Kobe, Barry, and Wilt!

Yesterday I mentioned that I love to root for athletes that are routinely lambasted by the press. A couple have made the news the last couple days. First, congratulations and admiration to Kobe Bryant for his 81 pt. game. The Toronto Raptors are a terrible team. Kobe has the benefit of the 3 pt. shot. Still, I believe Kobe put up the more impressive game than Wilt's 100.

Wilt was 7'1" when few teams had 7 footers. He averaged 50 pts./game that season thanks to a lane that was in the shape of an old-fashioned key hole (very narrow under the basket). He just had his best ever night at the free throw line. Terrible throughout his career, he made over 90% that night. I don't want to say it was dumb luck. He obviously had to have skill to score as much as he did. I just think that Wilt's 100 was more of a statiscal inevitability. Nobody could keep him out of the low post. They couldn't stop him when he was down there. They just sent him to the line. Most nights he was terrible. That one night, the free throws went in.

He was a sensitive giant. He wanted to be considered more than just brute force. He developed a jump shot. He led the league in assists one year. His years in Los Angeles, he sacrificed his scoring for West, Baylor, and later Goodrich so he could win a title. Wilt deserves a lot more credit than he gets. Still, everything was stacked in his favor that one night.

Kobe, on the other hand, showed the outcome of skills that he has really tried hard to perfect. I could never root for the Lakers before. I think Shaquille O'Neal is a step backwards for the black athlete. Kobe, though, I always respected. I hoped the Lakers would be stupid and trade Kobe to the Bulls or let him walk as a free agent. No such luck. Anyways, he has been dropped by the media as the Jordan heir and his skills and determination seemingly forgotten about. All you hear about the last couple years is Colorado, getting Shaq traded, and alienating Phil and his teammates. He was found not guilty in Colorado. He and that girl are the only ones who truly know what happened in that room. He did not handle the fallout very well. He had the balls to directly say that he didn't like playing with the most selfish player in sports, Shaq. If Shaq's not the reason for winning, he'd rather lose. As for Phil and the teammates, I can't speak on due to a lack of knowledge. The media has had such a hard time remembering that the reason we all care about all that has happened with Kobe the last couple years is that he is such a great, young talent. Even when he topped 70 earlier this season, many took potshots at him for not playing the 4th quarter. When he does play the 4th, they knock him for taking too many shots, eventhough he brought his team from behind to win. Anyways, Kobe Bryant great job! Hopefully, the Lakers brass can resurround him with the players he needs to take his team back to the top.

The other athlete to make some news is one of my all-time favorites. That would be Barry Bonds. First, he responded to his manager Felipe Alou's idea to bat Bonds second negatively. Can't believe it, but I actually agree with Alou on this one. Bonds at his worst is going to get on base 40 % of the time. That is exactly the type of guy you want in that spot. Plus, the added benefit of extra at bats for Bonds over the course of the season. Not too sure I agree with taking Bonds out late in games for defensive reasons. This is where Alou should take a page out of Earl Weaver's book. If he's so concerned with Bonds defense and health, maybe he should leave Bonds on the bench. Then he can bring in Bonds to replace Steve Finley during close games instead of vice-versa. After all, it's easier to find someone else to replace Bonds later if needed for defense than it is to replace his bat. Bat Finley 8th, Bonds can wait until the 2nd or 3rd to get into the game.

Anyways, I haven't seen anything yet but I'm sure the press will be up to the same old crap of saying Bonds should take one for the team. Of course, if the A's put Frank Thomas in the 2-hole when they sign him, the media will rip it as a stupid move because Thomas is so slow. Can't imagine Bonds is much faster at this point in their careers.

Bonds was at it again today when he said he would back out of the World Baseball Classic due to injury concerns. Considering he is chasing history and is in the twilight of his career, it makes sense to dump an exhibition tourney that means little to anyone in the States except Bud. Again, his normal detractors should have a field day with this, calling Bonds unpatriotic amongst other things. These same guys would have been saying he should have sat out if he had gotten injured.

I know, I'm putting a lot of words in a lot of guys' mouths. It's just that they are so predictable.
They try so hard to bring so many guys down. Ted Williams. Wilt Chamberlain. Dan Marino. Barry Bonds. Kobe Bryant. Alex Rodriguez. These were all men who took what the did very seriously. They all worked very hard become the best individuals. They didn't see the press as a tool to achieve anything. They didn't have the temperment or the skill or both to deal with reporters day after day. They all paled in comparison to comtemporaries with more trophies and/or a better acumen with the press, but lighter individual records.

Williams was clearly better than DiMaggio. His Red Sox just could not find a way to put it all together. Most of the Boston media tried to take any credit for their limited success away from him anyways. He was selfish, only put up his great stats when the game was over. What hogwash. It would have been great if the Red Sox had been dumb enough to swap the two. Williams and Mantle in the 50's would have overcome the Indians in '54 and the White Sox in '59. Williams would have had his World Series haul. In reality, Williams never did win the Series and will always been seen in a lesser light than St Joe the 1st. because of it.

Wilt dominated Russell head to head. His team didn't horde Hall of Famers the way Auerbach's Celtics did. Unlike the other guys, he at least won a couple titles. Still, he will stand as the ultimate example in sports of a team beating individual dominance.

Dan the Man put up the numbers. Joe Montana won the rings. This whole thing is being painfully replayed with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Marino and Manning at least have had better luck with the media than the others. They've only been labeled as choke artists lacking the intestinal fortitude to put them over the top. Marino just never had a good enough team after the mid 80's. Even if they had made it again at that point, the teams in the NFC were just far and away better. Yes, the '85 Bears would have gotten their revenge in New Orleans. They would have knocked Marino out before the 1st qt was over.

Bonds hasn't needed a contemporary for the press to lambast him. He has given them the truth. He has suffered for it. I would much rather have the honesty of Bonds, as much as I might disagree with it, than the guys like Mark Grace who use the media for their own gains. Bonds more than made up for early carreer playoff performances by almost single handidly winning the 2002 World Series. He should have won the MVP. I think they would have found a way to keep it away from him even if the Giants won on a ninth inning Bonds homer.

Alex Rodriguez is probably the worst case. He separated himself from the Holy Trinity of Shortstops. He took a lot of money from an organization that said they had a plan to win lots of games with him. They failed. He asked to spend his best years somewhere that he could win instead of wasting away in a rebuilding project he might not be around to see finish. He gave up his defensive position that he was far superior at to Derek Jeter. He has twice been an MVP and probably deserved more. It is far from his fault that the Yankees have not won it all in the two seasons since he's been there. Maybe if they got better D from short, they would have.