Shaq vs. Kobe twisted but great TV

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Dec 24, 2004

IF THIS WERE a typical David-vs.-Goliath battle, the American Sports Fan could spend Christmas afternoon dumping old wrapping paper and cheering for the little guy.

That's how most of us are. We tend to lean toward the underdog.

But who will be the underdog when Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant meet Saturday for their long-awaited and eagerly anticipated faceoff? At 7-foot-1, 340 pounds, Shaq fits Goliath's suit.

Kobe, 125 pounds lighter, is made for the role of David.

Is Big Bad Shaq, despite bringing the better team, the underdog because he's on the road?

Or is Little Kobe the'dog because he's smaller, with a more suspect team, despite playing at home, at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles?

It's twisted, this Kobe-Shaq matchup. The battle between men relative opposites in size is anything but conventional.

While Goliath traditionally has few fans, how does one rally behind David after he has grown horns and a tail? When he holds a pitchfork?

When everything he does is scanned for ulterior motives and much of what he says is dismissed as disingenuous?

Bryant, once the NBA's most marketable player, has in 16 months become a lightning rod for controversy. Moreover, he is the most widely disliked man in the league among other players. Kobe has a beef with Shaq, his former Lakers teammate.

He has a beef with Phil Jackson, who coached Shaq and Kobe to three NBA championships.

He has a beef with Ray Allen, who only stated the obvious, that Kobe and the Lakers would miss Shaq.

The latest -- and silliest -- feud came last week, when Kobe opened up on ex-teammate Karl Malone. Bryant went public with allegations that his wife, Vanessa, was the object of the overt flirtations of Malone.

Never mind that Kobe once described Malone as a being like a "big brother."

Never mind that Vanessa Bryant supposedly had a phone conversation with Karl's wife minutes before the alleged overture.

Never mind that the Malones and the Bryants are neighbors in the hilltop, oceanside community of Newport Beach.

What made Kobe unpopular beyond his imagination, however, was what he reportedly said while being interrogated by Colorado authorities during their investigation of rape charges against Bryant.

Seeking an escape from his personal nightmare, Kobe dragged Shaq's named into the room. Said Shaq had paid up to $1 million in hush money to women with whom he had found himself in a compromising position.

If Kobe was telling the truth, he's a spiteful snitch. Shaq's business was not part of the discussion.

If Kobe lied, he's a hateful rat.

In any case, NBA players want no part of a guy like that.

Consider, too, that Kobe ran O'Neal and Jackson out of L.A., that everybody knows Kobe ran them out and that Kobe, to this day, continues to insist he had no role in the departures.

This guy, with a straight face, insults everyone's intelligence.

Any way you put it, Kobe has become increasingly difficult to like. And this comes from someone who was impressed with his focus and output last spring, when he split time between NBA courts and a Colorado courthouse.

Despite the undeniable elegance to Bryant's game -- he may be the most gifted player in the league -- it's hard to get behind him.

Even when he represents David.

Even if the guy who represents Goliath hasn't exactly distinguished himself as noble or innocent throughout this ongoing soap opera.

Shaq can't resist taking every opportunity to needle Kobe, always without referring to his ex-teammate by name. He summons cryptic metaphors, makes veiled threats.

The latest such missive, the Corvette-slams-into-the-brick-wall analogy, is Shaq reminding Kobe and anyone else that he, Shaq, is Goliath.

Who roots for Goliath when he so smugly reiterates his role as Goliath? After he hints at bullying little David?

The answer, I suspect, is plenty of fans.

There are those who, with good reason, view Bryant as the pampered kid who always gets what he wants, whether it's his desired NBA uniform, his desired head coach, his desired hotel employee or his desire for new teammates.

There are those who see Kobe as someone who had everything he needed, on the court and off, for a preposterously successful and lucrative career, but selfishly junked it for something else, something different, something he could claim as his own.

Which has brought us to the first reunion of one of the nastiest breakups in sports history.

It's delightful, made-for-TV drama. The NBA's marketing and promotions people are popping corks. They couldn't have dreamed up a scenario so distinct in its loyalties, so rich with possibilities.

Ladies and gentlemen, Santas and elves, pick a side. ABC and the NBA, each realizing most will have a rooting interest, couldn't be happier.

Monte Poole is a panelist on "The Last Honest Sports Show," seen Saturday evening on UPN 44 (cable Channel 12). He can be reached at (510) 208-6461 or at mpoole@angnewspapers.com.