Kobe Bryant...The new OJ?

[PLANT]

The new O.J.?

Bryant's case can teach lessons that Simpson's didn't
Posted: Friday July 25, 2003 4:37 PM
         
   
There will be no white Bronco, nothing so dramatic as what occurred that day -- June 17, 1994 -- when O.J. Simpson, wanted in conjunction with the murders of his ex-wife and her friend, took us all on a tour of Los Angeles as he scrunched in the backseat of his SUV holding a pistol to his head while L.A. police followed in tepid pursuit. And when the verdict in the case of State of Colorado v. Kobe Bean Bryant is read by a jury foreperson, likely sometime early next year, guilty or not, the result will not divide us so strikingly along racial lines as did Simpson's stunning acquittal.

At least one can hope.

Yet in myriad other ways, Kobe Bryant is already today's O.J.

Like the former football star, Bryant is the centerpiece of a drama that has ingrained itself into our consciousness, forced us to take sides in daily debates, and prompted us to re-examine the combustible cocktail of celebrity, youth and wealth that pervades our sports culture.

"What do you think of Kobe?"

If you asked someone that question just a few months ago, they undoubtedly lapsed into a vivid description of Bryant's stirring scoring string -- 551 points over 13 games in February -- that lifted the moribund, defending-champion Los Angeles Lakers back into the playoff hunt.

No longer does the question prompt such imagery. Now, one week after he was charged with raping a 19-year-old Colorado woman, it inspires only head shaking, perhaps a look of disgust, and numerous responses with the same theme: How could he have done it? Not Kobe. How could he have risked everything for some sex?

Nary a day will go by between now and the start of the trial when we will not be offered some new nugget of information that is supposed to shed light on a) Bryant, the "real" one vs. the commercial image; b) his accuser (How far apart did she put her hands when she was allegedly describing her attacker's anatomy at a recent party?); and/or c) exactly what happened in that room at the Colorado lodge. And we'll lap it up like thirsty dogs, satisfying ourselves until we thirst again, no doubt soon thereafter. The most recent news, for instance, about the $4 million bauble Bryant reportedly gave his wife three days after his tearful press conference as a down payment on forgiveness? Priceless.

And as the trial unfolds, every word uttered in the courtroom will captivate us, and we'll get to know every participant -- be they attorney, witness, judge or court stenographer -- on a first-name basis.

For a generation too young to remember O.J. as a running back, a running suspect or a free man running from a Los Angeles courtroom, Kobe Bryant has become the patron (un)saint of excess, hubris and the lie of invincibility that too many of today's young sports stars live by.

In the end, the O.J. trial taught us nothing -- except perhaps the value of gifted defense attorneys.

If we're lucky, maybe the tragedy that has embroiled Bryant and his accuser will teach our young sports superstars that none of them is immune -- no matter how gifted, no matter now rich -- to the temptations that can bring any of us down.

Maybe it will teach our young women that no superstar is worth putting on a pedestal simply because he has athletic gifts.

And perhaps it will teach us all that none of us -- especially our stars -- is as good or evil as we are perceived to be. We're somewhere in between. Somewhere decidedly human. Somewhere decidedly not invincible

[.:DayGoStyLz:.]

in otha words...Kobe shoulda jus stabbed tha bitch. lol

tha only part of tha whole OJ thing i rememba...whas that it fucked up tha B-Ball game on NBC!!!  

[dexter]

OJ didnt do it!

[Javier]

its not even close to OJ

[KING VerbalAssaulta]

its NO WHERE NEAR oj

[js83]

I think kobe's fucked. He might goto jail for this shit now...damn...things ain't lookin good for him. he's a dumbfuck, period.

[PLANT]

I agree, things are going totally wrong for Kobe is he's being labelled as "the next OJ"...