Guess its "cool" to take shots at Kobe these days...?

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Reading multiple ESPN reports on various forums, and watching snippets of media members taking pot shots at Kobe...is...kind of annoying. I'm not a fan of his, never have been really, but it seems like now that dude is an elder statesman, on his way out, people are just hating on dude for petty bullshit.

Reggie Miller completely disrespecting guy, claiming the "worst" Jordan (we all know that's Yoda Mike w/ Washington) is 10x better than PEAK Kobe. WTF? Anyone remember Reggie Miller on Kobe's nuts after the 2010 Western Conference Finals? And that's just an example. It's like people have lost their minds and believe THIS version of Kobe is the one that's played for 19 years.

There really is such thing as a hatewagon

[RoundMoundOfReb]

People are finally letting their emotions get out of the way and giving an objective opinion.

[Legends66NBA7]

When Bryant made the "I always knew they were idiots" comment about ESPN, I expected as much backlash.

[MP.Trey]

Tell me about it. I've been hating this guy since he started doing throwing teammates under the bus and doing that stupid scowl thing but now that he's shooting sub 40% on a terrible team, everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon.

[KungFuJoe]

He's not that relevant anymore since the lakers suck and he's old. He's playing with horrible efficiency and he's showing that he can't make a team better (never could).

Combine that with being very unlikable...he's an easy target.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Too much hyperbole, and sensationalism in sports talk journalism period. They have to manufacture stuff to keep fuel going of the 24 hour coverage of this stuff.

When Bryant made the "I always knew they were idiots" comment about ESPN, I expected as much backlash.

This too.

[dubeta]

Not 'cool' just applying a consistent ratio on par with Kobe's own 'shots'

[Smoke117]

When you play the way Kobe Bryant does this season...you are going to open yourself up to criticism. It's a given.

[buddha]

welcome to 2011

[Milbuck]

None of this is really that unexpected or surprising. Kobe has notoriously been in one controversial situation after after another, and has been an asshole through most of them. It's easy to gloss over it and prop it up as "alpha" shit when he's dominating and winning championships, but when he's sucking ass on a garbage team like he is right now, it's not surprising in the slightest that more and more people are starting to tear into him.

It's gonna take years after his retirement before reason starts to come back (if it does) and people look at his non-Chuckbe McLottery years and respect the player he was at his best.

The Reggie Miller thing was just retarded, though. All the "Kobe is killing the Lakers" stuff and the criticisms on his game (defense, efficiency, etc) are more or less valid points when presented in the right way...but what Reggie said is again, retarded.

[TheBigVeto]

People are finally letting their emotions get out of the way and giving an objective opinion.

Pretty much this.

[AintNoSunshine]

Dude is shooting 37% while leading his team to the 12th seed. What because his fanboys wouldn't like it so ESPN is supposed to give him a pass? I bet if he retires today ESPN would have only good things to say about him. But it seems like it's his stans who get offensed and butthurt whenever their idol is being discussed objectively in an article.