Uhm, you missed one, Reilly…+1 prob people have with Kobe

I love Rick Reilly’s Go Fish column on ESPN.com, primarily for its sub-title, which cites “mind dumps.”

Awesome.

I’ve been thinking about his post-Laker victory, “Too Short for a Column” entry though, where he lists and refutes 5 reasons “most Americans find it impossible to be happy for Kobe Bryant.”

Reilly lists things like “Kobe’s a ball-hog;” “Kobe owns the refs;” etc. But he misses one glaring point that is the reason I’ve always had a distaste for Kobe (aside from the facts that I’m a native Oregonian; Blazer-fan first; Celtics-fan second; and will never, ever, for a trillion-million-bajillion dollars, root for the L.A. Lakers): the dude was a punk-ass who cheated on his wife with a ridiculous woman who then accused him of rape.

No one talks about this whole incident anymore, and you get scoffed at by the Kobe loyal if you even bring it up. I KNOW that the accusing girl’s entire story was 110% bogus, and have always wanted to ask her, “so, what did you thinkwas going to happen if you piled up, SOLO, in a hotel room with an uber-famous NBA player? Did you think it was your chance for Kobe to ‘get to know you’? Really?” The girl was a gold-digger, hands-down.

Kobe was still married and looking to hook up with her though, and that’s what left the bad taste in my mouth. On the one hand, the dude is a ball player. Hearing Duke’s Coach K (IDOL) talk about his amazing work ethic on the Jim Rome show did improve his standing in my mind (which is very significant).

Maybe everyone should sort of stay out of his personal business. Plus, infidelity seems to be “no big deal” in our society…but I guess that’s just my problem. To me, Kobe epitomizes the reality that, if you’re successful enough, smooth enough, and make enough money, you can commit any sort of misdeed and still come out a superstar. I argue that this sort of reality that superstar players ‘play’ out for the masses via the media sort of permeates any value system or sense of normalcy.

Regardless – I know it’s stagnant water under a rusty bridge. Still, it cracks me up that even Reilly won’t admit that, for many, there’ll always be a ghostly elephant in the gym when Kobe’s around.