Can we please be done with Kobe tributes?

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

The myriad of instant tweets and reactions were expressions of true denial.

The 8 second/24 second gesture was genuine grief

The Lakers tribute was closure.

The playing of video tributes across the league was a way for everyone to feel a part of the grieving process.

The retiring of his jersey by opposing teams was about showing respect.

Lebron's "Mamba" tattoo was heartfelt, but to tweet about it was egocentric.

Naming the All Star MVP Trophy after Kobe was a nice touch.

Having all the players in the All Star Game wearing either 2 or 24 is unnecessarily confusing.

Using Kobe's number as a prop in the Slam Dunk Contest was...wait, WTF!!!

A Kobe tribute before the All Star Game...um, we're still doing these??

A Kobe tribute at halftime...OH COME THE F#%@ ON!!!!!!

Kobe was one of the greatest players ever and died too soon, but this has just gone from genuine grieving to the same shticky crap that has turned the Dunk Contest into a gimmick. The only thing left to do is to launch Kobe's corpse over a Kia.

[Hypermav]

https://youtu.be/3iV8X8ubGCc

Be careful

[donzingis38]

It's going to be an all year thing.

When Kobe died, everybody knows All-Star weekend would be all about him. Not sure how you couldn't see it coming.

[SleepingHero]

I see where you're coming from but you also can look at it that the NBA lost one of the best to ever play in a freak accident. Kobe had A LOT left to give post retirement. I could've seen him on TNT and give incredible analysis but alas we'll never get to see it.

On the one hand, seeing some tributes this weekend felt forced and lacked any emotion. On the other, it's going to take more than 4 weeks to grieve the loss of an NBA great.

[Reunion Mav Old]

The All Star game was about tributes last year too....to Dirk and some other guy...who somehow got one this year too. This absolutely needed to be about Kobe. I must say, I too am a little tired of the tributes and I am hoping it slows way down but we may see some more in the playoffs...or maybe not and they can just be about the playoffs. 

The point about grief takes longer is absolutely true as most of us know from experience. Let's get to the quiet part. I really like naming the All Star MVP after Kobe though. It goes on for years and the All Star game mattered to Kobe...a lot!

[hakeemfan]

ASG tributes are fine. A lot of players knew him personally and the grief is still fresh.

Asking to change the logo is going overboard.

[vg2011]

I agree with the spirit of the opening post.

The early tributes came when everyone was genuinely shocked and grieving.

But it's rapidly escalating to the point where a tragedy is being exploited as a marketing tool.

They had no choice but to acknowledge the tragedy at the ASG. It was the elephant in the room. But the acknowledgement should have been left at the classier tributes outlined in the OP.

[burekemde]

I see the point, and i think it is a great one. I think is not only related to Kobe. There is a lot more behind that as well. It is related to the modern times we live in, mostly about media and how news are controlled and promoted. The media was before always controlled by the big news media outlets, and also governments. The indiviual people did not had much control. During the history, place the media in the wrong hands, wrong regimes, and you have always a big problem. Now the news have been completely transformed. It is no longer CNN you check, but the twitters and facebooks of individual people, this has more power now. In one way this great and fair in some sense, but in another way it is horrible. Because any idiot that does not even know Kobe can use this to promote him or herself, and their message becomes the one that is read, and not from the people that truly knew Kobe.

In reality, what really matters is the opinion of the people who were the closest to him. His family and friends, and only the players that were his close friends. Whether that is posted on any news site or social media or not, but that is actually what matters most. Of course, also the dedicated Lakers fans that followed him when he was playing. So maybe the Lakers site likely reveals some really true opinions, that really truly matter. And his friends and family. The rest, the players that didnt know him that well, never played with him and were not close friends, majority of fans and majority of twitter and facebook etc, all these people can show appreciation of what he achieved and that is fair, but i do not believe more than that, and their news should not be the front page news at all. We have even seen people use this in the media to promote their stories of what happened in their lifes, unrelated to Kobe. Marketing and lots of other stuff. Get their twitter news to be the most clicked. Etc.

Before, when social media was not yet invented, I think the big news media were in better control of what mattered and not, although still far from perfect incovering the stories and putting focus on the opinion of the closest family and friends, but also then there were ton of other issues. Now with social media, it is people trying to use Kobe to promote them self and not really grieving Kobe. For me to read/hear true opinion of what the closest to Kobe have to say is impossible to find among all the posts written from people that do not know who he was.

This is not only a problem related to this matter, but a general one, on how the society and control of news has been transformed and we hardly realise this. And it is very alarming. Most wars and problems in history relate to transformation of how media are controlled and used. The idea of all people in general controlling the news is not bad and in many ways fair, but will be very hard to control. As you see many inividuals that were not close to Kobe get a lot more to say and they are the ones whos voice/words are heard on the front page.

[ThunderMav]

There are no wrong posts/points here.

I think having it focus of AS weekend will allow folks to move on.  Better to overdo it than not else the backlash.

I think with the 4 day break this week people will move on and be ready for the final push.

[mtrot]

It was perfectly reasonable to honor Kobe at the ASG, but to keep it up much longer will become a bit macabre, IMO.

[TXBamanut]

At one one point, I think it was Magic talking, and he said "We lost a great member of our NBA family..." and I was like, for a second, "here we go again".  Those words are what you say when no one knows or you don't know any other way to start.  I felt bad for that reaction, but I've literally heard that speech, with those words of information, start a hundred times since Kobe's death.. When you get to that point, I think that's when you know that it's enough.

At some point, the law of diminishing returns kicks in and the tributes cease to honor Kobe and start to become trite and restated.  I think it's time to stop.

The truth is that during grief, people who make the biggest displays at funerals are usually the people who feel as though they didn't do what they should in life for the person they lost... Maybe, with that in mind, the real tribute to Kobe would be to be better about honoring great players that are still alive quicker and better.

[Baller AI]

I agree, it is kind of annoying seeing the NBA milk this man's death for money. Yes there are many that genuinely cared and want to do these events to remember him, but I guarantee a lot of the NBA (Adam Silver types) see this as an opportunity to make money and sell Kobe jerseys.

[Kammrath]

I agree, it is kind of annoying seeing the NBA milk this man's death for money. Yes there are many that genuinely cared and want to do these events to remember him, but I guarantee a lot of the NBA (Adam Silver types) see this as an opportunity to make money and sell Kobe jerseys.

[StepBackJay]

Ya it is kind of disgusting to try to profit off a guy's death. I wish/hope they would contribute proceeds to causes. I haven't paid enough attention to know what the NBA is doing. We will have Kobe tributes for the rest of the year and certainly in the playoffs. With 2 LA contenders you know you will get tons of Kobe references and all that. It's definitely not going to be over until after this season. And even then there will be some stuff leftover such as potential jersey retirements and all that.

[Benskix2]

I think when the Lakers play in a town they haven't been in since it happened there will probably be a video tribute.  Some of the stuff in the ASG seemed like too much, but I think they probably had some different people presenting different ideas for tributes and Adam Silver just decided to say yes to all of them as not to hurt anyones feelings, at that's fine. 

When something bad happens to someone else it's important to let everyone know how bad you feel about it so that the people it actually happened too don't get to hog all the sympathy and you can feel important too.  Egotism is the ultimate tribute we can all pay to Kobe Bryant.

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

If you selected "Global Pandemic" in the "What Will Stop Kobe Tributes?' Sweepstakes" , come on down and collect your prize.  You're officially Bosstradamus.