How can you deny him.....

So yesterday at ESPNzone, I was sitting biting my fist, fighting a hangover, too nervous to grab my coffee as I saw Kobe Bryant pull up from near the top of the key while wearing a Ray Allen poncho . As the shot sailed through the air, the flashbacks of 7 of 19 night with misses in the similar area seemed to dissipate. As the off balanced fade away, fell threw, the roof blew off. The three Celtic fans in the general area slumped in their seats and the cavalcade of high fives and "KOBE!" echoed. And at this moment, I realized we are all spoiled (Prince James can keep his witnesses). I have spent my life wathcing the two best players in the NBA in Jordan and Kobe. So famous they are purely known by one name throughout the world. Before I gush over Kobe, some perspective on Laker "Fan".

Where are the former Shaq backers? If you were a person that believed keeping Shaq over Kobe, back of the line. It was okay to disagree with the decision. I was pissed that they both couldn't work out their egos enough to continue a winning tradition. But at the end, Kobe was a Laker and Shaq was a Heat (that doesn't sound grammatically correct, forget these teams named after anything without a plural extention) There was decention among the ranks! Lakers fans hating Kobe, calling for his head and buttering up Shaq. These are the fans that must get in the back of the line. Acknowledge your long running mistake and then jump on the caboose, no way you are in the party car, but be grateful you are on the train. And this includes up getting on the train last year. Another group are those Laker "fans" who claim to be a fan but hate Kobe. I don't even know what to say to these people. How can like a team, claim to be a fan but hate their star player. This normal stems from the Shaq divorce but it has branched off to its own insanity. No room even in the luggage car for you.

Back to the man of the hour. LA fans are so spoiled because of Kobe. He continues to prove to be the most clutch player in the NBA and one of the best clutch shooter ever. But we expect this. When the Lakers had the ball with about 20 seconds left. I wasn't hoping for an open Artest, or even a streaking Bynum. Just get the ball to Kobe. One, two, three defenders, it doesn't matter. And I know I wasn't alone. These two past years, we are watching something special. We are watching Kobe seperate himself into myth as Jordan, Magic, West, and Bird has done before him. Pay attention this is the stuff of legends, the things you tell your children. The guys has already sealed a top three of all time placement and now he is fighting to be number one.

So close to the norm.....

Well its done, over finished........I hope. The Minnesota Vikings gagged and threw up (maybe I should say coughed up) all over the Superdome. And how did Brett ( and I will refer to him as such) end, again hopefully end, his career with the Vikes, the same way he did with the Pack, with an ill advised throw most QBs with his experience would not make. I'm not going to gloat....well maybe a little. See you people who slurp up Favre over and over when he became a Vike and said these year he wouldn't fall apart late. Okay that's all. There are two things to take away from this. The first is that while Packer fans where bothered at Brett's attitude as well as word, they were not just rooting againist him, we were rooting against our RIVALS. So tired of the Viking fan claiming jealousy and hatred towards Brett as the only reason we wanted them to lose. As if we would have been cheering for them if Tavaras Jackson was their QB. Honestly, the Packer fans are some of the most loyal and understanding fans in sports. It was the fact that Brett was playing for the Vikings that inspired so much anger. No one cared when he was on the Jets, in fact most Cheeseheads would rooted for the Jets on the side last year.

The 2nd and most important fact about the loss, is that it is now possible for this whole "vacation" to Minnesota can be put in the back seat. Green Bay will be willing to accept Brett back as a Packer for Life again in about 2 years. My plea to you Mr. Favre RETIRE! I understand he can still do it, but honestly most great players don't rely on their bodies for retirement. I'm fairly certain John Elway, Barry Sanders, Jim Brown, Steve Young, Joe Montana, Walter Payton, Dan Marino, etc. could have come back for a couple more years and then been carted off late in the season. But the WALKED away. Now we all understand QBs have a much different mentality then most players. They are selfish, ego maniacs on the field. And don't get all Peyton Manning on me. The guys runs an entire offense based on his decision and chooses what play to run. If he didn't have ego he would just have taken orders from day one. That is why instead of running the ball against a Saints defense that is porous on run defense, and giving Longwell (other long time ex-Packer) a chance to win the game. They run a pass play, a five step pass play. Meaning, that it involves Favre scanning the field and checking down on receivers. It screams ego or at least the coaches trying to prove his greatness for him.

If there has been any man to personify a team , it was Brett Favre with the Packers. And that is the reason we will let him back in with open arms.....if he retires this time for sure. His legacy is secure, no one ever said he was going to be looked down as an All Time Great. But if he brought a Super Bowl to the Vikes, then bye bye Brett in GB. The Packer Fan's may hate the Chicago Bears, but their is a weird respect with them. Its as serious as the Ohio State/Michigan rivalry but respectful. Packer fans cannot stand the Vikings though. Easy the most hated team in the division. They are mocked for playing a dome and are more of the little brother of the Bears and Packers then an actual rival. So Brett going there, big no no. But since there is really no collateral damage other than the two regular season game, this season can become merely a trivia question in box for future generation.

But lets go to the dark side, if Brett comes back as a Viking, it will be hard to accept him back regardless of their season. If they go 0-16 or win the 19-0, Brett came back to the Vikings. The experiment is over, now its him coming back to a team, a community. It will be him building a foundation there. Mercenaries don't buy condo where they kill, they go and leave. So Brett hear my pleas, RETIRE...and don't hold a press conference, its getting old.

On Deck

In news from 2005, Mark McGwire came out today and admitted he used steriods in his record breaking season of 1998. Was anyone really shocked by this. Who is the small naive child who has been living under a rock and dropped his bowl of Kix when this "bomb" dropped. McGwire was the apple of baseball's eye for a little while. His jolly demenor and average look, he was the everyman....well the everyman that has Jose Canseco shoot 'roids in his ass in a bathroom stall. But who didn't watch McGwire and Sosa in 1998. It was magical (damn I'm so tired of that word, but it was). I remember McGwire launching the 62nd over the left field wall, line drive shot. But the curtain was pulled back and that curtain was hiding a major case of bacne and shrunken testes.

Baseball is a sport that prides itself on history. So what do you do with McGwire's numbers? Scrap them? What about Bonds, the poster child for roid abuse. He holds the two most storied records in MLB. And all you Bonds backer who proclaim the "never failed a test" moniker, look at McGwire's failed test number. So shut up. Honestly we need the all the names from the 2003 steroids survey that baseball used. I mean lets be serious here, it just a normal drug test that the players union where able to argue that it should remain private so more players would be willing. Ummmm yeah I can't turn down a drug test at my job just because it would be detrimental to my image. It really does so how spineless Bud Selig is. Image going to your boss and saying "Listen I'm not going to take your test okay. Yes I am aware that those are illegal, but screw off I'm only taking the test if nothing with happen to me." Yeah you would be out so fast, you might break the sound barrier. Show some backbone Bud, go one way or the other. Embrace it or throw away the records. Oh and he can. Go ahead ask Pete Rose about a commissioner's powers.

That being said, lets just embrace it. Put the asterisks near the record. Get the creme of the crop in the Hall. McGwire and Bonds weren't the only ones but the certainly played at a level that rose above all the other roid-heads. Put them in the Hall but explain on their bust why the asterisks and move on. I'm just getting tired of the admission that really mean nothing and do something Bud..............don't call it a tie.