Kobe's fallout

When I first heard the news about Kobe Bryant's today, I was quite surprised that the prosecutors made the charge. Just the fact that a small town in Colorado feels that they have enough evidence to go toe-to-toe with a high-priced team of LA lawyers is quite remarkable- especially since rape charges are so difficult to prove. It will be very interesting to see how they intend to appoach what will be an uphill battle for the prosecution.

As for basketball, it's hard to say how this will affect the Lakers. First of all, the justice system moves at a snail's pace, so we might not see a trial till after next season. In any case, this cloud is going to hang over the team all season and the hecklers will be out in full force wherever they go on the road. So everyone who was ready to hand out title rings to Malone and Payton earlier this week can just hold off on that for a while. All in all, this will be one more storyline added to what's shaping up to be the most intriguing NBA season since MJ's first retirement a decade ago.