Kobe Brings Down The Hammer...Then Reverses, and NorCal Trip Day 2: (Burnin' Bridges)

One day after I busted out of the IMBC, and now I feel like replying to a TotD.

Oh well, off to more pressing matters!

One quick hitter:

- After "typing" out a comment on my blog entry for (what was supposed to be) Tuesday on my cell phone, I was tempted to enter a full blog entry via my cell. Then I crunched some numbers. Assuming a blog entry is 400 words; at 5 characters/word (I believe that's how wpm is measured), I'll need to "type" about 2000 characters. Also, since I don't have a QWERTY keyboard on my cell phone, I'd have to hit certain keys multiple times to get the letters I want; never mind the capitals and punctuation. At that rate, I better hire the girl who won that texting competition, if I ever want to complete a blog entry via my cell.

So, Kobe Bryant finally demanded a trade from the Lakers, only to reverse position later in the day. When the story first broke out--I first heard about it on The Jim Rome Show this morning--I was fully in support of Kobe. If everything that has been alleged is true (a Lakers' "insider" saying that Kobe pushed Shaq out of town, which was followed by Kobe's adamant denial of the story and finger-pointing at Dr. Jerry Buss, exacerbated by Shaq agreeing that Dr. Buss was at fault, and topped off by the allegation that the Lakers planned on a slow rebuilding process of the team after the Shaq trade, without letting Kobe know of their plans), then Kobe has every right in the world to want out of Los Angeles.

That being said, it's pretty clear that Kobe is badly overreacting, and judging by how quickly he backed off his trade demands, I don't believe he was ever seriously considering leaving the Lakers. Clearly he was frustrated; wouldn't you be if it appeared that your team pissed on the previous three seasons of your career?

Rome brought up an interesting point today: given how badly the Kobe-Lakers relationship has deteriorated, can you bring the guy back and act as if nothing happened? What if you make a bunch of deals, and he's still not satisfied? What if he asks for a trade again, a couple of weeks from now? What if he changes his mind again tomorrow? Clearly, the entire situation is a huge mess (and Shaq's siding with Kobe definitely cannot help), and it should be interesting to see if the situation resolves itself in the upcoming weeks.

I'll definitely have more on this in the coming days.

- Day 2 of the NorCal trip was highlighted by visits to the SF/Oakland Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, and a huge detour to Santa Rosa, CA, site of the Charles M. Schultz Museum and Research Center. The coolest part of the museum was a gigantic mural of Peanuts comic strips that, when seen from afar, show the image of Charlie Brown trying to kick a football being held by Lucy. Of course, anyone who knows anything about Peanuts knows what happens when the kick is attempted...

We made it to Elk Grove--where my nephew lives--at around 6:30pm, and we ate dinner there. Fast forward to right now, and I'm on my laptop, about ready to sleep at another hotel. At least this one has free Wi-Fi internet!

Next time: Day 3 of the NorCal trip!

(BTW, to answer the IMBC TotD, it would have to be New York Strip steaks, IF I am permitted to age them, and cook them with butter, kosher salt, and fresh cracked pepper.)