frontrunning fans who either 1) bought into the Kobe = New Jordan BS or 2) Kobe vs. You Know Who manufactured rivalry (passive-aggressive anti-Laker sentiment/Kobe as "New Jordan" backlash) have no room to be talking about Kobe being "anointed".

He ain't ask for that shit, and IMO... as far as preeminent NBA stars are concerned, he's the most interesting to me since Shaq. He SHOULD have his own story independent of Jordan, as Shaq and others pre-Jordan do, but unfortunately, everything is seen through those goddamned Limburger Lenses.