Basketball from a fans perspective

The news broke Sunday evening as I was preparing the Monday edition of Words Eye View.  For the first time I'm running a special edition and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it.  Time to say so long to a man there was no middle ground, half of the people I come in contact with hate him the other half love him, there is no middle ground.  Lets just say Kobe Bryant has made a name for himself in the NBA and basketball few will forget.

Changing of the guard
We have been witness to the changing of the guard in the NFL, Denver quarterback Peyton Manning is 39 years old and will turn 40 in March. Injuries and age have no longer allowed him to play at the level he once drove defensive coaches and opposing players crazy. Manning was replaced by 25-year old Brock Osweiler and its likely Osweiler will remain the starter for the balance of the season. My Lakers have been in a change mode as well, after missing parts of the last two seasons I (along with others) believed Kobe had one more “run” left in his 37-year old body. It’s been quite painful for us who are fans to see his effort on the court, the old sayin’ “The mind is willing but the body is weak” certainly applies. Jump shot after shot has clanked off the board in this young season, Kobe‘s shooting percentage is in the 30% range. 

We all believed it would take time for Kobe to adjust to the rigors of the NBA once again.
The time came for his return and we discovered (along with him) his game has eroded.  I began to believe its’ become difficult for the young Lakers to move ahead with him remaining on the roster, the youngsters are always looking over their shoulder. As for his past his work ethic caused problems with teammates Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard. I believe he wanted the maximum effort from them which he possibly believed was not there at times. Was he correct in his approach toward them? Probably not but can we state with convection we got the max effort out of our co-workers without problems? Five NBA Championships, 2X NBA Finals MVP, 2008 NBA MVP, two Olympic Gold Medals, one FIBA American Gold Medal and 11X All-NBA First Team. 

In addition he was a 9X All NBA Defensive First Team, 3X All NBA Defensive Second Team and 2X NBA Scoring Champion, the 81 point game against the Raptors I witnessed via NBA League Pass standout in my memory.  There are more honors this account attempts to capture several of the major events over the course of a brilliant NBA career.  I would be negligent if I failed to mention Colorado.  In 2003 Kobe was charged with sexual assault after a hotel employee accussed him of rape.  In 2004 the charges were dropped after the accuser refused to testify, a civil suit was later settled with her.  Although other athletes have been charged with the same offense since that time frame we don't hear any of them being referred as "the  rapist."  That's all in the past now as for Kobe Bean Bryant beyond retirement the next stop is the Naismith Hall of Fame in Springfield (MA).