 |
| the best kobe rapist picture I could find... |
I'd say Kobe's popularity was at it's lowest point soon after he allegedly raped a woman in Colorado and then bought his wife a huge diamond ring to make up for it. Kobe had never been very likable in the first place; even his teammates found him aloof and uninteresting. However, one of his most vocal (at least through gchat) proponents was none other than Sr. Sovic.
Since I am a sheep by nature, I found myself in the majority as a Kobe hater. Sovic, on the other hand, preached about learning to "embrace Kobe as a villain," and stated emphatically that he would "love to have" Kobe on his fantasy team. In time, Sovic's defiant support of the black mamba wore down my defenses (hey, like kobe does to women!), and I begrudgingly learned to accept his villainy.
That bring us to Lebron. Sovic hates lebron. He's always hated lebron. When Lebron was arguably the most popular player on the planet, Sovic stood his ground and stuck with his vehement hatred (recently, I learned Forshay felt the same way). I, on the other hand, respected lebron for being the most talented player on the planet (even if he wasn't the most hardworking). I loved that any time he was on TV, I would turn over to see what he might do. He always had 3-4 HOLY FUCK moments every game.
Now, after "the decision" debacle, Bron is almost universally hated (and booed every night he's on the road). My question to Sr. Sovic is this: will you learn to embrace his villainy? Now that most have jumped ship (I do think dois, beb, and I still have some love for him) and you're in the majority opinion, will you find the bron-hater-club too crowded for your liking?
I await a response.
-Shoaf
Interesting. When the crowd zigs, you gotta zag, so I find your work on this compelling.
ReplyDeleteThere are 2 types of terrible people in the world: People who despise athletes simply because they do what they want to do, and Lebron James.
ReplyDeleteOn that note, I have to admit that hating LBJ is now like going out on NYE or talking to strangers about your great fantasy draft.....amateur hour.
Still, do I (and I assume Sovic) feel vindicated now that the rest of the world sees what a soft yet calculating facade LeCharge has turned out to be? Yes. To paraphrase my main man Denny Green, "He is who we thought he was.......HE IS WHO WE THOUGHT HE WAS.......and we let'em off the hook!"
So what if the rest of the Mike-and-Mike-listening vanilla sports fans are now on the anti-LeGlobalicon bandwagon. The more the merrier.
Looking forward to Kobe doin' work in the Finals again this year, only it's probably not going to be vs. LeEdMcMahon.
Chris
There is a syllogism at work here that
ReplyDeletea) Sovic likes Kobe because he's a villain
b) LeBron is now a villain
c) Sovic must like LeBron now
and this syllogism is ultimately false. Here's why:
While I have definitely used the phrase "embrace Kobe as a villain," this is a simplification of my reasons for liking - or, more accurately, being interested by - Kobe. After all, the league has plenty of villains (or at least it used to; the NBA is kind of a bunch of pussies now) and I don't necessarily like them all.
The specific terminology I like to use with Kobe is not "villain," but "criminal mastermind." I like to imagine that when Kobe comes home from a game or practice, he retires to his lair and fires up a supercomputer that identifies points of weakness across the globe in international corporations, banks, and 3rd-world governments. He devises a plan, dispatches his henchmen, and watches the lucre pour in. Obviously, I don't believe this is true, but only because we don't live in a comic book. In a world where this kind of evil genius supervillain really did exist, Kobe would be him. Instead, our reality is stuck with boring, banal evil-doers like Osama bin Laden.
Which leads me to LeBron. No, I won't compare him to Osama bin Laden. But to maintain the comic book analogy, if Kobe is an evil genius like the Joker or Lex Luthor or Magneto, LeBron is more like the Juggernaut. Incredibly powerful? Yes. Impossible to stop once he gets going? Yes. Possessive of a gigantic dong? Probably. But capable of masterminding an evil plot to take over the world? Not really. And I think therein lies the major difference for me: Kobe may be "evil" but he's an intelligent evil. Kobe sometimes communicates in Spanish with Pau so that the other team can't understand them. LeBron doesn't even seem to be able to communicate with his team in his native language of English. Kobe's game is nuanced and reflects hours of study and practice. LeBron's game is jaw-dropping and reflects amazing natural gifts. To me, the one is just more interesting than the other. I don't really begrudge anybody liking LeBron; I, too, am amazed by the shit he does on the court sometimes. And now that everyone has hopped on the "hater" bandwagon, I don't begrudge them that either. But I have my specific reasons for liking Kobe and disliking LeBron, and nothing that has happened in the past few months really changes any of those reasons.
@JD-who are you?
ReplyDelete@Forshay-Welcome to cluj! I resent the fact that you made fun of Mike and Mike. I love the greeny.
@Sovic-I enjoyed your response. I think you responded logically, and explained your points clearly and concisely. However, I think you secretly LOVE it when you have a different opinion than the majority. Come on, you've always been a non-conformist bastard. In 5 years when Lebron signs with the Blazers, I have no doubt you'll be a superfan.
JD = Jon DeYoung, and has for a while.
ReplyDeleteForshay: way to dive in.
Shoaf: I won't deny being contrarian, but I hope I've said enough about it to convince you that that's not the reason for my LeBron hatred. And yes, if he ended up on the Blazers I would obviously root for him. Pretty sure I'm also on record saying that I would flip-flop if he had come to the Brooklyn Nets as well. I'm not above selling my soul for a kick-ass basketball team.
If it had said JDY, I would have gotten it. And yes, you did convince me...that you're a persuasive writer. I want to know what's really inside! No, really, I'm convinced.
ReplyDeleteWill - Did you seriously think that Sovic's response was concise? I'm pretty sure he could have conveyed the same message with 1/3 of the copy.
ReplyDelete