Random Notes, January 2020

January 2020 was an eventful for a lot of bad reasons. Let me attempt to break it down:

+ I grew up a Monty Python fan, and it's one of the few things I've enjoyed that I've carried into adulthood. (I even wrote about the second series as one of the seasons of any TV show ever.) I was saddened to hear that Terry Jones had been diagnosed with a rare form of dementia in 2015, and even more so that he succumbed to it last week. It wasn't that long ago we lost Python-adjacent singer-songwriter Neil Innes, who appeared on Python and co-created the underappreciated Rutland Weekend Television. Rest easy, you wacky Britons.

+ Speaking of blog subjects, I always found the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case rather suspicious. Now the two main conspirators of the case, Bryant and then-NBA commissioner David Stern, are both gone, 25 days apart. There was an intense debate on social media about Bryant's culpability in the wake of the helicopter crash. In the era of #MeToo I'm marginally more willing to forgive someone who tried to rectify and learn from his misdeeds. Kobe became a mentor and philanthropist, but what transpired in Summer 2003 leaves his legacy more of a mixed bag than most people will admit.

+ A distant third on my RIP list: academic and "disruptive innovation" theorist Clayton Christensen.

+ The impeachment trial has been such a mess that I'm both exasperated and still collecting my thoughts. Expect me to elaborate on a future post.

+ On a positive note, I was legitimately looking forward to this Sunday's Super Bowl. It's not just the history: the Chiefs haven't been (or won) in 50 years, the Niners are making only their second appearance since 1994. It was a good game with a spectacular fourth quarter. Congrats again to Kansas City, my ancestral homeland, the one and true Emerald City.

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Kobe Beef

This week, ESPN magazine published "The Conspiracy Issue," the latest themed issue they've rolled out since the cable network's publishing branch overhauled their format three years ago. It's one of my favorite magazines to read --I hardly bother with Sports Illustrated anymore-- and the theme issues can be quite fascinating. I read ESPN mag cover to cover, and while I was mostly enlightened by stories about frozen envelopes and point shaving I felt that the editors made one glaring omission.

I am absolutely, positively convinced that Kobe Bryant is a rapist. Everything about the case reeks of conspiracy; there was plenty of evidence to convict the NBA star, then the alleged assault victim changed her tune. With respect to the accuser, we still don't know the identity of Bryant's victim. Unlike Samantha Gailey, the 8th grader whose rape forced movie director Roman Polanski to flee the US, there was never a big reveal or a follow-up by the media. Just a counter-accusation of schizophrenia, than she disappeared into the ether. It's one thing to acknowledge and respect the privacy of a woman who was sexually assaulted, but another if this young woman lied. Regardless of age, that would be perjury.

It was almost as if the NBA wanted to silence her. Keep in mind where David Stern's league was in 2003: attendance was down, major market teams in Chicago and New York were also-rans, Michael Jordan had finally retired for good, "next" players like Vince Carter and Allen Iverson were already starting to fade, Lebron James and Dwayne Wade hasn't played a minute of pro ball yet.  Kobe was the best thing happening in the NBA at the time, and to see Stern's meal ticket go to prison for 8 to 10 years would have devastated the league. Somehow, Stern got his way.

Basketball has always been my #4 sport; I follow baseball, football, and hockey with a tad more ardor. The Kobe Bryant rape case essentially bound the NBA to fourth on my mental priority list. People can hate on Lebron or Derrick Rose all they want, but I can't bring myself to ever support or root for Kobe. Let the NBA and the mainstream media sweep it all under the rug, but nearly 11 years later the stench of conspiracy still lingers.

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