Kobe scandal leaves Nike with real beef; Is Nike trying to make a fast break from Kobe Bryant

NY Daily ^ | 07-27-03

[Hodar]

Then your passionate attack on this woman makes no sense.

I am not, nor have I ever attacked the 'victim'. I am attacking a system that allows one person to make a heinous public accusation without that person being able to make redress. If I accuse you of rape, I need not present evidence, I need not present witnesses, cause nor even show that I was coereced. I can simply make the accusation and you must defend yourself. By simply having the accusation leveled at you, you will be forced to prove yourself innocent. And if I drop charges, or you manage to prove your innocence; you will be forever known as the man that got away with a rape. And again, Google has plenty of examples of this. Just search for "wrongful rape convictions". Oh, and here's the kicker .... once you have had your reputation tarnished by a false charge, you cannot sue me for what I have done. Sound fair to you? It doesn't to me.

[Hodar]

He willfully and knowingly lied to NIKE when he signed their contracy. Breach of contract. Damaged goods. Not as represented by Bryant. Who cares about "feelings". This is about money. He is a counterfeit product. A name that is worthless on a NIKE. Is NIKE expected to market a confessed cheater's name on their products?

Kobe may be a cheater, he may have bad body hygiene, he may be counterfeit. Frankly, I don't know and I don't care. Kobe was a franchise, and he was making money. Now due solely to a charge of rape (he hasn't been tried yet) he is losing everything. As for the cheating part, I believe Wilt Chamerlain got AIDs by sleeping with >3,000 women. Magic Johnson also claimed to have been 'around' a bit as well. These people had franchises. People buy their goods, and the fact that they have low morals is not a deciding factor.

My issue is that the accused (at this point in time) is guilty of nothing; and is being punished. If/when the trial happens, and if a jury finds him guilty; I have no problem seeing him introduced to Ol' Sparky. But until that point in time, we may be destroying a man for an allegation brought against him for no other reason than revenge for not calling the girl the next morning.

[Chantal]

What's the difference? $4 million to a guy like Bryant is not that big a deal..

It's the timing sweetie..any other time would have been OK,
but right after his admission to adultery....mmmm

[autoresponder]

Tough toenails for Kobe Bryant.

He signed a contract and reneged on the morals clause.

That's the way the ol' cookie crumbles.

You are claiming he deserves "fairness" based on your own value system and his; not of actuality.

"Innocent before proven guilty" is a fiction outside of the courtroom. It has no validity in the public realm.

It has no binding legal protection for him whatsoever. You are creating a false shadow world of psuedo judiciary ghosts.

You are personally and obsessively disturbed about this alleged stranger Kobe Bryant way beyond any rational or logical reason.

You have formed a deep unreasonable attachment to him and his defense.

You have placed your very stake on the financial losses of an idiotic multi-millionaire that could not bother to even use a cheap dinky condum.

Forget Ol' Sparky; Kobe is toast and he shoved his handle down himself to "REALLY DARK".

There is nothing he can do to repair his moronic behavior and lifestyle.

This jerk destroyed himself and his transparent "franchise".

He is a rolemodel only for mini gangbangers.

He willfully and knowingly destroyed his own income and future yet you are the one that is deeply hurting. Get help. Soon.

You are spitting into the wind.

Ta Ta!

[nyconse]

I love your posts-you always cut right to the important issues. By the way, thanks for telling me how to post etc. LOL

[twigs]

Iverson has never been charged with rape. From what I can tell, he has been faithful to the same woman for years. He is also maturing as he gets older.

[WestPacSailor]

In essence, he brought all this strife upon himself.

I seem to recall a really good book that said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "as ye sow, so shall ye reap".

[twigs]

Whatever happened to that annoying little phrase "Innocent, until PROVEN guilty"?

True, but when you're a public figure and get paid millions of dollars on your name, you have a higher standard. You have to appear to be above reproach. At the very least, he had consensual sex--violent sex at that--with a woman not his wife. His sponsors are not paying for that type of behavior. He's willing enough to take their money; he has a responsibility to keep his nose clean. He didn't.

[Hodar]

"Innocent before proven guilty" is a fiction outside of the courtroom. It has no validity in the public realm.

Keep that well in mind, should you find yourself accused of anything. After all, if it's fair to treat other people that way, you should expect that treatment yourself.

[Hodar]

True, but when you're a public figure and get paid millions of dollars on your name, you have a higher standard. You have to appear to be above reproach. At the very least, he had consensual sex--violent sex at that--with a woman not his wife. His sponsors are not paying for that type of behavior. He's willing enough to take their money; he has a responsibility to keep his nose clean. He didn't.

BING - BING - BING

We have a winner, that is the BEST response yet to this debate. Well thought out, and very well articulated. And on this point, I have to concede; Kobe does have an obligation to his sponsors to keep an image worthy of the franchise they are selling.

So, while I concede that Kobe should have known better; my issue is with a system that allows extortion without consequence. If you sleep with any woman (married, within the marriage or outside of it; or if single and with another single woman) she may decide to call it rape (for any reason). If she does, the male is assumed guilty and is permanently treated as a subject of ridicule. The accuser need never identify herself, but the male is publically humiliated. Thus, my arguement is, and always has been with the system.

[twigs]

You certainly have a valid point. There's no good solution to the issue. My fear is that any step toward correcting the "wrong" will ultimately prove worse than the situation today. Let's say that this woman is setting Kobe up. He is charged with crime; she is not. If her charge is proven to be meritless, then she becomes the criminal and Kobe is let go. She goes to jail, as well she should. Kobe's reputation will suffer, as well as his endorsements. They should; he didn't live up to his end of the bargain. If on the other hand, he did rape her, and this woman's name is also dragged through the mud, it will discourage women from ever reporting rape. Maybe men might like that, but it's not good for society as a whole.

Most probably, at least IMHO, this case will involve mistaken perceptions on both Kobe's and his accuser's part as to the cues that were occurring in the situation. Neither individual should have been in the situation and I have no doubt that in this high profile of a case, the woman's name will come out. Had Kobe remained faithful, this would never have happened. I still think that in the long run, more harm comes to society from releasing the woman's name than not doing so.

[af_vet_1981]

Thus, my arguement is, and always has been with the system.

The prosecution has already reviewed evidence, painstakingly reviewed it in this case. If as you claim, this has never happened to you or those you know, your heated comments don't seem to make sense. Rape is a real crime, primarily committed by men against women and other men. Falsely accusing someone of rape you bear the same penalty as rape. There are far more victims of rape than false accusations of rape. I simply don't understand your unbalanced comments if you have no skin in the game.

[vollmond]

Kobe needs to buy Phil Knight a 4 million dollar ring.
(credit to Steve Zaban of WTEM, Washington DC)

[hobbes1]

Falsely accusing someone of rape you bear the same penalty as rape.

That is laughable.....the most you would POSSIBLY bear is a charge of false filing, or false statements, and it is just about unheard of for a prosecutor to pursue such a charge after the victim has cried rape.

And as to your earlier assertion, that his postition belies some personal stake due to past incidents, the same would be true for those of you that seem to see no possiblity of the accused eing innocent, because of the crime alleged.

Just because a woman cries Rape, does not make it automatically true, no matter how hard you wish it so.

[RWG]

Kobe is furious about Nike's attitude so far...well, at least he didn't call a press conference and point his finger and say I didn't rape that woman-Miss...

[af_vet_1981]

Just because a woman cries Rape, does not make it automatically true,

or false

The DA carefully reviewed DNA, physical, and testimonial evidence before pressing charges.

[hobbes1]

And pray tell, was he very publicly arrested before or after being charged ?

[af_vet_1981]

And pray tell, was he very publicly arrested before or after being charged ?

Kobe Bryant, the All-Star guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, was arrested for investigation of alleged sexual assault over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, the Eagle County Sheriff's Office confirmed Monday. A woman went to sheriff's deputies on July 1 and made claims of Bryant's sexual misconduct.
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"Upon review of interviews and physical evidence, investigators met with representatives with the District Attorney's Office and concluded they had enough evidence to charge Bryant with felony sexual assault," the sheriff's office said Sunday.

[the Deejay]

"I seem to recall a really good book that said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "as ye sow, so shall ye reap".

(LOL) The Bible?

[Hodar]

Falsely accusing someone of rape you bear the same penalty as rape.

Totally and completely wrong. Not even close to the truth. Where did you get that FACT? On what planet does that apply? Think about it for a minute. Any woman you have had sex with (or have never even met), can at any moment, for any reason decide that you have raped her. It could be your wife, girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend from high school. She can accuse you years after the event, and you have to prove your innocence. And once again, do a simple Google search (keywords: wrongful rape conviction) and you will see the validity of my arguement. Simply by accusing someone, you seem willing to label them as 'guilty' before the trial has even started.