Bill Plaschke wrote a piece on Kobe Bryant this week and while I usually do not care for Plaschke's work, and in this piece I think he was perhaps friendlier than necessary, I agreed with the main thrust of the piece. Kobe has been paying dues for a few years now and if I am, mad at him or disillusioned for his public mistakes, perhaps it is time to let bygones be bygone.
Plaschke's article was an excellent piece, (for an LA Times Sportswriter.) He may go a bit far in his love of Kobe, but at the same time he is right in proclaiming everyone else hard on him. The tricky thing about Kobe is the fact that the criminal justice system has either forgiven him, exonerated him or excused him, depending on how you want to look at it. That being the case, the Lakers and the NBA were/are only too happy to have him back on the court increasing the value of their product.
The tricky spot to be in is ours. For fans, this situation is a bit like knowing someone who has committed a murder, (let's just say,) but for whatever reason we are forced to live with this person and every single day, the person is just as nice as can be. The murderer is cordial and chatty, a good listener who gives of himself, has a sense of humor and is warm. In other words, we would be inclined to like the guy in every other way were it not for the fact he killed a person. But as time passes, and the nice input of the everyday interaction grows into a mountain of personal experience. . .(I guess it may be like the prison guard who grows close to a convict,) I think we forget or forgive or simply lose identification with the sin we still know of.
Kobe goes to work every day and he plays for my favorite basketball team. I see him doing his best all the time. I think he probably raped that girl in Colorado a few years back, (or at least had intercourse that was not concensual,) and that is unforgivable. I don't know for certain-it's just my feeling. I would never consider him a role model for myself or anyone else. I do find him to be immature on the whole. He lacks a certain grace, perhaps it is humility, actually.
I remember Jordan putting 63 up on the Celtics one year, (and if memory serves, it was in the playoffs.) I was living in japan so it had to be '86 or '87. I was stunned. I was wearing his shoes but I was still stunned. 63 points?! In this era?! Wilt was a physical specimen in his era unrivalled, but 63 points against a team w/ bird and mchale and parrish?!
I missed the game the other night. I had been watching sports earlier and had to give up the remote to maintain relations at home. (By the time the game against Toronto was on, I believe I was watching a movie called Hitch w/ my fiancé. Imagine the bullet contacting my chranium, shattering my skull and boring into my gray matter.) Bummer I missed it but I did get to see the highlights the next day on Sportscenter and as Kareem said, the variety I saw on the tape and in the box score is amazing. 7-14 from the 3-point line? 60% shooting from the field?! 18-20 from the line?! (Those are from memory so if there's a slight error...) that's 18 more points than Jordan scored when he impressed me so. 81? Yep, 81. 81!?!
I don't know if Jordan's performance was more impressive because he was playing a great team and it was the playoffs or if Kobe's was because he went for 81!?! I'm sure Kobe's field goal percentage was higher. I know Kobe is easily the closest thing this league has seen to Jordan since Jordan, and that is primarily because of his jump shot and the elevation he gets in order to shoot it. He is not Michael Jordan. Not today anyway. Then again, at 27 he may just be entering his prime. And with three championships under his belt and a lifetime of experience to draw on, I am closer to believing he could eclipse Jordan today than ever.
So it's hard to hate Kobe these days. He keeps showing up for work and perhaps thanks to Phil, he is getting better, (light years better than last year.) In my memory, he is likely a sex offender, but still, every third night or so, he is there, entertaining me while I eat dinner or play with my daughter. There is no one guy in the NBA who can stop him from scoring. Only a few teams have shown successful strategies for limiting his game. He plays defense like a mule: work, work, work. His shot is like chocolate. His sneer is fun to watch and his late game game, is unparalleled in the league today. He's so entertaining they should play scott Joplin when he walks on the court every night. And I can't help myself but re-embrace this guy.
To err is human and in so much as we have seen his errors, unlike just about any private person, he is super-human. Maybe having him in our faces every night doing daring acts of do on a basketball court is a lesson for us to know that even a sex offender can earn pardon by avoiding more trouble and being a responsible citizen in the time after the sin was committed? I don't know.
Native American tribes had very little crime in their midst in the days before this continent was invaded. When a man committed an undesirable act, he faced utter ostracism. I understand he could win his way back into the tribe but it took a considerable amount of time constantly showing regret and making amends. Because of that process and because of the consistency of treatment within the tribe, offenders were rare. That is not our world.
Our criminal justice system is set up to favor the wealthy, which explains why Kobe was not locked up and the key thrown out. He greased the machinery of justice plenty and while he still has endured much public derision and surely some personal problems, he avoided jail and a conviction. So maybe from Kobe we glean the essence of a dysfunctional system and we understand the nature of our society and its need to trade on commodities? I don't know.
Still, I think it is worth considering the duality within myself. I disdained Kobe both for the likelihood he committed a major crime, (a reprehensible act,) and for an immaturity evident in many of his public acts. And now he is in my face. And now he had a brilliant night, one for the ages. And now I find myself rooting for him more and more. And now I am supporting him for the MVP award, (stipulating the Lakers must make the playoffs.) It's not like suddenly I adore all things Kobe, but all things considered, I find I am rooting for him again. I don't know if this makes me a hypocrite or an ignorant or a dullard, I mean, I feel like a reasonable man, but I am, I'm rooting for him again.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Friday, January 13, 2006
freedom!
i've known for nine days now. tommy got parole.
he is still on the inside and said it could be up to two months before he is outside but he had three years lopped off of his sentence and i am ecstatic about that. he called me that evening and said he had talked to my dad but asked him not to say anything to me as he wanted to reach me and tell me himself. and he was excited. i could hear it in his voice.
he sounded like a reprieve. he sounded like the tommy buried deep down, the one not allowed to come out in prison, the goofy kid who used to tickle himself under the arm to make me laugh, just a little. i think that tommy is surfacing now. headed up. coming for some fresh air and so much more.
and i could not possibly be happier for him and for little tommy and for irene and for myself and for my dad. . .
i have spent brief times in jail in my life. the four days in los angeles county nearly killed me, or at least it felt like that. it wasn't simply the freedom restrained that felt bad, it was the cave mentality that was so utterly disheartening.
in jail, (at least in our jails and prisons in this country and i doubt they get much better elsewhere,) man can be seen going back a few centuries in time. as we evolve, we unevolve when conditions change. in jail i saw people hiding contraband in their rectums. i saw the world change from this big-brained man's world we live in back to the big man's world of yesteryear. there is no reasoning in jail. their is only muscle, power and brutality.
so i hope tommy did not lose himself. i hope the part of him that was buried deep down makes it to the fore and allows him to warm up, to warm up to his son and his family and the strangers out on the streets and the cops and the robbers and the homies and the man.
and if he wants to talk about it, henry shared a coldplay song with me the other day after reading my previous blog posting, i am here and would love to talk and help and be helped.
talk (by coldplay)
Oh brother I can't, I can't get through. I've been trying hard to reach you, 'cause I don't know what to do.
O brother I can't believe it's true. I'm so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you. Oh, I wanna talk to you.
You can take a picture of something you see. In the future, where will I be?
You could climb a ladder up to the sun, or write a song nobody has sung or do something that's never been done.
Are you lost or incomplete? Do you feel like a puzzle you can't find your missing piece? Tell me how you feel.
Well I feel like they're talking in a language I don't speak. And they're talking it to me.
So you take a picture of something you see. In the future, where will I be?
You could climb a ladder up to the sun, or write a song nobody has sung or do something that's never been done. Do something that's never been done.
So you don't know where your going and you wanna talk. But you feel like you're going where you've been before.
Tell anyone who listens that you feel ignored. And nothing's really making any sense at all.
Let's talk, Lets talk. Let's talk, Let's talk
he is still on the inside and said it could be up to two months before he is outside but he had three years lopped off of his sentence and i am ecstatic about that. he called me that evening and said he had talked to my dad but asked him not to say anything to me as he wanted to reach me and tell me himself. and he was excited. i could hear it in his voice.
he sounded like a reprieve. he sounded like the tommy buried deep down, the one not allowed to come out in prison, the goofy kid who used to tickle himself under the arm to make me laugh, just a little. i think that tommy is surfacing now. headed up. coming for some fresh air and so much more.
and i could not possibly be happier for him and for little tommy and for irene and for myself and for my dad. . .
i have spent brief times in jail in my life. the four days in los angeles county nearly killed me, or at least it felt like that. it wasn't simply the freedom restrained that felt bad, it was the cave mentality that was so utterly disheartening.
in jail, (at least in our jails and prisons in this country and i doubt they get much better elsewhere,) man can be seen going back a few centuries in time. as we evolve, we unevolve when conditions change. in jail i saw people hiding contraband in their rectums. i saw the world change from this big-brained man's world we live in back to the big man's world of yesteryear. there is no reasoning in jail. their is only muscle, power and brutality.
so i hope tommy did not lose himself. i hope the part of him that was buried deep down makes it to the fore and allows him to warm up, to warm up to his son and his family and the strangers out on the streets and the cops and the robbers and the homies and the man.
and if he wants to talk about it, henry shared a coldplay song with me the other day after reading my previous blog posting, i am here and would love to talk and help and be helped.
talk (by coldplay)
Oh brother I can't, I can't get through. I've been trying hard to reach you, 'cause I don't know what to do.
O brother I can't believe it's true. I'm so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you. Oh, I wanna talk to you.
You can take a picture of something you see. In the future, where will I be?
You could climb a ladder up to the sun, or write a song nobody has sung or do something that's never been done.
Are you lost or incomplete? Do you feel like a puzzle you can't find your missing piece? Tell me how you feel.
Well I feel like they're talking in a language I don't speak. And they're talking it to me.
So you take a picture of something you see. In the future, where will I be?
You could climb a ladder up to the sun, or write a song nobody has sung or do something that's never been done. Do something that's never been done.
So you don't know where your going and you wanna talk. But you feel like you're going where you've been before.
Tell anyone who listens that you feel ignored. And nothing's really making any sense at all.
Let's talk, Lets talk. Let's talk, Let's talk
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
parole
my brother sees the parole board today. everybody is optimistic. everybody is guarded.
tommy has been away for five years now. he has has missed 6-11 of little tommy's life. (he has missed 2-16 of his older son levi's life, but that is another story.)
don't ask me what tommy did to end up in prison. i don't know. i know about the running from the law and i have some idea about some past activities and i know what he was incarcerated for in nevada but i don't know why he was extradited back to colorado after serving two years in the silver state. i don't want to know.
in the past i have asked tommy what got him into trouble and he has himmed and hawed and looked away and smiled, exposing a mix of shame and pride and reluctance to share. and that was that.
for me what's done is done. i want tommy to get out of prison and to become a positive force in the lives of his sons. i look to the future.
the parole board will know exactly what tommy did, why he is imprisoned. when they look at him they will see the tattoos and the hardened exterior. in his file they will see his gang affiliation and perhaps his status within the gang.
i have no idea what criteria the board will use in determining tommy's fate. i guess they will consider his record since he has been on the inside. i suppose time served will be a factor. i assume they will take into account his original crime or crimes.
i hope they will be fair. i hope they will consider their own sins of the past. i hope they read the letter i sent them and i hope they appreciate how i shortened it out of respect for their busy lives.
here is the letter i faxed to tommy's parole officer last week to be presented today to the people who are to consider paroling him.
tommy has been away for five years now. he has has missed 6-11 of little tommy's life. (he has missed 2-16 of his older son levi's life, but that is another story.)
don't ask me what tommy did to end up in prison. i don't know. i know about the running from the law and i have some idea about some past activities and i know what he was incarcerated for in nevada but i don't know why he was extradited back to colorado after serving two years in the silver state. i don't want to know.
in the past i have asked tommy what got him into trouble and he has himmed and hawed and looked away and smiled, exposing a mix of shame and pride and reluctance to share. and that was that.
for me what's done is done. i want tommy to get out of prison and to become a positive force in the lives of his sons. i look to the future.
the parole board will know exactly what tommy did, why he is imprisoned. when they look at him they will see the tattoos and the hardened exterior. in his file they will see his gang affiliation and perhaps his status within the gang.
i have no idea what criteria the board will use in determining tommy's fate. i guess they will consider his record since he has been on the inside. i suppose time served will be a factor. i assume they will take into account his original crime or crimes.
i hope they will be fair. i hope they will consider their own sins of the past. i hope they read the letter i sent them and i hope they appreciate how i shortened it out of respect for their busy lives.
here is the letter i faxed to tommy's parole officer last week to be presented today to the people who are to consider paroling him.
January 4, 2006
Faxing to (719)555-4168
Esteemed Members of Parole Board,
I have condensed a much larger letter into the following bullet points to entreat you to consider my brother for parole. I appreciate your consideration on Tommy’s behalf.
· Tommy has been absent for five of the most fundamentally important developmental years of his son’s life.
· It will be a challenge for Tommy to reassert himself into Little Tommy’s life and effectively parent him again so that Little Tommy can avoid the mistakes of his father, but it is important Tommy gets home and gets involved and becomes a force for positive change in the life of his 11-year-old son.
· Tommy has assured me he will do his best regarding his family and abstain from committing any acts of crime in the future and I believe him.
· My trust does not come easily. Tommy takes it seriously. I have never written a letter on his behalf, nor would I again if he were to let my nephew down.
· I am 40-years-old, (five Tommy’s senior,) and I have a 14-month-old daughter Tommy has not yet met, and I am getting married for the first, (and hopefully only,) time of my life on May 6, 2006, in Claremont, California, and I am hopeful my brother can attend this occasion and meet his niece; Terra Tresina James.
· Tommy and I have never met our biological fathers and our mother spent her life incarcerated before dying of a heroin overdose when Tommy was 15-years-old. This is no excuse but I hope you recognize statistical likelihoods and will consider giving Tommy the chance to change the direction of his life.
· I cannot guarantee Tommy’s future behavior but I promise you I will do my best to influence him positively as it relates to abstaining from his former ways. I am always available for my only brother and I mean to help.
Thank you so much for your time and consideration. Please feel free to contact me for any reason at all.
Sincerely,
Michael J James
i hope my letter helps.
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