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RIP Kobe Bryant


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Since I'm more of a lurker and certainly don't dip into the sports threads much, I guess I'll be the dude to say something about him potentially being a rapist so none of y'all have to feel weird bringing it up. 

Carry on. 

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6 minutes ago, christopher.annino said:

Since I'm more of a lurker and certainly don't dip into the sports threads much, I guess I'll be the dude to say something about him potentially being a rapist so none of y'all have to feel weird bringing it up. 

Carry on. 

I don't think there's any issue with mourning over someone who had an impact on a generation while acknowledging the bad. Right now, I think it's ok to just let people grieve and offer their condolences. This was a major kick in the gut made even worse that his daughter was also in that crash.

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11 minutes ago, christopher.annino said:

Since I'm more of a lurker and certainly don't dip into the sports threads much, I guess I'll be the dude to say something about him potentially being a rapist so none of y'all have to feel weird bringing it up. 

Carry on. 

How big of an asshole do you have to be to come into this thread with that? Seriously go get fucked.

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I think every sport is real cool, but I don't actually give a fuck about any of them except baseball. I fully understand that he was a superstar, but having never watched really any of his work, I didn't quite get how big of an all-time player he was. I just looked at his career numbers, absolutely insane. 

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8 minutes ago, sabremike said:

How big of an asshole do you have to be to come into this thread with that? Seriously go get fucked.

This on a board that has had multi page threads about the Tessa Blanchard's of the world? Come on, you can't pretend some people are sacred cows while relentlessly shitting on other people for their bad behavior. Fuck, when Don Imus recently passed, people were far more diplomatic about his actions and I don't recall him raping anybody. 

That said, it's fucking awful that his daughter was a victim as well, not to mention the pilot and other passengers. 

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1 minute ago, christopher.annino said:

This on a board that has had multi page threads about the Tessa Blanchard's of the world? Come on, you can't pretend some people are sacred cows while relentlessly shitting on other people for their bad behavior. Fuck, when Don Imus recently passed, people were far more diplomatic about his actions and I don't recall him raping anybody. 

That said, it's fucking awful that his daughter was a victim as well, not to mention the pilot and other passengers. 

Wait, did Tess just die in an accident or something?  Yeah...

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If she did, do you think nobody would mention her behavior outside of the ring in the thread? Answer that honestly, please. 

If Ric Flair passes, his actions outside of his work will be mentioned. If Hulk Hogan passes, that's a hard SAME. People won't even bat an eye. As mentioned, Don Imus dies and people openly acknowledge him not being a saint. I was honestly surprised nobody had done the same thing here. If thinking that makes me an asshole, I'm not fretting for a second. 

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23 minutes ago, christopher.annino said:

If she did, do you think nobody would mention her behavior outside of the ring in the thread? Answer that honestly, please. 

If Ric Flair passes, his actions outside of his work will be mentioned. If Hulk Hogan passes, that's a hard SAME. People won't even bat an eye. As mentioned, Don Imus dies and people openly acknowledge him not being a saint. I was honestly surprised nobody had done the same thing here. If thinking that makes me an asshole, I'm not fretting for a second. 

I'm pretty sure that threads like this are to mourn, not debate the quality of the character of the deceased.

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56 minutes ago, christopher.annino said:

Since I'm more of a lurker and certainly don't dip into the sports threads much, I guess I'll be the dude to say something about him potentially being a rapist so none of y'all have to feel weird bringing it up. 

Carry on. 

I don't dip into the sports threads myself and have had my issues when the allegations came out. But this is so not the time and place for that. I like you but please don't sully the thread with stuff like this. 

As for Kobe it's just so incredibly sad. Add to that his daughter was there along with another parent and kid and I was crying for a good while. Just so, so damn sad. Regardless of your stance on the allegations there's no denying the impact he's had on so many. 

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I got an alert on my phone while at a wrestling tournament - and probably read the words "Kobe Bryant Dies in Helicopter Crash" about 8 times before I understood what it was saying. It just didn't make sense. 

Then came home and found out about the others involved. Terrible news. 

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1 hour ago, Death From Above said:

I can't imagine what Lakers fans are feeling right now. Especially if you're around my age, Kobe Bryant has been a constant fixture of the vast majority of your life as a sports fan. Sending kind thoughts to the whole Lakers community.

 

 

Everybody's still numb from the shock and we've gotten constant TV pre-emption for the past few hours. I've not seen a local reaction like this since Magic's original retirement.

 

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Kobe's the most complicated player of my lifetime in any sport. He has the sexual assault case. But at the same time, he also became a renowned family man with four daughters and probably the most prominent male player in support of the WNBA. Just last week he named three WNBA players he thought would make NBA rosters. That doesn't make what he did in Colorado forgivable. But it does show that there are complexities and contradictions to him and to everyone. I also know a few people who have worked in NBA media and actively know a bunch of players. Not kidding when all of them have told me that Kobe's a truly nice guy and was obsessive about showing off his daughters. Maybe some of it is just knowing being good to media people is a good thing for a public figure. But not every player is like that, and these same people have been incredibly willing to tell me who are consistent jerks. 

It's also the same on the court. I was NOT a fan of Kobe's efforts as a player. He's undeniably a great player -- Top 5 all-time in scoring, five rings. But man did he do a lot of things out of selfishness. He forced his hand and had Shaq moved. He famously sabotaged the Lakers in Game 7 against the Suns in 2006. His last few seasons were more about him chasing individual stats than anything of any team merit. This was especially true during his final season, which he officially hijacked so he could have a goodbye tour as opposed to helping his young team develop. That whole aspect of his career is best encapsulated by his final game -- with Flea doing an all-bass national anthem and Kobe's 60-point game before saying "MAMBA OUT" (he gave himself his own nickname).

And despite being so polarizing in so many ways -- he really did morph himself after his career into a great spokesperson for the game. And so many of the foreign players in the league have said Kobe was THE reason they took up basketball.

Kobe is just one of the most fascinating, complicated and interesting human beings ever in the public eye. He died too young. His daughter's passing is horrible. I wasn't a fan, but I'm glad he was there for me to root against.

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2 hours ago, christopher.annino said:

Since I'm more of a lurker and certainly don't dip into the sports threads much, I guess I'll be the dude to say something about him potentially being a rapist so none of y'all have to feel weird bringing it up. 

Carry on. 

Sure, there's a time and a place to talk about this.

It ain't today.

It probably ain't tomorrow.

It probably ain't the day after tomorrow.

It probably ain't anytime soon.

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I'm having a hard time reconciling how much this news is affecting me.  Among my friends I'm probably the biggest "Kobe Hater," of the group, but this has been like a punch in the chest all day.  I spent the last 25 or so years rooting for Kobe, rooting against Kobe, discussing Kobe, arguing about Kobe, laughing at Kobe, accusing him to be a sociopath, etc. He is probably the player I've talked about most in my life. It's crazy, because I've been a huge basketball fan since about 1988-89.  Jordan was too good, there was only so many conversations you can have about the person who was clearly the best.  LeBron is also at a level where comparing him to any of his contemporaries is kind of a waste of time.  But Kobe, there's 100s of conversations you can have about Kobe.  Kobe vs. Shaq.  Who was the better player Kobe or Tim Duncan?  On their very best day who was better, Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade?  Where is Kobe on the all time list?  Is he top 5, 10, 15?  In general I was always arguing against Kobe's place in history, but there is one thing I've never been able to deny.  Kobe Bryant is one of the most spectacular athletes I've ever had the pleasure to watch.  He was fucking phenomenal.  There may be 10-15 NBA players better than him, but he has a top 5 highlight reel.  Kobe was one of those athletes who jumped off the television screen like few others.  When people talk about in-game dunkers, people like Dominique Wilkins and Vince Carter are rightfully brought up, but Kobe absolutely belongs in that conversation.  R.I.P. Kobe, you were an all-time great, and I loved rooting against you...but I could never deny your greatness.

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