A year ago this week, Kobe Bryant woke up in the morning like everyone else and walked down the driveway to get his morning paper, Tony Soprano style.  Unlike most people, he picked up the paper and read about himself, even though his team had been eliminated from the playoffs weeks before.
In the May 30th , 2007 issue of the LA Times, an unidentified member of the Lakers front office said that Kobe had a hand in the departure of Shaquille O’Neil.

Can you imagine that?   Having to deal with a controversy you thought was left behind years prior, only to be reminded of it while trying to overcome a disappointing playoff ousting.  That had to hurt, and if you listened to Kobe on the radio that day you could hear it in his voice.

Now, in all honesty, I know as much about this situation as you.  But I’m the one writing this article, and this is how I think the last few years of “As The Lakers Turn” soap opera went…

1)Phil Jackson decided that he didn’t want to coach anymore, after his team was embarrassed by the Pistons… so he wrote a book and went sailing..

2)Jerry Buss decided not to pay an a max-contract to an aging Shaq.

3)Kobe got blamed.

4)The Lakers hire Rudy Tomjona…Tomejj… that guy who wasn’t Phil Jackson.

5)The Lakers don’t sign any free agents to help Kobe.

6)Kobe gets pissed about it, then gets blamed for it, again, by the local paper.

He is only a man.  I can’t blame Kobe for picking up that LA Times and spitting out an expletive.  I would have too.  All these Kobe haters saying, “You can’t do that!  You can’t demand a trade!  That’s not being a good teammate!  I would never do that!”

Oh yea!?  What if your buss, errr, boss called you into his office and said, “Look, I know you and your partner here at the company don’t really get along, but you have put your differences aside for the better of the company.  You’ve done a great job.  However, we can no longer pay both of you, and because you are younger and more versatile, were letting him go.  Now, now, don’t be afraid, because we’re working on getting another guy in here to help you… don’t worry about it.  We got your back!”

It only took the Laker’s a few years, but they finally managed to get that other guy.  Now Pau Gasol has arrived, as has the young talent the local media slammed Mitch Kupchak for drafting.  This is such a young team, and they’re nothing without their captain.

Even when Kobe was being pouty face in the off-season, there he was at every practice, and every game.  When the Laker fans showed what they thought of his “selfish” trade demands by booing him during the home opening introductions, he won them back with his on court heroics.  He is what you want as a fan, a teammate, and a coach.  He is a competitor, all day, every day.

I, like most sports fans, am sick of the comparisons between M.J. and Kobe, but this is that “M.J.” moment Kobe has been waiting for since Shaq left.  This Finals can be Kobe’s Finals, and that could make all the difference in the world when we look back at the past five years of “As The Lakers Turn.”

The world loved M.J. because he lifted his teammates and dominated his sport.  Can Kobe do the same, and in turn be loved by the sporting world?  Someone call Luther Vandross, because this could be Kobe’s “One Shining Moment.”