And this is where Kobe veers from the arrogant antihero routine perfected by someone such as Barry Bonds. Bonds didn’t care what you thought about him. He thrived off the anger he generated. But this preening, jaw-jutting, head-shaking character is what Kobe believes people want.

Bonds thrived on the anger he generated. Kobe just wants everybody to bow down to his greatness. He drives himself off of his insecurity. It’s unbecoming of anybody from any walk of life.

if not better…thats ridiculous…kobe has never been better than mj at any part of the game beyond possibly three point shooting…

i would even go as far to say that there have been several players in the past whom were just as good if not better than kobe, but for some reason kobe is automatically annointed the second best guard ever…

what makes kobe better than clyde drexler, dominique wilkins. or dr j, magic johnson

Barry Steroid Bond was not an all time great, rather a syringe using cheat who nobody outside of SF Giants fans liked. He’s the worst of all of them, you could just see that he was a jerk and he liked it.

Barry won a few MVPs in Pittsburgh when he was playing with Bonilla before everybody started taking steriods. If you’re going to callout Barry, you’ve got to call out Clemens, A-Rod, Tejada, Sosa, McGuire, Petit, the entire 2004 Red Sox team, etc. Everybody in baseball was taking steriods in the 90s through early 2000’s.

Back in the 70s, they were all taking pills… people talk about “tarnishing the game” and whatever, but it’s been tarnished since way, way, way before Barry Bonds set foot in a batter’s box. One of the many reasons I hate baseball (chief being that it’s boring as heck to watch).

Bonds also happened to be a jerk who fed off of people hating him. It made him a better ball player. Kobe, on the other hand, responds to people thinking LeBron is good by throwing a tantrum, trying to get attention, and saying “Look at me! Shane Battier can’t stop me!”

Would Babe Ruth have gone on trial for rape back in the day? The culture was different back then. What Kobe did would have been likely just swept under the rug back in the 20s. You could beat your wife, your children, and your dog and people walking by would think they were getting what they deserved (“That stupid woman probably wanted to vote or something crazy like that.”). Babe Ruth was a hard drinker during prohibition and everyone knew it. That’s like if LeBron showed up to every game with red eyes, smelling of reefer, eating cheetoes. Think people would look the other way? Don’t get so high on your “all time greats”… they were just as bad personalities as the greats we’ve got now. We just have the internet and paparazzi, and the players make a lot more money, so there are more people who want a “piece of the pie.”

nobody’s perfect.

Yep, and that’s why Kobe will not win by himself. He’ll constantly be out to prove to the world that he’s a great basketball player, not that his team is a great basketball team. His imperfection will always keep him from being a truly great team player or a great icon.

Let me know if I didn’t catch it, but the commentary here is on Kobe and his basketball successes/insecurities. I don’t recall money being discussed anywhere.