I love Kobe Bryant because I love the Lakers. But, whereas some Lakers have made that equation difficult to maintain, Kobe makes it easy. He has consistently been a patriot, talking on and on about his pride in representing America in the olympics. As such, I have written about Kobe being a great culturist on this blog before.
But now Kobe has come out against the Miami Stinkers' knee-jerk, race-based support for Trayvon Martin. This view confounds all the race-solidarity kooks that run in our circles. Kobe was raised in Italy. He avoided liberal indoctrination. He is as patriotic as anyone who reads this blog.
Read about Kobe and Trayvon HERE and cheer!!
GOOOoooOOOOOOO LAKERS !!!
And GOOOoooOOOOOO KOBE !!!!!
HIs comment was awesome.
ReplyDeleteWhen Kobe married his Hispanic wife, Vanessa, his family disowned him because she was not black.
ReplyDeleteThat's an important thing to know vis a vis this story.
Kobe is NOT a race-based thinker. Much of his family is, unfortunately.
And he is willing to take a stand against such thinking.
And, as you point out, he is also willing to take a stand for Culture/America.
I did not know that about his marriage to Vanessa. Very cool. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThey now claim it was because he didn't sign a Pre-Nup.
ReplyDeleteBut I remember, clearly, at the time it was about race.
And some other people remember too.
Here's an example:
http://www.examiner.com/article/10-things-about-kobe-bryant-s-wife-vanessa-bryant-you-probably-need-to-know
Here it is:
ReplyDeleteLA TIMES
April 27, 2003
Bill Plaschke
It was a night when a son could have used a father.
Kobe Bryant missed nearly two-thirds of his shots, missed a free throw that could have won the game, failed to save the Lakers in Thursday's playoff loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Somewhere at Staples Center, Joe "Jellybean" Bryant was there.
But he wasn't.
He didn't wave or call out. He didn't visit the locker room. He didn't speak to the son from whom he has been quietly estranged for nearly two years.
"My mom asked me to leave him a ticket, so of course I did," Kobe said, his voice dropping. "But I knew he wouldn't come down and see me. He never does."
The postseason is Bryant's favorite time of year, his spotlight, his moment. Yet the NBA's most spectacular one-on-one player is more alone than anyone would imagine.
Bryant is trying to make history while performing the far more extraordinary feat of surviving family.
His father, a former NBA star who lived with his son during Kobe's early Laker years, has severed contact with Kobe because of his unhappiness over his son's marriage to wife Vanessa.
While declining to offer details of a rift made public by his father, Kobe quietly confirmed this week that Joe is uncomfortable that Vanessa, a Latina, is not African American, and he is uneasy with Bryant's selfless devotion to her.
Said Kobe: "Sure, I miss my father. Who wouldn't miss his father?"
Said Joe: "Once he decided to get married, it's his life now."
Original URL:
ReplyDeletehttp://articles.latimes.com/2003/apr/27/sports/sp-plaschke27