PickernRoller
03-04-2019, 11:44 PM
We all know Kobe promised to make the playoffs in 2013 and he delivered.... but we never really expected that an achievement from 6 years ago would have any significant value besides being a chapter in Kobe's legacy. We were however, WRONG. That all but changed when Bran signed in LA.
The moment Lebron came to LA he fell right back into a trap.
Having to live up to the Mamba's shadow, and in effect undergo a re-calibration of all of his career achievements in the East must be taking its toll psychologically.
Instead of stealing the limelight in LA and erasing Kobe from the history books, like the media and his posse have tried so hard to do (and thought they did), Lebron has done the exact opposite.
Lebron has elevated Kobe and brought him back to a conversation the media in their hubris and shameless whoring (for $$$) gave up as a foregone conclusion long ago. For the media can't, even if they tried, brush off under the rug what's clear and apparent. They can twist facts, tell half-truths, selectively criticize, forget context...(and they're doing that as we peak) but they can't change results - the simple concepts of winning and losing, the simple parallels of a simple comparison.
I personally thought the sort of bantering we engage in here about Kobe's 2013 run, his promise to Laker nation, his herculean feat to get there was merely contained to these dark, tiny parts of the world wide web. I was wrong.
Social media is on fire. There is not a single new hoop video on Youtube out there without someone calling Bran being exposed in the West, or mentioning Kobe's promise and drawing direct comparisons. In essence:
Consciousness has reached critical mass.
The media can't help but start putting Kobe in the conversations and dropping hints to the King to let him know what's at stake. For his manufactured persona is taking hits it can't keep up on deflecting forever. He needs to give the narrative tellers something to work with.... anything.... to salvage his ever crashing image. After all they've done for him, there is even personal attachment involved to the lies and deceit....
So some talking heads are dropping subtle hints, others straight up sound the alarm like Shannon calling for "mamba mentality".... in other words telling his boy that his legacy is on shaky ground, facing a cliff and that he needs to right the ship quick....
So the pressure right now is immense for the fraud, peer pressure... which he has never been immune to, despite whatever he says to the contrary... we all know gets to him.
Given all of this, Lebron is in my opinion in the toughest moment of his career barring 2011 (biggest Finals choke in history for a superstar).
Do you agree?
The moment Lebron came to LA he fell right back into a trap.
Having to live up to the Mamba's shadow, and in effect undergo a re-calibration of all of his career achievements in the East must be taking its toll psychologically.
Instead of stealing the limelight in LA and erasing Kobe from the history books, like the media and his posse have tried so hard to do (and thought they did), Lebron has done the exact opposite.
Lebron has elevated Kobe and brought him back to a conversation the media in their hubris and shameless whoring (for $$$) gave up as a foregone conclusion long ago. For the media can't, even if they tried, brush off under the rug what's clear and apparent. They can twist facts, tell half-truths, selectively criticize, forget context...(and they're doing that as we peak) but they can't change results - the simple concepts of winning and losing, the simple parallels of a simple comparison.
I personally thought the sort of bantering we engage in here about Kobe's 2013 run, his promise to Laker nation, his herculean feat to get there was merely contained to these dark, tiny parts of the world wide web. I was wrong.
Social media is on fire. There is not a single new hoop video on Youtube out there without someone calling Bran being exposed in the West, or mentioning Kobe's promise and drawing direct comparisons. In essence:
Consciousness has reached critical mass.
The media can't help but start putting Kobe in the conversations and dropping hints to the King to let him know what's at stake. For his manufactured persona is taking hits it can't keep up on deflecting forever. He needs to give the narrative tellers something to work with.... anything.... to salvage his ever crashing image. After all they've done for him, there is even personal attachment involved to the lies and deceit....
So some talking heads are dropping subtle hints, others straight up sound the alarm like Shannon calling for "mamba mentality".... in other words telling his boy that his legacy is on shaky ground, facing a cliff and that he needs to right the ship quick....
So the pressure right now is immense for the fraud, peer pressure... which he has never been immune to, despite whatever he says to the contrary... we all know gets to him.
Given all of this, Lebron is in my opinion in the toughest moment of his career barring 2011 (biggest Finals choke in history for a superstar).
Do you agree?