At a certain point, you need to let an issue go— because the more you talk, the more ridiculous the story becomes.  The story is simple: Kobe said a gay slur that a lot of people and NBA players use to insult people.

This time, though, he was caught on camera and because he is Kobe and not Kenyon Martin, everyone made a huge deal out of it, forcing Mafia Boss David Stern to levy an unreasonable fine— in light of the fact he never fined anyone before for similar violations.

The playoffs are here and everyone has moved on, but Kobe is still talking.

The Sports Grid picks up the story from here.

During Game 1 of today’s Lakers/Hornets game, ESPN’s Lisa Salters reported on a conversation she had with Bryant before tipoff.

“I used to beat up a lot of kids even in high school who used to tease my friends,” Bryant told her. “Because they were gay, or because they were black, or because they were Jewish, or because they were yellow, or because they were whatever.”

That is like someone dropping a N-Bomb and then saying “I have a lot of black friends”— it is better just not to say anything at all.  I thought Kobe’s original explanation was reasonable enough. This sounds silly.

Not to mention bullying whatever the reason isn’t that much better than dropping racial and gay slurs.

I respect Kobe’s basketball game, but I just don’t envision him being Nelson Muntz, I could be wrong, but what do you think?