3/31/11
3/30/11
3/29/11
Rare Beatle Pix
At Seattle Tacoma Airport in Washington, The Beatles boarded their chartered American Flyer Airlines Lockheed Electra plane bound for Vancouver, BC to give their first-ever Canadian concert, at the Empire Stadium, on Augst 22, 1964 which would be the fourth show on this first US / Canadian tour.
After the concert in Vancouver The Beatles immediately went to the airport and flew to Los Angeles, arriving at 3:55am, for their now-famous concert at The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on August 23rd and a few days off before flying to their next concert at Red Rocks in Colorado. Out of fear of a deluge of frenzied fans The Ambassador Hotel canceled The Beatles reservations and Lockhhed Airport in Burbank had refused to let their plane land. British actor Reginald Owen stepped in to save them by renting them his Bel Air mansion for $1,000 for four days. While posing for a magazine photosession poolside, Bob Bonis took photographs from his unique perspective.
During this stay at Owens home Ringo played cowboy with a toy gun that was reportedly a gift from Elvis Presley. "The first time in LA, we'd rented a huge house and I turned into a cowboy. I had a poncho and two toy guns and was invited over to Burt Lancaster's, and that was how I went. I was all, 'Hold it up there now, Burt, this town ain't big enough for both of us,' and he said, 'What have you go there? Kids' stuff.' Later he sent me two real guns, and a real holster: he didn't like me playing with kids' guns. I just wanted to be a cowboy." - Ringo Starr
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Municipal Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri, September 17th, 1964. George is playing his 1963 Rickenbacker 360-12 model guitar, built in December 1963. This was his first Rickenbacker 12-string, a gift from Rickenbacker owner Francis C. Hall, and was the second 360-12 ever made. It would significantly contribute to the sound of the 1960s as George used it to record both A Hard Day's Night and Help! and played it live in both 1964 and 1965 on a few songs. John is playing his 1964 Rickenbacker 325 model guitar, built specially for him by the company. John had fallen in love with the Rickenbacker 325 after seeing Jean "Toots" Thielemans play one in the George Shearing Quintet in 1959. Paul McCartney playing his 1963 violin-shaped, hollow-body Hofner model 500/1 bass. It would come to be known as the "Beatle Bass". It was stolen in 1968 during the filming of the promotional film for the song Revolution, at which point he went back to using his original 1961 model, which he still uses extensively today.
In this photo from Houston, Texas on August 19th, 1965 on The Beatles second tour of America the floor around Paul is littered with items that fans threw at The Beatles. Fans began throwing a soft British candy know as jelly babies at the band after George made the mistake of mentioning in an interview that he loved them. This spread to the US where jelly babies were unknown and fans began to bombard them on stage with hard US jellybeans, and also everything from paper, cups and makeup to other dangerous objects. In 1963, before The Beatles first came to America they were were already upset by this happening in the UK and George, in a letter back to a 15-year-old female fan wrote: "We don't like jelly babies, or fruit gums for that matter, so think how we feel standing on stage trying to dodge the stuff, before you throw some more at us. Couldn't you eat them yourself, besides it is dangerous. I was hit in the eye once with a boiled sweet, and it's not funny!"
As was the norm for their stadium shows, the Beatles stage was set up at mid-field. For this show in Bloomington, Minnesota on August 21st, 1965 no photographers were permitted near the stage so the only photographs previously know of this performance are long shots taken from quite a distance. These photographs by Bob Bonis are the only close-up photographs taken at stage level of this historic performance. Here Paul McCartney has looked back from the audience to see Bob Bonis standing at the side of the stage with his camera and flashes him a big smile.
At the same show at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesaota George gives Bob a thumbs up sign.
As the American Flyer Lockheed Electra plane chartered for this tour flew from Bloomington, Minnesota to Portland, Oregon one of the plane's engines caught fire and belched thick black smoke, but the plane landed safely and no one was hurt. When asked about it as they landed Ringo said "Beatles, woman and children first!" The Beatles performed two shows in Portland on August 22 to a combined audience of 19,936 fans. Ticket prices ranged from $4.00 to $6.00. Here John is seen wearing the same outfits that they made famous when they played at New York's Shea Stadium on the first show of this tour.
Backstage between shows John passes the time by donning a hat and towel as a scarf with a small British Flag. This photo is entitled John of Arabia.
The Beatles closed out their second tour of America with a return to Cow Palace in San Francisco, California where they had opened their first tour of America in August of 1964. When they flew from Los Angeles, where they had peformed two sold out shows at the Hollywood Bowl, to San Francisco. Joan Baez flew with them and later visited backstage along with Johnny Cash. Before the two shows at Cow Palace they had performed 16 times in nine different cites, including their third Ed Sullivan appearance. They had performed for over 300,000 screaming fans in 16 days but had one more show to go before taking a much earned six week break before getting back together to record the LP Rubber Soul.
On the flight to San Francisco at the end of August, 1964 for their last show on their second U.S. tour Paul and Ringo catch up on the latest events in rock 'n' roll.
The third U.S. tour in 1966 was the last tour The Beatles would ever make. It would take place under the controversy of John Lennon's quote that was taken out of context about The Beatles being "more popular than Jesus." On March 4, 1966 London's Evening Standard published an interview with John Lennon and his friend, journalist Maureen Cleave. In this interview was the following statement from John: "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." John had been reading extensively about religion at the time and it was a small part of a much larger article. In Britain it barely raised an eyebrow. But on July 29, 1966 the American magazine Datebook published an excerpt of an interview highlighting the "We're more popular than Jesus" quote out of context and used it as part of their cover story. The result was that radio stations in the South banned The Beatles music and sponsored rallies where parents and teens smashed Beatles records and made bonfires where they burned Beatles memorabilia. When they played in Memphis on August 13th, their first show in the south, John received death threats and the KKK picketed. Here they pass the time before the concert tuning up and practising.
George and Ringo change into their stage clothes for the performance in Memphis on Augst 13th, 1966.
Backstage at JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, PA on August 16th, 1966 George tunes his guitar before the show.
The Beatles were scheduled to perform at Crosley Field in Cincinnati on Saturday, August 20, 1966. It was one of the shows on the tour that was scheduled at an outdoor baseball park. A few minutes before the first opening act took the stage it started to rain heavily. The stage was erected with a cnopy to protect the bands from rain but failed to do so, There was a real fear that one of The Beatles could be electrocuted. The Beatles were afraid that they'd be electrocuted when they plugged in their amps. Paul McCartney threw up from nervousness and the Beatles refused to perform. The promoter relented and the concert was postponed. In a very rare photograph John and Paul face each other while singing instead of facing the audience. Bob Bonis's photos from Crosley Field are the only known color photographs of this rare outdoor afternoon show.
After the rescheduled afternoon concert at Crosley Field The Beatles, the other acts and the entire entourage headed directly to Boone County Airport in Boone County, Kentucky for a quick flight to St. Louis, Missouri for the evening concert at Busch Memorial Stadium . It was the only time in all three of The Beatles US tours that they would play in two different cities on the same day. This tour took its toll on The Beatles and although no one spoke directly about it they all knew this would be their last tour.
Paul takes a drink on the plane en route to Busch memorial Stadium in St. Louis on August 21st, 1966. Although they still had a lot of enthusiasm for writing and recording the long and winding road of touring was coming to an end. Five concerts later they would perform their last-ever official live concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
3/28/11
3/23/11
3/20/11
Why Wisconsin Fights On
REMEMBERING LABOR'S MARTYRED HEROES
100 years ago, the Triangle fire and the deaths of 146 garment workers helped spark a new labor movement.
By Alice Hoffman
March 20, 2011
The Triangle fire, a garment factory blaze that killed 146 people 100 years ago this week, was the worst workplace disaster in New York City until the fall of the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Yet despite the fire's place in history, many Americans know nothing about it.
Those who died in the March 25, 1911, fire were mostly young Jewish and Italian women and girls, new immigrants who risked their safety in horrendous sweatshop conditions making women's garments. Foremen frequently locked workers into their workrooms to make certain they didn't take breaks or pilfer cloth; this ensured that for many trapped inside, there was virtually no escape when the blaze began.
The victims either burned alive or leapt from window ledges, some with their hair and clothes on fire as they fell to the sidewalk below. Most of the dead were women, but almost 30 were men. One of the young men was seen kissing a woman at the window before they both jumped to their deaths.
Witnesses reported that best friends looped their arms around each other's waists, jumping en masse, holding tight to one another as they leapt. Those who escaped reported the terror of being locked in by their bosses, watching in horror as their sisters and mothers and best friends fell through the air like cinders.
That same day, bodies were set out on the bloody sidewalk, a mere block from Washington Square Park, so that mothers could search for their missing daughters. The owners of the factory managed to avoid the flames by fleeing to the roof. When brought to court, they escaped criminal action. The families of the dead were sent $75 apiece for their lost daughters. That was all their lives were worth.
And yet the events of that day were a turning point for labor activism. The fire helped to fuel a new labor movement, and it energized the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which demanded and got significant improvements in the way workers were treated and the conditions in which they worked.
I believe that how we remember and honor our lost heroes defines who we are as a nation. When we forget, we falter — and we often forget. We've forgotten much about our grandparents, immigrants from worlds so oppressive they were willing to work for low wages under wretched conditions, all for a chance at their own version of the American dream.
We need to remember that a national tragedy is made up of individuals — men and women, sons and daughters, husbands and wives — people who were loved and mourned and who deserve to be remembered. We don't want to make this mistake again, anymore than we want to treat workers who are newly arrived as if they were anything less than true Americans.
If we remember our fallen heroes, if we know them by name, maybe then we can remember the dream we still share with those who follow the journey our grandparents made.
In memory of those who were lost in the Triangle fire:
Lizzie Adler (24),, Anna Altman (16), Annina Ardito (25), Rose Bassino (31), Vincenza Benanti (22),, Yetta Berger (18), Essie Bernstein (19), Jacob Bernstein (35), Morris Bernstein (19), Gussie Bierman (22), Vincenza Billota (16), Abraham Binovitz (30), Rosie Brenman (23), Sarah Brenman (17), Ida Brodsky (15), Sarah Brodsky (21), Ada Brooks (18), Laura Brunetti (17), Josephine Cammarata* (18), Francesca Caputo (17), Josephine Carlisi (31), Albina Caruso (20), Annie Ciminello (36), Rosina Cirrito (18), Anna Cohen (25), Annie Colletti (30), Sarah Cooper (16), Michelina Cordiano (25), Bessie Dashefsky (25), Josie Del Castillo (21), Clara Dockman (19), Kalman Donick (24), Celia Esenberg (17), Dora Evans* (18), Rebecca Feibisch (17), Yetta Fichtenholtz (18), Daisy Lopez Fitze (26), Mary Floresta (26), Max Florin* (23), Jenne Franco (17), Rose Friedman (18), Diana Gerjuoy (18), Masha Gerstein (17), Catherine Giannattasio (22), Celia Gitlin (17), Esther Goldstein (20), Lena Goldstein (22), Mary Goldstein (18), Yetta Goldstein (20), Rosie Grasso (16), Bertha Greb (25), Rachel Grossman (17), Mary Herman (40), Esther Hochfeld (21), Fannie Hollander (18), Pauline Horowitz (19), Ida Jukofsky (19), Ida Kanowitz (18), Tessie Kaplan (18), Beckie Kessler (19), Jacob Klein (23), Beckie Koppelman (16), Bertha Kula (19), Tillie Kupferschmidt (16), Benjamin Kurtz (19), Annie L'Abbate (16), Fannie Lansner (21), Maria Giuseppa (Tortorelli), Lauletti* (33), Jennie Lederman (21), Max Lehrer (18), Sam Lehrer (19), Kate Leone (14), Mary Leventhal (22), Jennie Levin (19), Pauline Levine (19), Nettie Liebowitz (25), Rose Liermark (19), Bettina Maiale (18), Frances Maiale (21), Catherine Maltese (39), Lucia Maltese (20), Rosaria Maltese (14), Maria Manaria (27), Rose Mankofsky (22), Rose Mehl (15), Yetta Meyers (19), Gaetana Midolo (16), Annie Miller (16), Beckie Neubauer (19), Annie Nicholas (18), Michelina Nicolosi (21), Sadie Nussbaum (18), Julia Oberstein (19), Rose Oringer (19), Becky Ostrovsky (20), Annie Pack (18), Providenza Panno (43), Antonietta Pasqualicchio (16), Ida Pearl (20), Jennie Pildescu (18), Vincenza Pinelli (30), Emilia Prato (21), Concetta Prestifilippo* (18), Becky Reines (19), Fannie Rosen* (21), Israel Rosen (17), Julia Rosen (35), Louis (Loeb), Rosen (33), Yetta Rosenbaum (22), Jennie Rosenberg (21), Gussie Rosenfeld (22), Nettie Rosenthal (21), Emma Rothstein (22), Theodore Rotner (22), Sarah Sabasowitz (17), Santina Salemi (24), Sarafina Saracino (25), Teresina Saracino (20), Gussie Schiffman (18), Theresa Schmidt (32), Ethel Schneider (20), Violet (Velye), Schochet (21), Golda Schpunt (19), Margaret Schwartz (24), Jacob Seltzer (33), Rosie Shapiro (17), Ben Sklover (25), Rose Sorkin (18), Annie Starr (30), Jennie Stein (18), Jennie Stellino (16), Jennie Stiglitz (22), Sam Taback (20), Clotilde Terranova (22), Isabella Tortorelli (17), Meyer Utal (23), Catherine Uzzo (22), Frieda Velakofsky (20), Bessie Viviano (15), Rosie Weiner (20), Sarah Weintraub (17), Tessie Weisner (21), Dora Welfowitz (21), Bertha Wendorff (18), Joseph Wilson (21), Sonia Wisotsky (17)
Spellings are those used by the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition. The names bearing asterisks were until recently listed as unknown victims. Researcher Michael Hirsch identifed the six after an exhaustive search of records and documents from the time.
Alice Hoffman is a novelist of more than 25 books, most recently "The Red Garden." In October, Scribners will publish her novel "The Dovekeepers." Her grandfather, Chaim Klurfeld, was a member of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
100 years ago, the Triangle fire and the deaths of 146 garment workers helped spark a new labor movement.
By Alice Hoffman
March 20, 2011
The Triangle fire, a garment factory blaze that killed 146 people 100 years ago this week, was the worst workplace disaster in New York City until the fall of the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Yet despite the fire's place in history, many Americans know nothing about it.
Those who died in the March 25, 1911, fire were mostly young Jewish and Italian women and girls, new immigrants who risked their safety in horrendous sweatshop conditions making women's garments. Foremen frequently locked workers into their workrooms to make certain they didn't take breaks or pilfer cloth; this ensured that for many trapped inside, there was virtually no escape when the blaze began.
The victims either burned alive or leapt from window ledges, some with their hair and clothes on fire as they fell to the sidewalk below. Most of the dead were women, but almost 30 were men. One of the young men was seen kissing a woman at the window before they both jumped to their deaths.
Witnesses reported that best friends looped their arms around each other's waists, jumping en masse, holding tight to one another as they leapt. Those who escaped reported the terror of being locked in by their bosses, watching in horror as their sisters and mothers and best friends fell through the air like cinders.
That same day, bodies were set out on the bloody sidewalk, a mere block from Washington Square Park, so that mothers could search for their missing daughters. The owners of the factory managed to avoid the flames by fleeing to the roof. When brought to court, they escaped criminal action. The families of the dead were sent $75 apiece for their lost daughters. That was all their lives were worth.
And yet the events of that day were a turning point for labor activism. The fire helped to fuel a new labor movement, and it energized the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which demanded and got significant improvements in the way workers were treated and the conditions in which they worked.
I believe that how we remember and honor our lost heroes defines who we are as a nation. When we forget, we falter — and we often forget. We've forgotten much about our grandparents, immigrants from worlds so oppressive they were willing to work for low wages under wretched conditions, all for a chance at their own version of the American dream.
We need to remember that a national tragedy is made up of individuals — men and women, sons and daughters, husbands and wives — people who were loved and mourned and who deserve to be remembered. We don't want to make this mistake again, anymore than we want to treat workers who are newly arrived as if they were anything less than true Americans.
If we remember our fallen heroes, if we know them by name, maybe then we can remember the dream we still share with those who follow the journey our grandparents made.
In memory of those who were lost in the Triangle fire:
Lizzie Adler (24),, Anna Altman (16), Annina Ardito (25), Rose Bassino (31), Vincenza Benanti (22),, Yetta Berger (18), Essie Bernstein (19), Jacob Bernstein (35), Morris Bernstein (19), Gussie Bierman (22), Vincenza Billota (16), Abraham Binovitz (30), Rosie Brenman (23), Sarah Brenman (17), Ida Brodsky (15), Sarah Brodsky (21), Ada Brooks (18), Laura Brunetti (17), Josephine Cammarata* (18), Francesca Caputo (17), Josephine Carlisi (31), Albina Caruso (20), Annie Ciminello (36), Rosina Cirrito (18), Anna Cohen (25), Annie Colletti (30), Sarah Cooper (16), Michelina Cordiano (25), Bessie Dashefsky (25), Josie Del Castillo (21), Clara Dockman (19), Kalman Donick (24), Celia Esenberg (17), Dora Evans* (18), Rebecca Feibisch (17), Yetta Fichtenholtz (18), Daisy Lopez Fitze (26), Mary Floresta (26), Max Florin* (23), Jenne Franco (17), Rose Friedman (18), Diana Gerjuoy (18), Masha Gerstein (17), Catherine Giannattasio (22), Celia Gitlin (17), Esther Goldstein (20), Lena Goldstein (22), Mary Goldstein (18), Yetta Goldstein (20), Rosie Grasso (16), Bertha Greb (25), Rachel Grossman (17), Mary Herman (40), Esther Hochfeld (21), Fannie Hollander (18), Pauline Horowitz (19), Ida Jukofsky (19), Ida Kanowitz (18), Tessie Kaplan (18), Beckie Kessler (19), Jacob Klein (23), Beckie Koppelman (16), Bertha Kula (19), Tillie Kupferschmidt (16), Benjamin Kurtz (19), Annie L'Abbate (16), Fannie Lansner (21), Maria Giuseppa (Tortorelli), Lauletti* (33), Jennie Lederman (21), Max Lehrer (18), Sam Lehrer (19), Kate Leone (14), Mary Leventhal (22), Jennie Levin (19), Pauline Levine (19), Nettie Liebowitz (25), Rose Liermark (19), Bettina Maiale (18), Frances Maiale (21), Catherine Maltese (39), Lucia Maltese (20), Rosaria Maltese (14), Maria Manaria (27), Rose Mankofsky (22), Rose Mehl (15), Yetta Meyers (19), Gaetana Midolo (16), Annie Miller (16), Beckie Neubauer (19), Annie Nicholas (18), Michelina Nicolosi (21), Sadie Nussbaum (18), Julia Oberstein (19), Rose Oringer (19), Becky Ostrovsky (20), Annie Pack (18), Providenza Panno (43), Antonietta Pasqualicchio (16), Ida Pearl (20), Jennie Pildescu (18), Vincenza Pinelli (30), Emilia Prato (21), Concetta Prestifilippo* (18), Becky Reines (19), Fannie Rosen* (21), Israel Rosen (17), Julia Rosen (35), Louis (Loeb), Rosen (33), Yetta Rosenbaum (22), Jennie Rosenberg (21), Gussie Rosenfeld (22), Nettie Rosenthal (21), Emma Rothstein (22), Theodore Rotner (22), Sarah Sabasowitz (17), Santina Salemi (24), Sarafina Saracino (25), Teresina Saracino (20), Gussie Schiffman (18), Theresa Schmidt (32), Ethel Schneider (20), Violet (Velye), Schochet (21), Golda Schpunt (19), Margaret Schwartz (24), Jacob Seltzer (33), Rosie Shapiro (17), Ben Sklover (25), Rose Sorkin (18), Annie Starr (30), Jennie Stein (18), Jennie Stellino (16), Jennie Stiglitz (22), Sam Taback (20), Clotilde Terranova (22), Isabella Tortorelli (17), Meyer Utal (23), Catherine Uzzo (22), Frieda Velakofsky (20), Bessie Viviano (15), Rosie Weiner (20), Sarah Weintraub (17), Tessie Weisner (21), Dora Welfowitz (21), Bertha Wendorff (18), Joseph Wilson (21), Sonia Wisotsky (17)
Spellings are those used by the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition. The names bearing asterisks were until recently listed as unknown victims. Researcher Michael Hirsch identifed the six after an exhaustive search of records and documents from the time.
Alice Hoffman is a novelist of more than 25 books, most recently "The Red Garden." In October, Scribners will publish her novel "The Dovekeepers." Her grandfather, Chaim Klurfeld, was a member of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
3/19/11
3/18/11
3/14/11
3/12/11
Commitment
Bryant drops his combative armor, revealing how personable and charismatic he can be, at an unexpected moment — after missing an ill-advised three-point attempt at a crucial moment in Thursday's loss to Miami. If only he'd show that side of himself more often.
By T.J. Simers Los Angeles Times
March 11, 2011
From Dallas
I found myself criticizing Kobe Bryant in the morning newspaper — old habits hard to break.
But upon reflection, that's not what I was trying to communicate Friday morning. Kobe doesn't always make his shots, and in another stunning development, Page 2 isn't always on the intended mark.
There's no doubt Kobe played poorly at the end of the Miami loss. No question he took a ridiculous three-pointer with a bunch of time left to work for a better shot. And no surprise he wasn't all that thrilled with someone second-guessing his ridiculous three-point heave.
But in reporting all that, which still stands as an explanation for the loss to Miami, I realized two things were missing:
1. Debate his ball-hog tendencies all you want, but he is who he is, which explains why he's so great with a basketball in his hands.
2. When the game was over, he showed a side of himself too often hidden by his own intensity, arrogance and lack of perspective.
For years now I've been complaining about how unhappy Bryant appears while making millions, playing a game for a living and almost always enjoying success.
He hates losing, and by now everyone gets that. He's a competitor, but he doesn't need to make ugly, angry faces to prove it. He doesn't like most of the people who write about him, because as controlling as he is, it irritates him he can't always control what's written about him.
More than that, there just doesn't seem to be any joy about him.
Well, on a night when you would least expect to find it, he chose to reveal it. There were still hints of arrogance, of course, for some reason Bryant thinking he knows more about shooting off balance out of the corner with the game on the line than Page 2 does.
And there were several feisty exchanges, Bryant making it clear in rough language he doesn't care what's written, and Page 2 making it clear it doesn't matter most of the time what Bryant has to say.
For a moment there while we argued, I thought I was home talking to the wife. She's always wrong too.
Some athletes look upon reporters as stenographers, as if everything they have to say should stand unquestioned. But there's nothing wrong with disagreement between player and writer so long as the writer gets the last word in print.
Now on most nights, or really every night, Bryant goes into hiding after a game. His teammates meet the media, dress and head for the team bus.
Bryant takes his time, making journalists, who are on deadline, and his teammates, who are on the bus, wait. I wonder how much time Phil & Co. have wasted in their lives waiting for him.
When he does emerge from behind closed doors, it's with an attitude, a disgusted "yes" or "no" usually to the first question.
It can be a very demeaning experience for the one asking the question. It's probably as close as any reporter will come, though, to understanding what it's like to go one-on-one with him on the court.
Bryant is just not very nice, approachable or likeable. And before the e-mail arrives, know that most of the time he's dealing with a media horde that does not include Page 2.
When the locker room opened Thursday, he was waiting for the media. Maybe he ran out of hiding places, but he was right there. And for the most part, the attitude was gone.
Sure, he remained dismissive when he didn't agree with the premise of a question. And it wasn't his fault, he said, when his ridiculous three-point attempt fell short.
But the rancor was gone, replaced by the charisma that made him so engaging early in his career before he became so bitter. And as loose as he appeared, it had to have some impact on his teammates, who had just lost a big game — the next game even bigger.
Later he would return to the court to practice shooting. I can understand Steve Blake shooting until they turn out the lights. But what a sight to watch such a great competitor work to set himself apart from everyone else who plays the game.
If only he weren't such a jerk, and for those about to e-mail, we're talking about the basketball player here and not the writer.
When finished, instead of walking past everyone, eyes down, he just sat down. It was a night like no other, according to those who follow the team regularly.
And maybe you saw Bryant on TV, his shirt soaked in sweat, and a huge smile as he rolled with question after question. I hope someone took a picture. It'd be nice if someone showed it to him.
When was the last time Bryant appeared as if he was enjoying himself? OK, so maybe every time there's an NBA title-clinching victory, but that's a long time to be angry between grins.
It has taken time, but I'm more than willing now to accept him as a ball hog. He's not going to change. And at his best, there's no argument: He's extraordinary. At his worst, it's another Page 2 column reminding him every shot doesn't have to be ridiculous.
But as fair exchanges go, it'd be nice if he was willing to be human more often. I suspect it won't happen, but for one night it was nice to catch a glimpse of the charismatic guy I remember from long ago before he turned so sour.
3/11/11
3/8/11
3/3/11
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