VERY colo gesture by Kobe, indeed. I wonder if the number of students he chose had to do with his old number 8? hmm...

what's the url for kcal9's website

ELDER STATESMAN KOBE -

Hey I posted this before but it was at the very end of a thread and may have been overlooked.

Do you realize that except for McKie (who is likely on his way out) and new guy Shammond, Kobe is now the OLDEST player on the Lakers? Wow, times change quickly.

lakofan, you're not serious right?

Jayjay,

Remember 10 years ago, KB has this afro look, no tattoos on his body and very amiable kid. There is a complete attendance from the Bryant family in every game he played including in the summer league with Fisher at the Pyramid. When the season started the family followed him at the Great Western Forum. Jelly bean Bryant became a byword oltimer because of his famous son.

That's a noble way of inculcating to these American teens the italian values Kobe learned in his youth. If Kobe did not come back Merion High, PA, he could have been an international player, playing in the NBA or perhaps, representing Italy in this FIBA games.

The two biggst lunkheads in the league bumping heads, and on Christmas no less, again. Karma is a good thing.

Lakofan's comment was hilarious! And so was Elyse's calendar comment. LOL

Congrats to the 8 people, I'm sure the international experience will teach them a whole lot.

I think this is a great gesture. BUT, I remember Chick always "leaking" news of Kobe's charitable efforts back when Kobe was trying to keep it on the down-low. So, anyone who wants to paint this as some sort of repair-image thing, should really look back and see that Kobe has always been about the kids. That was one of the few things that both he and Shaq had in common.

Fearless,

I was thinking the same thing, this is nothing new to Kobe. But a lot of people are getting caught up in this "Kobe image repair" thing.

dan

Lakofan - Thanks for your pics. I guess Nike was behind this event. Do you know where this was happening?
Did you see the youtube link in which Kobe was kicking a soccer ball in the net? That was a real nice shot. It can explain us where he's got some quick moves.
Nash (learned it in Vancouver, Canada) and Dirk N. (in Germany) also used to play soccer, sometimes, in Dallas. In LA, I'm sure you can add Ronny(coming from France - Martinique) and Shammond (coming from Barcelona) can show some moves too.
That's it for today. Now, we go back to basketball.

LakerTom, Edwin Gueco - Guys, Do you think that we can expect from Mitch K. some big movements in our roster before Hawaï, despite Mihm and Cook surgeries? They are our main baits. And what about some moves after the beginning of the season?.
GO

Guy Owanlele,

It was in Hollywood, the pics say Hollywood and Highland, it was a rally to welcome FC Barcelona, and it was sponsor by nike.

But Kobe in an interview said he was a fan of FC Barcelona and a fan of Ronaldinho and Rafa Marquez.

I did see that commercial, I actually saw it on television. I saw the one about the nike soccer chain. Where Kobe does tricks with the soccer ball.

And by the look of this pic: http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/71593129.jpg?v=1&c=MS_GINS&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF193875DCB1DD8387ABB3E3B0C6E93937960 they are exchanging numbers, that's cool, like I said before the best soccer player and the best basketball player interacting is great.

Great gesture by Kobe, once again. We can think this or that about him, but the experience those kids get more than outweighs his at-large public image.

Guy O.

"Do you think we can expect from Mitch K. somebig movements in our roster before Hawaii despite Mihm and Cook surgeries? Any other moves at the beginning of the season."

Frankly, when you mentioned our Laker GM Mitch Cupcake, I'm completely BLANK and so with this blog. We don't really know what he has in his mind, there seems to be no excitement on Harrington deal in the Front Office except this blog. Well, the Warriors and T'Wolves as well as the Pacers have expressed their serious desire in their pursuits as reported in basketball news websites but with regards to the Lakers, the only stories we get is Kobe's generous offer for the teens to visit Italia.

In fact, Lakers missed the boat on a veteran PG, Steve Blake. All the while even this blog thought that the only time the Blazers would release Blake is to accompany it with Darius Miles. This week, there was a trade sending Blake plus two centers to Bucks in exchange of Magloire. I think Mihm is better than Magloire. Perhaps, Mitch K. did not really intend to shop for a veteran PG because he thinks we have enough PG in our roster. So far, the Lakers have still 18 players and they have to cut it down to 15 but only 12 can play, when is this going to happen? Nobody knows, we can speculate it for the next two months.

So Guy O, don't be surprised if there will be no more activity in the Lakers till next year.

Steven, self proclaimed truth-

Going abroad and learning about other cultures is invaluable. Maybe if more people within our own country had an appreciation for other cultures and a better understanding of the importance of being tolerant of differences, we might be able to aviod some of the present conflicts we are currently engaged in. Being bitter because Kobe is doing what he can to give people the understanding that he got by living in Italy, to people who otherwise would not have that opportunity is a wonderful thing, and has nothing to do with "image" or "corporate america". Image repair comes when he scores 81 points, not when he sends 8 kids to Italy. As admirable as it is, few people will read about it.

Elyse

The other truth

Elyse,

I totally agree with you, learning other cultures is great and it helps understand how other people think and act.
--------------------------

I don't know if someone posted this already:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-adande6aug06,1,5061180.column?coll=la-headlines-sports&ctrack=1&cset=true

It's about yesterday's event of FC Barcelona and Kobe's presences.

I am glad Kobe is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, it's about time for him to start enjoying his life and career.

I admire Kobe's dedication even if he can't work out his knee, he works his upper body and does all these exercises without hurting his knee. That's dedication, not having the excuse of well I just had surgery so I'll rest, Kobe is not like that, he continues to work hard even after surgery.

First of all, people with money don't owe people without money anything. At all. Kobe is in a unique situation where he gets paid millions of dollars to play basketball, and whether it was through genetics, luck, training or unrelentless training, it's his money.

Kobe doing this is a great gesture, regardless of just *how* much he is doing.

Dan,

That is what makes me grateful that we have Stew. He's the only guy on the air that still mentions Chic and the stuff he brought to the broadcasts. It always seems like the other announcers are trying to forget about him.

That annoys me, because they all have a little bit of Chic in them. They can't help it -- he defined the position. He, Vin, and those guys from San Diego and Chicago are all the pioneers. I think they should just admit his contributions and accept who they are, followers.

The first year after he passed, no one used any Chick-isms. I've started to hear a few creap back into their vernaculars.

I'm really glad we have Stew. I think someone should tell him how important he is to keeping Chick's memory alive.

--Fearless

Guys,

Have you seen that teams can now bring all 15 of their players into the playoffs? They can also choose which 12 play BEFORE EVERY GAME. This is exactly what Phil complained about after the Phoenix series because of the effects of injuries he was battling with. This makes a real difference to how the playoffs will run. This makes the decision on which players to cut much, much harder because even the old crusty guys on the team are suddenly more valuable if they have past playoff experience. Having that choice last season may have saved us from the Smush melt-down.

--Fearless

Fearless,

Stew is definetly cool. Chick taught him well. They were a dynamic duo if there ever was one!
It's interesting, the role that Stew has now. When Chick was here, Stew was in the back seat. In the years since Chick died, he has had to step up and become the teams top radio-man. And through the last few years we have seen a different side of him. One that makes me appriciate him that much more.

dan

This is an article of Kobe's presentation yesterday with Barcelona(in FC Barcelona's website) there pictures and comments, but one thing the English translation is not as good as the original Spanish one.

English article:

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/eng/noticias/noticias/n06080603.shtml

Spanish:
http://www.fcbarcelona.com/esp/noticias/noticias/n06080603.shtml

In the spanish one it says:

Muy probablemente, los dos mejores jugadores del mundo de baloncesto y de fútbol, Bryant y Ronaldinho, estaban juntos, haciendo con la mano el gesto característico del crack brasileño. El desparpajo del líder de los Lakers, muy acostumbrado a este tipos de actos promocionales (éste estaba organizado por Nike), ha conectado rápidamente con el crack del Barça. Ambos, que no se conocían previamente, han acabado intercambiándose el número de móvil.

It says:
Probably the best player in soccer and basketball were together making the traditional sign of barca fans. The leader of the Lakers Kobe Bryant is used to all these kinds of promotional presentations(this one sponsor by nike). He has made an instant connection with Ronaldinho. They had never met before, but have finished exchanging cell phone numbers.

mientras Kobe Bryant, escondido bajo unas gafas de sol gigantes y vestido con una camiseta promocional de la gira con el nombre de 'Ronaldinho' a la espalda, esperaba en una punta de la tarima.

Meanwhile Kobe Bryant was hidding behind his big sunglasses and wearing a promotional tour t-shirt with "Ronaldinho" on the back, he was waiting on the stage corner( while the Barcelona players were talking to the crowd.)

I translated these paragraphs because their English translation was not written the same way, it was a different spin to it.

Steven may be a Kobe hatin', Shaq lovin', broke-backer (most of you) hatin' fan of NBA basketball, but apart from disagreeing with his assessment of Shaq's value as a reserve L.A.P.D. officer and Kobe's good turn with the eight children, I'm finding it difficult to see where the vitriol is coming from on this matter.

In my view, a core part of the problem is underscored in Elyse's comment: "Image repair comes when he (Kobe) scores 81 points, not when he sends eight kids to Italy". Really?

Petrie is a genius who may have called a bluff and is preparing to rake em' in, although I am still in the dark about Bonzi. Before all is said and done, could there be a sign and trade in his future?

Could it be that you'll end up with Bonzi for any two; Bynum, Mihm or Kwame?

cbs2 aired an interview with Kobe today:

http://cbs2.com/video/?cid=92 it's the second video, ah and there's an interview with Mr.O'neal, I didn't listen to that one.

Kobe talks about the schools he will open, high tech schools, also about team USA, his surgery.

Faith,

I used to like Joel until I heard about how he stabbed Paul Sunderland in the back to get the gig. I thought it was poetic that after all that, he didn't broadcast the 81-point game.

I thought that Paul was improving and had reached the level of competence of Joel, anyway. But, business is business. Karma is Karma, too. We must all remember that.

--Fearless

here's one you guys will find funny...lolz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8k3vRoC-jY