Posted on 07/22/2003 10:06:25 PM PDT by bd476
"He kept shaking his head, licking his lips, and working his jaw muscles against the grain of the moment. Kobe Bryant did not have the ball. He had the world's attention, but not the ball, when he measured his racing heart, his burning lungs and his leaking eyes before taking the biggest shot of his life.
"I'm innocent," Bryant said Friday night.
He said it four times. Bryant adjusted the news conference mike, faced the cameras, and swore he was only guilty of being a man. A weak, flawed, adulterous man. He stitched Hester Prynne's scarlet letter to his white shirt, wore the 'A' for mass public consumption, and admitted only to violating the sacred bond between husband and wife.
Bryant opened his shooting hand and locked fingers with his Vanessa, who was sitting by her man. Bryant had pulled out a chair for her when they arrived at this extraordinary Staples Center scene, and he would escort her out of her chair when they left without fielding questions.
In between, the Lakers' megastar said he was "furious at myself, disgusted at myself...embarrassed and ashamed." He looked at Vanessa and professed his undying love and remorse, calling his wife "the beats of my heart, the air I breathe."
Bryant then called his alleged victim a liar.
"I've been falsely accused of something," Bryant said, "and I'm innocent."
Innocent until proven otherwise, Bryant has thrown his image into the trash like it were a used piece of ankle tape, and today that fact would not even make his top 50 reasons to feel terrified and alone. He has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman.
Short of murder, man has yet to come up with a crime more vile.
Bryant faces a penalty ranging from lengthy probation to a jail cell for the balance of his life. So forget the lost snapshots of a clean and charmed life, the apple-pie portrait that publicists used to make Bryant one of the most credible and likable athletes on the face of the globe.
If Bryant did what police believe he did, and what a prosecutor now says he can prove Bryant did beyond a reasonable doubt, this three-time NBA champion deserves to go to prison for a very long time.
What Bryant and his wife each called "the mistake of adultery," Mark Hurlbert, the district attorney in Eagle County, Col., called a violent and felonious attack..."
(Excerpt) Read more at usatoday.com ...
It was then a relief to find one Sports writer who labels correctly the "debate over what damage has been done to Bryant's image and his endorsement power..." as "...irrelevant and insulting."
The title is "Bryant takes shot."
If you want to make an editorial comment, do it in the space below the article.
Changing the title GUARANTEES that someone will post this article again tomorrow, with the proper title, thus wasting precious bandwidth.
Crapping your pants when you think you are going to pass gas is a mistake. Forgetting about your child and shoving yourself into a woman not your wife and doing so without any STD protection is a bit more than a "mistake".
"I've been falsely accused of something," Bryant said, "and I'm innocent."
This is the nastiest possible way of saying "Bryant says he is innocent." This columnist is basically saying Bryant's been accused of something so horrible that he should not even have a chance to claim that he's not guilty.
What is it with these rapist sports columnists? I can call him a rapist if I want. It's not like O'Connor can deny that he's a rapist, or he would be calling me a liar. And, you know, it's wrong to call someone a liar, even if they, you know, might be lying. Yeah. </sarcasm> <Note that this is sarcasm, and I'm not actually accusing Mr. O'Connor of being a rapist>
The Moderator changed the poster's title to the true title.
I apologize if I posted something in error. I right-clicked then copied the title of the article as it appears on USA Today.
http://usatoday.com/sports/columnist/oconnor/2003-07-18-oconnor_x.htm
I underscored the title of the article. Is that where I goofed?
Again, I'm sorry for whatever is incorrect. My mistake was not deliberate.
"I've been falsely accused of something," Bryant said, "and I'm innocent."
You wrote: "This is the nastiest possible way of saying 'Bryant says he is innocent.' "
It looks as if the Sports writer quoted Kobe Bryant.
Are you saying that Kobe Bryant did not speak those words? Are you saying that Kobe Bryant said something completely different?
If so, then the Sports writer should admit the error and correct the quote.
Has "USA Today" printed a retraction?
Are you saying that Kobe Bryant did not speak those words? Are you saying that Kobe Bryant said something completely different?
What Kobe said is clear, and nothing in my posts suggests I'm disputing that: "I've been falsely accused of something, and I'm innocent."
This goofball sportswriter presented that quote as "Bryant [calling] his alleged victim a liar." That's a nasty way to misrepresent what Bryant said. He didn't say "she's a dirty little liar," he said he was innocent and falsely accused. The different word choice is important, the writer makes Kobe sound offensive when he was really just being defensive. It was the nastiest possible way to spin what Kobe really said, to paint him in the worst possible light.
I'm not arguing facts, I'm arguing the way the facts are presented.
Well, learning that Kobe can't keep it in his pants for the few hours he had to kill between kissing his wife and baby goodbye, and his knee surgery the next morning, have pretty much eradicated his "endorsement power" for me.
I'm about as likely to buy anything he's promoting as I am to buy Clinton's bio.
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