Kobe Bryant on Racial Solidarity and Trayvon Martin in the New Yorker. Is He Right?

Kobe Bryant has been one of the most compelling athletes in sports during his Hall of Fame NBA career, enjoying immense highs (81 points vs Toronto, five titles) and rock-bottom lows (sexual assault allegation in Colorado, fighting with Shaq). I enjoyed Kobe as a player early in his career, then found him insufferable after he had Shaq jettisoned from LA, but now have fallen in love with him again as his playing days come to a close.

He’s clearly one of the smarter elite athletes in sports, something that is evident in a wide-ranging feature in the New Yorker on Bryant. There are plenty of facts that were new to me – Kobe would shun reporters he saw talking to Shaq; when he was 9-years old he had to do an oral book report in Latin on the Iliad – but I think what will get the most pickup are his thoughts on Trayvon Martin and racial solidarity.

I will offer no hot take here other than to say: 1) Well, you heard the facts in the Trayvon Martin situation. And? [UPDATE: Kobe tweeted about Trayvon Martin after this post went up. Nice job, Kobe.] 2) Gosh, Jim Brown is the worst.