Kobe's fans wait for shoe to drop

While some young sports buffs still idolize Lakers star Kobe Bryant, others wait to learn the outcome of the assault case against him.

TAMPA - Heat rises from the pavement, looming toward a throng of amateur basketball players and their friends. Basketball fans at the And 1 Mix Tape tour queue up to win a spot in the evening's big game.

But with Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant implicated in a sexual assault scandal, the mostly youthful crowd has more on its mind than NBA-size aspirations.

"I think he's innocent," says Adam Kreger, 14, of Sarasota. "I think the police and everybody are just trying to get a big fish.

"I just think he cheated on his wife and he admitted that," Adam says. "I don't think he did anything other than that."

We idolize our athletes. We sport jerseys with their names. We buy their shoes. The spectators swilling sodas and lounging on car hoods outside the University of South Florida's Sun Dome on Aug. 3 attest to the prestige we associate with professional sports.

Kobe supporters rush to his defense: He's only human, they say. Others are so livid, they refuse to even talk about it.

"He was already guilty before the case already came out," says Los, 21, about the media coverage. "The whole world loves to see you when you're going down. Kobe Bryant (is) on top. Shoe deal. Endorsements. Everything like that."

Bryant's endorsements are many. But will the case - outcome pending - affect his deals? Nutella has already dropped Bryant's face from its campaign (though it will pay out his contract). Even if the charges are dismissed, or the case is settled out of court, Bryant's future as a Nike or McDonald's spokesman is tenuous at best.

"Now endorsers will say "Dang, if we aren't safe with a clean guy like Kobe Bryant, what do we do?,' " Calvin Andrews of BDA Sports Management, based in Walnut Creek, Calif., told the Denver Post in a recent interview.

"Basically, they want you to be a role model point blank, and if you ain't gonna be no role model, they don't want you endorsing their stuff," Los says. "He can't be the bad boy. When have you ever seen Mike Tyson endorse anything? Or Charles Barkley endorsing anything? You don't see people like that." (Actually, bad boy Barkley has played up his naughty image in a series of commercials.)

"Rape is a serious charge," says 12-year-old fan Joseph Filvestri at the Sun Dome. "If he really did something like that, I mean, I would still like him, but it would change what he would do and how I would like him as a player."

Jack McCallum, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, covers the NBA. He questions the very notion of athletes as role models.

"I personally never thought that athletes should be role models," he said in a phone interview with the Times. "I don't think there's any translation, necessarily, between Kobe Byrant being able to score 40 points in 10 straight games. . . . Therefore, when there's a fall from grace, as in the case with Kobe, it's always so much more precipitous because people have built them up to be role models."

But how do kids choose their role models? Do they favor wholesome types like Michael Jordan or are they drawn to the rowdy guys? Some teens say it's athletic skills that matter. Period.

Judith Tankel, 14, plays soccer and runs cross country at Palm Harbor University High. She calls Mia Hamm an idol, saying, "She's so good and it's something to aspire to. I love playing soccer, and it's something that I'd like to do when I get older."

Judith thinks that off-the-court behavior does affect the way kids view their heroes, though. "I think that sometimes athletes think that they're so popular that they can sometimes get away with things, but I think some kids might not look up to them as much," she says.

The appeal of Bryant, the 24-year-old Lakers guard, was evident Aug. 2 when he won the Teen Choice Award for favorite male athlete. It was not known whether the votes were tallied before or after the allegations against Bryant surfaced.

Bryant, who appeared at the awards ceremony with his wife, Vanessa, also won last year. The awards show aired Wednesday. He has said that he had sex with a 19-year-old employee at a Colorado resort June 30, but denies her claims of sexual assault. He's free on $25,000 bail.

Some young Kobe fans are adamant in their support.

"I admire Kobe; and what he did off the court, that doesn't change what he does on the court," Adam says. "I still like him."

- Information from the Denver Post and Times wires was used in this report.

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