "next Jordan" and are now estatic that he finally came through. ------------------
And Kobe comes crashing down. As I look at the box score with 4:24 to go in the 4th and the Pacers leading 105-79 here is Bryant's line. Kobe Bryant 32 min., 4-19 FGM-A, 0-0 FTM-A, 0-1 3PM-A, 5 REBb, 2 AST, 5 PF, 8 PTS. How sweet it is!! Now how will they spin this? ------------------
Make it 4-20!! And better yet, look at the men he was responsible for guarding- Miller and Rose. A combined 57 points by them. Some defense by the "next MJ." I really want to see what kind of spin they try and put on this performance. I don't think MJ had nights like these in games where he could have won the title. As you said, HOW SWEET IT IS!! ------------------ Cheaters never win. Unless you play for LA that is.
I don't believe Bill Walton. After jumping on the Kobe bandwagon, this was his defense of Kobe after the game when Steve Jones made fun of Walton for all the things he said about Kobe. "Well Jalen's due for a stinker on Monday and Kobe's due to light it up." Right Bill. ------------------ Cheaters never win. Unless you play for LA that is.
Here's to Steve posterizing Kobe with a vicious tomahawk slam! ------------------ We need some meat in the post!
Michael Murphy brings some sanity back to the Chronicle's reporting this morning. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/581584 Here is an excerpt: +++Lakers coach Phil Jackson brushed off Bryant's poor showing. "Kobe was game for it," Jackson said. "He just didn't find his shots or rhythm out there to play with. They (the Pacers) did a nice job on him, and I'm sure he's going admit that." And he'd have to admit he got used on the other end of the floor. While Bryant struggled on offense, he was also torched on defense as Miller (25 points) and Rose (32) took turns abusing him. "Anybody is tough to guard when everything they're throwing up is going in," Bryant said.+++ I'd say that last statement sums up Bryant's game 4 performance to a tee. It's nice to know that Bryant apparently isn't as stuck on himself as most of the national media is. ------------------ [This message has been edited by JT (edited June 17, 2000).]
Kobe is good but not the next MJ. MJ was one of a kind. He was always there in the clutch and on a bad shooting night, he still scored 20 points. Kobe shows flashes of MJ but then he'll have games like Friday. He's getting a bit cocky too. I hope he has a bad game tonight as well. I hate the Lakers, almost as much as the Jazz. ------------------
Shoot... If your sick of Francis-mania(since he does have more commercials as a rookie and more hype than Kobe did), then THAT is only going to get worse. But he's on our team so thats ok, right? ------------------ I Want To Thank God For Making Me A Rocketfan
Actually no Almu, that wouldn't be alright. I've yet to hear Francis hyped in that manner. I hope before Francis is hyped in such a manner he earns it. As I said in my original post, Bryant is a good player and may even turn out to be a great player but the love fest after game 4 was unbearable. "Kobe smiles, he winks, a new era dawns". Yeah right. ------------------
JT, no that is incorrect. Kobe was not on the cover of magazines, or winning any awards, or in slam-dunk contests where he was electrifying a crowd or averaging 18 points per. Francis is ahead in the hype area in his rookie season compared to Kobester when he was a rookie. No comparison right now. One day, when Stevie is busting peoples ass with his crossover and getting to the line 15 times a game, he will get the same hype. But of course, his team has to be good and has to be winning. Nobody gets sick of people that lose. ------------------ I Want To Thank God For Making Me A Rocketfan [This message has been edited by Almu (edited June 19, 2000).]
How can anyone even compare the hype that Kobe gets to the hype that Francis gets? There IS NO COMPARISON. Francis barely won co-rookie of the year. Yes, he is given credit for a great rookie year, but look at how they overdo Bryant. I'm sick of hearing him compared to Jordan. He is nowhere near Jordan, nor ever will be. Think of the Lakers without Shaq. Kobe wouldn't be anything else but a good player. Shaq is the reason the Lakers won it all. ------------------
Title, I am comparing ROOKIE SEASONS. Not the present. ------------------ I Want To Thank God For Making Me A Rocketfan [This message has been edited by Almu (edited June 19, 2000).]
But you just can't compare Francis' rookie season with Kobe's. Francis was rookie of the year, played major minutes, and was the best player on his team. Kobe didn't get half the p.t. as Francis, wasn't close to being rookie of the year nor the best player on his team. I just think it is unfair to make that comparison for those reasons. Francis has been hyped for being a good rookie, but I wouldn't say it is over-hyped. Kobe has definately been overhyped, I mean comparing him to Jordan is rediculous. Jordan never played with anyone that was half as dominant as Shaq. ------------------
