RIP Kobe Bryant

That's a great way to put it. He barely held it together. Nobody better than Cohen.

 

People really don't understand how far off the national radar the NBA was before 1970.
National teevee for games was spotty and intermittent. Hell, ABC ran NBA games as segments of Wide World of Sports, sandwiched between canned clips of soccer from Germany and rugby from Australia.
What games did get on featured the Celtics vs Wilt 3/4 of the time.
Jerry West (and for that matter Elgin Baylor) would get on teevee three or four times a year.
As a kid becoming a big sports fan in the late 60s /early 70s, I understood West and Baylor were supposed to be great, but I never saw them on teevee to really prove it.
The evidence of this is now on the clips available on YouTube. For the NBA prior to 1970, there's just very very little film available, and what there is focuses mostly on the Celtics and Wilt, and that is almost entirely highlight clips.
Wanna see film of a Cincinnati Royals-St Louis Hawks game from the 60s? Good luck. It doesn't exist.

Really only the last 4-5 years of West's playing career got any coverage at all nationwide.

 

You really do have to go back to when his HIV announcement occurred.

HIV contraction may not have been exactly the same thing as a rape allegation in terms of violence or perceived wrong-doing, and therefore any negativity surrounding any person connected to it might be, seemingly, completely forgiven and forgotten. But it did have a similar impact. It is just that, in Magic's (special) case, the same thing happened as with Kobe's rape allegation: It essentially "went away" because of who he is. After a while, it just wasn't talked about, at all, almost like, as another poster suggested with regard to Bryant's situation, it never happened.

But the fact is, it did. And when it occurred, it really was that big, that shocking, and, it was believed, that deadly for people who contracted it. His HIV press conference looked, felt and sounded a lot like a funeral, in fact. And the fact that Magic hasn't died from the disease already, when, for most others who contracted it at the time, it was a death sentence, is still something also conveniently not discussed.

It also prompted similar, previously never-dreamed-of questions about the always-popular, well-liked Magic. Anyone in a newsroom at the time would remember them vividly. And they called into question his previously pristine, much beloved public image: like, "Magic, how could you?," and "How stupid, careless/reckless could you be?," "Just how promiscuous are you?," and, of course, "Are you gay?" and "What about your wife and family?"

Remember, Magic tried briefly to continue his playing career, but it wasn't going to happen. Other players, though they still liked and respected him, and wanted to be politically correct and open-minded to the possibility, were nevertheless afraid. Nobody wanted Magic to sweat on or bleed on them, whether they would admit it or not, because there were legitimate medical concerns about it. I'd argue that if he were competing even today, there would still be questions and concerns.

He has, essentially, gotten away with his actions in a way that no one who didn't benefit from his level of fame, fortune and popularity ever could have. Just like Bryant.

 

You do know he did come back, and was on the Dream Team and everything, right?

 

Played in an NBA All star game, too.

 

I had no idea Kobe was this beloved. I was under the impression he was respected as a player but he was an ass as a player and his peers thought so too. For all the love Shaw expresses, he hadn’t seen him in 4 years, apparently. I am mystified by the outpouring of adoration.

 

I think I'd understand it better were I a basketball fan.

How will people like Woody Allen or Kevin Spacey be remembered?

 

I do think deaths -celebrity or whatever - are treated like any other news story in the Internet age - if a certain piece of news is boosting web traffic/social media, news orgs are conditioned to milk it for all its worth. Also, being rooted in LA and LA being the major media hub helped amplify things - if Sully landed that plane on the Mississippi River at night, I don't know if Tom Hanks plays him in the movies.

 

Exactly. I don't think any of us who were around at the time are underestimating how big the news was when Magic Johnson announced that he was HIV-positive. I certainly remember some people displaying their ignorance regarding HIV. Karl Malone's response comes to mind and he was far from alone, but that was a long time ago. We know better, or at least we should.

Cheating on a spouse is bad. Bryant did that, too, but his actions were so much worse.

 

This tops your Duggar’s post.

 

I guess we'll have to disagree. And we'll see if/when Magic passes away.

HIV wasn't just a death sentence then (I wonder if the person he contracted it from is still alive?). It also was a one-way ticket to societal pariah-ship. Unless you were Magic.

That's how/why he even got to play in the all-star game, which I was happy for him about because I thought it allowed him to have some closure with regard to his career.

I also wouldn't be surprised if whatever HIV medication he has taken is a major factor in his massive post-retirement weight gain.