Ouch!!! Damn, Dave I know you're all about bringing to light that place where sports and politics collide and I love your work, but this collision hurt! Now, I am a Kobe fan so let me be upfront with you on that. But, I'm starting to like Mello more and more as the series continues on. They are different personalities and players with different skills, no doubt. But to drop the DC (Dick Cheney) bomb on Kobe, and to annoint Mello with Obama status, I don't know, man I think that goes a little too far on both ends. The comparison may be closer to Rahm Emanuel (Kobe) vs. Joe Biden (Mello) - Here's what I'm thinking- RM- a reputation for getting in folks faces when he needs to, but also getting the job done; JB- a reputation of being hard working, smiles alot, but also getting the job done. They're both good guys, certainly with flaws but still on the side of good. Again, I may be a little touchy 'cause I am a Kobe and Lakers fan, but Dick Cheney? C'mon, man that's harsh.

I thought EOS was supposed to be progressive! The dominant haterist discourse about Hoops stars--including but not limited to Kobe--is largely rooted in white chauvanism. Both stars have performed like brilliant artists in these playoffs. Cheney has never done anything as well as Kobe plays Hoops. C'mon, if this was correct Sasha would have been shot in the face by now.

I have to agree with most here.

EOS is one of my favorite places on the net, no doubt.

But this one went too far. I'm not a Kobe fan, but he doesn't deserve the comparison to a man who is supporting torture. Mello has a mean streak, too. Just check out what happened when Ashton Kutcher got a hold of him on Punk'd. This was a bit of a stretch.

Dave, usually your column is enlightening, but this column makes no sense, and seems like it is based on a half baked idea. Why not, say, compare Dwight Howard to the Russian army, and the Cavs to the US trained forces of Georgia? Exactly, there is no interesting comparison. What are you trying to say here... that you have found some problems with media's coverage of the NBA finals, and you are connecting it to US media coverage of political leaders? It's a stretch, and a poor one at that.

I'd like to agree with most of the folks on here especially with the commie laker fan in regards to the correlation between white chauvinism and the coverage of athletes of color.

Kobe is still a black man. No matter where he grew up and what his upbringing was (whether relatively privileged or not) and that was evident in the coverage of him and his court case. (i'm not saying that that womyn involved in the case was treated fairly either b/c she wasn't and that is another extension of the patriarchal society we live in and often times reinforce on the daily. )


With that said, i still want to thank you for this piece and having the courage to put it up. This is your space to express what you feel and if this is your view there is nothing wrong with you expressing it.

I just hope that you take our positions on the situation and reflect on your argument (or at least what we seem to understand your argument is).

Dwight Howard is Superman, not only because of that moniker, but because he is so strong he tears down shot clocks with his strength, he has a positive attitude, his nemesis is the midget Mr. Mxyzptlk (Van Gundy), and his kryptonite is his free throw shooting.

LeBron, of course, is Batman, with his so-called All Star sidekick Robin (Mo), and who also keeps his valuable sidekicks close like the cunning Lucious Fox (Coach Brown) , the earnest Commish Gordon (Delonte) and his long-serving Alfred Pennyworth (the antiquated Big Z).

You see, I can smoke a joint and write a ridiculous Leftist column too! Too bad I only met Chuck D at a couple PE shows or I could also run a popular website where other fair-minded posters almost-uniformly call out my retarded column. Sigh.

I enjoyed the article and I think many of the critics are missing the point or taking it a bit too seriously. As much as we all hate Cheney (the man is an ass, and should be in jail, and I would prefer to just ignore him at this point and relegate him to irrelevance), DZ is not comparing politics, he is comparing styles. It's not Cheney the reactionary conservative that he likens Kobe to, but the Cheney character type who is successful and feared because of his ruthless, cuthroat, uncompromising approach to his craft. Is this really so off-base?

Maybe the comparisons are a stretch, but it's a fun exercise and is a nice way of a) showing that similar forms of interaction and confrontation occur in sport and "real world", and b) taking some jabs at Cheney while urging Obama to feel some urgency in promoting a more progressive agenda. There are many ways to link sport and politics and one is using sport as a framework for political statement. I don't think this is usually the approach Dave takes to his articles, but it's a nice change of pace.

PS - It's nice to see Melo get some well-deserved praise for his game. He is usually left out in discussions of the very top tier of NBAers, where he surely belongs.

But I made a comparison too of Dwight and LeBron to superhero characters and it doesn't make it less inane.

Yes, Kobe has not been the most accommodating teammate, similar to Cheney trashing Dems every chance he gets. Yes, Melo exhibits more playfulness on the court, similar to Obama's jocularity (although don't tell that to disabled bowlers). Big f-in deal.

At least amoral Jordan said "Republicans Buy Sneakers, Too" -- adding some actual context for a baseline comparison. Not that being amoral is a bad thing, per se; not everybody has to maximize their celebrity with social activism. Kobe and Melo sure don't.

All of us posting here follow sports (or at least our NBA), and we can smell a stretch when we see one. I think we all know Zirin can do (much) better, like his New Orleans piece. This was hopefully just a hasty one-off that would have gotten an ""F" in journalism school for making sweeping assumptions more befitting of a primary school essay.

I find it interesting that more people seem moved by Dave's perspective on Kobe than by his comments about the President! Wow, does Kobe have that much juice? I guess so amongst sports fans.

I'm pretty dispassionate about all these guys. I see the comparison of Kobe to Cheney, they're both prickly asses. I don't know much about Melo, but the President has always tried so hard not to be perceived as the "angry black man", that he comes across as neither angry, black, or a man. I agree with Dave, he needs to be more direct and just tell Cheney to stop being a "Dick". But then neither Dave nor I have ever earned a single vote, so who are we to tell the President how to conduct his business. It pains me to admit it but I, like Dave, am still waiting and hoping for our progressive President to emerge.

The comments here are truly fascinating. It's meant to be tongue in cheek. I don't think Kobe is a war criminal. I do however believe that Obama could stand to be far less "mellow" when it comes to fitting Cheney and friends with orange jumpsuits.

If this was meant as tongue in cheek, it seems like it got lost in translation (as has been known to happen on the internet). The seriousness with which many of the topics on this site are dealt may be responsible.

Some of the comments on here are a bit over the top. Wasn't my favorite piece, but crazy leftist jive? I think not...

If you're familiar with the column, I think you get it. I thought it was creative. Maybe it required a bit of imagination on the part of the reader, but that's probably on purpose. I mean, if you reined in on the creativity for fear of being misunderstood, then you'd lose that Edge. Then you'd have to change the name of the column.

You're right, Kobe's not a war criminal...just a guy who walked on a rape charge thanks to being a millionaire. He's only destroyed one life, not millions, so while the comparison probably isn't totally accurate (nor is DZ claiming they're exactly alike) it's not like Kobe's only being criticized because of the faces he makes or being less than our favorite basketball player.
One other thing...I'm sick to bloody death of the right wing attack that ANYONE thinks Obama is the "Messiah." Not only does NOBODY think Obama is the "Messiah" contrary to Rush Limbaugh attacks liberals don't even like Obama that much. He's better than most of the DNC centrists the Democratic Party has given us over the last 20 years, and of course massively better than W or McCain, but he's not that beloved, much less "worshipped" by people on the left or anyone else. Right wing hate radio made up the lie that we think Obama is the "Messiah," compounded with the far more idiotic (and destructive) lie that the mainstream media is in agreement with the left on this...or anything else.

hk4Dek I am always excited to visit this blog in the evenings.Please churning hold the contents. It is very entertaining.