Newsweek, July 28 issue
[/quote]When Kobe Bryant was arrested two weeks ago after a 19-year-old Colorado woman accused him of sexual assault, the reaction from friends and fans was almost universal: that?s just not like Kobe.
IT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE that the 24-year-old Los Angeles Laker, best known for his signature slam dunks and megawatt smile, could commit such a crime. But on Friday, the Eagle County, Colo., district attorney, Mark Hurlbert, charged Bryant with felony sexual assault. Now, as the basketball star prepares to convince a jury that his only crime was ?the mistake of adultery,? not rape, friends and fans are wondering this: who is Kobe Bryant?
Bryant?s life on the court has been an open book?from his leap straight out of high school to the NBA in 1996 to his public rivalry with team captain Shaquille O?Neal. Yet even those who should be familiar with Bryant?s every move admit the young man in the No. 8 jersey is something of an enigma. ?I think a lot of people never really got to know Kobe at all,? says fellow Laker Rick Fox, adding that Bryant was hard to connect with, even from the very beginning. When he arrived in Los Angeles, Bryant would dress and undress in a separate part of the Laker locker room, and to this day he prefers to hole up in his hotel room after road games instead of partying with his teammates. ?He kept to himself and we let him do that. I can only imagine what it was like for him then, being so isolated,? Fox says. Other teammates are less diplomatic: ?The way he was so into his wife, you figured he would never stray from her. He was too goody-two-shoes to do that,? says one. ?But obviously we didn?t know him as well as we thought.? So secretive was Bryant that he apparently didn?t even tell Laker management that he had gone to Colorado for knee surgery, the reason for his June 30 stay at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera, where the alleged victim was working at the front desk.
Kobe?s friends say race was small part of the family?s problem: Kobe?s wife, Vanessa, is half Hispanic and half white. But mostly ?they thought she had too much control over him and that he was way too wrapped up in her,? the friend says. ?He didn?t even get a prenup. That?s how whipped he was. Other guys in the business tried to tell him, but that?s how Kobe is, stubborn to a fault and never listening to anybody about anything, even his family.? When Bryant went home to Philadelphia for last year?s All-Star Game and took home the MVP award, his family was nowhere in attendance, and the local crowd booed him for disloyalty to their city. ?I guess I never realized how people felt about me,? he told NEWSWEEK at the time. ?I never saw a problem with the way I handled things. I was trying to be me.?
Despite the criminal charge, the Lakers say they have no intention of keeping Bryant out of the lineup when training camp starts in September?assuming he fully recovers from the knee surgery. But it remains to be seen how much play he?ll get once his trial is underway after an Aug. 6 arraignment. For now, the team is hoping that the recent addition of Karl Malone and Gary Payton will somehow distract fans? attention from Bryant?s troubles. The NBA has made no official comment, but sources say the league will just wait it out and let Bryant?s legal team do its job.[/quote]
Everyone only knows Kobes public persona, no one knows how he is behind closed doors.
Nows where is this supposed Newsweek story that she was a "NBA Groupie". If Newsweek did have a story, Im assuming for the August 4 edition, it would be plastered all over Drudgereport because Drudge has moles in Newsweek.