Phil_Shuman's Blog

Ahhh, it seems like only one playofff series ago when our man Kobe humbly said after one of his better games , "I can get off whenever I want", meaning, in a poor choice of words given his legal history, that he can basically take over a game and score at will should he be required to do so or should he decide to do it on his own. Hmmmm haven't heard that sentiment so far in the finals.... As a matter of fact, should the Lakers go down this badly, what another delicious off season of finger pointing and blaming we'll have !!! The sportswriters / talk show-ers are already salivating.

I love two basketball teams.. the Celts and the Lakers.. and seeing as I spent the first half of my life outside of Boston and snuck into front section seats at the old Garden more times than I can remember (when the ancient ushers weren't quite as vigilant as today's security guards) I gotta root for the Celts here.... though if they have to lose to someone I 'm glad it will be the Lakers.
 

     Let me just start off by saying, in general, i'm now once again  a Kobe fan.  I love his basketball , I love his work ethic, i love his international upbringing, I even kind of like his giant earring though in general I'm not a huge guy-earring fan.  Having said that, I still marveled at how the calm composed stylish family man sat in front of a Los Angeles news conference on Tuesday , with his adorable daughters in his arms and said all the right things about the honor and thrill of winning his first MVP.  I , like many others no doubt, flashed back almost five years ago to another time when Kobe sat in front of a Los Angeles news conference, this time with his wife Vanessa painfully quiet at his side and said "I made the mistake of adultery ".  If things had turned out differently, if Kobe couldn't afford the best lawyers, if the alleged victim in Colorado  had been stronger or more believable, ( and we really don't know exactly how what happened happend )  perhaps Kobe would be sitting in prison today having been convicted of the charge of felony sexual assault that was filed against him, , rather than sitting on the top of the basketball world with his team having an excellent shot at winning it all.   So, the moral of the story is, don't go to hotel rooms alone with young women , particularly if you're married, spend whatever it takes on lawyers if you get in trouble, settle civil lawsuits no matter what the cost and include confidentiality agreements....and don't get too low during the bad times  and don't get too high during the good times because,  remember things can always turn around and you can go from the outhouse to the penthouse.   Phil might call it "Zen" .