JayBirdSlim:The Man, the Mission, the god!

That’s right, I said it!…or well…..wrote it at least. Kobe Bryant does not deserve to be in the top tier of the elite players in basketball history. Does he have as much if not more talent than most of the people on that list? Probably. Does he score point? Mostly. Does he have a lot of rings? Definitely. Then why do I, a lifelong Laker’s fan, think he is a sham? Easy…because of games like last night and game 4.

Kobe has always had a sense of “entitlement” surrounding him. Ever since he opted not to go to college and go directly to the professional ranks he has seemingly expected the title of greatest player ever to just be handed over to him. So laissez-faire games like last night happen. Kobe assumes if he puts it in cruise control he will just coast to glory. He takes games off. He may get up that morning at 6 am to practice…but (and I can’t believe I’m using this quote in a positive way) “Practice? We’re talking about practice?” Allen Iverson may have whined and moaned about practicing with his team but you have to give him credit he always put 100% into each and every trip up and down the court during a game. The same thing can’t be said about Kobe. He thinks he can flick on a switch and suddenly the game will be handed to him. “Oh Kobe is going o actually play now…games over…doesn’t matter if they’re down by 20+…that’s the rule.”

When you look at the greats, Jordan, Magic, Bird, Chamberlain, Russell etc… they all have one thing in common. They became great because they put everything they had into the game and earned greatness. Lebron seems to understand that you don’t become great just by winning some titles. It takes something more than scoring, or defending, or practicing.

As fans people generally don’t ask much of their players. They can use steroids and really it’s ok, they can gamble, commit adultery, swear, not be role models, it doesn’t matter as long as they play the game with everything they have. So when you hear me talk about Kobe and wish he would just lose in such a humiliating way that it wakes him up don’t ask me how I can say that and call myself a Laker’s fan…Kobe, as Magic implied in his rant, has earned the title of being called a Laker yet in my book.

Gotta say the Vikings pulled a “What the….” something fierce this weekend by drafting Percy Harvin. You might remember a certain series of events under Mike Tice involving any number of crazy behavior all culminating in a sex party on a boat. Well the Vikings supposedly had learned their lesson from that experience and worked to overhaul their roster of “bad egg” type players. Well Percy Harvin not only has a history of having off the field trouble but also failed a drug test, testing positive for Marijuana, at the combine. The kicker, if you don’t know, is that the drug test at the combine is neither random nor surprise in nature. So…Harvin KNEW the drug test was coming and basically said “I could give a crap I’m gettin high!” FAAAAAAAAAAAN-TASTIC! Couple him with our bevvy of “Who the hell IS this guy” QB rotation and it should be a truly fun year to watch my team! I predict a rollercoaster of a season! WOO HOO!

On a different note the Raiders decided to use their early draft pick on a guy that was so far off the radar ESPN didn’t have ANY video clips or even the time the guy had in the 40 yard dash on hand. Gotta love that AL DAvis…he’s crrrrrraaaaaaazy…..hehehe

Well my Hokies somehow managed to win the Orange bowl with one of the worst offenses I’ve seen in a long time. I somehow managed to stay awake for it all despite a horrible, horrible head cold. Something about listening to a television that’s 5 feet away from you and it sounding like it’s across town that makes football far more interesting. Too many times did I say “What did he say?”
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Barring UVA being in a bowl game I have to say the only way I’ll cheer against an ACC school is if they are playing an Academy. Having grown up as an Army brat I will forever hold a special place for the Academies and in sports it is no different. Today Navy plays Wake Forrest and though I want the ACC to have a successful bowl season (and somehow make it appear we were better than people gave us credit this year) all I have ot say is

GO NAVY!

Go figure that sitting the rattled second year QB and letting him observe the game being played may have actually improved his chances of playing the game well! Tavarus Jackson, dare I say, looked GOOD yesterday. I had that little knot in my stomach when he started running plays but it never really came to be. Am I saying everything is happy in the state of purple and gold…..well no…but things are looking up! Go Vikings!

As for the rest of the league it seems things just aren’t going to settle. Both NY and Ten. lost yesterday and will play for the out right 1st place next weekend. It’s looking like the NFL may have take a page from the ACC playbook and is playing the who wants to back into the championship the least sort of competition. Gotta love it.