Kobe Bean Bryant (PREP17)

Kobe Bryant deals with off court mishaps with the same grace that he deals with them ON the court.  He is a cerebral technician of the game of basketball, equipped with a sixth sense of knowing what's ahead of him before anyone else does.  Sometimes in the real world, this sixth sense malfunctions and he quickly has to regroup and pick up the pieces.  Much like the "sexual assault" case, Kobe quickly regained his composure and cleaned up his mess with a great amount of humility.  He owned up to his mistake and, I believe, genuinely apologized.  Most athletes, and people, these days who get into this kind of trouble put out a press release with a non-apology-apology, moreso apologizing for people being upset by what they did rather than apologizing for what they did wrong.  Not Kobe, though.  Kobe owned it, and fixed it.  That's what we want out of our stars and our athletes.  Make your mistake like the imperfect being you are, but definitely admit that you did it.

If I'm Kobe's sponsor, I'm in a tough position.  I have every right to be upset and consider dropping him.  He's in a bad light right now.  But, because Kobe has the intelligence to get out in front of the storm, you may have to see the forest for the trees and realize Kobe's faults are human and can be overcome by your company.  But that's a tough call to make.  But, if he can do everything to rebuild his image and then some, you have to take that into account.

NBA fines, however, are completely confusing.  Latrell Spreewell was once fined $250,000 by the New York Knicks for failure to report a broken hand.  The Lakers slapped Vladimir Radmanovic with a $500,000 fine for separating his shoulder while snowboarding.  Mark Cuban has been fined $250k numerous times for criticizing NBA officiating.  To be honest, NBA fines are a crock and one hundred percent bogus.  But, in this case, you're Kobe Bryant.  You're never going to notice that you've lost $100 thousand.  You make that in one quarter of a preseason game.  It potentially saves you money in the long term to just bite your tongue and take the fine than to fight it and come off as contradictory.