Scott:
I know this much about Kobe -- he is innocent until proven guilty.
That is not to say the woman is not a victim. I do not presume to
know what happened. However, I also know that Colorado has very tough
rape sentencing laws and if he is proven guilty he will likely do very
serious time. (It will be interesting to see if the same rules apply
to local CU football players, but that is another story.) The local
prosecutor is completely overmatched in terms of resources and talent,
but juries here (as elsewhere) are a real wild card. He is fighting
for his life -- really. That is why I think an aggressive trial
strategy is what he has to do, regardless of the effects on his public
image or support. His game is beginning to come around, but as the
Lakers get into the playoffs and trial preparation starts to heat up I
would not be surprised to see the pressure get to him. The press will
start the drumbeat about the upcoming trial and he'll have to either
shut up completely (a problem in itself) or deal with incessant
questions at every turn. If the Lakers win the championship this year
it will be an astounding achievement in my book (even if Malone comes
back in time to help). Cheers,
Dan L.

--- In newlakersbestfans@yahoogroups.com, "J. Scott Davis"
<jscottdav@y...> wrote:
> Dan L.;
>
> We follow almost the same identical path. I can remember the Lakers
> with West, Goodrich, Baylor, Chamberlain, and the rest of them very
> well when I lived in Riverside. I too was living in the D.C. area
> when the Bullets had just moved from Baltimore to Washington. I was
> at the very first NBA and NHL game at the Capitol Centre (I
> eventually worked there too). I came back here on the west coast
> before they switched to being the Wizards.
>
> BTW, I assume you agree that Kobe Bryant is very, very innocent?
>
> Best regards,
> Scott
>
> --- In newlakersbestfans@yahoogroups.com, "jdlwcec" <jdlwcec@y...>
> wrote:
> > I'm a Lakers fan from way way way back (think Elgin, Jerry, Gail, et
> > al.) Now living in Boulder, CO in part so I can at least be close
> to
> > a Western Conference town (I'm also a long-time Dodgers fan, so the
> > Western Division is in play in Denver). I was in Washington
> > Bullets/Wizards territory for many years -- truly the NBA's version
> of
> > Siberia. There's a lot to discuss. I'm looking forward to a
> > resolution of Kobe's "situation" here in my new state of Colorado.
> > Best wishes to all.
> > Dan L.