Kobe Bryant didn't express any remorse. He didn't apologize. He just whined and complained after being slapped by the NBA with a two-game suspension for hitting Memphis guard Mike Miller with a forearm shiver in last Tuesday's Los Angeles Lakers-Grizzlies game. It was a typical reaction by Bryant, a star who had already sullied his image and is now seen as a magnet for controversy. For a man who once was mentioned as Michael Jordan's heir apparent and viewed as the new face of basketball, Bryant has transformed into a player fans love to root against.

  Doesn't get it.

 

Three years ago, it would have been hard to picture Bryant as a persona non grata. After all, he was doing ads for Sprite and adidas, while helping lead the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships. But then he was charged with sexual assault and news began to leak out about his deteriorating relationships with teammate Shaquille O'Neal and Lakers coach Phil Jackson. By the summer of 2004, Bryant's popularity had dwindled substantially. He was blamed for Jackson's retirement and O'Neal being traded to Miami. Perhaps that had something to do with the fact that Bryant's dyspeptic personality is the outer manifestation of a man who is confused on the inside.

 

Bryant wants not only to be loved by the fans but also maintain a level of street credibilty. At one point, he hated the squeaky clean image he had. He was the son of an NBA player, was raised as a child in Italy and was looked at as a talented player who got all the breaks in life. So he got some tattoos and went to Harlem's Rucker Park and put on a show with the neighborhood ballers one summer. He also began asserting himself in his relationship with O'Neal, a dynamic star who always got more of the limelight. But when Bryant began trying to gain more street cred, he antagonized some of the fans he once had.

 

The rape allegations didn't help and neither did his feuds with O'Neal and Jackson, who each seemed more mature and level-headed than the younger and considerably less savvy Bryant. As a result, the former Golden Child began losing his endorsements and suddenly found himself in no-man's land. He was never going to be loved like Allen Iverson by the kids in the #### and Corporate America, which had grown tired of his act, no longer wanted anything to do with him.

 

And who can blame them, especially after seeing Bryant's vicious flagrant foul? What happened last Tuesday was the latest missetep by a frustrated man who still doesn't get it. When he decked Miller, he didn't prove his toughness. He showed he was the same guy who ran off O'Neal and Jackson in 2004. Then the next day, Bryant was far from contrite, maintaining the same attitude the star guard had when he was being criticized for single-handedly destroying the Lakers team that won three titles. Bryant does not want to accept the blame. But he should, because in the end everything bad that has happened to him has resulted from his actions. If he just took responsibility for his transgressions, maybe he would get what he really wants -- approval.