- R. Nelly
Kobe Bryant’s No. 8 jersey, a Top 10 seller in 2004, has fallen to No. 72, according to SportsScanINFO, a Palm Beach, Fla.-based market research firm.
Ever since his preps-to-pros entry into the League in 1996, KB8’s jersey has been a regular appearance around almost every NBA venue…until now.
This is almost as if Hercules fell from Mt. Olympus, skipping the mortal world and landing directly into the Underworld.
Instant failure. Bye bye happy ending.
The absolute crash in sales is undoubtedly among one of the worst in NBA history, and get this: I’m still wondering why it didn’t happen sooner!
Understand, I, or anyone else for that matter, never expected this Olympic high diver-style plunge to happen—c’mon, these numbers are just ludicrous! However, if we look at some events prior to this drop, today’s news won’t seem as much like, well…news.
It all started with Bryant’s rape case. Then his messy and oft-portrayed selfish divorce with the Diesel this summer. Then his less-than-classy comments about future Hall of Famer and former teammate Karl Malone.
Even his old coach Phil Jackson calls Bryant a prima donna in his new best-selling book. Over the past one-and-a-half years, the man without a nickname has gotten more than his share of bad ink by the media.
And, to top it all off, Kobe gave himself the WORST ink he’s EVER gotten: those BUTT UGLY tattoos on his right arm.
Still surprising that KB8’s jersey suddenly plummeted to rock bottom?
For me it always has been very simple: I NEVER would buy a Kobe jersey. Despite his obviously sick talent, he’s always had a rep as one of the shadiest and most fake players in the league.
Anyone remember a couple years ago when Bryant went a week wearing throwbacks to every game in the playoffs? Did that seem natural or merited? Nah…but that’s just Kobe.
But now I’m turnin’ the million dollar question to you: would you still buy a Kobe Bryant jersey?
MSNBC Sports is doing a live poll on the question, so get to the site, vote and see what other people are saying about NBA’s second leading scorer’s uniform this year.
Y'all already know what I voted.
