You wrote: "yet i have read 2 articles focusing on kobe being to prideful to sit out and he needs to and just all these negative comments on a guy who is playing in pain just to be out there" So I'll ask again. What 2 article are you referring to? I haven't come across such articles on ESPN.
What I read here is this. Kobe had a bad game. Lebron had a great game. Since Kobe had a bad game and Lebron had a great game, they compared Kobe's game unfavorably to Lebron, as the debate over " who is better?" is very large. Explain here what's wrong.
ESPN is biased against Kobe...I don't even know what to say about this. Wow. Perhaps the ESPN worship of Kobe has desensitized you. Now any single mention of a Kobe mistake is 'OMG they hate Kobe just leave him alone!!!' And LOL @ the generic Kobe fan support here - "You're all haters" Please keep making a thread about every time Kobe isn't worshiped enough. This is highly entertaining in a Jersey Shore kind of way.
It's not the interest of Stern or ESPN to promote KB, let's make that clear. Stern wants to make LBJ the new Jordan, that can't happen fast enough. However, KB happens to play for Lakers and LA, and has more fans than any other NBA player in US, European or China. He's gonna get the spotlight too just for a sake of fans tuning in. And doing it in negative tone actually incurs controversies and sells even more, the media know well about that. It's a whole setup of 23 beating 24 in major stage, like MJ finally over the bad boys. The plot never gets old.
Yeah, the world is seemingly coming to end, as it is. If this complaint was coming from any of the 30 teams, outside of Boston or LA and focused on a player who has been underrated this year and helping his team win without very much recognition. I'd understand. Someone complaining about Kobe or the Lakers not get enough attention, is like the Big banks complaining about not get enough money in the billion dollar bailout or Her Majesty's government thinking they aren't wealthy enough to survive for the next 3 years. Again, I'd like to point out a few examples; how the Rockets won 22 consecutive game and received no fanfare whatsoever (even 10 games without Yao Ming and few with T-Mac), even though it was the 2nd great winning streak ever. Yao Ming...let's not even mention him, either. If you just watch Sportscenter, you'd think he was a scrub. If you want to see a top list of ESPN biases, you'd certainly see Yao Ming and...or the Houston Rockets (even the Rockets' past titles and players), somewhere on the list, possibly near or in the top 10. It has been so bad, that I even saw one ESPN list of the greatest centers ever and Olajuwon was ranked 6th or 7th, while seen many of their columnists say that the 93-95 seasons didn't count, because MJ wasn't in the league. ESPN is like Fox News in way. I agree, but you don't have to watch it, if you think they are allegedly being biased against your favorite player, #24 of the LA Lakers. But, that's like Fox News being against a pro-war agenda. Not to say, it doesn't happen. Though, it's not usually one of the more popular opinions (or general consensus) among its commentators, columnists, or even fans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_ESPN Let's look at the Spurs, that team has won 50 or more games in the last decade (2000s) and won four titles. Yet, they aren't look at as being an impressive team or even an all-time great. Even though, they are only like the fourth team in NBA history that has won 3 NBA titles in a decade, outside of Chicago, LA, and Boston. Yahoo Sports: Basketball = (another) Laker's column page (they get most of presses, even when they aren't winning or the premier team) I could agree with the OP's argument, if it focused on an odd player who was leading his team into playoffs with little exposure. But, they are complaining about Kobe Bryant, someone who is like the 1st or 2nd most marketed player in the sport, while being in one of the top 2 largest markets in the country. And, often compared to Jordan and being heralded as one of the greatest players ever. I can wrap my head around the concept that a player, like is underrated or being dismissed by the MSM. Though, I'll admit the guy should probably have one or two more MVPs, maybe from last year (over LeBron) and the 05-06 season where he averaged 35 ppg and made the playoffs (over Steve Nash).
