All That Glitters Is Gold  

As I have been paying close attention to the Olympic games in Bejing, the preseason NFL coverage, the MLB pennant races are getting into full swing, and so many other thoughts of professional sports have gone through my head. Now with all of the talk of Brett Favre going to the Jets, Tiger Woods having season-ending surgery on his knee, Kevin Garnett finally winning a championship in Boston with the Celtics, and I'll even throw in Rafael Nadal defeating Roger Federer at Wimbledon. There is one player in professional sports that seems to be getting left out of conversations and is actually having the biggest turn-around in a career in 2008. If you guessed Josh Hamilton, you were wrong.

The correct answer: Kobe Bryant.

Kobe Bryant, in my opinion, has had the biggest turn-around of his career in 2008. During the offseason only one year ago, Bryant very oddly went on to report and go on and on about how he would never win with Los Angeles and how he wanted out. Going back even farther, remember that whole Colorado rape scandal? Bryant lost all of his endorsements, everyone would boo him or heckle him each game he played, and he was constantly under adversity. Finally something has clicked and he's becoming a mature NBA superstar.

Nowadays nobody even really remembers the past, the Lakers made it to the NBA finals but eventually fell to the Boston Celtics; however it rekindled the biggest rivalry in NBA history.

He already has 3 championships, he finally won the NBA Most Valuable Player award for 2008 edging out young star Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets. Now, Kobe Bryant was the leader for the 2008 Men's Team USA Olympic squad dubbed "The Redeem Team." He also has the endorsements of Nike, Vitamin Water, among others back on his side.

Kobe Bryant took 'The Redeem Team' on his shoulders in the final 8:30 left to go in the gold metal game against Spain whom Team USA could not seem to stop on defense. He ended the game shooting the free throws awarded after Spain took a technical foul. He sunk all 4 free throws and solidified the end and putting USA back on top in the international basketball world.

Bryant, with his number change from 8-24 is now the mature veteran leader for the Lakers that the NBA really needs. For now I'll leave you with a quote from Kobe Bryant himself.

"I dont want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant."