Forgive Him... Then Worship Him

BOSTON – The joke in the current commercial so loosely related to Nike sneakers is an all-knowing Kobe Bryant replying to an innocent question from "Kobe System" disciple Kanye West with this answer:

"You're welcome."

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant played Monday in Philadelphia for the first time all season without supportive tape over his right wrist.

And that's it.

Good stuff. Good because it's rooted in so many things real: Bryant's cockiness, his drive, his ego, his edge.

What if I told you that Bryant boarded the Lakers' team bus in Boston on Wednesday, declared the torn ligament in his right wrist healed despite having not missed a single one of the first 25 games of the season, looked at his teammates and just said: "You're welcome."

Rather believable, I'd say. Not in any way true – except for the wrist being healed, which he revealed to me after practice – but it's certainly the sort of thing Bryant might say.

Also believable is that no one is actually saying, "Thank you," to Bryant right now – especially not after he torpedoed the Lakers' chances in Philadelphia on some assumption that feeling wrist improvement, eclipsing Shaquille O'Neal on the all-time scoring chart and standing on his home Philly turf meant the script of him playing God at game's end was preordained.

The Lakers are also just 14-11 – another reason it's not Thanksgiving in the Lakers' house right now.

Remember how underwhelming their efforts felt last season as they half-stepped in the direction of their three-peat? They still started 30-11.

The year before that, they were 37-11. The year before that, 48-11.

And yet ... it could be so much worse now.

Let's just stop and consider where the Lakers would be if Bryant had taken the safe route – as a sane and rational man would have – and rested his wrist so it could heal for sure.

Especially amid all the chatter about Bryant aging and the risks he faced in trying to play through the injury, did it not make a ton of sense for Bryant to sit out?

And if he had sat out, just think about how much team growth would not have happened around him.

I like this column because it points out the hypocrisy around Kobe. Yeah, he's an asshole. We get it. So was JFK. That story in the news was further knowledge that's true. But with Kobe we're quite possibly watching the most driven, competitive athlete ever. He cares. A lot of the assclowns we waste our time on put as much effort into their multi million dollar profession as I do this blog. As as you can tell by my long break that's much.

His drive makes him more worthwhile than most of the other players in the NBA. Some other guys just take a couple months off when they win a title, get chubby and need a week off to "condition." Some play every night with a himpy wrist and an insane teammate whose name sounds like he was conceived during a drum circle.