Image IS everything

With the playoffs in full swing and everybody watching, players are making or breaking their name with how they play. At the same time, players are doing the exact same thing with their image.

I have had finals and have not had time to post anything. The one piece I wrote I have changed my mind on a good deal, and in large part has become a moot point. I have responded to a couple posts on Free Darko, one of my favorite blogs. What I am posting are these responses which do an admirable but only ok job of standing on their own.

in response to If You Don't Look, I Don't Look Good

I must admit that a good deal of the hip-hop nuances were lost on me, but the concept of players being pitted mano y mano got me thinking. Through readings completely unrelated to hip-hop or basketball I have found a constant critique of such binary thinking (which you warn about at the end of your post). Because Kobe is pitted against Ron Ron there seems to be a desire to categorize them as opposite or as having traits that are mutually exclusive. In this type of framing the light is either on or off. (The Vitamin Water Debate makes me think of this). But what about the dimmer switch? To me Kobe is seductive mood lighting that may or may not be too bright at times.

This is to say that Kobe lies somewhere in the spectrum of basketball "hardness" anchored by Ron Ron and the streets on one end, and well to do players who went to prep school and could afford private instruction when they were in HS.

But lying somewhere in the middle is what is great about Kobe. Like a smart ass suburban kid he can flaunt his "retroness" in a nerdy fashion, but he can also light it up and yell to anyone who will listen "he can't guard me!"

My last thought is that I like to think of Kobe Bryant as somewhat of a euro and a prep kid and therefore a tiny bit awkward. Many people have cited similar sentiments and how it affects his approach to the game. But I do like to think of Kobe in HS just like every other awkward kid. He has a chip on his soldier and is obsessed with D&D, World of Warcraft or Halo. Except instead of these games, Kobe was obsessed with basketball, and instead of trash talking online behind an avatar, he does it on the court behind the person of the doberman or whatever else he may call himself. I like to think of Kobe like this because it makes him seem more like one of us "regular folk."



and in response to Strange Fits of Passion I have Known


Is it me or does being "dirty" no longer count as character flaw amongst fans "in the know"? It seems that people are easily able to compartmentalize that aspect of a player from their overall judgment of a player. "Dirty", grammatically speaking is just a qualifier that no one really cares about. I find myself straddling the fence on being the passionate, emotion driven fan who yells for Brad Miller to make Rondo a splat on the court, and the refined connoisseur of the game who views things objectively and defines Rondo's acts in terms of character, growth, narrative or simply a will to win.

By the way when the Roes narrative was cited I became somewhat giddy because I feel that will resurface much sooner than later. I also enjoyed that this post was not so much a commentary on Rondo, but rather a story of Rondo that invited commentary.