Image Is Everything
Kobe is uncool. That’s why he can’t be the Greatest.
by Quinn Peterson
I’ll start by saying I’m definitely a Kobe supporter. I’ve long argued that, skill-for-skill, he’s as good as Mike. If that’s untrue, the argument has certainly never held more strength than it does now. But that’s another story.
What’s in question here, is why, if that’s even semi-true, doesn’t Kobe get that same love that Mike got. Even if one doesn’t agree that Kobe is as good as Mike, he’s pretty damn close, and that alone should warrant some kind of praise. But it doesn’t. Not to the extent it should.
Instead, there’s a reluctance to accept what Kobe’s done. I’m not saying no one likes Kobe or everything he does goes unnoticed. Much to the contrary. Proof of that was recently eloquently stated on this site.
But it’s the fact there’s even a necessity to have this argument. We like to think the stats and numbers should speak for themselves, but that’s just not true. At least not in this case. Four ri
ngs, maybe five, possibly more. Three straight trips to the Finals — for the second time. All-time leading scorer in Lakers history. The list goes on. And you can add clutch shot after clutch shot to that as well. Everything that is said to determine who’s great and who’s not.
What’s interesting is that who’s great and who’s loved, however, apparently have no correlation. Not in Kobe’s case. When it comes to him those facts go in one ear and out the other for many.
It’s really pretty unfortunate. Throughout his career, no athlete of such an elite stature has committed social suicide so many times. The Black Mamba, time and time again, has put himself in the worst positions. Sometimes knowingly, sometimes just bad luck.
And it’s not merely the Colorado incident. Even before that, his chances at world domination were wary.
From day one, he’s placed himself in a line of fire like Denzel at the end of Training Day. Starting when he put those shades on the top of his head when he declared he was “taking his talent” to the League. It came off as corny, and the perceived arrogance made people hate him. As soon as he set foot in Tinsel Town he was slighted.
Since then, it’s been one event after another. And not Dennis Rodman or Ron Artest events. Not being a jerk with the media. Just flat-out lame s#@!. For instance, 2000 NBA All-Star Weekend. When Kobe decided to perform “K.O.B.E.” alongside Tyra Banks … in another language. WHAT?!
The aforementioned sexual allegation of course wasn’t a good look.
Or when the whole Shaq/Kobe drama took off and began to play itself out in public. Not only was the perception that he ran Diesel out of town, but it was later rumored that comments Kobe made around that time played a role in the demise of Shaq’s marriage.
“HE SNITCHED?!?! Aw hell naw!!!”
Ulitmate no, no. Especially since it was regarding Shaq’s wife. Nas came through and laced him with a whole verse for that one.
“From OJ to Kobe, or let’s call him Tobe, … turn around and you s#@! on Shaq?”
Then in 2007, he demanded a trade. Recently, we’ve seen “The Jaw.” Those L.A. Times Magazine photos last month. So on and so forth. Hell, even the Nike MVPuppets commercials, which feature him, have played him like a straight cornball, especially in relation to LeBron. All this adds up to an immense amount of hate and disdain for a guy who, based on his accomplishments, should be getting the Prince Akeem treatment.
Part of the problem is that Kobe, being the competitor he is, just doesn’t care, something he stated clearly back in SLAM 66: “I know what I can do individually, but right now I’ma keep winnin’ and make every single one of y’all hate my guts,” he said.
For better or worse, he’s always been all about the Ws. As long as he wins, he doesn’t care. That’s how it should be. But it’s America, things can’t just be that easy.
As a “basketball head to the bone,” as Bryan Crawford put it, I can confidently say I’ve been able to overlook these incidents, only worrying about what’s going on the hardwood.
More generally though, the result has been that, no matter what he does or who he tries to please, people still hate. This is one of the most accomplished players EVER in the history of the game. He should have the whole world eating from his hand the way Mike did. But he doesn’t. Why?
How can he successfully emulate Mike’s every move, and, more importantly, back it up with hardwood, but not feel the same love? The answer is actually quite simple: He’s not cool. Period. And that’s the major issue.
“He’s a square,” people say. Men and women, across the world, all bring themselves to hate the Black Mamba. And it has absolutely nothing to do with what’s going on on the court, per se.
Mike was, hands down the coolest, smoothest cat doin’ it. Straight up. Kobe’s not… at all. Bryant had a failed rap attempt; MJ had one of the most ubiquitous and memorable jingles of all time made hailing to His Airness. They never even mentioned the actual product, Gatorade.
That’s where the dilemma is. That’s why people have become so infatuated with King James but not KB24. Keep it 100, LeBron is cool as hell. Stays fresh, calmly chops it up with Hov on the sidelines during the game, makes appearances in clubs and at hip-hop concerts, etc. That’s why, despite his shortcomings in the Playoffs, he’s managed to stay ahead of Kobe in the minds of many. He’s cool, that’s really all it comes down to.
That’s the difference between being great, like Kobe, and being an icon, like Jordan. Cats wanted to be Jordan on and off the court. He was cool. He was cooler than cool. He was ice cold. This guy just looks cooler than this one, plain and simple. That’s all it takes.
I guess we should really be inspecting America in this particular discussion, because abroad, specifically in China, Kobe is that dude. Over here though, image is everything. It doesn’t matter what you’re output is, if you don’t look a certain way doing it, it means nothing in the eyes of the public. It’s a harsh, but true, reality. Welcome to Pop Culture, USA.
That’s certainly not a groundbreaking fact; however, it is one that has become all the more clear as Kobe has continued to wow us by draining shots with guys damn near stitched onto his uniform, but the willingness to finally suck it up and salute the man has remained just as challenging for some of his detractors.
Given everything he’s done, it should be a no-brainer of how dope he is. Yet the need to defend what should really speak for itself, shows it’s clearly not. And even if (when?) Kobe gets his fifth ring in these next few weeks, the need to defend him will still remain. I’ll be one of those defenders, no doubt, but it’s ashamed that it’s even necessary.
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The jaw, not so much
I also agree that it has nothing to do with his skill on the court.
Like many people have said, Mike benefited from the time he came up in. If he had come up during today’s media climate he probably would be considered just as big a douche as Kobe. I mean, seriously, have y’all paid attention to how horrible MJ seems as a person these days? Plus, most of us view Jordan through the lens of childhood and young adulthood. We have different ideas about “cool” when we’re younger.
Anyway, Kobe tries to hard to be down. He should have just embraced who he was, but that’s hard for any teenager to grasp, let alone a teenager thrust into making millions of dollars playing basketball with envious grown men.
Finally, Kobe used to INCREDIBLY athletic. We should be comparing Kobe athletically to Jordan in his final three seasons, not Mike when he first came in the league. Some of y’all don’t remember young Kobe, but I do. Dude has a VICIOUS crossover, and was ready and willing to BANG on cats with regularity. He stopped doing all that and changed his game up, which I find even more impressive.
please don’t try to fool the people that this is the only thing that holds him back from being perceived the greatest.
smh.
But, can you be a jerk and be cool?
I say, yes.
But, I also think Lebron is less clutch than Kobe. If Kobe has balls of steel, Lebron is kinda like iron.
Pause.
Maybe you don’t remember, but Shaq was in no way considered funny or likable as late as 2001. Shaq Hate was much more prominent then Kobe Hate; Kobe had the “arrogant” angle, and he obviously lacked charisma, but that was it. Then the rape charges came; Shaq started building up the “Big Goofy Fun Guy” image, and for some reason uterly inexplicable to anyone outside the US (believe me…) the media and the public bought it. His orginal but insanely stupid one-liners were considered hilarious. Then Shaq and co. decided to portray KB as the villain, and boy did it work.
Since then, we have received ample proof that Shaq is one of the biggest douches ever. And to be honest, the “arrogance” angle is a huge paradox when discussing a superstar culture. As the article stated, we WANT our icons to be arrogant. They just have to be cool as well, and Kobe isn’t. Lebron, like Shaq, managed to coerce us (or at least Americans) into the “one of the guys” thing, and he can get away with “global icon” comments, while Kobe is considered the “arrogant” one. The rest of us are laughing…
p.s. quinn you better watch your back son because when you least expect it kobe gonna show up at your front door.
He’s 31 now.
If you take away the first five years of his life, and who can really remember those first five years clearly, Kobe has been in the NBA longer than he’s done anything else in life.
That’s kind of scary.
Now, I think a large part of the masses don’t think he is cool. One can argue that Kobe isn’t original, he can come off as a copycat to some. To many people, if your style isn’t your own, (which Kobe’s isn’t) than you may not be cool to them. A lot of what society perceives as ‘cool’ comes from the originality of a person, in my opinion.
http://www.gq.com/sports/profiles/201003/kobe-bryant?currentPage=1
MJ (may my spit be upon him)=cool
Kobe doesn’t play with arogance anymore…u clearly dont pay attention bro. I would say now he’s playing good, and he’s sharin the ball and everythin.
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