RIP Kobe Bryant

Allen's ick factor has gotten pretty high. Not Polanski high, maybe, but still.

 

Officially changing the name to COVID-24/8 in honor of Kobe who would have invented the vaccine if god didn’t need a scorer

 

Representatives of the pilot are countersuing
Kobe Bryant Pilot's Rep Blames Fatal Helicopter Crash on Passengers

 

To be hypertechnical, according to that article there's no counter-suit, the allegation is contained in what's called an "Answer" to the lawsuit complaint, which is the formal response to the allegations in the lawsuit. Its pro forma to include in the answer an allegation of someone else being to blame, if you don't, you lose the right to make that claim. You never know what's going to come to light, so you preserve any and all possible defenses, including contributory neglience by others. They haven't blamed the passengers formally, they're just preserving that defense.

 

I know this is equivalent to throwing spaghetti against the wall, but how exactly do you prove the passengers were negligent in this case? They should have known the pilot couldn't fly in fog?

 

There are likely no facts to support the allegation at this point; but you never know what will come out later, random radio transmissions, last text messages, phone calls, etc.

 

We'll never know, but how hard did Kobe push the pilot to keep flying?

"Just keep going, man. We're running late."

 

That’s not enough. The pilot has control and the prerogative to turn around and stop. Now someone starts touching controls and doing other stuff? Now you’re getting somewhere.

 

No, not enough as a defense. Maybe the pilot though he could handle it, too. But I wonder if Kobe was pushing it.

Could be total pilot error, too: "No sweat, Kobe. I'll have us down in five minutes. ... Oh, shit."

 

As far as who they sue, they start out by suing everyone with even the slimmest of involvement. You can always peel away those who are obviously or are proven not to be at fault.

 

Kobe is posthumously moving up ESPN's all-time rankings.

Not that these things matter one iota, but I find it amusing that the network's talking heads collectively voted Kobe the 12th best player in league history in 2016, after he had retired. Now, the network is calling him the ninth-best player in NBA history, passing former teammate Shaquille O'Neal and two others in ESPN's rankings without doing a thing on the court.

All-Time #NBArank: Where does Kobe belong?

Ranking the top 74 players of all time: 10-1

Are people viewing Kobe's career a little differently in light of his death, or is this something different?