HoopsHype.com Columns

Kobe's slump
by Dean Serravalle / August 7, 2003

Will this recent disgrace of one of its elite princes permanently stain the NBA? Or can the NBA sustain this blow unlike Major League Baseball, which is still haunted by Pete Rose, and the Black Sox Scandal?

What arouses so much appeal in this case is the very nature of the crime's equation. Kobe Bryant does not equal rape. Visually, he is not Allen Iverson, vocally, he is not Rasheed Wallace, and with respect to his designation as a potential misogynist, he is definitely not O.J. Simpson. Unlike "the juice", and probably to Cuban's disappointment, Kobe has acted his character thus far, cooperating with police, admitting to adultery, reconciling with his wife, and not fleeing in a white Bronco.

So why is there still such vested public interest in his humiliation. Simply put (and Cuban could have phrased it less crudely) people are interested in a fall from grace. Kobe Bryant is the cleanest cut, tattoo-free, professional the NBA has to offer; he is a bona fide winner, a thoroughbred athletic talent, and the prototypical ingredient for every team's championship aspirations. He represents the values of loyalty, respect for the game and its history, the willingness to sacrifice accolades to appease the ego of a bigger teammate (Shaq), and most importantly, the Jordan-esque desire to win. He is also the epitome of what is becoming a minority with young NBA stars - class.

Kobe, therefore, is not only a player in the NBA, but its most prized symbol. He makes the commercials about NBA players teaching children to read believable. When undeserving, spoiled youngsters expect multi-million
dollar contracts for accomplishing nothing, it is Kobe's maturity that deflates their demands. Chronologically, when high school phenoms like Lebron James want to hop, skip and jump to the NBA, it is Kobe's success
that has proved nay-sayers wrong about the next generation. Strike a hammer to that glass image and here is what you get.

The same questions that once surfaced after a Sports Illustrated article blatantly criticized the libidinous lifestyles of NBA players, citing a plethora of paternity law suits and abandoned children. Are NBA players too spoiled, too brash, too self serving and above the law? Tack on the frequency of drug violations, players who betray their drafted team for greener pastures, and other adulterous misdemeanors, and you have yourself a fantasy penal league.

So the question still begs, will the NBA be affected by this recent blemish on its illustrious history? On paper, definitely. In the short term, will the Kobe Bryant scandal indeed increase ticket sales, and television exposure for games? Most certainly. But will it also taint the positive values the NBA thoroughly promotes in order to prove its viability to a younger audience? Of course it will. And therein lies the tragedy, for in the divine order of things, if royalty falls, come to expect a little chaos on a lower level. And that lower level is comprised of the youngsters that see Kobe Bryant as an icon for the American Basketball Dream.

Kobe Bryant is in trouble, let's face it, and like anyone else who has been accused of a crime he is also innocent until proven guilty, media or no media. However, just as he is seen as vulnerable in his suffering, in some, hidden way so is the NBA by association. At stake here is not only Kobe Bryant's innocence but also the innocence of the game to its fans, or as we are programmed to believe by celebrities in many commercials, a love for it.

Is that translatable in monetary terms? Is the generation of money, albeit by cheap side-stage shows like the humbling of an NBA superstar, what sports is all about? It's a good thing Mark Cuban was never a spokesperson for MasterCard. More and more it seems like only fans understand what it means to be priceless.

Dean Serravalle is a regular contributor to HoopsHype.com

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