Dear Kobe, Too late, it won’t work
Now the guy is making me mad. Kobe Bryant will stand trial for rape. That means if convicted, he serves some hard time. No more cameras, no more cheers, no more millions of fans or dollars.
There are still those who pretend it never happened and if it did it wasn’t his fault. And ole Kobe is acting pretty immaturely. But he is still just a man-child. Though he built an image as a clean-cut post high school kid who could ballet on the court with the veterans, that image is now tarnished, or is it? One can only suffer a tarnished image if society sees a no-no, only if action is offensive and unacceptable to the majority.
Kobe now sports new tattoos and a hog of a diamond earring. Hey that’s what they all do ain’t it? All rock stars and athletes express themselves with gold chains, diamonds, tattoos and other obscene wastes of millions of dollars. Both groups seem to be unable to wisely manage such huge paychecks. Tends to make teachers, doctors and preachers a little upset. Notice I did not throw lawyers in there as they tend to find ways of having the ignorant rich give them money.
Also during Kobe’s moments of guilt, he bought wife Vanessa a $4 million diamond ring. Four million dollars! We haven’t even invented a word to describe such behavior. Four million #@* dollars for a ring.
Bryant’s tattoo on his right arm extends from his shoulder to the elbow. It consists of a crown, his wife Venessa’s name, a halo and angel wings above Psalm XXVII. Barf!
“This is a crown for my queen”, he has said of his wife. “She’s my angel. She’s a blessing to me.” More barf. If this and the ring gets him off the hook with her, then she is far dumber than he is arrogant.
Says teammate Rick Fox, “What you’ve seen is just a continual understanding of himself and his likes and dislikes and a willingness to be a little more true to himself and not so concerned about what everybody else thinks.” True to himself? What does that mean?
Derek Fisher, a rookie with Bryant in 1996, sees the tattoos as a way for Bryant to assert himself outside the tightly controlled world in which he lives.
“I think he also wants to let the world know he is an adult, that he can make his own choices and people have to respect that,” adds Fisher.
Who are these people? Are they from another planet? He most certainly has a right to assert himself and that he has done. He also will have to accept the responsibility for asserting himself. I’m not sure he has grasped that though. That tattoo will be a hit in prison.
His longtime position as a role model and product pitchman worth millions in endorsements hasn’t allowed him room for much individual growth, his teammates and marketing experts say.
Only one of Bryant’s sponsors – Italian hazelnut-chocolate spread maker Nutella – has dumped him since the sexual assault charge, but none currently airs his commercials. He has a multimillion-dollar sneaker deal with Nike and contracts with Sprite, McDonald’s and Spaulding.
“I don’t think this is really going to hurt him much,” says media marketing consultant Michael Sands said, assuming Kobie is acquitted of the charges. “He’s coming clean. He’s respectful of the law and that’s important to a sponsor.”
That assessment doesn’t say much for the rest of us. All these people live in a world absent from the reality most of us live with. They throw money at people (athletes) who lack the intelligence to handle it. Tattoos and gold necklaces are really great investments. Would you mind if your doctor or minister worn gold chains and sported obscene tattoos? Please excuse my un-political correctness. If I make less than a measly $100,000 a year, do I have the same right to express myself? I will certainly express myself by never wearing Nike anything or drinking Sprite or eating a McDonald’s hamburger. I’m sure all three are worried sick that I won’t.
