If you read one thing today, head over to Forum Blue & Gold and check out Reed’s take on the Kobe vs. LeBron debate. Here’s a favorite passage:
In a sense, both players are deep contradictions. Kobe grew up the son of a professional basketball player, living in Italy or affluent suburbs. He didn’t need basketball to make it in life. Yet, we have perhaps never seen an athlete so driven, both mind and body. He has the work ethic of someone who fears life is on the verge of collapsing, but he’s always had everything. He is that strange rich kid with a chip on his shoulder, who goes on to rule the world, but do so coldheartedly. He grew up on the basketball court, with his father’s teams, but has always found being part of a team unnatural. He plays as if the embodiment of the American Dream, but grew up to riches and the finest of Europe. Despite unbounded personal ambition, he hasn’t overly “branded” or “corporate-ized” himself, letting (whether by choice or Colorado) his focus extend first to the game. We are left confused, but always captured. We care not only what Kobe does, but why, and what he thinks, and what he’ll do next.
Lebron is also a mystery. He is the kid from nowhere that speaks of himself in the third person, and has open (and realistic) dreams of being the Global Icon. Despite goals that clearly far transcend on the court success, and that are purely individualistic, he is perhaps the consummate “team” superstar, playing in a way that unites individual and team success, making others better, always preferring the easy pass to one on one play. His is the face of Nike; branding personified. He is openly willing to turn his back on his hometown and the throngs that worship him there for a higher corporate platform; but he plays with uncanny unselfishness.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:34 am
We’re going to have start filtering the stuff you put on here, man.
That was terrible.
“We care not only what Kobe does, but why, and what he thinks, and what he’ll do next.”
Who cares? I certainly don’t. I’m starting to believe David Stern pays reporters to hype the hell out of his players.
“He is openly willing to turn his back on his hometown and the throngs that worship him there for a higher corporate platform.”
This is a writer who is trying to strum up some drama in his writing as if to make what he is saying seem bigger than it is. Kobe versus LeBron on January 19th is supposed to be Clash of the Titans?
Come on. Let’s relax a little.
I enjoyed watching Granger-Paul tonight far more than I did Kobe-Bron.
January 20th, 2009 at 3:26 am
Hoff, is this also how you view LeBron? As this over-marketed boring player that no one is going to care about when he retires?
January 20th, 2009 at 8:47 am
A-Train:
To each his own. I thought the comparison was interesting.
Tsunami:
No, I don’t view LeBron as boring. And I certainly don’t believe he’ll be forgotten after he retires.
More later…
January 20th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
To each his own, indeed.
But you can’t tell me this writing isn’t a bit hokey.
On LeBron: “He is the kid from nowhere.”
LOL. He is from Akron, Ohio, which is bigger and more well known than many of the places other NBA players hailed from. Larry Bird was from French Lick, Indiana. HE was the kid from nowhere. Moses Malone was from Petersburg, Virginia. HE was the kid from nowhere.
Akron is twice the size of Flint, Michigan, and everybody seems to know Flint, right?
He was a huge high school basketball star. He didn’t creep up on anybody.
On LeBron: “Despite goals that clearly far transcend on the court success, and that are purely individualistic.”
Individualistic? What human action or intention isn’t individualistic? You think Kobe plays for world peace?
Come on Hoff, you have to at least acknowledge this is a little over the top. That writer’s post is akin to JJ Redick reading his poetry on TV as if he were Langston Hughes. It’s comical.
If he’s going to write like that, he needs to (a) write about an event that really requires that kind of drama, or (b) do a helluva better job of selling us on the point that we MUST sit down and watch this game.
The moon rose, casting a ray of faint light on a shadowy figure that lurked in the background… it was Kobe with a cape on, focused, to do superhero battle with his arch-nemesis, the evil LeBron de Akron… LOL.
I got something good for you…
This is from a good writer. It’s a bit hokey too, but also appropriate–about basketball in general and not just one midseason matchup.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/steve_rushin/news/2002/12/03/air_and_space/
January 21st, 2009 at 5:44 pm
A-Train, that’s a good read.
I especially liked the part about the nylon net vs the gold chain.
January 25th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Tsunami,
No, I don’t think LeBron will be forgotten after he retires. But i don’t find him interesting either. I like LeBron. I think he’s a good dude. But I always get the sense that he’s more interested in building a brand then letting his fans and media in on who he is as a person. He doesn’t come across as genuine.
I’ve never felt that way about Kobe. Kobe very rarely appears comfortable on camera, but he’s taken the path less traveled. From his feuds with Shaq, to his fiery oncourt demeanor, to his tendency to rip teammates on national TV, Bryant has always come across as someone who didn’t need the attention and didn’t care what fans thought about him. Whether you love or hate him, there’s a realness to Kobe.
January 25th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
A-Train,
People know Flint, Michigan because of how many big name players played there. How many NBA players have come out of Akron, OH? I can name one.
I think that’s what the writer was getting at by saying LeBron came from nowhere.
I really enjoyed the “contradictions” portion of the blog.
LeBron is an unselfish superstar on the court, but repeatedly refers to himself in the third person off the floor. He gives credit to his teammates and yet doesn’t shy away from declaring: “A LeBron James team is never desperate.”