Oh so you're a white guy that explains it
“In late 1999 school officials banned 21 year old Bryant from coming near campus or attending any school events with the 16 year old Vanessa Laine,“
- Thread starter BigTyme Records
- Start date
You're right.Threads like this offer nothing of value...all it does is start unnecessary shyt. Nobody give a fukk about this, just using it as part of the stan wars
Only reason why that piece a shyt cross dressing homo c00n @10bandz dapped this is because its a negative thread about his daddy who never knew him Kobe.
Last edited:
NYC Rebel
...on the otherside of the pond
Yea they would. They are 3 years apart (senior and freshman)
Yall doing too much.
the point you trying to make doesn't even matter.
he didn't meet her when they were both in high school
murksiderock
Superstar
This my last post on here but she was born in May 1982, he was born August 1978. That's not 3 years dawg
but I'm not even one of these "he's a pedo" types, its just the hypothetical you're proposing is inaccurate.Erratic415
Superstar
This my last post on here but she was born in May 1982, he was born August 1978. That's not 3 years dawg
This is correct. Kobe was class of 96’ in HS, as he was part of the great 96’ draft. Someone born in May 82’ would be in 8th grade at that time, and then class of 00’ for HS.
I think the general attitude at the time for him, or basically any 20/21 year old dating a HS senior was “that’s a little weird, oh well”.
People lumping him in with the Mailman are wild. No way would anyone put it remotely close to Karl Malone being in college and fukking a 7th grader. That was considered disgusting and sick back then too.
NYC Rebel
...on the otherside of the pond
The age difference wasnt drasticthe point you trying to make doesn't even matter.
he didn't meet her when they were both in high school
DropTopDoc
Smokin my Opps like Patrick Mahomes pops
I’d have to agree to disagree, i had nothing in common with a hs once i graduated let alone 21, the association grew him up
DropTopDoc
Smokin my Opps like Patrick Mahomes pops
At 20 they would not be in hs together like you trying to do my guy
Like i said context matters
A nikka 3-4 years in the league is grown the nba grows you the fukk up, this nikka worried about budgeting his money who he has defending him and paying a mortgage and a car note, broad worried about prom and possibly becoming famous, there is nothing relatable, nikka could have grown women with money that was fatherless and lack of confidence behavior
Seniors were not as a whole fukkin with freshman and a bytch out 8th grade a goofball tf y’all got going besides her being young af and a virgin
The Amerikkkan Idol
The Amerikkkan Nightmare
Name ONE repercussion any of them faced for dating underaged girls
99% of the public did NOT know who the hell Jeffrey Epstein was in the '90s, bro. That's just cap
And virtually nobody complained about 26 year old Johnny Depp dating 17 year old Winona Ryder in the' 90s
How old are you???
If you weren't around in the 20th Century, you aint about this conversation, G.
ReturnOfJudah
Veteran
Kobe moved funny
DropTopDoc
Smokin my Opps like Patrick Mahomes pops
Name ONE repercussion any of them faced for dating underaged girls
99% of the public did NOT know who the hell Jeffrey Epstein was in the '90s, bro. That's just cap
And virtually nobody complained about 26 year old Johnny Depp dating 17 year old Winona Ryder in the' 90s
How old are you???
If you weren't around in the 20th Century, you aint about this conversation, G.
nikka I’m 42 i was around i literally graduated hs in 01 like i said, i seen it but it was not prevalent, i remember nikkas was talking cash money shyt and jokes for kelz, shyt was always looked down people more vocal about it now
Mister Terrific
It’s in the name
It was Saturday night in suburban Philadelphia, spring of 1995, and 17-year-old Kobe Bryant had invited his high-school sweetheart, Jocelyn Ebron, on a date. Most other teenagers in the upper-middle-class enclave of Lower Merion had gone to the multiplex to sneak into the R-rated "Bad Boys" and get busy in the dark. But Kobe didn't have a lot of experience with the rituals of American puppy love. Raised under the watchful eye of a doting mother who fixed him the same breakfast every morning ("eggs, bacon and Cream of Wheat on the side," remembers Ebron), and a basketball-coach father who achieved moderate NBA success, Kobe had one goal in life: scoring on the basketball court. Which is probably why 16-year-old Jocelyn found herself spending the evening in the Bryant family den, watching videotapes of Kobe's hoop exploits as a kid in Italy. "He wanted to watch them all the time," says Ebron. "I didn't mind, because I wanted to do what he wanted to do." In four years of dating Kobe Bryant, Jocelyn Ebron spent many a chaste night as he sat glued to the TV, watching the same videos and highlight reels of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson over and over. "Looking back," says Ebron, now a 24-year-old social worker, "it was sort of selfish of him."
Even in high school, Bryant could be a loner. Having grown up with his parents and two older sisters in Europe, where his father played pro ball for an Italian team, Kobe had a difficult time adjusting to life in the States when he returned at the age of 14. "It was tough because I didn't know English really well, and I really didn't know the different lingo that black culture had," Bryant told NEWSWEEK in a lengthy 1999 interview. "So I had to learn two languages when I got back here, and that was tough. But if I didn't do it, I would have never fit in. And kids are tough, you know? You got to be just like them or else."
Fitting in was a bit easier on the court. The funny accent, the doting parents, the love of all things "Star Wars"--all that disappeared with a single, graceful slam-dunk. "He had a focus and concentration that is completely rare for any kid, but that's what made his game so good," says his high-school coach, Greg Downer. He also had a big ego and a temper. "That was his world and he was the king, and he let you know it in no uncertain terms," says one of his former teammates at Lower Merion.
Race was also a key ingredient in this family brew. "It's the classic story that happens in black families," says Kevin Powell, author of a new book, "Who's Going to Take the Weight? Manhood, Race and Power in America." "It's a classic story that happens in black families, where the mother raises the daughters and spoils the sons. The community tends to be very protective of young black men because of what they often face in the world. That can sometimes backfire." Powell maintains that Kobe's youth in Italy did nothing to prepare him for the realities of growing up in America, particularly as a black man. "I really don't think his parents understood what having him grow up there in his formative years did to his ability to communicate with others, particularly African-Americans. It emotionally stunted him."
Jocelyn Ebron didn't see any of those defects when she met young Kobe at a family barbecue she'd been invited to by his cousin. "He was just this mild-mannered, quiet guy," remembers Jocelyn, who was attending a Roman Catholic girls' school at the time. "I liked him because he wasn't a playa with a lot of game. You know, the kind of guy who's trying to date 10 girls at the same time and be so cool." Kobe was smitten, and soon Jocelyn became a fixture around the Bryant home, eating meals with the family and watching Kobe's basketball tapes.
If Jocelyn didn't realize that her boyfriend's career came first, she got a dose of reality when Kobe announced that his prom date would be the teen R&B star Brandy, whom he'd met for a split-second at the Essence Magazine awards. "He told me that his agent wanted him to ask Brandy because it would help him gain attention," says Ebron. "I was hurt, but he said it was for the best, so I had to accept that." Jocelyn wasn't the only one caught off guard. Brandy "didn't know who he was," says an associate of the singer's. But she thought he was cute after seeing a picture and remembering him from the awards show; besides, "she wanted to go to a prom." Reporters were on hand to record every precious moment, as Brandy was whisked away from the Bryant family's Tudor-style home after some shutter time with his beaming parents and grandparents. As one friend of the family observed: "They seemed like a warm, normal family just proud of their son on a big day. But I guess looking back, it all seemed sort of orchestrated."
There was just one problem. Brandy wasn't swept off her feet. On their second date, Bryant took her to Atlantic City to see Barry White, which might have appealed to "Ally McBeal" fans, but Brandy preferred hip-hop to quiet storm. And the singer would have enjoyed going out on Saturday night instead of spending it at Kobe's house. "He wasn't this wild guy who wanted to do fun things," says a friend of the singer's. "He'd lived in this coc00n provided by his family. Brandy liked to live life."
People have called Bryant the Test Tube Baby of the NBA, one of the first high-schoolers who sprung fully formed into the NBA and became a superstar. But inside the Laker camp, it was apparent that Bryant had missed out on a few life lessons. Laker coach Del Harris was vocal with his opinion that the precocious guard should have attended college first. "This is a man's game," Harris told NEWSWEEK at the time. "I don't have time as a coach to coddle him after the men come down on him after missing a shot." And they came down on him hard. "It was clear that Kobe just didn't understand the way things work on a team," says a former Laker. "He came in wanting to shine from the very beginning. He didn't go to the older guys like most younger guys usually do. They wait and learn from everyone else." In a sport where 80 percent of the players are black, the idea of giving older players their respect takes on huge importance. Bryant's lack of deference drove a wedge between him and the team's new captain, Shaquille O'Neal, who'd just signed a lucrative contract to come to Los Angeles from Orlando. Tired of sharing the spotlight in Florida with Penny Hardaway without winning a title, the 7-foot-1 center wanted a team he could control. But Bryant wasn't about to be second best on the court. "I think some of the guys thought he held himself above everyone else," says Billy Hunter, president of the NBA Players Association. "They had issues with him because of that attitude." Other players thought he was plain arrogant. "We're all arrogant, but Kobe just had more confidence in his ability," says Cuttino Mobley, a friend of Bryant's and a shooting guard for the Houston Rockets.
Soon, Bryant was picking up Laine at school in his black Mercedes and dropping her off in the mornings. (The teenager was living with her stepgrandfather at the time and had lots of freedom.) When TV news crews got wind of the romance, they regularly began flying helicopters over the Marina High campus in Huntington Beach, Calif., to get shots of the couple. The courtship caused such a stir that school authorities banned Bryant from coming near campus or attending any school events with her. Marina High officials declined to discuss the matter. "It just set this bad example for the school and the kids, but Kobe didn't understand what the message was when he dropped her off early in the morning," says his friend Tonahill. Bryant's eventual answer to the problem was to pay for Vanessa to be home-schooled.
As disapproving as school officials were, it was nothing compared with the disappointment of Bryant's family, who watched as Kobe became "unnaturally attached" to Vanessa, as one family friend put it. With her long, fire-engine-red fingernails and black lipliner, Vanessa had little in common with the successful young women Kobe had romanced in the past. The family thought she was too young and uncultured, and the fact that she wasn't black--Laine's mother is Hispanic and her father is white--didn't help. His teammates didn't know what to make of Vanessa, either. "We all knew he got so attached to her because he needed a friend, someone to hang out with," says a fellow Laker. "I'm not sure if it was love, or he was just happy that someone accepted him with no complaints. He didn't understand that she was a kid and she was in awe of him." When Tonahill asked Kobe what he saw in the 16-year-old, he responded, "She's pure, and innocent, and not jaded by the world."
Kobe didn't talk to his family again until September 11, 2001, when he called his mother to make sure they were all safe. His mother tried to play peacemaker by inviting Kobe and Vanessa for dinner during the holidays in Philadelphia, but Vanessa hedged, and Kobe declined. The following February, the couple went to Philadelphia for the All-Star Game. His old high school used the occasion to retire his jersey, and his parents attended the Friday-night ceremony, sitting on the opposite side of the auditorium from his wife. They never made eye contact. The family didn't attend Sunday's All-Star Game, where Bryant was booed by the East Coast crowd when he was named MVP of the game. He seemed close to tears, and would later say his family's absence hurt as much as the crowd's reaction.
www.newsweek.com
Yeah I rolling with the guy from Akron
Even in high school, Bryant could be a loner. Having grown up with his parents and two older sisters in Europe, where his father played pro ball for an Italian team, Kobe had a difficult time adjusting to life in the States when he returned at the age of 14. "It was tough because I didn't know English really well, and I really didn't know the different lingo that black culture had," Bryant told NEWSWEEK in a lengthy 1999 interview. "So I had to learn two languages when I got back here, and that was tough. But if I didn't do it, I would have never fit in. And kids are tough, you know? You got to be just like them or else."
Fitting in was a bit easier on the court. The funny accent, the doting parents, the love of all things "Star Wars"--all that disappeared with a single, graceful slam-dunk. "He had a focus and concentration that is completely rare for any kid, but that's what made his game so good," says his high-school coach, Greg Downer. He also had a big ego and a temper. "That was his world and he was the king, and he let you know it in no uncertain terms," says one of his former teammates at Lower Merion.
Race was also a key ingredient in this family brew. "It's the classic story that happens in black families," says Kevin Powell, author of a new book, "Who's Going to Take the Weight? Manhood, Race and Power in America." "It's a classic story that happens in black families, where the mother raises the daughters and spoils the sons. The community tends to be very protective of young black men because of what they often face in the world. That can sometimes backfire." Powell maintains that Kobe's youth in Italy did nothing to prepare him for the realities of growing up in America, particularly as a black man. "I really don't think his parents understood what having him grow up there in his formative years did to his ability to communicate with others, particularly African-Americans. It emotionally stunted him."
Jocelyn Ebron didn't see any of those defects when she met young Kobe at a family barbecue she'd been invited to by his cousin. "He was just this mild-mannered, quiet guy," remembers Jocelyn, who was attending a Roman Catholic girls' school at the time. "I liked him because he wasn't a playa with a lot of game. You know, the kind of guy who's trying to date 10 girls at the same time and be so cool." Kobe was smitten, and soon Jocelyn became a fixture around the Bryant home, eating meals with the family and watching Kobe's basketball tapes.
If Jocelyn didn't realize that her boyfriend's career came first, she got a dose of reality when Kobe announced that his prom date would be the teen R&B star Brandy, whom he'd met for a split-second at the Essence Magazine awards. "He told me that his agent wanted him to ask Brandy because it would help him gain attention," says Ebron. "I was hurt, but he said it was for the best, so I had to accept that." Jocelyn wasn't the only one caught off guard. Brandy "didn't know who he was," says an associate of the singer's. But she thought he was cute after seeing a picture and remembering him from the awards show; besides, "she wanted to go to a prom." Reporters were on hand to record every precious moment, as Brandy was whisked away from the Bryant family's Tudor-style home after some shutter time with his beaming parents and grandparents. As one friend of the family observed: "They seemed like a warm, normal family just proud of their son on a big day. But I guess looking back, it all seemed sort of orchestrated."
There was just one problem. Brandy wasn't swept off her feet. On their second date, Bryant took her to Atlantic City to see Barry White, which might have appealed to "Ally McBeal" fans, but Brandy preferred hip-hop to quiet storm. And the singer would have enjoyed going out on Saturday night instead of spending it at Kobe's house. "He wasn't this wild guy who wanted to do fun things," says a friend of the singer's. "He'd lived in this coc00n provided by his family. Brandy liked to live life."
People have called Bryant the Test Tube Baby of the NBA, one of the first high-schoolers who sprung fully formed into the NBA and became a superstar. But inside the Laker camp, it was apparent that Bryant had missed out on a few life lessons. Laker coach Del Harris was vocal with his opinion that the precocious guard should have attended college first. "This is a man's game," Harris told NEWSWEEK at the time. "I don't have time as a coach to coddle him after the men come down on him after missing a shot." And they came down on him hard. "It was clear that Kobe just didn't understand the way things work on a team," says a former Laker. "He came in wanting to shine from the very beginning. He didn't go to the older guys like most younger guys usually do. They wait and learn from everyone else." In a sport where 80 percent of the players are black, the idea of giving older players their respect takes on huge importance. Bryant's lack of deference drove a wedge between him and the team's new captain, Shaquille O'Neal, who'd just signed a lucrative contract to come to Los Angeles from Orlando. Tired of sharing the spotlight in Florida with Penny Hardaway without winning a title, the 7-foot-1 center wanted a team he could control. But Bryant wasn't about to be second best on the court. "I think some of the guys thought he held himself above everyone else," says Billy Hunter, president of the NBA Players Association. "They had issues with him because of that attitude." Other players thought he was plain arrogant. "We're all arrogant, but Kobe just had more confidence in his ability," says Cuttino Mobley, a friend of Bryant's and a shooting guard for the Houston Rockets.
Soon, Bryant was picking up Laine at school in his black Mercedes and dropping her off in the mornings. (The teenager was living with her stepgrandfather at the time and had lots of freedom.) When TV news crews got wind of the romance, they regularly began flying helicopters over the Marina High campus in Huntington Beach, Calif., to get shots of the couple. The courtship caused such a stir that school authorities banned Bryant from coming near campus or attending any school events with her. Marina High officials declined to discuss the matter. "It just set this bad example for the school and the kids, but Kobe didn't understand what the message was when he dropped her off early in the morning," says his friend Tonahill. Bryant's eventual answer to the problem was to pay for Vanessa to be home-schooled.
As disapproving as school officials were, it was nothing compared with the disappointment of Bryant's family, who watched as Kobe became "unnaturally attached" to Vanessa, as one family friend put it. With her long, fire-engine-red fingernails and black lipliner, Vanessa had little in common with the successful young women Kobe had romanced in the past. The family thought she was too young and uncultured, and the fact that she wasn't black--Laine's mother is Hispanic and her father is white--didn't help. His teammates didn't know what to make of Vanessa, either. "We all knew he got so attached to her because he needed a friend, someone to hang out with," says a fellow Laker. "I'm not sure if it was love, or he was just happy that someone accepted him with no complaints. He didn't understand that she was a kid and she was in awe of him." When Tonahill asked Kobe what he saw in the 16-year-old, he responded, "She's pure, and innocent, and not jaded by the world."
Kobe didn't talk to his family again until September 11, 2001, when he called his mother to make sure they were all safe. His mother tried to play peacemaker by inviting Kobe and Vanessa for dinner during the holidays in Philadelphia, but Vanessa hedged, and Kobe declined. The following February, the couple went to Philadelphia for the All-Star Game. His old high school used the occasion to retire his jersey, and his parents attended the Friday-night ceremony, sitting on the opposite side of the auditorium from his wife. They never made eye contact. The family didn't attend Sunday's All-Star Game, where Bryant was booed by the East Coast crowd when he was named MVP of the game. He seemed close to tears, and would later say his family's absence hurt as much as the crowd's reaction.
Kobe Off The Court
It's His Defining Feature: An Intense Focus On Basketball That Has Made Kobe Bryant One Of The Game's Greatest, But Left Him Self-Absorbed And Socially Stunted. Now He's On Trial For Rape. The Book On Kobe.
www.newsweek.com
Yeah I rolling with the guy from Akron
The Amerikkkan Idol
The Amerikkkan Nightmare
I can't believe y'all in here making me defend Kobe, who I never rocked with when he was alive, but this shyt was a hit piece as is all of this fake"outrage" about him dating his wife who he could've been in high-school at the same time as.It was Saturday night in suburban Philadelphia, spring of 1995, and 17-year-old Kobe Bryant had invited his high-school sweetheart, Jocelyn Ebron, on a date. Most other teenagers in the upper-middle-class enclave of Lower Merion had gone to the multiplex to sneak into the R-rated "Bad Boys" and get busy in the dark. But Kobe didn't have a lot of experience with the rituals of American puppy love. Raised under the watchful eye of a doting mother who fixed him the same breakfast every morning ("eggs, bacon and Cream of Wheat on the side," remembers Ebron), and a basketball-coach father who achieved moderate NBA success, Kobe had one goal in life: scoring on the basketball court. Which is probably why 16-year-old Jocelyn found herself spending the evening in the Bryant family den, watching videotapes of Kobe's hoop exploits as a kid in Italy. "He wanted to watch them all the time," says Ebron. "I didn't mind, because I wanted to do what he wanted to do." In four years of dating Kobe Bryant, Jocelyn Ebron spent many a chaste night as he sat glued to the TV, watching the same videos and highlight reels of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson over and over. "Looking back," says Ebron, now a 24-year-old social worker, "it was sort of selfish of him."
Even in high school, Bryant could be a loner. Having grown up with his parents and two older sisters in Europe, where his father played pro ball for an Italian team, Kobe had a difficult time adjusting to life in the States when he returned at the age of 14. "It was tough because I didn't know English really well, and I really didn't know the different lingo that black culture had," Bryant told NEWSWEEK in a lengthy 1999 interview. "So I had to learn two languages when I got back here, and that was tough. But if I didn't do it, I would have never fit in. And kids are tough, you know? You got to be just like them or else."
Fitting in was a bit easier on the court. The funny accent, the doting parents, the love of all things "Star Wars"--all that disappeared with a single, graceful slam-dunk. "He had a focus and concentration that is completely rare for any kid, but that's what made his game so good," says his high-school coach, Greg Downer. He also had a big ego and a temper. "That was his world and he was the king, and he let you know it in no uncertain terms," says one of his former teammates at Lower Merion.
Race was also a key ingredient in this family brew. "It's the classic story that happens in black families," says Kevin Powell, author of a new book, "Who's Going to Take the Weight? Manhood, Race and Power in America." "It's a classic story that happens in black families, where the mother raises the daughters and spoils the sons. The community tends to be very protective of young black men because of what they often face in the world. That can sometimes backfire." Powell maintains that Kobe's youth in Italy did nothing to prepare him for the realities of growing up in America, particularly as a black man. "I really don't think his parents understood what having him grow up there in his formative years did to his ability to communicate with others, particularly African-Americans. It emotionally stunted him."
Jocelyn Ebron didn't see any of those defects when she met young Kobe at a family barbecue she'd been invited to by his cousin. "He was just this mild-mannered, quiet guy," remembers Jocelyn, who was attending a Roman Catholic girls' school at the time. "I liked him because he wasn't a playa with a lot of game. You know, the kind of guy who's trying to date 10 girls at the same time and be so cool." Kobe was smitten, and soon Jocelyn became a fixture around the Bryant home, eating meals with the family and watching Kobe's basketball tapes.
If Jocelyn didn't realize that her boyfriend's career came first, she got a dose of reality when Kobe announced that his prom date would be the teen R&B star Brandy, whom he'd met for a split-second at the Essence Magazine awards. "He told me that his agent wanted him to ask Brandy because it would help him gain attention," says Ebron. "I was hurt, but he said it was for the best, so I had to accept that." Jocelyn wasn't the only one caught off guard. Brandy "didn't know who he was," says an associate of the singer's. But she thought he was cute after seeing a picture and remembering him from the awards show; besides, "she wanted to go to a prom." Reporters were on hand to record every precious moment, as Brandy was whisked away from the Bryant family's Tudor-style home after some shutter time with his beaming parents and grandparents. As one friend of the family observed: "They seemed like a warm, normal family just proud of their son on a big day. But I guess looking back, it all seemed sort of orchestrated."
There was just one problem. Brandy wasn't swept off her feet. On their second date, Bryant took her to Atlantic City to see Barry White, which might have appealed to "Ally McBeal" fans, but Brandy preferred hip-hop to quiet storm. And the singer would have enjoyed going out on Saturday night instead of spending it at Kobe's house. "He wasn't this wild guy who wanted to do fun things," says a friend of the singer's. "He'd lived in this coc00n provided by his family. Brandy liked to live life."
People have called Bryant the Test Tube Baby of the NBA, one of the first high-schoolers who sprung fully formed into the NBA and became a superstar. But inside the Laker camp, it was apparent that Bryant had missed out on a few life lessons. Laker coach Del Harris was vocal with his opinion that the precocious guard should have attended college first. "This is a man's game," Harris told NEWSWEEK at the time. "I don't have time as a coach to coddle him after the men come down on him after missing a shot." And they came down on him hard. "It was clear that Kobe just didn't understand the way things work on a team," says a former Laker. "He came in wanting to shine from the very beginning. He didn't go to the older guys like most younger guys usually do. They wait and learn from everyone else." In a sport where 80 percent of the players are black, the idea of giving older players their respect takes on huge importance. Bryant's lack of deference drove a wedge between him and the team's new captain, Shaquille O'Neal, who'd just signed a lucrative contract to come to Los Angeles from Orlando. Tired of sharing the spotlight in Florida with Penny Hardaway without winning a title, the 7-foot-1 center wanted a team he could control. But Bryant wasn't about to be second best on the court. "I think some of the guys thought he held himself above everyone else," says Billy Hunter, president of the NBA Players Association. "They had issues with him because of that attitude." Other players thought he was plain arrogant. "We're all arrogant, but Kobe just had more confidence in his ability," says Cuttino Mobley, a friend of Bryant's and a shooting guard for the Houston Rockets.
Soon, Bryant was picking up Laine at school in his black Mercedes and dropping her off in the mornings. (The teenager was living with her stepgrandfather at the time and had lots of freedom.) When TV news crews got wind of the romance, they regularly began flying helicopters over the Marina High campus in Huntington Beach, Calif., to get shots of the couple. The courtship caused such a stir that school authorities banned Bryant from coming near campus or attending any school events with her. Marina High officials declined to discuss the matter. "It just set this bad example for the school and the kids, but Kobe didn't understand what the message was when he dropped her off early in the morning," says his friend Tonahill. Bryant's eventual answer to the problem was to pay for Vanessa to be home-schooled.
As disapproving as school officials were, it was nothing compared with the disappointment of Bryant's family, who watched as Kobe became "unnaturally attached" to Vanessa, as one family friend put it. With her long, fire-engine-red fingernails and black lipliner, Vanessa had little in common with the successful young women Kobe had romanced in the past. The family thought she was too young and uncultured, and the fact that she wasn't black--Laine's mother is Hispanic and her father is white--didn't help. His teammates didn't know what to make of Vanessa, either. "We all knew he got so attached to her because he needed a friend, someone to hang out with," says a fellow Laker. "I'm not sure if it was love, or he was just happy that someone accepted him with no complaints. He didn't understand that she was a kid and she was in awe of him." When Tonahill asked Kobe what he saw in the 16-year-old, he responded, "She's pure, and innocent, and not jaded by the world."
Kobe didn't talk to his family again until September 11, 2001, when he called his mother to make sure they were all safe. His mother tried to play peacemaker by inviting Kobe and Vanessa for dinner during the holidays in Philadelphia, but Vanessa hedged, and Kobe declined. The following February, the couple went to Philadelphia for the All-Star Game. His old high school used the occasion to retire his jersey, and his parents attended the Friday-night ceremony, sitting on the opposite side of the auditorium from his wife. They never made eye contact. The family didn't attend Sunday's All-Star Game, where Bryant was booed by the East Coast crowd when he was named MVP of the game. He seemed close to tears, and would later say his family's absence hurt as much as the crowd's reaction.
Kobe Off The Court
It's His Defining Feature: An Intense Focus On Basketball That Has Made Kobe Bryant One Of The Game's Greatest, But Left Him Self-Absorbed And Socially Stunted. Now He's On Trial For Rape. The Book On Kobe.
Yeah I rolling with the guy from Akron
This is from when they were trying to lynch him for banging that White girl who had half the town's semen in her panties.
