At first I thought it was a joke...

[Cigma]

when I arrived at the bar to watch the Spurs game.

During a commercial break I start talking basketball with the guy next to me, ask him if he saw game 4.

I mention Kobe's late game heriocs and shake my head in admiration.

He nodded enthusiastically. We were laughing and then he says, 'yea, Kobe is getting charged with another rape case.'

I was like 'man that's wrong' and grin. I laugh some more and like 'dude that's low.'

But then he says 'I'm serious man, they just showed it on the news, that the L.A. police is charging him with sexual assault.'

Of course my reaction is 'Man get the fuck out of here. I would have HEARD something. Quit trying to pull my leg.'

He looks at me and goes 'I'm serious, they just showed it on the news, and a shot of Phil Jackson saying he didn't want to comment on it.'

Now I'm looking at him in the eyes, trying to see if he's lying, but from what I can tell he wasn't.

I shake my head like 'damn what the hell? how can this be...'

Dude says something about after the win over the Suns it allegedly happened..

I reply 'wait a minute man, Kobe went and saw his baby being born after that game, 6 minutes apart from when Shaq's daughter was born. How the hell is going to rape a chick and then go see his wife conceive. that's some black hearted shit for someone to do'

He just shrugs.

Then we start talking about how Kobe just got over his case, Nike started fucking with him again and the impending doom it would spell for the Lakers if it were the case.

Then halftime rolls around and he's like 'alright, they'll say something about it here.'

So I wait... and wait... and nothing.

I go at him again, 'ok dawg, you had me going for a second but this is bs. If that shit went down it'd be all over the network.'

But he keeps looking me straight in the eye and saying he heard the news report.

Anyway, the game comes back on, Spurs win and everyone goes home happy.

I'm still wondering about what the guy was talking about, because all my reasoning and said that what he said couldn't be true.

Yet from his eyes I could see him telling the truth.

I get home, flick on the Lakers game... and then about 10 minutes later they mention something about a sexual assault case.

And it's about Kwame Brown.

Oof.

[ILLnSkILLz]

and then noone cared cuz someone already posted a thread on this...

[Cigma]

-shrug-

I was just recounting what happened at the bar.

You need to actually read between the lines to realize that this thread wasn't intended to be about Kwame Brown.

It touches on how people still feel about Kobe, and how fragile his status is, that they automatically link any sexual scandal on the Lakers to him.

I mean, the guy saw the news report and heard Kobe Bryant.

It's about how people don't pay attention and get the facts mixxed up.

It was about people talking, and not getting the story right, but still telling the truth.

I knew this guy couldn't be right, but his eyes told me he believed what he said.


So basically... when you can't trust your sources, trust your senses. And when you can't trust your senses, trust your instinct.

[!ron HorSe]

I wish I could read eyes like you.

[absolute zero]

^^^^ word man

teach us.

[Cigma]

Lol... it just takes practice I guess.

At first it's a bit unerving, looking people in the eyes.

I mean, on the East coast, like in NY you probably don't want to do it for too long of stretches... the don't like to get to know people, so you have to kinda look at them sideways so you don't get them riled up.

But on the whole, people sort of respond to you better if you look them in the eyes, because it makes them feel like they have you're full attention.

As long as the eye contact isn't a domination match.

[absolute zero]

I was just kidding.

[statuspending]

what bar did you go to?