Bryant’s First Road Test Is Somewhat Cheering

I don’t know about Kobe Bryant, but the media were ready Saturday night for everything, and at the very least, just something.

One sign, only one sign in the sold-out America West Arena disparaging Bryant, and everyone from Sports Illustrated to USA Today, the Denver Post, the New York Times and the three writers from the Los Angeles Times would have made sure no one missed it.

Guaranteed, if it didn’t include expletives like the one on the T-shirt of Bryant’s wife the other day, it would have shown up as a picture in almost every newspaper in the country this morning, which would have probably fueled fans elsewhere around the NBA waiting for their chance.

Just one pointing heckler or ugly taunt loud enough so the local TV cameraman could pick up the sound to go with the videotape, and it would have made every 11 o’clock newscast here, and just maybe ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”

This was the chance for some yahoo to grab his or her 15 seconds of fame so the national media could justify the expense of being here for just another basketball game. But even Charles Barkley sat quietly without incident.

At one point starving photographers descended on a young man wearing a yellow Laker jacket over a yellow Laker No. 8 jersey while holding a yellow 2002 Laker team calendar with Kobe’s picture. Anywhere else he’d have been mocked for looking like Big Bird’s offspring, but photographers here considered him a godsend.

ESPN sent a reporter outside before the game with a camera crew to capture the arrival of agitated fans kneeling on the sidewalk and painting their nasty Kobe placards. Turn a TV light on fans and you can usually find someone willing to act goofy, case in point, Dick Vitale. But ESPN found no one.

When they played the national anthem, one camera was focused on the hometown Suns and 16 on the Lakers, specifically you know who, each making a permanent record, I guess, of the fact Bryant just stood there. Let’s go to the replay.

When Bryant’s name was announced for the first time at a road game, something that had been discussed and written about ad nauseam -- some in the media even coming to the conclusion that he should not play to avoid the ridicule and distraction it might cause his teammates -- the tame reaction was a mix of boos and cheers.

“The booing was kind of normal,” Bryant said later. “But people cheering my name -- now that was something I don’t usually hear on the road.”

Now what are the chances he will hear cheering in Sacramento?

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HE SAID he expected the worst, but I’m sure he has heard much harsher from Shaq. The crowd booed at the beginning of the game whenever he touched the ball. By the middle of the second quarter the boos had lost their steam and some fans were chanting, “Kobe, Kobe.” When he made a jump shot in the third quarter, the cheers actually dominated, and I guess when your only alternative is waiting to cheer for Tom Gugliotta to make a shot, you cheer when you can.

It may be different in Philadelphia or Denver, but the way the Lakers’ Hall of Famers have played in two games, it shouldn’t be too long before they become the NBA’s dominating story.

Shaq led all Lakers with 24 points, so you know he’s happy. Bryant scored only 15, so you know Shaq is happy. Shaq still doesn’t look at Kobe, a clear indication from my experience with living with the wife that he doesn’t want anything to do with Kobe yet, but the important thing is the Lakers are winning.

They also have Karl Malone working overtime as captain of this Love Boat, telling the media he has never met a bunch of guys who get along so well, and isn’t it wonderful, he said, to see so many unselfish players willing to pass up shots to give the ball to someone else.

If you buy that, how about this: When asked about the boos directed at Bryant, Malone said, “When they boo you, that means you’re pretty good.”

I didn’t get a chance to talk to everyone in the arena, but I don’t think that’s why they were booing.

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BRYANT DEALT with the media overflow, but it was too much for former Sun Rex Chapman, who wanted to shake Kobe’s hand in the hopes that Kobe might recognize him, so he yelled to the media, “Last question.” Like most of his teammates when he played for the Suns, the media and Bryant ignored him.

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BRYANT MAKES his first Staples Center appearance tonight, and Laker fans will notice one thing. “No explosion,” Kobe said. “Not even close. I don’t have that first step yet. I still have a ways to go.”

I still don’t imagine anyone in Staples will be booing him tonight.

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GIVEN THE way UCLA has lost a couple of games, ordinarily you might just say, “It’s time to punt,” but I wouldn’t want to scare the Bruins. Well, that’s not true. I have Coach Karl Dullard’s team losing the rest of its games and finishing 6-6.

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I’M NOT sure I’ve ever written his name without attaching a cheap shot, but here goes: Alex Spanos, owner of the Chargers, donated $1 million to the San Diego Fire Relief fund. I have to give it to the Big Goof -- way to go.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Jonathan:

“I read that 70,000 fans at last Monday night’s football game in Arizona donated about $200,000 for the fire relief fund. That’s less than $3 per person. What cheapskates. These people get a free pass to a Monday Night game and all they were asked to do was give a few bucks to help some people. Makes me want to puke.”

I’m sure fans who sat through that Chargers’ game felt the same way.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com.