LITTLE ROCK — We’re big enough here to admit when we’re wrong and, it turns out,there is now empirical proof we erred with Kobe Bryant.
He is still superior to LeBron James.
A survey released last week showed Bryant remains the most disliked player in the NBA, the Laker again showing his renowned ability to close by holding off a fast-falling LeBron.
The Q Scores Company reported that James, rocket-boosted by the manner in which he left Cleveland for Miami, went from being beloved to being a flesh-consuming virus. Based on how violently James’ numbers shifted, he is now as popular as the recession.
Yet Bryant, who only won his second consecutive NBA title - to go with the gold medal he claimed for God and country at the 2008 Olympics - still is slightly less appealing to Americans.
And Americans, remember, once liked Joe Piscopo.
So much for the long-held theory that winning cures everything, huh? Bryant, apparently, will never win enough for some people.
We’re criticized every time we write that James has surpassed Bryant as the NBA’s best player, even as Kevin Durant now has been elevated to the top, given his ability to drain jumpers over guys who look like Tunisian gym teachers.
But last week’s revelation only reinforces how deeply Bryant is entrenched in the minds of so many Americans. And not in a good way.
How is it possible, though, for James - come on, the guy has had a worse summer than British Petroleum - to still be less disliked than Bryant?
Seemingly everyone has criticized James since he was part of the worst thing ever to air on ESPN, and that includes “Dream Job” and Craig Kilborn. Were she still alive today, Mother Teresa surely would have tweeted her disgust.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban summed up the situation last week by saying James engineered “the largest public humiliation in the history of sports.”
As absurd as that sounds, he’s almost right. Cuban, though, must have forgotten about that night three years ago when the Lakers wore those really, really short shorts, the ones that were so bad they changed clothes at halftime.
Yet, Bryant remains No. 1 which, when factoring in everything surrounding James’ cataclysmic tumble, is mind-boggling.
Just goes to show how little we know. Here, we’ve been preaching that James has caught and passed Bryant. But Bryant, ever the competitor, clearly isn’t going to surrender that easily.
In other dislike and/or hatred news from the world of sports, Reggie Bush looked like a monumental fool last week only hours after he did something legitimately wise.
Bush remarkably continues to claim he did not break NCAA rules. At this point, we’re guessing he also could convince himself that he’s Chinese and pregnant.
First, he rightly vacated his Heisman Trophy victory from 2005. Then, Bush announced the decision wasn’t an admission of guilt.
All the while, USC’s current Trojans pay the price for crimes that - if you believe Bush - didn’t actually happen. Yeah, that’s reasonable.
It would be difficult to imagine anyone understanding a situation less than Bush understands this one. Do you think, every time he’s watching ESPN and his story appears on the screen, he sticks his fingers in his ears and starts going “La, la, la, la, la”?
Speaking for all of USC, former Trojans assistant and current Washington Coach Steve Sarkisian announced Bush “looks like an idiot again.” The comment was supposed to be off the record, but it certainly was on the mark.
Hey, Sarkisian would know. While at USC, he used to coordinate all things offensive.
And that brings us to the New York Jets, a team of NFL players with Pop Warner smarts. Remember, just because they’re professional athletes does not mean they’re professional people. Many of them are decidedly amateur.
Sophomoric is another word that applies. Immature. Childish. Take your pick. All are equally accurate and fittingly pathetic.
The Jets today are not Latin America’s team. They mistreated certainly and perhaps also harassed a reporter from Mexico’s TV Azteca last weekend.
Team officials apologized to Ines Sainz, and the NFL has ruled that all its clubs now must be taught how to act when around adults.
If you were the least bit surprised by this story, we’re guessing you’ve never been inside a pro team’s locker room. Don’t worry, you haven’t missed much.
While these rooms are full of decent, upstanding people, they aren’t filled to capacity that way.
They also include those whose personal development has been stunted by limited education, years of coddling and sudden and outrageous wealth.
Broader perspectives can be found in your sock drawer.
Then, when you herd these guys into a snorting, jostling group, forget it.
Yeah, we really dislike the Jets at the moment, their Qscore lower than their IQscore.
Sports, Pages 18 on 09/23/2010