Fortunately for me, the interviews with the USA Basketball players yielded 2 articles in The Guardian. Read this Q&A with newly minted NBA Champion multi-position superstar Lebron James, NBA defensive player of the year Tyson Chandler, Mr. double-double & chairman of the boards Kevin Love, lob-city assistant Chris Paul, and Bloomberg's successor as the Mayor of New York City Carmelo Anthony.
On the last day of 3 basketball media-filled afternoons at the new practice facility on campus at UNLV, I met Kobe. He was a gentleman, but a real guy. I was and I wasn't star struck. You're not supposed to be, but physically, its internally awkward to shake someone's hand for the first time unless you have a respected man making the introduction like Coach K.
At this point, the team changed the practice sessions to follow the media infiltration at the gym. Too distracting when the players need to focus. And to have cameras rolling during practice might require tactics on par with General Schwarzkopf drawing up secret counterinsurgency measures on a map of Kuwait in the background of a CNN package during the Gulf War.It wasn't until returning to the Wynn, spending time with Seth Davis, and waiting for practice to end that we had a chance to learn about the extremely competitive personality that is Kobe Bryant. Read this interview about this superhuman athlete's efforts to retain his edge legally. Better yet, internationally. It's no mistake Kobe ended up in Germany for his experimental knee surgery. Peyton Manning traveled to Europe for his neck fusion surgery as well. It's not so rare but the effects are amazing. The fact that Bryant had lost 16 pounds in preparation for the Olympics was picked up by ESPN First Take and USA Today too.
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