The thing I dislike most about basketball

Kobe Bryant.

But I actually have a few reasons. First is the whole Colorado Hotel thing, but I won't mention that anymore.

The second issue I have comes from his narcissistic approach to life. He had a very good thing in Los Angeles for several years - he was a three time NBA champion with a first ballot hall of famer center and a first ballot hall of fame coach. Yet he couldn't handle sharing the spotlight, and believed that he could do just as well without them. So he sits back and lets them go.

Three years later, and Kobe has had two first round playoff exits, and he bitches that his team hasn't built a winner around [his enormous talent (my words)]. So he demands a trade, then undemands, then demands, then, well, you get the idea. Because he wants to go to a city where they want to win.

Except, he was in a city where they wanted to win. He had a teammate that could help him win. He had three championships and four finals appearances. But he didn't want that. He wanted to be the guy. So now that his little experiment where he got what he wanted didn't work, he's going to use his influence as a high profile player to hold his team hostage while he demands they do what he wants, with the implication that if they don't do what he wants and instead hold him to his contract, he's not going to work as best he can (remember Tracey McGrady admitting to taking games off?). So the owners have a choice - give the prima donna pissy crybaby what he wants (again) and bow to his pressure, or keep him and lose because you have the one of the best players and he's not going to play like he is, and thus lose fan support - which will be lost if he leaves anyway.

It apparently doesn't matter to Kobe that he's not a good teammate. It's apparently ok, in his eyes, for him to tear apart his teammates. It's apparently ok for him to complain openly about his team and the ownership's direction. And all this is supposed to make him more attractive to other teams, who can't afford him because of his freaking humongous salary, which means that they can't build a complimentary package around him that would put him where he wants, but that's irrelevant to him now; what matters is that his current ownership (his boss) isn't doing what he (the obligee) wants, so he has to make them look like the bad guys and convince everyone else that he'd be fine if the situation weren't so crappy in LA.

Kobe Bryant needs to shut up and color, grow up, and be the leader he asked to be.