Kobe Juggles his Balls too Early

In continuing my public trend of hating on Kobe Bryant, I'll post this sports column on the regular blog.

Last night with 12 seconds left in a 108-109 game with his team trailing the Spurs in San Antonio Kobe Bryant hit a huge 3 from the left wing. He then ruined my favorite sports dance of the last 10 years. The dance he ruined was his interpretation of Sam Cassel's big balls dance. You know the one where he cradles what would be humongous testicles.

You can watch the clip Here it's about 25 seconds in.

The problem with young master Kobe's premature celebration was that there were still 12 seconds on the clock so Derek Fisher assumed that since he fouled Chris Quinn in the final seconds the other night in Miami he could do the same to Mason. After all this is the same Fisher who once had time to catch, turn, and shoot in 0.4 seconds, as well as the same Fisher who landed ON Brent Barry last year in the final seconds. This year; no dice. He over played Mason, Mason spun, nailed a mid range J and got sent to the line for the winning points.

Then Kobe does the most cowardly disgusting thing a so called "go to guy" can do in the waning seconds. He passes out of a double team to Trevor Ariza. I'm sorry but there's no way D-Wade gives that ball up, or Lebron or Pierce. You're down one, drive against the double team and hit the mid range shot. Kobe is soo anxious to show us that he's playing the "right" way that he actually almost always ends up making a mistake. Either he shoots when he should pass or he passes when he should shoot. He needs to get it through his head that he will NEVER win most fans back, he's never going to be mentioned as anything other than the 2nd best shooting guard of all time (a horrible insult to Jerry West BTW) and he will always be feared not loved. Bill Simmons wrote years ago that he should embrace the dark side and become a bad guy. I'm not willing to go that far, but I will offer this. It's obvious Kobe doesn't care about anyone other than himself. So his selfless play is actually the ultimate form of selfishness. He's not doing it because he believes in team basketball (anyone who watched him 05-06 knows that's not true) he's not doing it because he thinks it gives him the best chance to win. No, he's playing neutered like he has this year because he thinks it's what people want to see. The worst part is that we gave him that idea and an MVP award last year.

Nothing has changed with Kobe, he's still the most petulant, angry, sociopathic athlete of the 21st century. He just has better teammates now and has realized that if he says the right things, and doesn't shoot as much people, like him more. The problem is that it suppresses the thing about Kobe that makes him special. His killer instinct. The Kobe of 05-06 calmly drains a 19 footer over the double team and then glares at teammates and Spurs alike. The thing that makes Kobe special is his unique ability to tune everything out EXCEPT the game. Specifically except the guy he's guarding and being guarded by. Kobe was the first person to play a video game in real life. Remember the 63 in 3 quarters against the Grizzlies? Or the 81 against the Raptors? He did things people only did in video games because he didn't care if his teammates stood around while he went 1 on 5 successfully. But when he gets criticized as he has been for the last few years for not winning or playing the "right" way he goes into pout mode. Like in Phoenix or Sacramento a few years ago when in deciding playoff games he took one shot in the first or second half. Now he's gotten too smart to pout so he does something even more disgusting, he passes the game winning shot to teammates unworthy of it. This is not like Lebron passing up the layup to throw the ball to Gooden in the corner. Lebron actually is an unselfish player who thinks pass before shoot. He also destroyed the Pistons with 48 very selfish and needed points in game 5 of that series. No Kobe is just trying to make a point. And he's selfish enough to lose a game to do it.