My first reaction when I heard that Kobe Bryant had been charged with sexual assault tiptoed on a line of disbelief and disregard.
This can't be, right? He's Kobe Bryant. A slight wave of misogyny furrowed my brow. She's looking for money. She's looking for attention ... something. No way.
I've seen him on television. I've held my breath as he weaved through San Antonio Spurs and released unimaginable shots. I screamed with delight as the ball and Tim Duncan's season dropped gloriously through the basket.
This guy is a magician, an artist. He's well-spoken and polite. Best of all, he's a professional basketball player. A guy like that could never rape someone.
But then my sense of decency (and reality) politely tapped my shoulder.
The NBA, as well as the other U.S. major-sports leagues, is riddled with infidelity and adultery.
Why, then, is it so hard for me and the rest of the doubters to believe that the victim may be telling the truth?
Simply: We don't want to believe it. As a population, we have deified our favorite athletes. Their prowess is translated into rewards of staggering wealth, impenetrable fame and god-like social status. Much of our lives revolve around the mistakes and successes of these heroes, who are actually only ordinary men or women who happen to play extremely well.
Still, the worship is impossible to escape. For every person not interested in statistics or standings, 10 live or die by the box scores. The reasons are indefinable and insignificant. For many, following professional sports is an obsession, almost a religion. We can't get enough of it.
We pile unimaginable pressure on our favorite stars to win championships and bring glory to our cities. We demand they are the kind of perfect that every mother knows her son or daughter could never emulate.
Unsurprisingly then, our crop of beloved athletes, those performing and those waiting in line for the throne, begin to believe they are as amazing as we say they are.
And when we need a line, no one is capable of drawing one. Then no one is able to treat an athlete like Kobe Bryant like a suspected rapist.
"Like most pro athletes, (Kobe Bryant's) life hasn't been anything approaching normal for quite some time," wrote Phil Taylor in an article titled "Disturbing Behavior" at www.si.com. "That's the problem."
Our society is lenient towards indiscretion when fame is involved, whether it's athletic or otherwise. We love the drama. We have to. How come Latrell Sprewell was not incarcerated for choking his coach, P.J. Carlesimo?
Normal rules do not apply.
Premier athletes do not face the same consequences as regular citizens, but then again, they do not have the same expectations.
Of course, I'm not advocating Bryant's behavior. I'm not sticking up for him. Whether he is guilty of rape or not, he is still an admitted adulterer. But he'll walk away from this with only a bruised checkbook and a new, sketchy reputation.
And until we realize athletes are flawed, full of vice and capable of error (just like all of us), we'll continue to shrug our shoulders at these kinds of indiscretions and swat aside serious criminal charges like they were only annoying house flies.
Write to Allyn at aswest@bsu.edu
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