Does Kobe hate white boys?

I've been thinking this since the second suspension cost him his Milwaukee appearance, but I wasn't going to level the charge until I heard someone else say it first (btw, the plural name for my approach is pronounced "pooh-SI"). I just did.

On "Jim Rome is Burning", Tom Friend, senior writer for ESPN the Magazine verbalized (and then immediately backed away from) the pattern I had noticed... every one of Kobe Bryant's oddly childish series of recent flagrant fouls have been committed against white defenders.

His latest incident involved an absolutely intentional elbow he "accidentally" whipped at the face of F Kyle Korver of the Seventy-Sixers. The other two "natural shooting motion" assaults Bryant has committed have been against the dome of G Manu Ginobli of the Spurs and the nose of G Marko Jaric of the Twolves. Is this obvious pattern a mere coincidence, or is there something else more sinister going on here?

All kidding aside, its probably the former... with a twist. Its probably a combination of coincidence and the following subconscious element.

Whenever you get someone checking you (no matter the venue or the circumstance) whom you might consider unworthy of checking you (and the three victims would fit this profile from Kobe's perspective), and said player happens to do a reasonably good job of checking you (which all three had done), it can be naturally very frustrating. Perhaps... and I realize I'm engaging in unqualified mindreading here (Mr. Terry Stotts Defender)... Kobe simply got frustrated and impishly lashed out at the cause of his frustration -- an inferior defender who happened to be white.

I just scratched Joakim Noah from my draft board

If the Bucks have the audacity to draft Joakim Noah from Florida, this site will quickly morph into "Mn Timberwolves Diary" overnight. Bango's Big Board will become Crunch's Big Board, the Green-and-Red will become the Blue-and-White, etc.... the whole nine yards. Mark my words.

Why? Did you see the ridiculously wussified dance he did after Florida won the SEC championship?! If you did, you're not asking why. If you didn't, just keep watching ESPN, and you will know why.

The only way you can do that dance and ball for any team I'm going to follow is if you're BAC is at least triple the legal limit. And I didn't see any damn Jagi Bombs in his hands or near his feet when he was doing it.

Don't Mike Bibby

Yesterday I was watching the Kings-Nuggets game on ABC. They happened to have miked Kings G Mike Bibby. No big deal... usually. Then I heard what came out of Bibby's mouth.

Either I misunderstood the context of his comments, or he is one of the most selfish basketball players in history. The first two comments ABC aired were of him calling very urgently for the ball (and one time he used a very girlish scream -- "Yeeee-ooowwww"). Fine. The third comment was him calling vigorously for a pick from Ron Artest so he could get free ("Come get me Ron. Come get me Ron. Ron, come get me!"). A little self-absorbed, but not bad. Its the fourth comment I still can't comprehend.

When he made his fourth comment, he was vigorously arguing with one of his teammates that he ought to be the one shooting the technical foul free throw. Not for the sake of the team -- for the sake of his point total!! "I gotta get to TEN!!!" he said. Then he looked up at the scoreboard, presumably searching for the spot right under his number where they list his point total. He then looked back at his teammate. "I gotta get to TEN!!!" he repeated, even more emphatically.

Now, how can you interpret that last comment as anything other than an obnoxiously selfish comment? Unless he has a weird clause in his contract, the guy was blatantly tracking his point total and was obssessed with that more so than he was with the score of the game. Do you want that attitude displayed by your point guard? Is that where you want his mind to be?

The Line of the Year thus far

On MTV's braindead reality series Maui Fever, some blond chick asked this shaggy haired Spicoli-type surfer dude "How are you doing tonight?". Without missing a beat, the surfer dude, who was as drunk as can be, replied "Don't you mean who?"

Second best Line of the Year thus far

I was watching the Wisconsin Badgers play the Illinois Fighting Illini this weekend in Madison at the tavie known as the Kollege Klub ("Where Kollegians Kongregate" their sign says). People kept bringing up how much the Badgers were hurting without F Brian Butch (for an Antlerhead reference point -- he's a slower, whiter version of Paul Mokeski). This puzzled me. So I asked my brother "When did Brian Butch become so sweet?" He thought about it. "He must be one of those guys who doesn't look sweet until he's on the bench," he replied.