BajaMike
10-25-2006, 01:22 PM
Bryant's message comes through loud and clear
October 25, 2006
FINALLY CAUGHT up with The Tanker on Tuesday, and for some reason we didn't hit it off.
I'm always a little surprised when someone doesn't take to their new nickname well, in this case offering Kobe Bryant the opportunity months ago to change my opinion when I suggested he went into a Game 7 second-half pout against Phoenix to end the Lakers' season.
Never heard from him. His agent referred me to the Lakers, who referred me to Bryant's personal PR agent, who didn't respond to requests to chat.
I invited him to come on the Sunday morning father/daughter gabfest to explain in his own words that I was clueless, off base and otherwise an idiot, but I never heard from The Tanker until I caught up with him Tuesday.
"I'm not going to go on the radio and explain myself," he said in a raised voice. "I can't believe you'd write that I was throwing a game."
"I'm not suggesting you threw the game, as much as I'm saying you were pouting just like you've done before," I said in a raised voice.
"I've never done that," The Tanker exclaimed.
I mentioned a game against Sacramento, and he began to argue specifics, and frankly at my age I can't remember the names of everyone in my family all the time let alone the specifics of every game that Bryant has shown a streak of immaturity.
"You should do your homework if you're going to write that stuff," he said, and he has a point, so I looked it up and one of his former teammates said after he took only one shot in the first half of a 2004 game against Sacramento, "I don't know how we can forgive him."
Maybe it's best I don't do my homework.
I TRIED to explain to The Tanker that most people think of me as a jerk, so if the jerk asks you about possibly tanking, it's the jerk who gets criticized while you get to give your side and once again glow in the spotlight.
I had a similar discussion with Kevin Brown a few years ago, but he knew he was a jerk, and so he had trouble following my line of reasoning.
"I don't have to explain anything," The Tanker said, and that's usually true, because who is going to ask him a tough question around here without fear of being banished from his inner circle of trust?
That reminds me, I had to wait until Jim Hill was done interviewing him.
"You've made it clear if someone criticizes you they are no longer in your inner circle of trust or whatever you call it," I said.
"That's right," The Tanker said, while indicating he thought I had written about him possibly tanking "out of spite."
And I agreed. There's no question there was probably some spite in there, since this is a very personal column most days, and just be glad you're not the Bagger.
"Even if there was some spite in there," I added, "in my opinion, you were pouting," and I would have been more than happy to discuss it.
Well, I had no idea he had that loud of a voice, but the security guard at Staples Center closed the door so our little spirited discussion didn't interrupt Phil Jackson's news conference down the hall.
"Did you watch the seventh game?" The Tanker snapped.
"I was in Oscar De La Hoya's dressing room watching him get ready for his big fight which he won," I said, and I was grinning in the hope of changing the tenor of our little session, but The Tanker wasn't in the grinning mood.
And I hadn't even asked if he had called Shaq to wish him congrats.
THE TANKER was in no mood to make peace. "Did you watch the way I played the whole playoff series?"
"Some," I said, and I didn't want to upset him any more by letting him know I really had my eye on the Clippers. That's just me, I like to watch the best teams in town.
"I was playing the way I had played the whole series," he said.
But I told him from what I had seen on TV of the seventh game, he never penetrated in the second half, never made an aggressive move to the basket and didn't save the day with the season on the line. That's not the Bryant I know.
"You impugned my character," Bryant said. "You've watched me compete here for 10 years and there's no way you can write what you wrote."
I told him there have been a number of incidents in the last 10 years in which we've disagreed, but in the past we've been able to meet and hash them out.
But now it takes a curtsey and a signed affidavit that nothing negative will be asked or written to gain admittance to the Bryant camp.
I wanted to press him for the real reason he's changing to No. 24, but I've got a bad knee, and genuflecting these days is out. I wanted to ask if he could see a Lakers championship anytime soon to coincide with the prime of his career, but it was obvious two tough questions was pushing it.
We couldn't get past the first question.
"So, for the record, did you tank against Phoenix?" I wanted to know.
"Are you kidding me?" he snapped. "I'm not going to talk about that."
A simple "no" might have sufficed, but when I urged The Tanker to give it one more try, he was gone.
I can't wait for the season to begin.
FRED ROGGIN is joining the father/daughter gabfest, which is moving to drive-time radio Monday on 570 every morning from 6 to 9, and I'm guessing The Tanker won't be among our first guests.
If you ever listened to the Mancow Morning Madness, which previously occupied the same time slot, dead air would be considered an improvement.
________________________________________
T.J. Simers can be reached at
t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.
October 25, 2006
FINALLY CAUGHT up with The Tanker on Tuesday, and for some reason we didn't hit it off.
I'm always a little surprised when someone doesn't take to their new nickname well, in this case offering Kobe Bryant the opportunity months ago to change my opinion when I suggested he went into a Game 7 second-half pout against Phoenix to end the Lakers' season.
Never heard from him. His agent referred me to the Lakers, who referred me to Bryant's personal PR agent, who didn't respond to requests to chat.
I invited him to come on the Sunday morning father/daughter gabfest to explain in his own words that I was clueless, off base and otherwise an idiot, but I never heard from The Tanker until I caught up with him Tuesday.
"I'm not going to go on the radio and explain myself," he said in a raised voice. "I can't believe you'd write that I was throwing a game."
"I'm not suggesting you threw the game, as much as I'm saying you were pouting just like you've done before," I said in a raised voice.
"I've never done that," The Tanker exclaimed.
I mentioned a game against Sacramento, and he began to argue specifics, and frankly at my age I can't remember the names of everyone in my family all the time let alone the specifics of every game that Bryant has shown a streak of immaturity.
"You should do your homework if you're going to write that stuff," he said, and he has a point, so I looked it up and one of his former teammates said after he took only one shot in the first half of a 2004 game against Sacramento, "I don't know how we can forgive him."
Maybe it's best I don't do my homework.
I TRIED to explain to The Tanker that most people think of me as a jerk, so if the jerk asks you about possibly tanking, it's the jerk who gets criticized while you get to give your side and once again glow in the spotlight.
I had a similar discussion with Kevin Brown a few years ago, but he knew he was a jerk, and so he had trouble following my line of reasoning.
"I don't have to explain anything," The Tanker said, and that's usually true, because who is going to ask him a tough question around here without fear of being banished from his inner circle of trust?
That reminds me, I had to wait until Jim Hill was done interviewing him.
"You've made it clear if someone criticizes you they are no longer in your inner circle of trust or whatever you call it," I said.
"That's right," The Tanker said, while indicating he thought I had written about him possibly tanking "out of spite."
And I agreed. There's no question there was probably some spite in there, since this is a very personal column most days, and just be glad you're not the Bagger.
"Even if there was some spite in there," I added, "in my opinion, you were pouting," and I would have been more than happy to discuss it.
Well, I had no idea he had that loud of a voice, but the security guard at Staples Center closed the door so our little spirited discussion didn't interrupt Phil Jackson's news conference down the hall.
"Did you watch the seventh game?" The Tanker snapped.
"I was in Oscar De La Hoya's dressing room watching him get ready for his big fight which he won," I said, and I was grinning in the hope of changing the tenor of our little session, but The Tanker wasn't in the grinning mood.
And I hadn't even asked if he had called Shaq to wish him congrats.
THE TANKER was in no mood to make peace. "Did you watch the way I played the whole playoff series?"
"Some," I said, and I didn't want to upset him any more by letting him know I really had my eye on the Clippers. That's just me, I like to watch the best teams in town.
"I was playing the way I had played the whole series," he said.
But I told him from what I had seen on TV of the seventh game, he never penetrated in the second half, never made an aggressive move to the basket and didn't save the day with the season on the line. That's not the Bryant I know.
"You impugned my character," Bryant said. "You've watched me compete here for 10 years and there's no way you can write what you wrote."
I told him there have been a number of incidents in the last 10 years in which we've disagreed, but in the past we've been able to meet and hash them out.
But now it takes a curtsey and a signed affidavit that nothing negative will be asked or written to gain admittance to the Bryant camp.
I wanted to press him for the real reason he's changing to No. 24, but I've got a bad knee, and genuflecting these days is out. I wanted to ask if he could see a Lakers championship anytime soon to coincide with the prime of his career, but it was obvious two tough questions was pushing it.
We couldn't get past the first question.
"So, for the record, did you tank against Phoenix?" I wanted to know.
"Are you kidding me?" he snapped. "I'm not going to talk about that."
A simple "no" might have sufficed, but when I urged The Tanker to give it one more try, he was gone.
I can't wait for the season to begin.
FRED ROGGIN is joining the father/daughter gabfest, which is moving to drive-time radio Monday on 570 every morning from 6 to 9, and I'm guessing The Tanker won't be among our first guests.
If you ever listened to the Mancow Morning Madness, which previously occupied the same time slot, dead air would be considered an improvement.
________________________________________
T.J. Simers can be reached at
t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.