The truest icon is the one that looks most like us.
Kobe Bryant has more than his share of doubters. He also has more than his share of disciples. After a gold-medal summer, the latter seem to have the upper hand—and on the eve of the ’08-’09 season, I think I’ve finally managed to see the light.
Some heroes are great in spite of their faults.
And some are good precisely because of them.
Only a fool would call Kobe flawless. He’s petulant and egotistical, which is a combination that plays better in the front row than on the court. But maybe that’s the point. For all the homage we pay to teamwork and humility, we’re still most drawn to those stars that burn out everything in their orbits.
The best men put honor before glory, and others before themselves.
The rest of us, alas, are more inclined to look out for No. 1.
In a world where love loves a mirror, it’s only natural that we’d worship one of our own.
Fandom is an exercise in self-projection. We root for idols we can relate to, sometimes because they show us what we want to be and sometimes because they show us what we are. Bryant, for his part, has always been more a reflection than a role model. Whether you love him for his virtue or loathe him for his vice, you have to admit that the Me-Against-the-World mentality hits awfully close to home.
To err is human.
To not give a damn is divine.
If there’s a secret to Kobe’s celebrity, it’s that he never apologizes for being whom he must.
Authenticity can’t be wartless. Without his foibles, Kobe Bryant is just another Michael Jordan: an inviolate logo, an inhuman brand. With them, though, he’s something better, something more real. MJ made grace look easy. Kobe reminds us that deliverance can only ever be a work in progress.
You don’t have to like the status quo, but if you’re looking to blame a serpent you’re going to have to aim a little higher than the Mamba:
By the sweat of your brow
you will chase your trophy
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.
Then again, even dust looks decent in Purple and Gold.
And if it’s a sin to spread the gospel of a Fallen superstar, consider me guilty of only just saying, is all…
