Player of the Decade

[Ridders]

3. He stole MJs fist-pump. Ok ok, this has nothing to do with him as a player per se, but it still pisses me off. Introducing the "stick teeth out, clenched jaw" face is just embarrassing, as is introducing his own nickname, Black Mamba.....I take it he watched Kill Bill that summer....

Wtf! How can you not love the Kobe Face? It's so intense. I love it.

Hmmm, someone tell Shaq that he should be embarrased because he's been introducing his own nicknames for his entire career.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

Wtf! How can you not love the Kobe Face? It's so intense. I love it.

How can I not love it? Because you just know that he spent HOURS coming up with it!! There doesn't seem to be anything authentic or spontaneous about him, it all seems so contrived, like he's trying to ensure that there's plenty of good clips to make highlight reel montages when he retires, instead of just living the moment. That's my take anyway.

Hmmm, someone tell Shaq that he should be embarrased because he's been introducing his own nicknames for his entire career.

Well, Shaq has generally done it very much tongue-in-cheek - Big Cactus, The Big Baryshnikov, The Almighty Conceitedness and so on. Kobe on the other hand, well I'll let him explain - "The mamba can strike with 99 percent accuracy at maximum speed, in rapid succession. That's the kind of basketball precision I want to have." :lol: Such a shame that Mamba never took.

 

[Ridders]

How can I not love it? Because you just know that he spent HOURS coming up with it!! There doesn't seem to be anything authentic or spontaneous about him, it all seems so contrived, like he's trying to ensure that there's plenty of good clips to make highlight reel montages when he retires, instead of just living the moment. That's my take anyway.

Well, Shaq has generally done it very much tongue-in-cheek - Big Cactus, The Big Baryshnikov, The Almighty Conceitedness and so on. Kobe on the other hand, well I'll let him explain - "The mamba can strike with 99 percent accuracy at maximum speed, in rapid succession. That's the kind of basketball precision I want to have." :lol: Such a shame that Mamba never took.

I greatly disagree with that. Imo the Kobe Face was created out of pure chance. Imo, it first came up late in Game 3 of the WCF between LA and Denver, right after Kobe hit a clutch 3 over J.R Smith to give LA a one point lead. This is the moment I'm referring to.To me the face came out of;

A) Kobe being exhausted, as he was drawing long breaths. I've always found, at least with myself, that when I'm running on fumes and drawing deep breaths that my jaw tends tends to protrude and that I bare my teeth.

B) The guy wanted to show agression. He'd just stuck a dagger into the Denver team and wanted them to know it. So as I explained earlier, since his jaw was already protruded and his teeth were already showing, he decided to extend it by clencing his jaw to give himself an intense look.

Now what I think happened was that after that first inadvertent time it happened, people started telling Kobe that it was such a great look, to the point where, as you said, he probably spent time in front of the mirror trying to perfect it. But whatever, MJ probably spent time in front of the mirror working on his pist pump. It's what the great one's do.

 

[Binga]

1. Kobe
2. Shaq
3. Duncan
4. Kidd
5. Nash
6. Lebron
7. K. Garnett
8. Iverson
9. Dirk
10. D. Wade

 

[Tiger Hawk]

I greatly disagree with that. Imo the Kobe Face was created out of pure chance. Imo, it first came up late in Game 3 of the WCF between LA and Denver, right after Kobe hit a clutch 3 over J.R Smith to give LA a one point lead. This is the moment I'm referring to.To me the face came out of;

A) Kobe being exhausted, as he was drawing long breaths. I've always found, at least with myself, that when I'm running on fumes and drawing deep breaths that my jaw tends tends to protrude and that I bare my teeth.

B) The guy wanted to show agression. He'd just stuck a dagger into the Denver team and wanted them to know it. So as I explained earlier, since his jaw was already protruded and his teeth were already showing, he decided to extend it by clencing his jaw to give himself an intense look.

Now what I think happened was that after that first inadvertent time it happened, people started telling Kobe that it was such a great look, to the point where, as you said, he probably spent time in front of the mirror trying to perfect it. But whatever, MJ probably spent time in front of the mirror working on his pist pump. It's what the great one's do.

Hahaha, righto rambo....