Vanessa Bryant files for divorce from Kobe - cites "Irreconcilable Differences"

[dallison]

I thought that to compete in the Olympics, you had to be an amateur, not a professional player (game not women, just to qualify).

A lot of team sports have pros.... hockey, basketball, volleyball.

[C_is_for_Cookie]

I thought that to compete in the Olympics, you had to be an amateur, not a professional player (game not women, just to qualify).

That ended in '92. Pretty much every top athlete in the Olympics is a professional now. The only sport they don't allow the best of the best to compete is soccer because the FIFA is scared it devaluates their precious world cup.

[fgg]

Vanessa Bryant does ‘not want to be married to somebody that can’t win championships’

Kobe Bryant's wife Vanessa filed for divorce last winter after claiming that the two's differences were irreconcilable, but the two eventually rekindled their union and appear to be on good terms. And, after a tough initial run together that featured an infamous bout of public infidelity, it appears as if Vanessa's good terms are going to be on her terms. She wants rings, she'll have you know. Don't bother even leaving the house if you're not going to come back with one.

From a New York Magazine transcription from Sports on Earth's Nicki Jhabvala, as tipped off to us by The Basketball Jones:

"I certainly would not want to be married to somebody that can't win championships. If you're sacrificing time away from my family and myself for the benefit of winning championships, then winning a championship should happen every single year."

Perhaps someone should tell Vanessa Bryant that showcasing a good work ethic that sometimes leaves you away from the home for long stretches doesn't always lead to championships. It just means you're probably going to be good at your job.

Here is where you can go into the, "perhaps if Vanessa Bryant had a job …"-territory, but don't. She's raising two daughters, which is a full time gig that is to be respected. We should just ask that she choose her words more carefully, I suppose. She entered into a union with Bryant knowing full well that NBA players spend half a season on the road, and that stars of Bryant's caliber spend untold days and weeks overseas fulfilling sponsorship duties. You know, all the stuff that leads to all those houses and all those cars and even helicopters; things that sometimes only lead to a 45-win record despite 35 points per game. Kobe can shoot a thousand jumpers every summer afternoon, but it's not going to mean much if he still has to team up with Smush Parker in the fall.

It's easy to understand what Vanessa is getting at, but she can't have it both ways here. It's true that Kobe Bryant's work ethic might be unmatched amongst NBA players, but it's a gig that keeps you away from home regardless of championship potential. Add in the fact that this is a team game and that no star (no matter how great, or how many hours put in) can win a championship just about by himself, and you're left with a pretty silly statement.

We can't say we're especially looking forward to reading the rest of this interview when the New York Magazine hits the newsstands.

[gas_chick]

She a vapid loser who stays married to a serial cheater. Maybe she'll leave after his career is over.

[sluce]

Yes. It is all on her terms. Kobe can cheat all he wants. She will, from time to time, make a stink if she is fearful that he may actually fall for a side piece and leave her. Then she makes a public display of leaving him. He then gets to move into another mansion, bring home as many hot young chicks as he wants, and love life. Then she forgives him, after receiving an appropriate gift of jewelry, and they reconcile. This is a great example for their young daughters. It's just so hard on poor Kobe...

[mjw]

Kobe and Vanessa deserve each other. I hate both of these assholes.

[witchcurlgirl]

Can We Talk About The Real Vanessa Bryant Quote That Makes Her Sound Like An Awful Person?

There's a New York Magazine article out on the perks and challenges of being a basketball wife, and it's required reading as long as you can get through sentences like these without killing yourself:

"I'm not really a handbag person anymore," says Kobe Bryant's wife, Vanessa. "I've collected Birkin bags, Chanel 2.55 jumbo flap bags, and the Marc Jacobs Stephen Sprouse collection for Louis Vuitton since I was a teenager. But now, as they say, everyone and their mom is buying a Birkin or a regular size 2.55 bag in black, taupe, or beige. I've been sticking to a magenta suede Proenza Schouler bag."

There's a lot of that. But there's one quote that everyone has zoomed in on, because it reinforces everything we'd like to believe about the woman who married an NBA player when she was in high school, stuck with him through a cheating scandal (with an enormous new diamond on her finger), and is in the middle of a public reconciliation after filing for divorce. Here's the quote:

"I certainly would not want to be married to somebody that can't win championships. If you're sacrificing time away from my family and myself for the benefit of winning championships, then winning a championship should happen every single year."

Sounds bad! She's taking shit for it, even to the point where she's had to defend the quote. But that's a totally legitimate, supportive thing to say. You've got a loved one who devotes nine months of the year to their job—wouldn't you want that long season to come to something? Wouldn't you want their time and effort to lead to professional success? It's not that you're worthless if you don't win a ring—it's that a ring is a reward equal to the sacrifice.

What's worse than pillorying Vanessa Bryant for the wrong reasons is that we're all missing a chance to do it for the right ones. Later in the article, she address rumors that she and fellow (former) Laker wife Khloe Kardashian have beef. She takes the question, and runs with it:

"Everything is false," she says. "Khloé was at my 29th birthday. I don't get involved in the drama. I've been with Kobe since I was 17, so I've seen plenty of players, and plenty of wives, come and go. It wouldn't benefit me whatsoever to have an issue with any of them, whether they were a girlfriend, or a wife, a person-of-a-month, or … you know. And I think that's why the Lakers as an organization give me the access that I have, that other wives don't have." She talks about the tunnel on the way to the locker room that she stands in to give Kobe a kiss after games, the one that cameras always pan to. "If you notice, I am the only one allowed in that tunnel," says Bryant.

First off: "It wouldn't benefit" her to not get along with someone? That's not how normal people think, or talk. Normal people don't view interpersonal relationships through the lens of their own brand strength.

Normal people don't see everything in terms of PR strategy. If there once was a Vanessa Bryant, she's long dead, consumed by a body-snatching Vanessa Bryant™ that now speaks through her slackened maw.

But it's where Bryant takes her failed attempt at being a member of the human race that really shines. She turns it into a brag about how she's top Lakers wife, a paragon of virtue lifted from a pit of shrieking harpies by the organization, which can't fail to recognize how much more worthy she is than those other tramps. If you notice, I am the only one allowed in that tunnel. Nope, didn't notice, but that's because the rest of us aren't obsessed with meaningless brownie points handed out by the Lakers, most likely just to keep you happy so you don't go blabbing about all the other hotel employees your husband bukkaked. But to Vanessa Bryant, life is nothing but a competition, and a series of chances for the queen bee to shit on the drones.

Can We Talk About The Real Vanessa Bryant Quote That Makes Her Sound Like An Awful Person?

[Pinkii]

she sounds like a twat.. your nothing special love.

[Brookie]

They make a great couple - they deserve each other.

[Novice]

That ended in '92. Pretty much every top athlete in the Olympics is a professional now. The only sport they don't allow the best of the best to compete is soccer because the FIFA is scared it devaluates their precious world cup.

Thanks!

Can We Talk About The Real Vanessa Bryant Quote That Makes Her Sound Like An Awful Person?

There's a New York Magazine article out on the perks and challenges of being a basketball wife, and it's required reading as long as you can get through sentences like these without killing yourself:

"I'm not really a handbag person anymore," says Kobe Bryant's wife, Vanessa. "I've collected Birkin bags, Chanel 2.55 jumbo flap bags, and the Marc Jacobs Stephen Sprouse collection for Louis Vuitton since I was a teenager. But now, as they say, everyone and their mom is buying a Birkin or a regular size 2.55 bag in black, taupe, or beige. I've been sticking to a magenta suede Proenza Schouler bag."

There's a lot of that. But there's one quote that everyone has zoomed in on, because it reinforces everything we'd like to believe about the woman who married an NBA player when she was in high school, stuck with him through a cheating scandal (with an enormous new diamond on her finger), and is in the middle of a public reconciliation after filing for divorce. Here's the quote:

"I certainly would not want to be married to somebody that can't win championships. If you're sacrificing time away from my family and myself for the benefit of winning championships, then winning a championship should happen every single year."

Sounds bad! She's taking shit for it, even to the point where she's had to defend the quote. But that's a totally legitimate, supportive thing to say. You've got a loved one who devotes nine months of the year to their job—wouldn't you want that long season to come to something? Wouldn't you want their time and effort to lead to professional success? It's not that you're worthless if you don't win a ring—it's that a ring is a reward equal to the sacrifice.

What's worse than pillorying Vanessa Bryant for the wrong reasons is that we're all missing a chance to do it for the right ones. Later in the article, she address rumors that she and fellow (former) Laker wife Khloe Kardashian have beef. She takes the question, and runs with it:

"Everything is false," she says. "Khloé was at my 29th birthday. I don't get involved in the drama. I've been with Kobe since I was 17, so I've seen plenty of players, and plenty of wives, come and go. It wouldn't benefit me whatsoever to have an issue with any of them, whether they were a girlfriend, or a wife, a person-of-a-month, or … you know. And I think that's why the Lakers as an organization give me the access that I have, that other wives don't have." She talks about the tunnel on the way to the locker room that she stands in to give Kobe a kiss after games, the one that cameras always pan to. "If you notice, I am the only one allowed in that tunnel," says Bryant.

First off: "It wouldn't benefit" her to not get along with someone? That's not how normal people think, or talk. Normal people don't view interpersonal relationships through the lens of their own brand strength.

Normal people don't see everything in terms of PR strategy. If there once was a Vanessa Bryant, she's long dead, consumed by a body-snatching Vanessa Bryant™ that now speaks through her slackened maw.

But it's where Bryant takes her failed attempt at being a member of the human race that really shines. She turns it into a brag about how she's top Lakers wife, a paragon of virtue lifted from a pit of shrieking harpies by the organization, which can't fail to recognize how much more worthy she is than those other tramps. If you notice, I am the only one allowed in that tunnel. Nope, didn't notice, but that's because the rest of us aren't obsessed with meaningless brownie points handed out by the Lakers, most likely just to keep you happy so you don't go blabbing about all the other hotel employees your husband bukkaked. But to Vanessa Bryant, life is nothing but a competition, and a series of chances for the queen bee to shit on the drones.

Can We Talk About The Real Vanessa Bryant Quote That Makes Her Sound Like An Awful Person?

Love that!

[lizzybabe]

She's happy being cheated on as long as Kobe stays with her and she gets a new diamond ring or other piece of expensive jewelry after he gets caught (yet again). There's no way Kobe will divorce her because he would take it up the ass in terms of losing his money and possessions.