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K. O. Kobe proves his point
It was a few days ago already,
but that’s OK. It’s never too late to
let someone know you’re proud
of him.
Kobe Bryant, way to go.
When New York’s Chris Childs
retaliated after you inadvertently
elbowed him, you didn’t back
down.
Childs had some choice words
for you, and a head-butt too,
which he followed with two qual
ity jabs to your exposed chin. And
you, who had never been ejected
from a game and who had only
drawn one technical foul in 3 1/2
seasons, didn’t turn the other
cheek.
No, not with Denzel Washing
ton — fresh off his Oscar-nomi
nated performance as heavy
weight Rubin “Hurricane” Carter
— sitting courtside.
And not on national television.
Not with the playoffs just around
the corner.
Hell no, you didn’t walk away.
You yelled back. Even tried to
return Childs’ shots. You had to
be restrained. Shaquille O’Neal’s
personal bodyguard had to escort
you off the floor while you, in the
words of a New York Times
writer, “continued to buck and
snort like a bull in a rodeo chute.”
It doesn’t get sexier than that.
Especially
considering
that two
days later,
while you
sat at home
serving a
one-game
suspension,
the Lakers
managed to
pull out a
win in
Phoenix on
Tuesday —
despite foul
trouble keeping Shaq on the bench
for most of the fourth quarter.
The win proved the point (to
everyone, including second-place
Portland which trails L.A. by
eight games). There’s no stopping
you guys.
This is your year. You have too
much talent. You’re too well
coached.
New York head coach Jeff Van
Gundy said it before his team
mixed it up with the Lakers: “You
know what? Teams were closer to
the Bulls [in the last years of the
dynasty] than they are to the Lak
ers. Like the early Bulls, no one is
close to them.”
Y’all are just too good.
And too tough? They didn’t
think so, did they?
Little Chris Childs thought he
could bully you, a most-mar
ketable 6-foot-7 guard who is av
eraging more than 22 points per
game. Thought it would fluster
you and your team. Certainly did
n’t expect the Lakers to back you
up like they did.
“It’s excellent,” O’Neal report
edly said and grinned when
asked about your willingness to
exchange blows — or at least try
to. “That’s one of the differences
from this team to the teams in
years past,” you were quoted say
ing in the Los Angeles Times.
“We’re willing to take a stand.
We’re willing to show teams that
we’re fighting for one another,
point blank.
“Suspensions or not, we’ll do
what we’ve got to do. You’re not
going to push our guys around —
whether it’s myself, whether it’s
Travis Knight, whether it’s Shaq
... whoever it might be, we’ve got
each other’s backs.”
Even your don’t-call-me-a
Mirjam
Swanson
’Zenmaster’ coach wasn’t all that
perturbed by your response.
“It’s pretty much a natural reac
tion for a player that takes a
punch that he doesn’t see com
ing,” Phil Jackson said.
And not that this matters, but
the writers down there were defi
nitely digging it all as well.
LA Times columnist J.A.
Adande: “They probably could
use a good elbow now and then to
keep them alert.”
Besides, you were protecting
yourself.
“I was just defending myself,”
you said. “I’m a non-violent dude.
... I’m not pro-fighting by any
means. But sometimes people
push you to that point; my mom’s
side kind of comes out of me.
“Guys always want to hold you
and grab you and try to cheap
shot you, so you’ve got to send
'em a message.”
Exactly.
Childs is one of those cheap
shot artists, then? That’s not what
he said.
“You have to defend yourself,”
the 6-3 guard said. “I got a couple
of elbows and the referees never
said anything. So I had to defend
myself.”
Indeed, sometimes you just
have to get defensive. It is the
manly thing to do.
Moreover, it was, like, the only
thing you could do, really.
“Everyone knows Kobe’s a
clean-cut guy,” Shaq said. “But he
had somebody punching in his
face, he had to do something about
it.
“You can’t let a guy punch you
in the face on national TV and
just walk away.”
Because that would be silly.
Unimaginable. No NBA player
would do such a thing.
Except that 15-year-vet and
Laker teammate A.C. Green has.
In a first-round playoff game in
1994 for example, when Green
played for Phoenix, he and Latrell
Sprewell — then with Golden
State, now with the Knicks — got
tangled up.
And Green said to Spree: “God
bless you.”
Spree’s reaction: “I worship the
devil.”
But hey, Kobe, that’s Spree for
you. Doing us all proud.
Mirjam Swanson is the sports editor for
the Emerald. She can be reached via e
mail at mswan@gladstone.uoregon.edu.
u
University of Oregon
Athletic Department
Marketing and Promotions
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For more information, call 346-4849 (M-F 8am-5pm).
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Application Deadline: Friday, April 21.