Trial and Tribulation Ahead for the Lakers

Regarding the headline over J.A. Adande’s Oct. 7 column, that “It’s Time Bryant Puts His Needs First,” isn’t that how this whole mess started?

Kristopher Bunker

Simi Valley

*

As a career businessman who believes that team play and attitude can only be positive attributes in any environment, I am mystified by the public comments made by Kobe Bryant. Imagine yourself deciding not to show up for work for two days, failing to notify your boss of your intended absence, then informing the world that the only reason you are here is because your wife thought you should be.

No contrition, no humility, no feeling of individual responsibility to teammates. I can’t empathize with 25-year-old pampered multimillionaires who do not possess the class and common sense to at least try to make us believe that their employers, teammates and fans deserve their very best.

Nelson E. Murphy

Lake Forest

*

Kobe says he’s “terrified” about what his family is going through. Bull.

He talks about a “roller coaster.” Well, he ought to take the ride that my family is on.

My wife of 22 years is 42 years old. She was a vibrant mother of four children. She never smoked a cigarette in her life and isn’t subject to secondhand smoke, doesn’t drink and has always been a fit, healthy woman.

Two months ago, however, an annoying cough got her to the doctor. A few weeks later, a chest X-ray showed an abnormality. Then, an MRI showed a lung tumor. She didn’t go looking for trouble, but for whatever reason, she got lung cancer. This, Mr. Bryant, is terror.

Within weeks, more tests showed lesions on her brain, and just last week five small lesions in her bones were discovered. This, Mr. Bryant, is a roller coaster.

While my wife deals with a life-threatening disease that she did not bring upon herself, I’m supposed to respect a man with emotionless determination in keeping himself out of prison because he couldn’t keep his genitals in his pants and might have gotten rough with a woman other than his wife.

I don’t think so.

Mike Bultsma

Lakewood

*

We are a decaying nation and that decay is most evident in the political and journalistic arenas. Never has that been any more obvious than in last Saturday’s edition of “48 Hours Investigates.” CBS should be severely reprimanded for its one hour of a one-sided report stemming from the Kobe Bryant “accuser.” This neurotic, suicidal individual sent a 15-minutes-of-fame seeker named Johnray to sit before the cameras and give the viewers a show built solely on hearsay, and can you believe there are sponsors who actually paid good money to attach their names to garbage like this?

John Widener

Burbank