Well, an orger friend of mine and I got into a testy exchange over this Kobe furor. It caused me to think about a few trends, none of which are very good.

1. I am a Laker fan, and a serious sports fan, and I happen to like Kobe. I don't want to see him suffer any bad publicity, much less get sent to jail. But what I may want, and what others may want, has little to do with the possibility that it's true. I think sports fans have some difficulty in dealing with that.

2. On the flip side, it appears that some people by their comments in the press think that charges would never been brought against Kobe if he had not done something. It indicates the incendiary nature of a sex assault charge, or for that matter, a felony charge. Even an arrest for such a thing can tarnish someone's image. Fortunately for Kobe, he has enough cash to weather the storm. But if he were a bus driver, a window washer, or even a banker or lawyer, he might have lost his job yesterday.

3. The duplicitous nature of the media is disturbing. They make a point to say that he's guilty until proven innocent, but then in the same breath say that his image has been tarnished, without citing any evidence that sponsors, players, or fans actually think so. The media could be doing the very thing they're reporting: tarnishing his image before formal charges are brought.

4. Fame, money and visibility will often prejudice perspectives in one of two ways:

a. The accused star is guilty because he thinks he's above the law; or

b. The accused star is so rich and famous that they would never do any wrong, and therefore must be getting set up.

5. I don't think there's a jury in America that would convict Kobe Bryant of sexual assault. Much less savory characters have gotten off. Even if he did it, he won't see jail time.

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[This message was edited Tue Jul 8 14:14:56 PDT 2003 by namepeace]
[This message was edited Tue Jul 8 14:16:29 PDT 2003 by namepeace]

This is a very thoughtful and truthful commentary. I have to admit I expected the worst when I read that you are a huge Lakers fan. I expected to read how you thought it was a big conspiracy but you looked at both sides.

I agree with you that Kobe will never see any jail time and it's a very unfortunate situation either way. There are no winners in a case like this.

lovemachine said:

co sign, but I hope that it is proved that he didn't do it.That would be a cryin' shame