Poke - clearly you have a dog in this fight. I do not. I promise you I am no Kobe apologist. I've never met the dude so I can not speak to him as a person. I remember the rape situation well and all that went with it. Was it rape? Maybe? 60-40 yes????
Here is all I can say--- was a life in Jail the best situation here? Even if he deserved it? I am not so sure. Especially since his baby girls were born, the man changed. He LOVED his girls. From this love he was one of the most prominent promoters of women's sport. He empowered millions of women to follow and chase their dream in all sports. He changed the life of millions for the better. If he was in jail (where perhaps he belonged) he could not have done that.
Maybe the guy really is a DB. He was when he was younger. IDK. I can respect your unequivocal despise of him.
On a side note - thank you for your Game day Threads - they are BOSS!!! I rarely post obviously but I read HF at least 360 days per year since I joined.
Thanks for the kind words. I really do appreciate that.
Hopefully this is the last thing I say on this subject, because I'm growing tired of it.
For the record, I do not have a "dog" in this fight. But I try to be the best ally and feminist that I can. Working in mental health and just plain listening to women really has opened my eyes to my own past behavior and perceptions, and how rape culture and toxic masculinity are real and need to be addressed. We can all stand to be better. Also, I have tried very hard not to venerate sports figures and other celebrities. In the end, they are only human. I do not begrudge people mourning the passing of a great athlete they idolized. But what I do begrudge is people bullying and shouting down anyone who brings up the fact that he was brought up on rape charges, escaped possible jail time through less-than-stellar legal tactics, and all but admitted that what he did was not consensual. That's called rape, and he admitted to it only after charges were dropped. So please can the "60/40/maybe" stuff. He did it. Now we just need to deal with that and frame it within the legend of a man who did indeed do some good in this world. You don't get to throw out the bad and focus on the good, especially in this case.
I don't necessarily "despise" Kobe. I never cared for him, even before the rape trial. Where other people saw a charismatic and genteel individual, I saw a brazen and entitled brat. That's my opinion, and I'm not going to pretend I liked the guy when I didn't. Maybe he got better as he got older, I don't know...and I don't care. I walked away from the NBA when he and Shaq were ruling it, because they just bored the living hell outta me. Also, the Nuggets were really bad back then. Thankfully I feel pro basketball is a lot more fun to watch, and not just because the Nuggets are once again good (and I'm still nowhere near as regular a watcher as I was when I was a kid in the '80s). I will admit that he was a extraordinarily talented and intelligent man, which leaves me a tad disappointed that he did not find the wherewithal and restraint within himself to keep from doing what he knew was wrong WITH A TEENAGE GIRL that fateful day in Colorado. And I don't care HOW much he did in the community to empower women, that doesn't erase what he did, nor does it forgive it. He did nothing on behalf of the victim other than pay her a lot of money (but not before silencing her forever with an NDA) and simply moved on with his life. The community work was nice, and he should be remembered for it, but it should not discount what he also did to ruin the life of a young woman in Colorado.
It's funny. I used to like Patrick Kane a lot, even after that idiotic cabbie assault. He was such a fun player to watch. But then I saw the truth about him in subsequent incidents afterwards, including the rape accusation. I don't believe Kobe to be a bad man, but he did do a very bad thing. Kane, on the other hand, is rotten to the core in my opinion. If he should suffer an untimely death before me, I won't even bother saying kind words, unlike Kobe.
Oh, one last thing: Being a very talented athlete who did great things for the community does not make you exempt from criminal behavior. So if the trial had gone ahead and he were found guilty, you're damned right he should have gone to jail. He didn't though. And FTR, someone committing one rape does not usually go to jail "for life." Mike Tyson was released after three years of a six year sentence. Even serial rapist Bill Cosby did not go to jail "for life" but he will probably spend what little is left of his life incarcerated.