By L. Bergmann

In response to H. Lee's Feb. 15th article "Why Kobe Bryant Got Booed at the All-Star Game", there are a few points I would like to make.

Mr. Lee presents a well-thought out and cogent case for why he believes Kobe is not liked by the general public. But I have a different opinion.

I believe that much of the public's perceptions about Kobe are formed by the way he is presented to them by the east-coast dominated media. I am a lifelong Laker fan who has also lived on the east coast for my entire life. Dating back to the Jerry West days, when pro basketball was barely a blip on the public's radar screen, it was next to impossible to find mention of the team unless they happened to be playing on the east coast. Understandable, times were different then and the media had yet to become the monolithic beast that it is today.

But during the Kareem/Magic Showtime days, the Lakers were almost always inaccurately portrayed as the "soft, Hollywood" team by the media, while the Boston Celtics were the "hardworking, blue collar" team. The fact was that those Lakers were just as "hardworking" as anybody in the league, thanks to the mentality and pride of its players and coach. Magic Johnson worked just as hard on his game as Larry Bird, a fact proven out as the Lakers of the 80's won five titles to the Celtics' three, and defeated them two of three times in head-to-head finals matchups. The Lakers were simply the superior team. But it was never portrayed that way here in the east.

The fact of the matter today is that Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA. Has he been arrogant at times? Yes. But please spare me the "MJ the humble man" spin, because MJ is anything but humble, which could also be said about the vast majority of today's pro athletes. And it seems true that Kobe spent a lot of time studying and patterning his game after MJ's. What's wrong with that? Isn't that what all of the great players did as kids, watch the games and admire and be inspired by the people playing them?

Kobe also entered the league at the tender age of 17. He was a boy in a man's world. Some of his perceived arrogance was probably a defense mechanism that he very much needed to survive his trials by fire. And survive them he did. His first few seasons with the Lakers all ended in disastrous disappointments in the playoffs as Kobe, as well as Shaq, had to learn the hard way what the game was all about.

I believe Kobe Bryant is the hardest working player in the NBA today. I believe he has a will to win that burns brighter than some of his celebrated competition. I read "expert" opinions before the beginning of this season which tried to suggest that players like Allen Iverson, Ray Allen and Allen Houston were Kobe's "superiors". What tripe. What utter nonsense. They are fine players, but none of them have the ability to completely dominate a game in all facets the way Kobe does.

Is Kobe fortunate to have Shaq playing alongside him, another tried and true "swat" that the media goes back to time and again? Of course he is. Now, is Shaq fortunate to have Kobe playing alongside him, something I never hear the media say? You bet he is. They're a great combination, right alongside other great combos that won titles like Russell-Cousy, West-Chamberlain, Kareem-Oscar, Cowens-Havlicek, Kareem-Magic, Bird-McHale, MJ-Scottie. What's wrong with that? Take away any of those partners from one another and they don't win any championships, either. And Shaq doesn't win any without Kobe. Shaq's dominance wears down and demoralizes the opposition, and Kobe's clutch instincts make many huge plays with the game on the line. Nobody wins it on their own.

All Kobe Bryant has done from Day One is work hard to be the best that he can be. It is a trait to be admired. He is not content with the big money. He is not content with losing, or second place. He wants to win. Every game. If many of the players the league celebrates in its marketing campaigns and the media tries to fawn off as "better than" Kobe had the young man's desire and work ethic, you wouldn't see a league fainting with joy at the return of an aging superstar. They wouldn't "need" MJ. Because the game would be much better off in and of itself.

Kobe is also looked on with jealousy and suspicion because he is not "street", another point that Mr. Lee commented on. Well, if being intelligent and well-read/spoken is a "drawback", and messes up a guy's "cred", oh well. So be it. I'm sure Kobe will gladly live with that. When a guy gets knocked for being intelligent, well, it doesn't say a whole lot for the folks who would knock him over something like that.

In closing, I believe the Philadelphia fans booed Kobe Bryant for a whole lot of reasons, too many to go into all of them here. But I believe the media plays a huge part in the way players are presented to and perceived by the public, and sadly, many times the public simply gobbles it all up lock, stock and barrel. And I don't believe that's a knock on anybody other than the people who choose to simply accept whatever they're told and not look deeper into what's really going on.