Just Kobe.

Friday night, Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles tendon and it was announced that he will miss the next nine to ten months. Kobe is someone who isn't as big on social media as other players. His personality is the complete opposite of former teammate and future Hall of Fame big man Shaquille O'Neal. While Shaq is big on social media, interacting with fans, joking around, retweeting his followers and dancing during player introductions, Kobe is a more serious person. Kobe is new to the Twitter game. While Twitter exploded with athletes and celebrities joining and giving up to date tidbits of information on their lives in around 2008 or 2009, Kobe sat back and didn't join until around the beginning of this season. He's always had a business-first mentality. Because of him and Shaq being such polar opposites, I'm not surprised at all that the two of them didn't get along and that Shaq was eventually traded. Kobe has lived more of a private life in comparison to other big time athletes. It didn't seem like he ever broke character on Twitter until a couple months ago after the Lakers played the Mavericks.

Before the Lakers-Mavs Sunday match-up, Dallas owner Mark Cuban was talking on a radio show and hinted at why it might be a good idea for the Lakers to amnesty Kobe, terminate his contract and allow him to become a free agent this summer. He said it would save them a ton of money and could help them long-term. While Cuban said he was just giving a fair example, Kobe took personal offense to this. The comments set him off, leading to a big game for him and willing his team to victory. He closed the game out by hitting a bunch of clutch off-balance shots and he was the reason why the team won. Kobe tweeted after the game, "AMNESTY THAT.", clearly responding to Cuban's comments. That was the first time I think I ever saw Kobe break character on Twitter. But that was nothing like what he posted on Facebook Friday night.

Kobe posted the following status on his fan page:
This is such BS! All the training and sacrifice just flew out the window with one step that I've done millions of times! The frustration is unbearable. The anger is rage. Why the hell did this happen ?!? Makes no damn sense. Now I'm supposed to come back from this and be the same player Or better at 35?!? How in the world am I supposed to do that?? 
I have NO CLUE. Do I have the consistent will to overcome this thing? Maybe I should break out the rocking chair and reminisce on the career that
was. Maybe this is how my book
ends. Maybe Father Time has defeated me...Then again maybe not! It's 3:30am, my foot feels like dead weight, my head is spinning from the pain meds and I'm wide awake. Forgive my Venting but what's the purpose of social media if I won't bring it to you Real No Image?? Feels good to vent, let it out. To feel as if THIS is the WORST thing EVER! Because After ALL the venting, a real perspective sets in. There are far greater issues/challenges in the world then a torn achilles. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, find the silver lining and get to work with the same belief, same drive and same conviction as ever.
One day, the beginning of a new career journey will commence. Today is NOT that day.
"If you see me in a fight with a bear, prey for the bear". Ive always loved that quote. Thats "mamba mentality" we don't quit, we don't cower, we don't run. We endure and conquer.
I know it's a long post but I'm Facebook Venting LOL. Maybe now I can actually get some sleep and be excited for surgery tomorrow. First step of a new challenge.
Guess I will be Coach Vino the rest of this season. I have faith in my teammates. They will come thru.
Thank you for all your prayers and support. Much Love Always.
Mamba Out

This status made me sad. Just as the news of his injury made me sad. It's always sad to see guys retire and go up and say they just can't do it anymore. Their bodies are breaking down and they simply aren't the players they used to be. While Kobe hasn't been as fast or athletic as he once was, he still was a top-5 player in the league before his injury. Coming in to this season, many NBA analysts picked the Lakers to not only win the West, but to win the NBA Finals. The team came in playing poorly and simply wasn't playing up to its capability. But over the past couple months Kobe has been willing his team to victory. His competitive drive is unlike any other player in sports today. Many will call it selfishness, and maybe he is selfish, but it's all about winning for him.

Kobe has been playing iron-man minutes over the past few weeks. He's been giving all of himself to this cause. Whether or not the Lakers had a shot to win the West with him, I don't know. But obviously the Lakers are done now. I really hope that Kobe isn't done. If this is the last we ever see of Kobe, the game will certainly miss him.

Something I've believed for quite a while is that Kobe Bryant is the closest we will ever see to Michael Jordan on the basketball court. That meaning in terms of playing style and work-ethic. Jordan won six rings, Kobe won five. Many want to see LeBron play Jordan in a one-on-one game. That wouldn't be a fair game for either of them, as they don't play the same position. Larry Bird would be a better match for LeBron. But I've always said Kobe would be the best match for Jordan in a one-on-one game. How many points could Kobe put up? I have no clue. Jordan would win, but this would be a better match-up than I think most people think.

Has Kobe tried to copy Jordan? Maybe. People have looked at pictures of him dunking with his tongue hanging out, similar to Jordan. Also this past summer at the Olympics, Kobe grew a beard similar to MJ's when the Dream Team competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics. People have taken clips of both of them celebrating and compared the two. I don't know if he has tried to or not, but if anyone has earned the right to copy Jordan, it is Kobe.

What separates Jordan and Kobe from most other superstars is their will to win and push the team. As I said before, Kobe has been called selfish and a "ball hog" by the public. Maybe he is those things. But it produces results. It's hard to argue with five championships. I think one of the things that separates the two from one another is that many players will say Jordan made them better players, while a case could be made that Kobe hasn't made his teammates better. In fact, Andrew Bynum said something in the past year that he thinks Kobe hindered his development. Whether or not this is the case, I don't know. Jordan was better-liked by his teammates. Jordan was also a better player and had a better career. Jordan is obviously the best player of all-time. But the fact of the matter is, when Kobe eventually hangs up his gym shoes, the game will miss him.

Another argument that could be made against Kobe is when he was asking for the Lakers to trade him. For a while people speculated that Kobe could be on the move to the Bulls or another team. Kobe was basically saying, get me a sidekick or trade me. I don't think Kobe ever was planning on leaving. He's played in the same place for 17 years of his career and he's been loyal. What he was trying to do was to get help. For a couple years, the best teammate he had was guard Smush Parker. Where is Smush Parker now? What happened to him? Kobe didn't have a great supporting cast. He scored 81 points in a game. While Kobe has been called selfish, Kobe didn't want to have score 81 points in a game in order to lead his team to victory. He wanted another all-star on his team. He didn't need a superstar, just someone he could feed the ball in the post and not have to do everything. The answer was Pau Gasol, who proved to be the final piece to a championship puzzle. While the Lakers didn't win it all that year, losing in six games to the Celtics, they did win the next two years. Pau Gasol isn't going to the Hall of Fame. Neither is Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher or anyone else that helped him win those years. But Kobe and the Lakers got the job done. As I said, if this is the last we see of Kobe, this will be a real shame.

Many players in the league today are desperately longing for attention. The game needs more guys like Kobe and Derrick Rose, who don't care about how people perceive them or what endorsement deals they are able to get. Sure, they might take endorsements, but they don't try their best to create attention to themselves. Someone I have been all over for doing that is LeBron James. I won't talk too much about LeBron in this, but I will say that LeBron has gone out of his way to attract attention to himself. For example, when he tweeted "dunk contest?" and then a ton of people tweeted him back saying stuff like "do it!" and then he just said in later interviews "Nah, I'm too old for it." The game needs more guys like Kobe that just play. That's all they do. He lets his playing do the talking.

Now I haven't talked too much about the low-points and the negatives of Kobe's career. Yes, Kobe hasn't had his finest moments. But this post is my attempt of trying to talk about why we'll miss Kobe and hopefully this isn't the end. In a perfect world, he would come back and play as great as he was before. But in actuality, he could be amnestied this summer and be eventually forced into retirement. Only time will tell what Kobe's future holds. I am hoping and praying for Kobe and grateful for the career he has had.


So what are your thoughts on Kobe's injury? Let me know on Twitter @vellvita7, or on my Facebook Fan Page or in the comments below. Hope you are enjoying this beautiful Sunday and The Masters. Have a good day and thank you for reading.