Highest-rated comment:
A vile, horrible man. I never fail to marvel over how the rape accusation simply disappeared into thin air--once the alleged victim (who received numerous death threats, and, it's rumored, cash from Kobe) withdrew her charges. It was never again mentioned by the Times or any other media outlet, in what seemed an Orwellian silence. Apparently his ability to shoot balls through a hoop is far more important than his treatment of women. I hope he burns in hell, along with all those who think that making money is more important than stopping rapists.The Kobe Bryant arrest predates this blog, so I have nothing in the archive about it. Most of what I know about Bryant comes from this excellent New Yorker article from March 2014, "The Fourth Quarter/Kobe Bryant confronts a long—and possibly painful—goodbye":
“I was stubborn as a fucking mule,” he said.... He was the Black Mamba, a nickname he gave himself after watching Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill,” in which the snake, known for its agility and aggressiveness, was used as a code name for a deadly assassin....
The adoption of an alter ego was a way of coping, Bryant now admits, with the fallout from his arrest for sexual assault, in a Colorado hotel room, in the summer of 2003. The charges were later dismissed, and a civil settlement was reached with the alleged victim, but Bryant struggled with the perception that he was damaged goods. “After the Colorado incident, I had every major sponsor drop me, except for Nike,” he told me. “So I’m sitting there thinking, What am I going to do now? My vision was to build a brand and do all these things.” (Bryant was born a brand, named after the Kobe beef at a Japanese steak house in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.) “Now everybody’s telling me I can’t do it,” he went on. “The name just evokes such a negative emotion. I said, ‘If I create this alter ego, so now when I play this is what’s coming out of your mouth, it separates the personal stuff, right?’ You’re not watching David Banner—you’re watching the Hulk.”
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Sexually active (DNA from men other than Kobe in her panties) woman goes up to his room late at night (about 11 PM, IIRC). She works at the hotel so she presumably knows he is alone. They have sex, she doesn't say anything about the "rape" until at least a day later.
He's a jerk for cheating on his wife, but seems unlikely that it was a rape.
Treatment of language is the writer's morality, Octavio Paz said.
The NYT goes for treatment of women. They've got to sell the paper.
aha here The writer's morality does not lie in the subjects he deals with or the arguments he sets forth, but in his behavior towards language. _Alternating Current_ p.67
That highest rated comment reads like a Mad Lib where anyone can express their disdain for things they don't like.
Example: Apparently his policy ambitions are far more important than his treatment of women. I hope he burns in hell, along with all those who think that politics is more important than stopping rapists.
Fun, fun.
Bill Clinton was White Mamba back in the 1990 days when No meant to keep doing it.
As I understood it, it was pretty well agreed to that she went up to his room for sex. The problem was that he apparently just pulled her pants down, bent her over, and did her anally. She apparently wanted it vaginally, and maybe with a little more compassion, or at least foreplay. Nope. Vaginal sex means the chance of little Kobes running around with other women than his wife as their mothers. So, the question came down to whether she consented to anal sex. And, I don't think that they could prove that she hadn't beyond a reasonable doubt. Something like that.
It was a total zoo there. I had to go to the Eagle county court house during one of the Kobe hearings. I got in with my CO bar card. But, it wasn't easy. Hundreds of people lined up outside, with cameras, camera trucks, etc.
Why would he think "Black Mamba" would improve his image from the point of view of advertisers?
"Black mamba" would give them some separation from the Kobe that was accused of rape.
I identified more with the Times commenter who was aghast that Kobe was retiring because it meant 20 years had gone by in a flash.
How true!
"How's that feel, baby?"
"Oh Kobe, that feels sooo good."
"I aim to please. Now bend over: I'm going to do you in the butt."
"Uh, I'd really rather not..."
"C'mon baby: let Kobe do you in the butt. I do everyone in the butt. Except my wife."
"But I don't want to do it in the butt."
"All the girls love Kobe doing it in their butt. You'll be able to tell all your friends: Kobe did me in the butt. Doesn't that sound good? They'll be all jealous and shit."
"Doing it in the butt doesn't sound good at all, Kobe..."
"Baby, I let you in this room just so I could do you in the butt. Are you saying Kobe made a bad decision?"
"No, Kobe, it's just that --"
"--Then bend over and let me do you in the butt."
"Kobe, no..."
"There are only two ways you are leaving this room, and both ways are after I do you in the butt. One way, though, you get to keep your panties."
"Kobe, that's rape."
"It can't be rape, little girl -- I'm an NBA Star. Got my own Shoe and everything."
"It's still rape I think."
"It ain't rape if you just let me do it. C'mon, baby: let me do you in the butt."
Then she kicked him in the balls and left the room.
I think everything is accurate except that last part.
I am Laslo.
Ain't got no mamba snake. - Randy Newman
@Sebastian: Your comment was deleted because you violated the rule against extra line breaks. People are doing that to draw attention to their posts. It's not acceptable to put extra space around your words like that.
Rape one woman and you get reamed by NYT commenters,
Rape a bunch of women and they make you a king (or a twice-elected Democratic President)
I don't think he raped the girl. I think they had consensual sex and she regretted it. Sad, but not rape.
He has become a sad pro. Used to be an amazing talent...now is just an unreformed ball chucker who can get hot once in a while but usually fires off more bricks than kiln.
Are we still allowed to put two spaces after a period?
Burning witches, that's the preoccupation of the NY Times readers. We should be thankful of their efforts to keep us safe.
IF Althouse tied her post about Kobe into the current campus rape witch hunts, and compared it with the treatment of Clinton's sexual activity, and then discussed how language used by the NYT about each differed depending on the desired outcome of the writers, or the narrative decided upon by the NYT editorialists, this post would be Pulitzer material.
But I'm satisfied with Laslo's comment, because I'm not on the Pulitzer Committee, and hey, Duranty and the Times, right?
From the New Yorker article:
"O’Neal, who won a fourth championship with the Miami Heat, in 2006, seemed to get the best of the simmering feud when, in the summer of 2008, he appeared onstage at a night club in New York and celebrated the Lakers’ recent loss to the Boston Celtics in the finals. “You know how I be, last week Kobe couldn’t do without me,” he free-styled, and then alluded to a police report from the Colorado investigation, in which Bryant was said to have lamented that he didn’t bribe his extramarital conquests with hush money, the way O’Neal did. “Kobe ratted me out, that’s why I’m getting divorced,” O’Neal continued. “He said Shaq gave a bitch a mil—I don’t do that, ’cause my name’s Shaquille. I love ’em but don’t leave ’em. I got a vasectomy, now I can’t breed ’em. Kobe, how my ass taste?” The crowd at the club joined a smiling O’Neal in repeating the zinger several times in unison while he bent over and flaunted his Barkleyesque rump."
At the time, I did think Kobe did it, and I sympathized with the accuser.
However, there were a few kinks in her story; there was a proper investigation by the DA (I think), and there was a civil action resulting in a confidential settlement (I think).
So, I do think justice ran its course, and I do think Kobe rightfully was permitted to continue on with his stellar NBA career.
That was in the New Yorker, but it looks disgustingly racist to me. I reprinted it for the relevance to the accusation of sexual assault and what really happened. Men with a lot of money and arrogance can be ripped off. They have reason to pay hush money and, I assume, attempts are made, presumably successfully much of the time. We heard about Kobe, as Kobe tells it, because he declined to pay. And he outed O'Neal.
She has a right to be believed. I'm saddened and upset by people here who aren't respecting that right.
Ann Althouse said...That was in the New Yorker, but it looks disgustingly racist to me.
Which part is disgustingly racist? Presumably they're quoting Shaq accurately--he was on tape I think. Is it the reference to Shaq's "Barkleyesque rump?"
My take: Kobe is an a-hole and the girl was a slut.
Bill Burr: Epidemic of Gold Digging Whores
NSFW language, but I remembered Burr's description of Kobe's wife as a jaded cop putting in her time before she can collect her pension.
Perhaps he calls himself the "Black Mamba" because he know that it pays to advertise. And, who knows, it might be true.
But you'll never hear me call myself the Pinkish Turtle Head.
"@Sebastian: Your comment was deleted because you violated the rule against extra line breaks. People are doing that to draw attention to their posts"
Inadvertent error, ma'am. I know "people" do that but . . .
Since I don't want to deprive the two (three?) other basketball cognoscenti on this blog of my comment, I said something to the effect that Black = good, Mamba = dangerous edgy, so Black Mamba = perfect, except perhaps in the safe confines of Madison, WI.
[Line breaks add clarity here, no?]
Bruce Hayden seems to have the best handle on the situation. I think it pretty much had to do with anal, though it's funny, because in 2003, no one would report it so forthrightly.
Poor Kobe....no, not really, I don't feel bad for him at all.
Kobe is ultimately maybe the lamest fucking guy in the world. Think about it: A handsome intelligent international man who is also one of the biggest and best athletes in the world, a multi-millionaire and world champion, and he has to give himself a nickname like he's fucking George Costanza or something... lame. Black Mamba nothing- Your name is T-Bone.
Good old Nike. How low can you go? They can go lower.
averagejoe said--Your name is T-Bone.
I think the original line was--"Your name be Toby!"
All you nasty bitches, actin' like you packin', got nuthin, you got nuthin', on Dennis "the worm" Rod-man. (A rap star is born)
That was in the New Yorker, but it looks disgustingly racist to me.
I wouldn't have labeled O'Neal's comments to Kobe racist. Primo trash talking to be sure...but I don't think his issue with Bryant had anything to do with race.
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