andPOP » Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant Accused of Assaulting Man in Church

andPOP Staff — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:45:26 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Kobe Bryant is accused of assaulting a man in Church on Sunday over a cell phone picture.

According to KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, Bryant got upset after he thought the man was taking a cell phone picture of him and his wife. Bryant grabbed the phone out of the man’s hand, but didn’t find any pictures. The man is claiming his wrist was injured by Bryant.

Kobe – you gotta watch that temper.

Kobe Bryant Makes Video about Tolerance

andPOP Staff — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:22:52 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Kobe Bryant along with other players of the L.A. Lakers have made a video encouraging tolerance of other people in a new public service announcement. This video was made after Kobe was caught making an anti-gay slur.

In the video, Kobe says, “There are all kinds of different people in the world. That’s what makes the world special.”

Kobe and his teammates continue, “So whether someone is different than you in race, ethnicity, political beliefs, religion … or sexual orientation … Words could be hurtful.”

Bryant continues, “Replace them with understanding, compassion and acceptance. Let’s make this a better world for all of us.”

You can tell the “sincerity” in all of their voices. Anyways you can check out the video over at TMZ.

Kobe Bryant Hosting Exclusive NBA All-Star Party

RM Franks — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:15:33 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

TMZ is reporting that in celebration of both NBA All-Star weekend and Kobe being enshrined at Grauman’s Chinese Theater (whatever the hell that means), Bryant will throw a muchos-exclusive party at Boulevard 3 Nightclub in Los Angeles Saturday night.

I cannot speak from experience, but I couldn’t imagine the rest of the NBA party-goers are all too thrilled that it’s Kobe Bryant hosting the party. Will the guest list restricted to Derek Fisher and Kobe’s daughters?

They say in the 4th quarter this man has ice-water for blood, and apparently the same goes for when he’s planning a party list. Event Producer Jeru Tillman relayed that there will be a “vigorous” screening process for anyone looking to score a VIP table in the club that night.

That said however, Kobe is perhaps known above anyone to really come through if he gets a good screen. Party on.

Kobe Bryant Wants to be Like Mike…Jackson!!!

RM Franks — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:48:51 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski penned a great article yesterday about how Kobe Bryant maintains dedication to his craft. The piece draws on the strange friendship between Kobe and Michael Jackson, and how it was Jackson, not Michael Jordan, that taught Kobe to be great.

I won’t bore you with the details, (even though they aren’t at all boring) because Wojnarowski illustrates the point beautifully, and the article is a must-read for anyone interested in how great minds work and how great human achievement is reached. In essence, it was the King of Pop who taught Kobe the pursuit of perfection and how to keep on course.

Jackson, like Bryant, was relentlessly obsessed with being the best. In an age when LeBron James is busy promoting books, movies, rap songs and TV specials where he announces where he will be playing, Kobe on the other hand is in the gym. Practicing. This is the stuff that makes Kobe what he is, and this is the stuff he learned from MJ. The other MJ.

Justin Bieber Celebrates Clean Sweet 16

Sara Harowitz — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:34:58 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Hey may sing about love in music videos that feature crazy house parties, but when it comes to his birthday, Justin Bieber celebrates by acting his age.

The young pop singer turned the big 1-6 yesterday (March. 1), and celebrated like a regular teenager – well, a regular, super-rich teenager.

Bieber has rented out a private estate in Los Angeles where he and his friends have been watching movies and eating dinners, reports E! Online. As for last night’s celebrations, the pop sensation reportedly had some nice clean fun that included sumo wrestling, karaoke, and laser tag.

To make his 16th all the more sweet, the day before his birthday (Feb. 28) Bieber got to meet Kobe Bryant after watching a Lakers game.

“Lakers win.. Canada wins in overtime. And I get to meet this guy. KOBE! Blessed birthday,” he Tweeted along with a photo of him and the basketball star.

Bieber’s name was all over Twitter yesterday, with numerous fans Tweeting their happy birthday wishes to the singer.

Cabbie Richards: The Man Without Fear In The Press Room

Jeremy Singer — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:16:16 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Exhibit A: a hefty roly-polly fellow in baggy jeans and a t-shirt, a fitted cap flipped backwards, a microphone in hand and a childish 1000 watt smile.

This is the uniform for one of Canada’s leading sports personalities. Hard to believe?

Meet Cabral “Cabbie” Richards, The Score Network’s animated icon, who has sent a loud message out to the media industry: traditional reporting isn’t always successful, and that his new-school style of interviewing can trump those old-school classroom methods.

In his interviews with star athletes on The Score’s Cabbie on the Street, it’s always a challenge to pint-point exactly the recipe for his success. But narrowing it down, there’s one key ingredient that differentiates the 31-year-old from Cambridge, Ontario, from the rest.

Exhibit B: his swagger.

Case in show, his interview with NBA commissioner David Stern at his press conference:

Surrounded by layers of thirsty sports reporters ready to lunge at Stern with questions relating to the league’s recent referee scandal or the pressing collective bargaining agreement in 2011, Richards scoots in and playfully asks the ‘el capitano’ of the organization… if he wins his bets in his fantasy basketball pools because of his knowledge of the players in the league.

Staying away from the typical post game interviews, Richards says he enjoys the guerrilla-style approach- keeping the scene light, animated, unpredicted, and delivering pure sports entertainment.

“I think the traditional forms of reporting are boring, and I think that most people would kind of follow that standard,” Richards tells andPOP. “When people come home, they just want to watch TV, be entertained and relaxed. I like to entertain and show humorous sides.”

His swagger can be described as his ability to go up casually to the best of the best, and put them on the spot with such simple and entertaining questions.

Part of his past repertoire includes Richards asking players at the 2008 NBA All-Star Game if they would agree to be his best man at his ‘fictional’ wedding. Or telling Wayne Gretzky that he’s about to launch a fake campaign to get Gretzky’s face on the currency in Canada- and asking the NHL legend whether he would rather the 50 or 100 dollar bill.

But that ability to confidently amuse didn’t just hit him suddenly one day on the job.

In fact, it goes way back before his days as an intern at The Score, or as a student at Ryerson University’s Radio & Television program. Technically, it all started back at Galt Collegiate Institute. Richards landed the lead role in the school play as the man eating plant in the “Little Shop Of Horrors”- which then sparked his career as a drama junkie.

That was the first time ever Cabral Richards worked an audience.

“Ever since then, I’ve always had a desire to make people laugh,” says Richards. “I love to entertain, so I guess it’s not a surprise that I was the class clown in school.”

And learning the face of rejection as an intern at The Score also helped. Originally assigned as a script writer, Richards was then offered to do five minute segments of interviews with the general public. It was just him and a camera crew in the middle of downtown Toronto, pestering total strangers about the topic of the day.

That was the authentic “Cabbie on the Street.”

“I wasn’t the entertaining guy right off the bat,” recalls Richards as we chat in a taxi, heading back to his office. “I was pretty quiet, but I got experience and began getting more comfortable. You have to remember that in the beginning, it was all just approaching random people on the street to interview, so I got used to getting shutdown multiple times. But I’ve learned to brush it off immediately and keep pushing.

“I take all the rough first times, and use it as not only experience but also confidence and I build on it.”

But after he got promoted to interviewing star athletes, Richards says he truly felt like he was validated in the business following his interview with MLB star pitcher Pedro Martinez. “We were competing with each other over who could throw the hardest with their weak hand. I threw 30 miles/hour, he threw 60,” Richards says laughing. “Everything just seemed to click at that point.”

Watching Richards work now definitely has you questioning your 20/20 vision. In fact, you might be inclined to double check if you really saw, what you just saw. He strips away all ice-breaker tension, no matter how high-status or stubborn the person is, and leaves viewers in total disbelief.

For example, how do you muster up the mentality to go up to legendary Hip/Hop rapper Jay-Z at the 2009 NBA All-Star Game, and ask the basketball fanatic if he hopes to somehow get some playing-time in today’s event?

Or present Michael Jordan at his charity golf tournament with a “thank you for being amazing” card- followed by a bear hug.

The knack of improvising and constantly allowing himself to be the butt of the joke may be part of it, but Richards says there’s definitely some hidden techniques behind his behavior.

“I always try to make people laugh,” says Richards. “The first time I meet these people, I definitely get a little nervous, but once I get through the initial smile, I’m way more comfortable. I guess the main goal is to make sure that those guys enjoy themselves and keep it entertaining.”

The most recent example of that success is his nice reel of jokes with Los Angeles Lakers global basketball star Kobe Bryant.

“He’s different,” says Bryant in the Globe and Mail in regard to Richards. “We play off one another; we have fun. It’s a break from the ordinary. He’s funny as hell. I look forward to him visiting in LA or when I come here. It’s always fun.”

As the taxi comes to a halt in front of The Score building, Richards gets out and hospitably nods me to follow. We walk briskly to the entrance, and enthusiastically, I scurry onto the sidewalk to keep up the pace. Carrying a camera-supply bag along-side is his producer and long time friend, Dave Krikst. Krikst has been working side-by-side with Richards since he began his days producing at the Score in 2005. One brainstorms the ideas, the other delivers. Together they remain to be an impressive duo. But Krikst keeps the answer simple when asked about Richards’s success in interviews.

“We call it going into this little head space,” says Krikst. “He just zones out and goes to work. If a guy like him can present those ideas the way he does it, it works out really well, he’s amazing at it. He’s always funny, loud. Of all my friends, he’s the most loyal.”

When Richards walks into the office, he takes over the place like Fat Albert meeting the gang at the schoolyard playground. Immediately, he’s going room-to-room, cubicle-to-cubicle, making sure to slap a high-five and a compliment to employees no matter their position in the company. The guy is like the Bees-Kneez. He does it with today’s most premiere athletes on-screen; and also with the co-worker in the stiff suit, buried in stress at his desk, off-screen.

But despite his success, Richards still thinks that he’s just a regular-joe, hard at work. “You gotta realize that there’s a lot of other people that are funnier and better out there,” admits Richards. “So knowing that, I just always strive to work that much harder and keep my job.”

“Gotta get my ‘Kevin Garnett’ on,” he says with a grin, in reference to the NBA’s hustle and hard-working former defensive player of the year.

True, but hundreds of other sports reporters across North America are hard at work too. So what separates Richards from the rest of the media community?

We’re going to keep it simple. Let’s leave it as his swagger. That’s it.

Chris Bosh to Release In-depth DVD

Stephen Baldwin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:35:35 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Six-year NBA veteran Chris Bosh is releasing a DVD on December 15th. “Chris Bosh Presents: First Ink” will include an in-depth look into the Raptor’s summer training, side projects and experiences with the NBA’s elite.

“First Ink” is a 30 minute video documenting Bosh’s training over the 2009 preseason, and his new training regimen.

The DVD will also include five of Bosh’s comedic CBTV side projects, including his Used Car Salesman skit during his campaign for All Star votes.

Bonus features on the DVD will include highlights from Bosh’s high school career, more original skits, and interviews with Bosh that cover his experiences in the NBA from playing alongside Vince Carter, to facing off with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.

The DVD a perfect gift for Raptor’s fans that have been followin Bosh’s so-far career season.