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>>this sounds so gossip girl to me. what exactly do you KNOW
>>about lebron?
>
>The fuck does anyone know about any athlete other than what's
>presented in the media?
EXACTLY my point. so to act like kobe's a dick or a cornball or whatever and like lebron is a contrast is BULLSHIT.
>
>There's nothing interesting about a cat who was, as you said,
>hyped since 8th grade, proved himself to live up the hype
>talent wise, did some amazing shit on the court, turned on the
>town that treated him like a king, and joined up with his
>friends to form a super team?
interesting, sure, COMPELLING? NAH. when a dude comes up with said hype, lives up to it, then goes back into the slow lane, it's actually a bit underwhelming, at least for what interests me.
you're so slanted though you seem to NOT find it compelling that a dude who before his 22nd birthday is scoring key buckets in OT in the FINALS when the best player and leader of the team has fouled out, wipes his ASS on the western conference competition for a few more seasons, struggles when three massive egos pushes the team to breakup its core, also catches and beats a rape charge (and plays pretty well DURING all this), struggles as the sole star on the team, screams for a trade unless better parts are gotten, gets those parts, wins MVP gets WAXED in finals, then wins the next two back to back, vanquishing the team that waxed him two years prior? dog you just DON'T LIKE Kobe and get in line. but damn if you can tell me THAT shit ain't compelling. lebron's career is so early we don't know what's going to happen but thus far its been achievement awards without the ultimate prize. kobe's had triumphs and tribulations and dealt with TREMENDOUS adversity (be it of his own making or not) and has still risen and burnished his career as no less than one of the top 7 ever in this league.
>I'm not talking about off the court shit, this is all
>basketball fam. His story as an athlete is compelling, even
>the bitchmade shit. He's a fucking heel, it's hilarious.
yeah and that's what i'm talking about too. take away the rape charge and kobe's rise and fall and rise again is DEFINITELY compelling. you may be MAD cause you dont' like him, but come on, dude took mad lumps but still triumphed.
>Yeah it would have been, but that's the beauty of sports. No
>matter what happens the media and the fans fabricate a story.
>Up until the Lake Show outed OKC the biggest story to start
>off the playoffs was this scrappy team that was giving Kobe
>and his boys the business. OKC lost and the story changed.
>Different story lines ran through the entire thing, some were
>cut short, others weren't. Point is sports always have an
>aspect of drama to them. Would Cleveland winning a chip been
>amazing? Of course, but the sports world moves on, and it
>wasn't the only possible story.
this sounds like you're caught up in story lines fam, nothing more, you even say as much further down...
>>again, do you like sports or do you like celebrities?
>because
>>i didn't watch MJ for how he looked in Hanes, i watched to
>see
>>him cut dude's hearts out and shut crowds the fuck up.
>
>You're telling me that sports aren't about story lines?
to ME no, sports REPORTING, and sports DISCUSSION, and sports WRITING are, but sports themselves, that's the beauty of it, there's at least a "battleground" where all the conjecture, hype, and blah blahing HAS to bow down and let it play out. here's a great example. i don't watch any pregame or postgame shows for NBA or NFL, TNT cats are it just cause they clown each other. reason being? I DONT GIVE A FUCK. show me the game, i dont' want to hear people talk about what's going to happen so they can backtrack and explain with the same confidence why it didn't happen. yeah we yap and talk and write and shit on here, but really it's about the contest to me. surface level viewers, many of whom will "root for miami" are about that shit. but hardcore sports fans are about the bottom line results.
> Are
>you kidding me? The importance of sports exists within its own
>self-sustaining bubble. Winning a championship isn't
>objectively important, it's important because fans,
>spectators, athletes, and sports writers imbue it with a
>certain amount of importance.
that is a fair point, BUT since such a small percentage of people have the skills that champions do, and to reach the pinnacle doing it, i think any person, professional/blue collar, whatever can appreciate dedication, sacrifice, teammwork, and triumph over adversity. those aspects are not the monopoly of team sports, i think that may be a greater reason for its importance, those are things everyone in all walks of life can relate to.
>Sports are the original reality TV, but what makes them
>superior is that the story lines are played out in reality by
>the athletes themselves. Doesn't mean that the drama isn't
>shaped by the media or the perception of fans.
true, i don't disagree with you on the reality tv part. but
i think a lot of that is rah rah bullshit people don't understand the first thing about though. i cannot STAND to hear non knowledgeable sports fans (and i'm not talking about the usual suspects on OKP either) discuss sports like they know what the fuck they're talking about.
>You just described a compelling aspect of Jordan's character.
>And that's what athletes are, they're characters in a drama
>that they create themselves. I mean, what's actually important
>about winning a championship? What do you get when Kobe wins a
>title? Nothing, except for the satisfaction that you get when
>the character that you like, beats the characters that you
>don't like.
LOL. YOU get nothing, OTHERS get plenty. its hard to state your point with much credibility when its so clear that except for recognizing his undeniable talent, you shit on kobe on every other front.
>This is why these things are spectator sports. I got more
>personal satisfaction out of winning my own athletic
>competitions when I competed in high school. I don't get a
>personal sense of accomplishment when the Packers win, or when
>the White Sox beat the Cubs in the Cross Town classic, I'm
>just a fan, I'm in this for the entertainment value, and so is
>every other fan.
well you're obviously going to get more PERSONAL satisfaction if you're directly involved, but it doesn't mean that one can't take away great personal satisfaction and joy at watching an event with a result that is favorable to them.
>
>But there are lots of talented athletes that you don't root
>for, and the reasons can range from deep analysis to
>completely arbitrary, and for the average fan these things
>more often than not completely arbitrary. I mean do Red Sox
>fans have an actual reason to dislike Jeter? Unnecessary
>leaping throws aside, the man is talented as shit, and the
>only reason they don't like or root for him is because he
>rocks pinstripes instead of red and white.
well that and because he's REALLY FUCKING GOOD. that's a sign of respect, when opposing fans rip you apart. if you're a lame, you're not worth their breath. HOWEVER, they ALL respect Jeter even if they hate. whats silly is that so few respect kobe because they hate so hu-ard.
>People root for certain athletes for reasons other than their
>talent, that's just a part of sports. I don't find any reason
>to root for Kobe, yeah I know he's talented, but still...fuck
>him.
that's YOU fam, doesn't mean others don't root for him for other reasons.
>Oh no, don't get me wrong. There are millions of reasons to
>dislike LeBron, and I thought he acted like a little bitch
>after he lost to the Magic as well. But there are still
>reasons to root for him too, and honestly I didn't really like
>LeBron until he turned heel.
you sound like a newly made citizen of lebronon, plain and simp. you like that he's the nigga people love to hate like kobe fans actually felt funny when long-time kobe haters were emigrating to kobestan after lebron went to miami. at this point we don't WANT YALL! and that's cool, but you're really isolating this to one move lebron made, which by the way most EVERYONE on here does NOT dislike him for, its how he went about it with that tv show shit.
Just like there are Kobe-stans
>who LOVE that people hate on Kobe. For some Kobe riders
>there's nothing they love more than when he wins, they love
>when his detractors look stupid when he hits a game winning
>shot. They find that compelling about Kobe, and I can respect
>that. I just don't like Kobe, as is my right as a spectator.
and there it is
> I
>find LeBron's doucheisms to be hilarious, I'm reveling in the
>amount of hate that he gets, mostly because fuck the city of
>Cleveland and but also because I'm digging this idea of an
>entire team that the whole Nation can hate. I like the idea
>that LeBron said, "Fuck my image, I'm going to see if I can
>make some history with some friends of mine". I'm relishing
>the LeBron hate the same way Kobe heads relish the Kobe hate.
>And strictly as someone who likes athletics, I like the idea
>that I'm going to see arguably the best play maker in the
>league play along side of the of the best shooters in the
>league. That is going to be some beautiful basketball.
that's all good fam, but recognize because you don't like kobe, you refuse to see the value or the "storyline" or the "compelling" aspects in his story.
>>I don't disagree. Who would have marketed Jordan if he was a
>loser? But the larger than life image of Jordan was a
>carefully constructed nexus of public relations and precision
>advertising. Now winning is the catalyst, you need to be a
>winner to get those endorsements, I'm not denying that at all.
>But you could market anything with Jordan because his public
>image transcended the game. You think if Kobe gets another
>title he's going to equal Jordan? Shit, he's got a good shot
>of getting more titles than Jordan, but there's something in
>his image that you just can't sell in the same way you could
>Jordan.
well kobe is victim of being the "next guy." MJ's time there was less media coverage and more insulation of dirt being done. he never caught a rape charge and was always the head of his team. kobe also was a heavy swagger jacker of mike early on, and add to the fact that kobe has come closer to MJ than anyone else, it was a recipe for HATE.
>Now I'm not saying LeBron will ever reach that level, I
>honestly have a hard time seeing anyone reaching Jordan in
>terms of image...but I think he's got a better shot than
>Kobe.
he did, but going to miami ruined that. Jordan maintained a STORYBOOK image during his career, it was a constant rise up, even with his mini retirement, he came back and trumped THAT shit. lebron has regressed in terms of accomplishments and michael never took such ugly PR hits during his time, the gambling shit doesn't even COMPARE to the Decision.
>As I said before, I didn't find the LeBron story interesting
>until he turned heel. Now I kinda want to see him piss off the
>nation even more.
that just means you wouldn't have had shit to say if he didn't do the TV show and go to miami. that's cool and all, but you sound like you're in it more for entertainment than for the enjoyment of sport.
>That being said I'm a Milwaukee man first. If the Bucks face
>Miami in the playoffs I hope Jennings and Boget get up in
>South Beach's shit. It's unlikely, but what can I say...sports
>fans are irrational.
agreed
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