.Bryant went to the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers right out of high school. He has been a league All-Star team member five times. He makes some seriously big bucks!
Kobe certainly has an agent and a team (all taking a cut of his ridiculous salary) of financial advisors. At age 24 armed only with a high school education, it is unlikely he can personally handle all that green. Bryant is a super star and along with such stardom come some very real temptations and dangers. Is it true that there is a cadre of groupies in every NBA city? Those young ladies who hang around the locker room doors after a game hoping they will be able to brag the next day about "scoring" with such and such NBA star? Like the big money, sex is readily available to the Kobe's of the world.
Professional athletes can generally afford to obtain just about anything they desire. Fat bank accounts can satisfy most any material desire. The huge attention lavished on them can also give them a false sense of importance and desirability. The stars of the world have problems we regular folks don't have to contend with. Certainly they have certain opportunities that many of us might only dream about.
Maybe Bryant's young wife knew going into the marriage that ladies would always be hanging around to attempt to steal what is her's. That's just part of the territory. But again, what price some pay for the big bucks and the attention. She is even forced to stand by her man and say that he just made a mistake. He committed adultery. And adultery will be his legal defense.
But maybe Kobe is totally innocent of rape. We surely hope so. He has admitted to sleeping with her. In this age of political correctness and women's demands, the guy is guilty until he is proven innocent. Even the wrong look can get a man charged with sexual harassment. In the "He said, she said" scenario, He always loses something! Lesson: Keep it in your pants, literally and mentally. Not necessarily because you might get into big trouble, but because IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO! Morality is not a bad word--at least I don't think it is. But I'm not really up-to-date on the latest political correctness agenda. Yet the public has always been forgiving of rock stars and athletes, mainly because we have become to expect studliness of them. Too bad.
Right now Kobe has greatly damaged his marketability. Does Nike or Coca Cola want to be associated with an accused rapist?
Bryant had just signed a five-year, $45 million contract with Nike days before the sexal assault charges surfaced. Will Nike stand behind their man?
Says Michael Sands, consultant for Sands Digital Media in Los Angeles:
"Nike would be foolish to drop Kobe -- he's a bigger household name now (because of the allegations) than he's ever been in an economy that's terrible. Nike's really hurting for business. They're getting millions of dollars worth of free advertising because of this fluke."
Sands also says, "Kobe is a national institution at this point. Now, he has a bad-boy image, which America loves."
Other Quotes:
"Everybody thought he was squeaky clean. Now, everybody knows he's not." -- Peter Louie, a 39-yar-old L.A. attorney and a lifetime Lakers fan.
"If he's quilty, he 's got bigger problems than sports marketing. If it turns out to be that it was consensual sex, merely adultery, I think he will get through this OK." -- David Carter, a principal for the L.A. based Sports Business Group.
"When adultery becomes your best defense, something is horribly, horribly wrong with everything everywhere." -- Mark Wiedmer, Sports columnist, The Chattanooga Times Free Press
"Obviously we didn't know him as well as we thought." -- Unidentified teammate to Newsweek
Bumper Sticker: "ITS ALL ABOUT ME"
